Languages of Africa
Various Dialects of the Arabic Language.—Difference between the Berebber and Shelluh Languages.—Specimen of the Mandinga.—Comparison of the Shelluh Language with that of the Canary Islands, and Similitude of Customs.
Yareb, the son of Kohtan 204, is said to have been the first who spoke Arabic, and the Muhamedans contend that it is the most eloquent language spoken in any part of the globe, and that it is the one which will be used at the day of judgment. To write a long dissertation on this copious and energetic language, would be only to repeat what many learned men have said before; a few observations, however, may not be superfluous to the generality of readers. The Arabic language is spoken by a greater proportion of the inhabitants of the known world than any other: a person having a practical knowledge of it, may travel from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea to the Cape of Good Hope, and notwithstanding that in such a journey he must pass through many kingdoms and empires of blacks, speaking distinct languages, yet he would find men in all those countries versed in Muhamedan learning, and therefore acquainted with the Arabic; again, he might cross the widest part of the African continent from west to east, and would every where meet with persons acquainted with it, more particularly if he should follow the course of the great river called the Neel El Abeed, on the banks of which, from Jinnie and Timbuctoo, to the confines of lower Egypt, are innumerable cities and towns of Arabs and Moors, all speaking the Arabic. Again, were a traveller to proceed from Marocco to the farthest shore of Asia, opposite the islands of Japan, he would find the Arabic generally spoken or understood wherever he came. In Turkey, in Syria, in Arabia, in Persia, and in India, it is understood by all men of education; and any one possessing a knowledge of the Korannick Arabic, might, in a very short time, make himself master of all its various dialects.
The letters of this language 205 are formed in four distinct ways, according to their situation at the beginning, middle, or end of words, as well as when standing alone; the greatest difficulty, however, to be overcome, is the acquiring a just pronunciation, (without which no living language can be essentially useful;) and to attain which, the learner should be able to express the difference of power and sound between what may be denominated the synonymous letters, such as ط and ث with ت and ع with ا and ص with س and ض and ظ with د and ة with ح and ق with ى and خ and غ with ر.
Besides these, there are other letters, whose power is extremely difficult to be acquired by an European, because no language in Europe possesses sounds similar to the Arabic letters خ غ ع, nor has any language, except, perhaps, the English, a letter with the power of the Arabian ث. Those who travel into Asia or Africa scarcely ever become sufficiently masters of the Arabic to speak it fluently, which radical defect proceeds altogether from their not learning, while studying it, the peculiar distinction of the synonymous letters. No European, perhaps, ever knew more of the theory of this language than the late Sir William Jones, but still he could not converse with an Arabian; a circumstance of which he was not conscious until he went to India. This great man, however, had he been told that his knowledge of this popular eastern language was so far deficient, that he was ignorant of the separate powers of its synonymous letters, and consequently inadequate to converse intelligibly with a native Arab, he would certainly have considered it an aspersion, and have disputed altogether that such was the fact. Considering how much we are indebted to the Arabians for the preservation of many of the works of the ancients, which would otherwise have never, perhaps, been known to us, it is really surprising, that their language should be so little known in Europe. It is certainly very difficult and abstruse, (to learners particularly,) but this difficulty is rendered insurmountable by the European professors knowing it only as a dead language, and teaching it without due attention to the pronunciation of the before mentioned synonymous letters, a defect which is not likely to be remedied, and which will always subject the speaker to incessant errors.
To show the Arabic student the difference between the Oriental and Occidental order of the letters of the alphabet, I shall here give them opposite each other.
