Amawal n Tfekka n Wemdan
Lexicon of the Human Body
Part I: The Head, Skull, Forhead, and Brain
By Louisa Sellami
This is the first part of a series of articles that will focus on a lexicon
of the human body. This lexicon, by no means exhaustive, has been collected
from various Amazigh idioms through consultation of several French-Tamazight
and English-Tamazight lexicons and dictionaries. The gathering
of this lexicon started out as a hobby primarily to satisfy a personal
interest and later evolved to include a more or less in-depth analysis. We
hope that this work will interest our readers, as well as specialists in
Tamazight ``revivatisms'' and neologisms.
The objective of this work is two-fold: learning the lexicon describing
the different parts of the human body and understanding its meaning
by examining the roots of each word and searching for its etymology,
whenever possible.
In Tamazight, a noun can be traced back to the radical it derives from by
removing the vowels, the prefixes, and the suffixes. The radical is often
triconsonantal(1) and usually corresponds to a verb. For example, the word
``taddert'' is derived from ``ddr,'' meaning to live. ``Taddert'' is a place
where people live and is extended to mean ``village'' in Kabyle and ``home''
or ``house'' in Tacelhit.
Through our research, we have come to observe that the ``extension
phenomenon,'' where a noun has several closely-related meanings, is quite
prevalent in Tamazight. In the case of the human body, for example, we see that
``abeqqa,'' which in Tamzabt and Taggergrent(2) means ``cheek,'' is extended to
mean ``slap in the face.'' In Kabyle, however, ``abeqqa'' means only ``slap in
the face;'' the word ``cheek'' has been replaced by the Arabic word ``lhenk.''
The Head
- (1) Aqerru, aqerruy (taqerruyt):
- Specific to Kabylie (Algeria) and some regions of the Moroccan middle
Atlas (Snous).
- (2) Taxfact:
- Specific to Snous.
- (3) Tabejna:
- Specific to the Mzab region (Algeria).
- (4) Axsas:
- Demnate (Morocco).
- (5) Ixef, Ighef:
- Used in Algeria (Kabylie, Aures, Chenoua, Mzab, Wargla, Oued Righ,
Ouarsenis), Tuareg territories (Algeria, Mali, Niger), Morocco (Rif, Middle
Atlas, High Atlas), Mauretania (Zenega), and Libya (Nefousa, Ghat, Ghadames).
As seen here, the words ``Ixef'' and ``Ighef'' are the most widely used words
to designate the head. They are common to most Amazigh idioms.
The Skull
- (1) Akerkur, Takerkurt:
- Used in Algeria (East Kabylie, Jijel, Ahaggar) and Morocco (Semlal).
- (2) Aceqlal, agennur:
- Used mainly in Kabylie.
- (3) Takerwayt, taqenqilt:
- Used in Algeria (Mzab, Wargla, and Oued Righ).
The fontanelle is referred to as ``amelghigh'' or ``tamelghight'' in almost
all Amazigh idioms. The ``occiput,'' the back bone of the skull, is called
``tagernint'' in Kabyle. The frontal bone is called ``tawenza'' which,
by extension, in some idioms also designates the forehead (Kabyle) as
well as the frontal hair (Tamzabt and Taggergrent).
The Forhead
- (1) Anyir, Anyar (Tanyirt, Tanyart):
- Used in Algeria (Kabylie, Aures) and Morocco (Rif, Middle and high Atlas).
- (2) Aynar, Taynart:
- Used in the Rif (Morocco).
- (3) Anray, Tanrayt:
- Used in Mzab (Algeria).
- (4) Arnay, Tarnayt:
- Used in Nefousa (Libya).
- (5) Inir (Tinert), Iner, Inar, Anar:
- Used in Algeria (Chenoua, Ahaggar), Egypt (Siwa), and Libya
(Ghat and Ghadames).
- (6) Tidnert:
- Hawwara (Algeria).
- (7) Tidgert:
- Ouarsenis (Algeria).
- (8) Ayendur, Agendur:
- Soummam (Southeast of Kabylie, Algeria).
- (9) Agengur:
- Wargla (Algeria).
- (10) Tawenza:
- Kabylie (Algeria).
- (11) Igenzi:
- High Atlas (Morocco).
- (12) Iri:
- Zenega (Mauretania and Senegal).
The examination of the above word-list leads us to conclude that, in
Tamazight, the word ``forehead'' derives from a triconsonantal root that
contains a combination of the sounds ``n,'' ``y,'' and ``r'' which, although
their positions appear to be unstable, are consistently present in about 42%
of the cases listed here. The transposition of letters or sounds within
a word, which in this case generates the following four combinations ``nyr,''
``nry,'' ``ynr,'' and ``rny,'' by the way all present in the above list,
constitutes an example of what is called in Linguistics metathesis. This
phenomenon, which exists in many languages, is known to be widely spread in
Tamazight. In (6) and (7), only two of the sounds are present, these being
``n'' and ``r'' for (6) and ``y'' and ``r'' for (7). In (7), however, the ``y''
has been replaced by the consonant ``g.'' This instability of the sound ``y''
which sometimes softens into a ``w'' or hardens into a ``g'' depending on the
idiom is one of the many linguistic trends of Tamazight. Items (8) and (9) bear
some resemblance to ``agennur'' (skull). Items (10) and (11) are actually the
same word: ``Tawenza'' or ``Tagenza'' (notice the hardening of ``w'' into a
``g'') is the feminine of ``iwenzi'' (``awenza'') or ``igenzi,'' which
designates the frontal bone. Finally, item (12) is specific to the Zenega
regions. In other Amazigh idioms, it means side or neck.
The Brain
(1) Allagh: Kabylie
(2) Aduf (Adif): Mzab, Wargla, Oued Righ.
(3) Akelkel: Ahaggar
``Aduf'' or ``Adif'' is the general term used to designate marrow. In some
regions, such as Kabylie, it specifically means bone marrow, but in the Mzab,
Wargla, and Oued Righ regions it is extended to the brain which is thought of
as the ``marrow of the skull.''
Notes:
(1) The majority of Tamazight roots are triconsonantal. Although bi and
monoconsonantal roots exist (in significant proportions) as well, they
actually originate from triconsonantal roots which have lost one or two
radicals due to phonetic erosion.
(2) Tamzabt and Taggergrent are the idioms spoken in the Mzab and Wargla
regions (south of Algeria).
References
1. Dallet, Jean Marie, Dictionnaire Kabyle-Francais : parler des At Mangellat,
Societe d'etudes linguistiques et anthropologiques de France, Paris,
1985.
2. Delheure, Jean, Agerraw n iwalen teggargrent-tarumit = Dictionnaire
Ouargli-Francais, SELAF: publie avec le concours du Centre national de
la recherche scientifique, Paris, 1987.
3. Delheure, Jean, Agraw n Yiwalen Tumzabt T-Tfransist = Dictionnaire
Mozabite-Francais, SELAF, Paris, 1984.
4. Masqueray, Emile, Dictionnaire Francais-Touareg: Dialect des Taitoq,
Ernest Leroux, Paris, 1893.
5. Newman, F. William, Kabail Vocabulary, Truber & Co., London, 1887.
6. Chaker, Salem, Textes en Linguistique Berbere: Introduction au Domaine
Berbere, Editions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientific, Paris, 1984.