Ḥamid Ouyachi
@hamidouyachi.bsky.social
word matters, things related to language (focus on Moroccan Tamazight + Tashlḥiyt) translation, poetry, etc.
words in: Rusted Radishes, Tamazgha Studies Journal, Words Without Borders.
blog @ http://tagwrsa.blogspot.com
words in: Rusted Radishes, Tamazgha Studies Journal, Words Without Borders.
blog @ http://tagwrsa.blogspot.com
But, but,... there is a Numidia, Pennsylvania ;)
October 23, 2025 at 7:03 PM
But, but,... there is a Numidia, Pennsylvania ;)
Words in the speech bubble:
if you cannot live with little, you cannot live with a lot...
satiety is in the heart... (slurp)
turn your eye away from that which your paw cannot reach...
if you cannot live with little, you cannot live with a lot...
satiety is in the heart... (slurp)
turn your eye away from that which your paw cannot reach...
October 12, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Words in the speech bubble:
if you cannot live with little, you cannot live with a lot...
satiety is in the heart... (slurp)
turn your eye away from that which your paw cannot reach...
if you cannot live with little, you cannot live with a lot...
satiety is in the heart... (slurp)
turn your eye away from that which your paw cannot reach...
Both Moroccan Tmz & Darija have 'šəʕkūk' for 'bushy untidy hair' and '(a)xənšuš' for 'snout, ugly mug'. Ḥaḍ. has close relatives:
> kaʕšūš : untidy hair
> naxšūš: nose (in C. Ar 'gill, branchia')
</>
> kaʕšūš : untidy hair
> naxšūš: nose (in C. Ar 'gill, branchia')
</>
October 4, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Both Moroccan Tmz & Darija have 'šəʕkūk' for 'bushy untidy hair' and '(a)xənšuš' for 'snout, ugly mug'. Ḥaḍ. has close relatives:
> kaʕšūš : untidy hair
> naxšūš: nose (in C. Ar 'gill, branchia')
</>
> kaʕšūš : untidy hair
> naxšūš: nose (in C. Ar 'gill, branchia')
</>
From 'Qāmūs al-lahža al-Ḥaḍṛamiyya', a few words:
The word for water in Baby Talk in Moroccan Tamazight is: 'əmbuwwa' (same in Siwa, see Gutova). Ḥaḍ. has something very close:
> ambūh, ambuʷh (?)
The word for water in Baby Talk in Moroccan Tamazight is: 'əmbuwwa' (same in Siwa, see Gutova). Ḥaḍ. has something very close:
> ambūh, ambuʷh (?)
October 4, 2025 at 8:37 PM
From 'Qāmūs al-lahža al-Ḥaḍṛamiyya', a few words:
The word for water in Baby Talk in Moroccan Tamazight is: 'əmbuwwa' (same in Siwa, see Gutova). Ḥaḍ. has something very close:
> ambūh, ambuʷh (?)
The word for water in Baby Talk in Moroccan Tamazight is: 'əmbuwwa' (same in Siwa, see Gutova). Ḥaḍ. has something very close:
> ambūh, ambuʷh (?)
Locust in Moroccan Tamazight = tamurġi
Darija = žžṛad
A locust ranging from the Canary Islands to South Kazakhstan was named Dociostaurus maroccanus (thanks to Thunberg 1815). Attempts to rename it Mediterranean didn't stick:
Ar. al-jarād al-murrākušī
Pers. malaḵ-e marākeši
Tur. Fas çekirgesi
etc
Darija = žžṛad
A locust ranging from the Canary Islands to South Kazakhstan was named Dociostaurus maroccanus (thanks to Thunberg 1815). Attempts to rename it Mediterranean didn't stick:
Ar. al-jarād al-murrākušī
Pers. malaḵ-e marākeši
Tur. Fas çekirgesi
etc
September 30, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Locust in Moroccan Tamazight = tamurġi
Darija = žžṛad
A locust ranging from the Canary Islands to South Kazakhstan was named Dociostaurus maroccanus (thanks to Thunberg 1815). Attempts to rename it Mediterranean didn't stick:
Ar. al-jarād al-murrākušī
Pers. malaḵ-e marākeši
Tur. Fas çekirgesi
etc
Darija = žžṛad
A locust ranging from the Canary Islands to South Kazakhstan was named Dociostaurus maroccanus (thanks to Thunberg 1815). Attempts to rename it Mediterranean didn't stick:
Ar. al-jarād al-murrākušī
Pers. malaḵ-e marākeši
Tur. Fas çekirgesi
etc
There is a children's story (The Story of the Egg) told using fingers. It doesn't end with a life plan, but starts with an injustice and ends without a remedy (some get, some don't): dissembling, hierarchy of power, justice denied.