Oriental
Occidental
1 Alif
2 ba
3 ta
4 thsa
5 jim
6 hha
7 kha
8 dal
9 dsal
10 ra
11 za
12 sin
13 shin
14 sad
15 dad
16 ta
17 da
18 ain
19 gain
20 fa
21 kaf
22 kef
23 lem
24 mim
25 nun
26 waw
27 he
28 ya
29 lam-alif ا
ب
ت
ث
ج
ح
خ
د
ذ
ر
ز
س
ش
ص
ض
ط
ظ
ع
غ
ف
ق
ك
ل
م
ن
و
ه
ي
1 Alif
2 ba
3 ta
4 tha
5 jim
6 hha
7 kha
8 dal
9 dth’al
10 ra
11 zain
12 ta
13 da
14 kef
15 lam
16 mim
17 nune
18 sad
19 dad
20 ain
21 g’rain
22 fa
23 kaf
24 sin
25 shin
26 hha
27 wow
28 ia
29 lam-alif ا
ب
ت
ث
ج
ح
خ
د
ذ
ر
ز
ط
ظ
ێ
ل
م
ن
ص
ض
ع
غ
ڢ
ف
س
ش
ه
و
ي
Besides this difference of the arrangement of the two alphabets, the Arabic student will observe that there is also a difference in the punctuation of two of the letters: thus—
Oriental
Occidental
1 fa
2 kaf
ف
ق
1 fa
2 kaf
ڢ
ف
Among the Western Arabs, the ancient Arabic figures are used, viz. 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9: they often write 100 thus, 1..—200, 2..
To explain the force of the synonymous letters on paper would be impossible; the reader, however, may form some idea of the indispensable necessity of knowing the distinction by the few words here selected, which to one unaccustomed to hear the Arabic language spoken, would appear similar and undistinguishable.
| ENGLISH | ARABIC Rendered as near to European pronunciation as the English Alphabet will admit. | ARABIC |
| A horse Wood To repeat Fish A gun A foolish woman A frying pan A lion Morning Seventh Hatred Harvest Learning A flag Granulated paste The dish it is made in Heart Dog Mould Captain Feathers Mud Smell Poison Absent Butter-milk White A black Eggs Afar off A pig An oath Feed for horses A thousand | Aoud Awad Aoud Hout Mokhalla Mokeela Makeela Seban Seban Seban Hassed Hassed Alem, or El Alem El Alem Kuscasoe Kuscas Kul’b Kil’b Kal’b Rice Rish G’ris Shim Sim 206 G’raib Raib Bead El Abd Baid Baid Helloof Hellef Alf Elf |
It is difficult for any one who has not accurately studied the Arabic language, to imagine the many errors which an European commits in speaking it, when self taught, or when taught in Europe. This deficiency originates in the inaccuracy of the application of the guttural and synonymous letters.
The ain ع and the غ grain cannot be accurately pronounced by Europeans, who have not studied the language grammatically when young. The aspirated h, and the hard s, in the word for morning (sebah), are so much like their synonymes, that few Europeans can discern the difference; the one is consequently often mistaken for the other; and I have known a beautiful sentence absolutely perverted through an inaccuracy of this kind. In the words rendered Hatred and Harvest, the two synonymes of س and ص or s hard and s soft, are indiscriminately used by Europeans in their Arabic conversations, a circumstance sufficient to do away the force and meaning of many a sentence.
The poetry as well as prose of the Arabians is well known, and has been so often discussed by learned men, that it would be irrelevant here to expatiate on the subject; but as the following description of the noblest passion of the human breast cannot but be interesting to the generality of readers, and, without any exception, to the fair sex, I will transcribe it.
“Love love beginneth in contemplation, passeth to meditation; hence proceeds desire; then the spark bursts forth into a flame, the head swims, the body wastes, and the soul turns giddy. If we look on the bright side of love, we must acknowledge that it has at least one advantage; it annihilates pride and immoderate self-love; true love, whose aim is the happiness and equality of the beloved object, being incompatible with those feelings.
“Lust is so different from true love love, and so far from a perfection, that it is always a species of punishment sent by God, because man has abandoned the path of his pure love.”
In their epistolary writing, the Arabs have generally a regular and particular style, beginning and ending all their letters with the name of God, symbolically, because God is the beginning and end of all things. The following short specimen will illustrate this:
Translation of a letter written in the Korannick Arabic by Seedy Soliman ben Muhammed ben Ismael, Sultan of Marocco, to his Bashaw of Suse, &c. &c.
“Praise be to the only God! for there is neither power, nor strength, without the great and eternal God.”
L.S.
Containing the Emperor’s name and
titles, as Soliman ben Muhamed
ben Abdallah, &c, &c.
