DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49270#0198
Canarian Speech
123
Identities with Berber grammar are also to be observed in the Grand Canary. As
the word Acoran, 'God’ was current in that island it must, as in Tenerife, belong to the
P-language. The Berber use of en to mark the genetive is seen in tamogante en Acoran
'the house of God’ (§7). In the vocabulary if adar in Adargoma, "shoulders of rock’
(§7) is rightly equated with (Berber) azir, ezar, igar 'shoulder’ and with (Ar.) zahr, dahr,
'back’, the Canarian and Berber forms are sufficiently different to allow us to regard adar
as a cognate and not a loan word. The possibility of (Berber) azir, ezar being borrowed
’from Arabic is barred if adar is an old form of (Berber) azir. For the same reason taguazen,
'hogs’ (§7), which has analogy with a Berber and a Hausa word, may belong to the oldest
stratum of the language. If so it exhibits a Berber plural in -en.
In the island of Palma haguayan, aguyan (§9), 'dog’ from its analogy with a Berber
and with a Hamitic word may also be regarded as a cognate.
Although these similarities of grammar between Berber and the language of two or
three of the islands are few in number they can hardly be disputed. If they are granted,
the P-language of two, at any rate, of the Canary Islands represents an earlier phase of
modern Berber and may be regarded as a western branch of Proto-Libyan.
Berthelot’s proofs that Canarian speech in all the Islands was related to Berber
Berthelot laid great stress on the fact that a large proportion of Canarian and Berber
words began with t-. He estimated that out of about seven hundred Canarian words those
with initial t- form about one third of the total number; with initial a-, about one fifth;
with initial g-, about one tenth; with initial i- about one twentieth. A comparison made
with words of diverse Berber dialects collected from the lists of Delaporte, Hodson, and
others, showed in his opinion that the proportion of such initial sounds was not very differ-
ent. It will be observed that Berthelot made his calculations from lists, and not . from
consecutive texts: consequently the percentage of words with initial t- is exaggerated. The
number of such words in a consecutive text of a thousand Tamoseq words is only about
one sixteenth. And in any hundred consecutive words the proportion varies greatly,
ranging from 9% to 31%.
Berthelot gives a list of Canarian words five of which can be satisfactorily compared
with Berber, viz. tagoror (§3), ahoren (§3), ar a (§3), tihaxan (§2), oche (§3). For azamotan
(§12) he gives, on the authority of Ritter, azamitan, 'kneaded barley’ — a word which I
have not found in any Berber vocabulary. He also equates tamacen, 'hog’, an incorrect
form of taguacen (§7) with tamuren, a feminine form of (Shil.) murran, 'a wild pig’. Some
of his comparisons are quite untenable, e. g. abora (§15), 'God’ is compared with (Q.)
arbi, 'God’, a mistake for (Q.) rebbi, 'God’, a loan word from Arabic; anepa (§13) with
agnes or anes (Siwah), 'a stick’, a word not mentioned by Basset and at any rate impossible
123
Identities with Berber grammar are also to be observed in the Grand Canary. As
the word Acoran, 'God’ was current in that island it must, as in Tenerife, belong to the
P-language. The Berber use of en to mark the genetive is seen in tamogante en Acoran
'the house of God’ (§7). In the vocabulary if adar in Adargoma, "shoulders of rock’
(§7) is rightly equated with (Berber) azir, ezar, igar 'shoulder’ and with (Ar.) zahr, dahr,
'back’, the Canarian and Berber forms are sufficiently different to allow us to regard adar
as a cognate and not a loan word. The possibility of (Berber) azir, ezar being borrowed
’from Arabic is barred if adar is an old form of (Berber) azir. For the same reason taguazen,
'hogs’ (§7), which has analogy with a Berber and a Hausa word, may belong to the oldest
stratum of the language. If so it exhibits a Berber plural in -en.
In the island of Palma haguayan, aguyan (§9), 'dog’ from its analogy with a Berber
and with a Hamitic word may also be regarded as a cognate.
Although these similarities of grammar between Berber and the language of two or
three of the islands are few in number they can hardly be disputed. If they are granted,
the P-language of two, at any rate, of the Canary Islands represents an earlier phase of
modern Berber and may be regarded as a western branch of Proto-Libyan.
Berthelot’s proofs that Canarian speech in all the Islands was related to Berber
Berthelot laid great stress on the fact that a large proportion of Canarian and Berber
words began with t-. He estimated that out of about seven hundred Canarian words those
with initial t- form about one third of the total number; with initial a-, about one fifth;
with initial g-, about one tenth; with initial i- about one twentieth. A comparison made
with words of diverse Berber dialects collected from the lists of Delaporte, Hodson, and
others, showed in his opinion that the proportion of such initial sounds was not very differ-
ent. It will be observed that Berthelot made his calculations from lists, and not . from
consecutive texts: consequently the percentage of words with initial t- is exaggerated. The
number of such words in a consecutive text of a thousand Tamoseq words is only about
one sixteenth. And in any hundred consecutive words the proportion varies greatly,
ranging from 9% to 31%.
Berthelot gives a list of Canarian words five of which can be satisfactorily compared
with Berber, viz. tagoror (§3), ahoren (§3), ar a (§3), tihaxan (§2), oche (§3). For azamotan
(§12) he gives, on the authority of Ritter, azamitan, 'kneaded barley’ — a word which I
have not found in any Berber vocabulary. He also equates tamacen, 'hog’, an incorrect
form of taguacen (§7) with tamuren, a feminine form of (Shil.) murran, 'a wild pig’. Some
of his comparisons are quite untenable, e. g. abora (§15), 'God’ is compared with (Q.)
arbi, 'God’, a mistake for (Q.) rebbi, 'God’, a loan word from Arabic; anepa (§13) with
agnes or anes (Siwah), 'a stick’, a word not mentioned by Basset and at any rate impossible