September 19, 2025 at 10:25 PM
There is a children's story (The Story of the Egg) told using fingers. It doesn't end with a life plan, but starts with an injustice and ends without a remedy (some get, some don't): dissembling, hierarchy of power, justice denied.
2. 'collar (with hanging ornaments)'= ̣[t]asəddiy[t] (Taïfi, Azdoud, me :)
PS: Meouak's translation needs to be amended: "... même d'un empan..."
Meouak also cites Prasse & Alojaly, etc. : 'esəddi,...' (Aïr, Niger)
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PS: Meouak's translation needs to be amended: "... même d'un empan..."
Meouak also cites Prasse & Alojaly, etc. : 'esəddi,...' (Aïr, Niger)
</>
September 14, 2025 at 9:35 PM
2. 'collar (with hanging ornaments)'= ̣[t]asəddiy[t] (Taïfi, Azdoud, me :)
PS: Meouak's translation needs to be amended: "... même d'un empan..."
Meouak also cites Prasse & Alojaly, etc. : 'esəddi,...' (Aïr, Niger)
</>
PS: Meouak's translation needs to be amended: "... même d'un empan..."
Meouak also cites Prasse & Alojaly, etc. : 'esəddi,...' (Aïr, Niger)
</>
To explain the Ar. 'ribq': "rope with multiple loops for tying animals", Ibn Sallām al-Ibāḍi (d. 273/887) gives the Berber word 'tas[a|e]ddit' 'as[a|e]ddi iz'.
The word still exists today in CA & SE Tamazight w/ the meanings of:
1. 'restraining rope for multiple animals'= asəddi (Taïfi)
1/
The word still exists today in CA & SE Tamazight w/ the meanings of:
1. 'restraining rope for multiple animals'= asəddi (Taïfi)
1/
September 14, 2025 at 9:35 PM
To explain the Ar. 'ribq': "rope with multiple loops for tying animals", Ibn Sallām al-Ibāḍi (d. 273/887) gives the Berber word 'tas[a|e]ddit' 'as[a|e]ddi iz'.
The word still exists today in CA & SE Tamazight w/ the meanings of:
1. 'restraining rope for multiple animals'= asəddi (Taïfi)
1/
The word still exists today in CA & SE Tamazight w/ the meanings of:
1. 'restraining rope for multiple animals'= asəddi (Taïfi)
1/
Numbers in Amazigh:
A quinary number system (base five) recorded by M. Letourneux around the oasis of Souf (Algeria), before 1860.
A quinary number system (base five) recorded by M. Letourneux around the oasis of Souf (Algeria), before 1860.
September 8, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Numbers in Amazigh:
A quinary number system (base five) recorded by M. Letourneux around the oasis of Souf (Algeria), before 1860.
A quinary number system (base five) recorded by M. Letourneux around the oasis of Souf (Algeria), before 1860.
There is a use that remains very close to this medieval usage, though the verb 'fsu' does not mean 'say, tell...'
FSU: detangle, stretch, unravel (wool, etc.)
From Haddachi:
'iwda ġif-nġ tfəssum awal'
(stop spreading words (telling tales) about us)
What is your source for medieval Tmz? Thanks
FSU: detangle, stretch, unravel (wool, etc.)
From Haddachi:
'iwda ġif-nġ tfəssum awal'
(stop spreading words (telling tales) about us)
What is your source for medieval Tmz? Thanks
September 1, 2025 at 8:29 PM
There is a use that remains very close to this medieval usage, though the verb 'fsu' does not mean 'say, tell...'
FSU: detangle, stretch, unravel (wool, etc.)
From Haddachi:
'iwda ġif-nġ tfəssum awal'
(stop spreading words (telling tales) about us)
What is your source for medieval Tmz? Thanks
FSU: detangle, stretch, unravel (wool, etc.)
From Haddachi:
'iwda ġif-nġ tfəssum awal'
(stop spreading words (telling tales) about us)
What is your source for medieval Tmz? Thanks
Conflict over water was frequent between communities/tribes in Morocco. Stealing water is a serious breach (awttu) and "war" often follows. From Boulifa's collection (1913), a brief description of such a conflict in the Atlas. How does it go on D day?
Translation below:
1/
Translation below:
1/
August 19, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Conflict over water was frequent between communities/tribes in Morocco. Stealing water is a serious breach (awttu) and "war" often follows. From Boulifa's collection (1913), a brief description of such a conflict in the Atlas. How does it go on D day?