“Our servant, Alkaid Abdelmelk ben Behie Mulud, God assist, and peace be with thee, and the mercy and grace of God be upon thee!”
“We command thee forthwith to procure and send to our exalted presence every Englishman that has been wrecked on the coast of Wedinoon, and to forward them hither without delay, and diligently to succour and attend to them, and may the eye of God be upon thee!” 207
“26th of the (lunar), month Saffer, year of the Hejra 1221. (May, 1806.)”
The accuracy of punctuation in the Arabic language is a matter that ought to be strictly attended to.
The foregoing observations will serve to prove the insufficiency of a knowledge of this language, as professed or studied in Great Britain when unaccompanied with a practical knowledge. These observations may apply equally to the Persian language. 208
If the present ardour for discovery in Africa be persevered in, the learned world may expect, in the course of a few years, to receive histories and other works of Greek and Roman authors, which were translated into the Arabic language, when Arabian literature was in its zenith, and have ever since been confined to some private libraries in the cities of the interior of Africa, and in Arabia.
Having said thus much with regard to the Arabic of the western Arabs, which, with little variation, is spoken throughout all the finest districts of North Africa, I shall proceed to say a few words respecting the other languages spoken north of Sahara: these are the Berebber and its dialects, viz. the Zayan and Girwan, and Ait Amor; the Shelluh of Suse and South Atlas, all which, though latterly supposed by some learned men to be the same, differ in many respects; any one possessing a knowledge of the Berebber language might, with little difficulty, make himself understood by the Zayan of Atlas, the Girwan, or the Ait Amor; but the Shelluh is a different language, and each so different from the Arabic, that there is not the smallest resemblance, as the following specimen will demonstrate:
| BEREBBER. | SHELLUH. | ARABIC. | ENGLISH. |
| Tumtoot | Tayelt | Ishira | A girl |
| Ajurode | Ayel | Ishire | A boy |
| Askan | Tarousa | Hajar | A thing |
| Aram | Algrom | Jimmel | Camel |
| Tamtute | Tamraut | Murrah | A woman |
| Ishiar | Issemg’h | L’Abd | A slave |
| Aouli | Izimer | Kibsh | A sheep |
| Taddert | Tikimie | Dar | House |
| Ikshuden | Asroen | Lawad | Wood |
| Eekeel | Akfai | Hellib | Milk |
| Tifihie | Uksume | El Ham | Meat |
| Buelkiel | Amuran | Helloof | A hog |
| Abreede | Agares | Trek | A road |
| Bishee | Fikihie | Ara | Give me |
| Adude | Asht | Agi | Come |
| Alkam | Aftooh | Cire | Go |
| Kaym | Gäuze | Jils | Sit down |
| Imile | Imeek | Serire | Little |
Specimen of the Difference between the Arabic and Shelluh Languages.
| SHELLUH. | ARABIC. | ENGLISH. |
| Is sin Tamazirkt | Wash katarf | Do you understand |
| Shelluh | Shelluh? | |
| Uree sin | Man arf huh | I do not understand it. |
| Matshrult | Kif enta | How are you? |
| Is tekeete | Wash gite min | Are you come from |
| Marokshe | Marockshe | Marocco? |
| Egan ras | Miliah | Good |
| Maigan | Ala’sh | Wherefore? |
| Misimmink | As’mek | What is your name? |
| Mensh kat dirk | Shall andik | How much have you got? |
| Tasardunt | Borella | A mule |
| Romi | Romi | An European |
| Takannarit | Nasarani | A Christian |
| Romi | Kaffer | An infidel |
| Misem Bebans | Ashkune mula | Who is the owner? |
| Is’tkit Tegriwelt | Washjite min | Are you come from |
| Tegriwelt | Cape Ossem? | |
| Auweete Imkelli | Jib Liftor | Bring the dinner |
| Efoulkie | Meziana | Handsome |
| Ayeese | El aoud | A horse |
| Tikelline | El Baid | Eggs |
| Amuran | Helloof | Hog |
| Tayuh | Tatta | Camelion |
| Tasamumiat | Adda | Green lizard |
| Tenawine | Sfune | Ships. |
Marmol says, the Shelluhs and Berebbers write and speak one language, called Killem Abimalick 209; but the foregoing specimen, the accuracy of which may be depended on, clearly proves this assertion to be erroneous, as well as that of many moderns who have formed their opinion, in all probability, on the above authority. Now, although the Shelluh and Berebber languages are so totally dissimilar, that there is not one word in the foregoing vocabulary which resembles its corresponding word in the other language, yet, from the prejudice which Marmol’s authority has established, it will still be difficult, perhaps, to persuade the learned that such an author could be mistaken on such a subject. My account therefore must remain for a future age to determine upon, when the languages of Africa shall be better known than they are at present; for it is not a few travellers occasionally sent out on a limited plan, that can ascertain facts, the attainment of which requires a long residence, and familiar intercourse with the natives. Marmol had also misled the world, in saying that they write a different language; the fact is, that when they write any thing of consequence, it is in the Arabic; but any trifling subject is written in the Berebber words, though in the Arabic character. If they had any peculiar character in the time of Marmol, they have none now; for I have conversed with hundreds of them, as well as with the Shelluhs, and have had them staying at my house for a considerable time together, but never could learn from any, that a character different from the Arabic had ever been in use among them.
