Tamazight

See also: tamazight

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Central Atlas Tamazight ⵜⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖⵜ (tamaziɣt).

Tamazight (Ta-maziɣ-t) is the feminine form of a-maziɣ. The construction maziɣ suggests that it is the agent noun for a root *ZƔ (=*iziɣ/uzaɣ). Very few traces of this ancient root remain. One hypothesis is that it is related to ZƔ "set up the tent" attested in Central Atlas Tamazight and the names tazeqqa/tizɣwin "house". The original meaning of the word a-maziɣ could thus be "the nomad, the one who lives under the tent" [1] or maybe "the one who owns a tent", which may explain whyit has historically been used in some dialects to mean "noble" or "free". This has caused some authors to translate Tamazight as the noble/free language. In any case, maziɣ is an ethnonym for the Amazigh people today, and it has been historically the case for a number of Amazigh groups in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya and under variant forms amongst the Tuareg. Tamazight is, naturally, the name of the language of the Imazighen.

Pronunciation

enPR: ˈtăʹm-ə-zĭgt, IPA^(key): /ˈtæm.ə.zɪɡt/
enPR: ˈtăʹm-ə-zīt, IPA^(key): /ˈtæm.ə.zaɪt/

Proper noun

Tamazight

The continuum of closely-related Berber languages spoken in Morocco, Algeria, Libya, and other parts of northern Africa.
A specific continuum of mutually intelligible dialects spoken mainly by the Imazighen of the Middle Atlas and High Atlas regions in Morocco.

References

“AMAZIƔ, "(le/un) Berbère"”, in Encyclopédie berbère IV‎, 1987, pages 562-568