Translation below:
1/
Translation below:
1/
Berbers seem to have been present in Kordofan (per H.A MacMichael and Newbold citing others (refs in ALT)): not just the Howara and Zaghawa, but also Zenata. MacMichael mentions also a toponym "Gebel el Zenáti' in Central Kordofán.🤷🏽♂️
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August 17, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Berbers seem to have been present in Kordofan (per H.A MacMichael and Newbold citing others (refs in ALT)): not just the Howara and Zaghawa, but also Zenata. MacMichael mentions also a toponym "Gebel el Zenáti' in Central Kordofán.🤷🏽♂️
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In North. Amazigh dialects the most common word for ‘sling’ is some variant of ‘ildi’.
In Yeou, I came across another word ‘kungari’. He gives it as only occurring in the Figuig dialect.
‘Kungara’ (also ‘Konjara’) can be found as ethnonym in the former Kordofan province of Sudan and in Darfur.
1/
In Yeou, I came across another word ‘kungari’. He gives it as only occurring in the Figuig dialect.
‘Kungara’ (also ‘Konjara’) can be found as ethnonym in the former Kordofan province of Sudan and in Darfur.
1/
August 17, 2025 at 7:32 PM
In North. Amazigh dialects the most common word for ‘sling’ is some variant of ‘ildi’.
In Yeou, I came across another word ‘kungari’. He gives it as only occurring in the Figuig dialect.
‘Kungara’ (also ‘Konjara’) can be found as ethnonym in the former Kordofan province of Sudan and in Darfur.
1/
In Yeou, I came across another word ‘kungari’. He gives it as only occurring in the Figuig dialect.
‘Kungara’ (also ‘Konjara’) can be found as ethnonym in the former Kordofan province of Sudan and in Darfur.
1/
Friday bird bit:
The Grey Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) in my backyard sounds sometimes like R2D2 on the fritz, others like it is doing some serious 'birdsplaining'. This morning I am renaming it "the filibuster bird"!
abcbirds.org/bird/gray-ca...
The Grey Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) in my backyard sounds sometimes like R2D2 on the fritz, others like it is doing some serious 'birdsplaining'. This morning I am renaming it "the filibuster bird"!
abcbirds.org/bird/gray-ca...
June 13, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Friday bird bit:
The Grey Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) in my backyard sounds sometimes like R2D2 on the fritz, others like it is doing some serious 'birdsplaining'. This morning I am renaming it "the filibuster bird"!
abcbirds.org/bird/gray-ca...
The Grey Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) in my backyard sounds sometimes like R2D2 on the fritz, others like it is doing some serious 'birdsplaining'. This morning I am renaming it "the filibuster bird"!
abcbirds.org/bird/gray-ca...
V. Monteil, Contribution à l'étude de la flore du Sahara Occidental (T.2), identifies it as "Maerua Crassifiola"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maerua_...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maerua_...
May 8, 2025 at 1:35 PM
V. Monteil, Contribution à l'étude de la flore du Sahara Occidental (T.2), identifies it as "Maerua Crassifiola"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maerua_...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maerua_...
It is mentioned in al-Išbīlī 'Ɛumdat ṭṭabīb', but no etymology though:
May 3, 2025 at 9:09 PM
It is mentioned in al-Išbīlī 'Ɛumdat ṭṭabīb', but no etymology though:
If 'bahu' can be read as 'empty words', in Tamazight (CA & SE Morocco) there is 'abuhu' = 'hole, orifice, opening', which Naït-Zerrad links, through D. Cohen DRS, to 'bohū': 'vacuity, emptiness' from semitic root BHW/Y, which in ETH gives 'bāha' : 'to dupe' 🤷🏽♂️
March 18, 2025 at 1:58 PM
If 'bahu' can be read as 'empty words', in Tamazight (CA & SE Morocco) there is 'abuhu' = 'hole, orifice, opening', which Naït-Zerrad links, through D. Cohen DRS, to 'bohū': 'vacuity, emptiness' from semitic root BHW/Y, which in ETH gives 'bāha' : 'to dupe' 🤷🏽♂️
Looking @ topography of North Africa's megalakes (postulated to have existed, details in ALT txt), it is not hard to imagine how Crocodylus succus (desert croc), Egyptians' sacred croc spread across NA: fossil records attest same species in Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Niger, Mali, Tchad...
February 20, 2025 at 6:35 PM
Looking @ topography of North Africa's megalakes (postulated to have existed, details in ALT txt), it is not hard to imagine how Crocodylus succus (desert croc), Egyptians' sacred croc spread across NA: fossil records attest same species in Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Niger, Mali, Tchad...
Tamazight (SE Morocco) word of the day:
> iriz : conjoined twin
"iriz is a creature born with two heads, or two creatures with one head, or one creature with eight legs, or six, or three, or (just) two legs: one front leg and one hindleg."