In addition to these languages, there is another spoken at the Oasis of Ammon, or Siwah, called in Arabic El Wah El Wah El Grarbie, which appears to be a mixture of Berebber and Shelluh, as will appear from the list of Siwahan words given by Mr. Horneman 210, in his Journal, page 19, part of which I have here transcribed, to show the similitude between those two languages, whereby it will appear that the language of Siwah and that of the Shelluhs of South Atlas, are one and the same language.
| ENGLISH. | SIWAHAN. | SHELLUH. |
| Sun | Itfuckt | Atfuct |
| Head | Achfé | Akfie |
| Camel | Lgum | Arume |
| Sheep | Jelibb | Jelibb |
| Cow | Tfunest | Tafunest |
| Mountain | Iddrarn | Iddra 211 |
| Have you a horse? | Goreck Ackmar | Is derk Achmar? 212 |
| Milk | Achi | Akfie |
| Bread | Tagor | Tagora 213 |
| Dates | Tena | Tenia (sing.)Tena (plural.) |
South of the Desert we find other languages spoken by the blacks; and are told by Arabs, who have frequently performed the journey from Jinnie to Cairo, and the Red Sea, that thirty-three different Negro languages are met with in the course of that route, but that the Arabic is spoken by the intelligent part of the people, and the Muhamedan religion is known and followed by many; their writings are uniformly in Arabic.
It may not be improper in this place, seeing the many errors and mutilated translations which appear from time to time, of Arabic, Turkish and Persian papers, to give a list of the Muhamedan moons or lunar months, used by all those nations, which begin with the first appearance of the new moon, that is, the day following, or sometimes two days after the change, and continue till they see the next new moon; these have been mutilated to such a degree in all our English translations, that I shall give them, in the original Arabic character, and as they ought to be spelt and pronounced in the English character, as a clue whereby to calculate the correspondence between our year and theirs. They divide the year into 12 months, which contain 29 or 30 days, according as they see the new moon; the first day of the month Muharam is termed Ras Elame, i.e. the beginning of the year.
As we are more used to the Asiatic mode of punctuation, that will be observed in these words.
Muharam
Asaffer
Arabia Elule
Arabea Atthenie
Jumad Elule
Jumad Athenie
Rajeb
Shaban
Ramadan
Shual
Du’elkada
Du Elhajah
The first of Muharram, year of the Hejra 1221, answers to the 19th March of the Christian æra, 1806.
Among the various languages spoken south of the Sahara, we have already observed that there are thirty-three different ones between the Western Ocean and the Red Sea, following the shores of the Nile El Abeed, or Niger: among all these nations and empires, a man practically acquainted with the Arabic, may always make himself understood, and indeed, it is the language most requisite to be known for every traveller in these extensive regions.
The Mandinga is spoken from the banks of the Senegal, where that river takes a northerly course from the Jibel Kuthera to the kingdom of Bambarra; the Wangareen tongue is a different one; and the Housonians speak a language differing again from that.
Specimen of the difference between the Arabic and Mandinga language; the words of the latter extracted from the vocabularies of Seedi Muhamed ben Amer Sudani.
| ENGLISH. | MANDINGA. | ARABIC. |
| One | Kalen | Wahud |
| Two | Fula | Thanine |
| Three | Seba | Thalata |
| Four | Nani | Arba |
| Five | Lulu | Kumsa |
| Six | Uruh | Setta |
| Seven | Urn’klu | Sebba |
| Eight | Säae | Timinia |
| Nine | Kanuntée | Taseud |
| Ten | Dan | Ashra |
| Eleven | Dan kalen | Ahud ash |
| Twelve | Dan fula | Atenashe |
| Thirteen | Dan seba | Teltashe |
| Nineteen | Dankanartée | Tasatasli |
| Twenty | Mulu | Ashreen |
| Thirty | Mulu nintau | Thalateen |
| Forty | Mulu fula | Arbä’in |
| Fifty | Mulu fula neentan | Kumseen |
| Sixty | Mulu sebaa | Setteen |
| Seventy | Mulu sebaa nintan | Sebä’in. |
| Eighty | Mulu nani | T’aramana’een |
| Ninety | Mulu nani neentaan | Tasa’een |
| One hundred | Kemi | Mia |
| One thousand | Uli | Elf |
| This | Neen | Hadda |
| That | Waleem | Hadduk |
| Great | Bawa | Kabeer |
| Little | Nadeen | Sereer |
| Handsome | Nimawa | Zin |
| Ugly | Nuta | Uksheen (k guttur.) |
| White | Kie | Bead |
| Black | Feen | Khal |
| Red | Williamma | Hummer |
| How do you do? | Nimbana mcuntania | Kif-enta |
| Well | Kantée | Ala-khere |
| Not well | Moon kanti | Murrede |
| What do you want | Ala feta matume | Ash-bright |
| Sit down | Siduma | Jils |
| Get up | Ounilee | Node |
| Sour | Akkumula | Hamd |
| Sweet | Timiata | Helluh |
| True | Aituliala | Hack |
| False | Funiala | Kadube |
| Good | Abatee | Miliah |
| Bad | Minbatee | Kubiah |
| A witch | Bua | Sahar |
| A lion | Jatta | Sebaâ |
| An elephant | Samma | El fele |
| A hyæna | Salua | Dubbah |
| A wild boar | Siwa | El kunjer |
| A water horse | Mali | Aoud d’Elma |
| A horse | Suhuwa | Aoud |
| A camel | Kumaniun | Jimmel |
| A dog | Wallee | Killeb |
| Hel el Killeb | Hel Wallee | Hel El Killeb |
| or the dog-faced | ||
| race. | ||
| A gazel | Tankeen | Gazel (g guttural) |
| A cat | Niankune | El mish |
| A goat | Baâ | El mâize |
| A sheep | Kurenale | Kibsh |
| A bull | Nisakia | Toôr |
| A serpent | Saâ | Hensh |
| A camelion | Mineer | Tatta |
| An ape | Ku’nee | Dzatute |
| A fowl or chicken | Susee | Djez |
| A duck | Beruee | El Weese |
| A fish | Hihu | El hout |
| Butter | Tulu | Zibda |
| Milk | Nunn | El hellib |
| Bread | Mengu | El khubs (k guttur.) |
| Corn | Nieu | Zra |
| Wine | Tangee | Kummer (k guttur.) |
| Honey | Alee | Asel |
| Sugar | Tobabualee | Sukar |
| Salt | Kuee | Mil’h |
| Ambergris | Anber | Anber |
| Brass | Tass | Tass |
| Silver | Kudee | Nukra |
| Gold-dust | Teber | Tiber |
| Pewter | Tass ki | Kusdeer |
| A bow | Kula | El kos |
| An arrow | Binia | Zerag |
| A knife | Muru | Jenui |
| A spoon | Kulia | Mogerfa |
| A bed | El arun | El ferrashe |
| A lamp | El kundeel | El kundeel |
| A house | Su | Ed dar |
| A room | Bune | El beet |
| A light-hole | Jinnee | Reehâha |
| or window | ||
| A door | Daa | Beb |
| A town | Kinda | Midina |
| Smoke | Sezee | Tkan (k guttural) |
| Heat | Kandia | Skanna (k guttural) |
| Cold | Nini | Berd |
| Sea | Bedu baha | Bahar |
| River | Bedu | Wed |
| A rock | Berri | Jerf |
| Sand | Kinnikanni | Rummel |
| The earth | Binku | Dunia |
| Mountain | Kuanku | Jibbel |
| Island | Juchüi | Dzeera |
| Rain | Sanjukalaeen | Shta |
| God | Allah | Allah |
| Father | Fa | Ba |
| Mother | Ba | Ma |
| Hell | Jahennum | Jehennume |
| A man | Kia | Rajil |
| A woman | Musa | Murrah |
| A sister | Bum musa | Kat (k guttural) |
| A brother | Bum kia | Ka |
| The devil | Buhau | Iblis |
| A white man | Tebabu | Rajil biad |
| A singer | Jalikea | Runai (r guttural) |
| A singing woman | Jalimusa | Runaiah (r guttural) |
| A slave | June | Abeed |
| A servant | Bettela | Mutalem |