(Source: Bynon)
> iriz : conjoined twin
"iriz is a creature born with two heads, or two creatures with one head, or one creature with eight legs, or six, or three, or (just) two legs: one front leg and one hindleg."
(Source: Bynon)
February 9, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Tamazight (SE Morocco) word of the day:
> iriz : conjoined twin
"iriz is a creature born with two heads, or two creatures with one head, or one creature with eight legs, or six, or three, or (just) two legs: one front leg and one hindleg."
(Source: Bynon)
> iriz : conjoined twin
"iriz is a creature born with two heads, or two creatures with one head, or one creature with eight legs, or six, or three, or (just) two legs: one front leg and one hindleg."
(Source: Bynon)
Excerpt from a Tamazight poem (c. 1933 CA Morocco). A lament, in the face of the colonial power terraforming the landscape to build roads, tunnels. Even the genies of the land are powerless, yet always keen to battle with the locals if they trespass on their realm.
Close to the text transl. 👇🏽
1/
Close to the text transl. 👇🏽
1/
January 21, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Excerpt from a Tamazight poem (c. 1933 CA Morocco). A lament, in the face of the colonial power terraforming the landscape to build roads, tunnels. Even the genies of the land are powerless, yet always keen to battle with the locals if they trespass on their realm.
Close to the text transl. 👇🏽
1/
Close to the text transl. 👇🏽
1/
In Tamazight (SE Morocco), although 'amrabḍ' is used, the more common word is 'agʷrram'.
Meouak citing Faidherbe for Zenaga (needs to be verified), has 'edjfara'
Meouak citing Faidherbe for Zenaga (needs to be verified), has 'edjfara'
December 29, 2024 at 3:53 PM
In Tamazight (SE Morocco), although 'amrabḍ' is used, the more common word is 'agʷrram'.
Meouak citing Faidherbe for Zenaga (needs to be verified), has 'edjfara'
Meouak citing Faidherbe for Zenaga (needs to be verified), has 'edjfara'
Leafing thru J. Robichez "Paroles Berbères de la Résistance: Maroc Central 1935-40"(ed. B. Benachir), got me thinking, there are many administrative borrowings from the French, as expected, but names of weapons are mainly borrowed from Arabic, with some in local Tamazight. A few examples:
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December 10, 2024 at 7:02 PM
Leafing thru J. Robichez "Paroles Berbères de la Résistance: Maroc Central 1935-40"(ed. B. Benachir), got me thinking, there are many administrative borrowings from the French, as expected, but names of weapons are mainly borrowed from Arabic, with some in local Tamazight. A few examples:
1/
1/
Sound quality & onomatopoeias in the High Atlas (Morocco):
Drums & tambourines used in the High Atlas aḥwaš require different levels of tension, to produce a specific sound, depending on their role in the ensemble.
Photo Credit: Dounia Benjelloun-Mezian (Telouet, Morocco)
1/
Drums & tambourines used in the High Atlas aḥwaš require different levels of tension, to produce a specific sound, depending on their role in the ensemble.
Photo Credit: Dounia Benjelloun-Mezian (Telouet, Morocco)
1/
November 29, 2024 at 2:16 PM
Sound quality & onomatopoeias in the High Atlas (Morocco):
Drums & tambourines used in the High Atlas aḥwaš require different levels of tension, to produce a specific sound, depending on their role in the ensemble.
Photo Credit: Dounia Benjelloun-Mezian (Telouet, Morocco)
1/
Drums & tambourines used in the High Atlas aḥwaš require different levels of tension, to produce a specific sound, depending on their role in the ensemble.
Photo Credit: Dounia Benjelloun-Mezian (Telouet, Morocco)
1/
Tamazight (berber) proverb:
> ttšan tirra ddunit
(witing ate the world)
Re verb / subj. agreement - rather than using 2prs.sing.fem it uses 3prs.pl.masc, even though tirra is fem. A common practice in poetry, proverbs, aphorisms, etc.
> ttšan tirra ddunit
(witing ate the world)
Re verb / subj. agreement - rather than using 2prs.sing.fem it uses 3prs.pl.masc, even though tirra is fem. A common practice in poetry, proverbs, aphorisms, etc.
November 26, 2024 at 6:07 PM
Tamazight (berber) proverb:
> ttšan tirra ddunit
(witing ate the world)
Re verb / subj. agreement - rather than using 2prs.sing.fem it uses 3prs.pl.masc, even though tirra is fem. A common practice in poetry, proverbs, aphorisms, etc.
> ttšan tirra ddunit
(witing ate the world)
Re verb / subj. agreement - rather than using 2prs.sing.fem it uses 3prs.pl.masc, even though tirra is fem. A common practice in poetry, proverbs, aphorisms, etc.