Having now given some account of the languages of Africa, we shall proceed to animadvert on the similitude of language and customs between the Shelluhs of Atlas and the original inhabitants of the Canary Islands. The words between inverted commas, are quotations from Glasse’s History of the Discovery and Conquest of the Canary Islands.
“The inhabitants of Lancerotta and Fuertaventura are social and cheerful;” like the Shelluhs of Atlas; “they are fond of singing and dancing; their music is vocal, accompanied with a clapping of hands, and beating with their feet;” the Shelluhs resemble them in all these respects; “Their houses are built of stone, without cement; the entrance is narrow, so that but one person can enter at a time.”
The houses of the Shelluhs are sometimes built without cement, but always with stone; the doors and entrances are low and small, so that one person only can enter.
“In their temples they offered to their God milk and butter.”
Among the Shelluhs milk and butter are given as presents to princes and great men; the milk being an emblem of good will and candour.
“When they were sick (which seldom happened) they cured themselves with the herbs which grew in the country; and when they had acute pains, they scarified the part affected with sharp stones, and burned it with fire, and then anointed it with goat’s butter. Earthen vessels of this goat’s butter were found interred in the ground, having been put there by the women, who were the makers, and took that method of preparing it for medicine.”
The custom of the Shelluhs on such occasions is exactly similar; the butter which they use is old, and is buried under ground many years in (bukul) earthen pots, and is called budra: it is a general medicine, and is said to possess a remarkably penetrating quality.
“They grind their barley in a hand-mill, made of two stones, being similar to those used in some remote parts of Europe”.
In Suse, among the Shelluhs, they grind their corn in the same way, and barley is the principal food.
“Their breeches are short, leaving the knees bare;” so are those worn by the Shelluhs.
“Their common food was barley meal roasted and mixed with goat’s milk and butter, and this dish they call Asamotan.”
This is the common food of the Shelluhs of Atlas, and they call it by a similar name, Azamitta.
The opinion of the author of the History and Conquest of the Canary Islands, is, that the inhabitants came originally from Mauritania, and this he founds on the resemblance of names of places in Africa and in the islands: “for,” says he, “Telde 214, which is the name of the oldest habitation in Canaria, Orotaba, and Tegesta, are all names which we find given to places in Mauritania and in Mount Atlas. It is to be supposed that Canaria, Fuertaventura, and Lancerotta, were peopled by the Alarbes 215, who are the nation most esteemed in Barbary; for the natives of those islands named milk Aho, and barley Temecin, which are the names that are given to those things in the language of the Alarbes of Barbary.” He adds, that—
“Among the books of a library that was in the cathedral of St. Anna in Canaria, there was found one so disfigured, that it wanted both the beginning and the end: it treated of the Romans, and gave an account, that when Africa was a Roman province, the natives of Mauritania rebelled and killed their presidents and governors, upon which the senate, resolving to punish and make a severe example of the rebels, sent a powerful army into Mauritania, which vanquished and reduced them again to obedience. Soon after the ringleaders of the rebellion were put to death, and the tongues of the common people, together with those of their wives and children, were cut out, and then they were all put aboard vessels with some grain and cattle, and transported to the Canary islands.” 216
The following vocabulary will show the similarity of language between the natives of Canaria and the Shelluhs (inhabitants of the Atlas mountains south of Marocco).
| LANCEROTTA AND | SHELLUH OR | ENGLISH. |
| FUERTAVENTURA DIALECT. | LYBIAN TONGUE. | |
| Temasin | Tumzeen | Barley |
| Tezzezes | Tezezreat | Sticks |
| Taginaste | Taginast | A palm-tree |
| Tahuyan | Tahuyat | A blanket, |
| covering, or petticoat. | ||
| Ahemon | Amen | Water |
| Faycag | Faquair | Priest or lawyer |
| Acoran | M’koorn | God |
| Almogaren | Talmogaren | Temples |
| Tamoyanteen | Tigameen | Houses |
| Tawacen | Tamouren | Hogs |
| Archormase | Akermuse | Green figs |
| Azamotan | Azamittan | Barley meal fried in oil |
| Tigot | Tigot | Heaven |
| Tigotan | Tigotan | The Heavens |
| Thener | Athraar | A mountain |
| Adeyhaman | Douwaman | A hollow valley |
| Ahico | Tahayk | A hayk, or coarse garment |
| Kabeheira | Kabeera | A head man or a powerful |
| Ahoren | ---- | Barley meal roasted |
| Ara | ---- | A goat |
| Ana | ---- | A sheep |
| Tagarer | ---- | A place of justice |
Benehoare, the name of the natives of Palma.
Beni Hoarie, a tribe of Arabs in Suse between Agadeer and Terodant. 217
Notes
204 This Kohtan is the Joktan, son of Eber, brother to Phaleg, mentioned in Genesis. Chapter x, verse 25.
205 The Oriental punctuation is here adopted.
206 The African Jews find it very difficult in speaking, to distinguish between shim and sim, for they cannot pronounce the sh, ش but sound it like s س; the very few who have studied the art of reading the language, have, however, conquered this difficulty.
207 When they write to any other but Muhamedans, they never salute them with the words, “Peace be with thee,” but substitute—“Peace be to those who follow the path of the true God,” Salem ala min itaba el Uda.
208 “One of the objects I had in view in coming to Europe, was to instruct young Englishmen in the Persian language. I however met with so little encouragement from persons in authority, that I entirely relinquished the plan. I instructed, however, (as I could not refuse the recommendations that were brought to me,) an amiable young man, Mr. S——n, and thanks be to God, my efforts were crowned with success! and that he, having escaped the instructions of self-taught masters, has acquired such a knowledge of the principles of that language, and so correct an idea of its idiom and pronunciation, that I have no doubt, after a few years’ residence in India, he will attain to such a degree of excellence, as has not yet been acquired by any other Englishman.” Vide Travels of Mirza Abu Taleb Khan, vol. i. p. 200.
209 Killem Abimalick signifies the Language of Abimalick; this is evidently an error of Marmol, the Shelluh language is denominated Amazirk; the Berebber Language is denominated Killem Brebber.
210 In reading Mr. William Marsden’s observations on the language of Siwah, at the end of Horneman’s Journal, in page 190, I perceive that the short vocabulary inserted corresponds with a vocabulary of the Shelluh language, which I presented to that gentleman some years past.
213 This is applied to bread when baked in a pan, or over the embers of charcoal, or other fire; but when baked in an oven it is called Agarom (g guttural.)
214 Telde or Tildie is a place in the Atlas mountains, three miles east of Agadeer; the castle is in ruins.
215 The Alarbes, this is the name that the inhabitants of Lower Suse and Sahara have, El Arab or Arabs.
216 One Thomas Nicols, who lived seven years in the Canary Islands, and wrote a history of them, says, that the best account he could get of the origin of the natives, was, that they were exiles from Africa, banished thence by the Romans, who cut out their tongues for blaspheming their gods.
217 For further particulars, see Glasse’s History of the Canary Islands, 4to. page 174.