DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49270#0199
124
J. Abercromby
as an equation; aysuragan (§15) with (Q.) azumen for asemmid, ‘cold’, and (Q.) azrau,
‘rock’; tabona and tafrique (§6), ‘knife’ with (Ghdm.) tafuza, ‘a knife’; tamaragua (§7),
‘bon jour’ with (Q.) tabarakser, ‘adieu’ (Ghdm.) tamasargult, ‘soyez le bienvenue’;
tibicen (§12), ‘a dog-like phantom’ with (Ghdm.) ibi, ‘a dog’, a mistake for aidi ‘dog’;
vacaguare (§9) with (Ghdm.) argras, ‘kill’, a mistake for egres, ‘cut the throat’. Clearly
not one of these equations holds good and all must be rejected as examples of affinity
between Canarian and Berber. It must be remembered, however, that any short comings
on the part of Berthelot in his rendering of Berber words is due to the fact that he
published his remarks on the Canarian language as far back as 1842, or nearly seventy five
years ago. Before that time the Berber dialects had not been sufficiently studied by
competent persons, so that he had to rely on lists of words collected by travelers and
taken down without sufficient exactitude. He was thus at a great disadvantage com-
pared with a modern student.
Beside likenesses with Berber, Berthelot detected, as he believed, a very consider-
able number of Arabic words in the Canarian vocabulary. Some of these equations are,
however, quite unacceptable, e. g. eraohanhan (eraoranhan, §16), ‘God’ was supposed to
be a modification of (Ar.) er-rahman, ‘the merciful’; echeyde (§13) of (Ar.) es-seytan,
‘Satan’; faican or faicas (§12) of (Ar.) fakih, ‘doctor, savant’; guanil (§11) of (Ar.)
al-ganam, ‘a flock of sheep’; amenacoran (almene acoran, §7), ‘my God have pity’, he
believed to be partly Arabic. But ‘pity’ is not one of the meanings of dmdnah, and the
imperative of the verb would take initial i-.
Then he gives a list of words apparently Arabic. Abentahar, Alcoidan, Alguabozeque,
Almabice, Amalhuije, Beneharo, Benrimmon, Bentaguaire, etc., as names of men and
women. Abenguareme, Almaida, Almerchiga, Albarada, Beniche, Benijo, Bentayga,
Beninarfau, etc., as names of places. It is possible that some of these words are Arabic,
but as their meaning is not known there is no certainty that such is the case. Names
beginning with Ben- can be explained by (Berber) uin, ‘he who’ or ui-n ‘that of’, which
might be written vin-, bin- and ben- by Spaniards. And in Beninarfaca (§15) which is a
better reading than Beninarfau, inarfau is not an Arabic word. An exception, however,
is Benrimmon, better Benrimmo (§13), which is translated ‘son of a cripple’. But the
word may well be of introduction later than the date of the conquest of Tenerife.
Berthelot held that Guanche (§3) was derived from Guanscheris or Guanseris (the
Warsenis), a Berber tribe twenty leagues south of Cape Tenez. As this cape lies on the
north coast of Algeria it seems incredible that so remote a tribe should have given its name
to the natives of Tenerife.
On the whole, it may be said that Berthelot’s proofs of affinity between Canarian and
Berber were not very strong, and the words rightly comparable with Berber might be
J. Abercromby
as an equation; aysuragan (§15) with (Q.) azumen for asemmid, ‘cold’, and (Q.) azrau,
‘rock’; tabona and tafrique (§6), ‘knife’ with (Ghdm.) tafuza, ‘a knife’; tamaragua (§7),
‘bon jour’ with (Q.) tabarakser, ‘adieu’ (Ghdm.) tamasargult, ‘soyez le bienvenue’;
tibicen (§12), ‘a dog-like phantom’ with (Ghdm.) ibi, ‘a dog’, a mistake for aidi ‘dog’;
vacaguare (§9) with (Ghdm.) argras, ‘kill’, a mistake for egres, ‘cut the throat’. Clearly
not one of these equations holds good and all must be rejected as examples of affinity
between Canarian and Berber. It must be remembered, however, that any short comings
on the part of Berthelot in his rendering of Berber words is due to the fact that he
published his remarks on the Canarian language as far back as 1842, or nearly seventy five
years ago. Before that time the Berber dialects had not been sufficiently studied by
competent persons, so that he had to rely on lists of words collected by travelers and
taken down without sufficient exactitude. He was thus at a great disadvantage com-
pared with a modern student.
Beside likenesses with Berber, Berthelot detected, as he believed, a very consider-
able number of Arabic words in the Canarian vocabulary. Some of these equations are,
however, quite unacceptable, e. g. eraohanhan (eraoranhan, §16), ‘God’ was supposed to
be a modification of (Ar.) er-rahman, ‘the merciful’; echeyde (§13) of (Ar.) es-seytan,
‘Satan’; faican or faicas (§12) of (Ar.) fakih, ‘doctor, savant’; guanil (§11) of (Ar.)
al-ganam, ‘a flock of sheep’; amenacoran (almene acoran, §7), ‘my God have pity’, he
believed to be partly Arabic. But ‘pity’ is not one of the meanings of dmdnah, and the
imperative of the verb would take initial i-.
Then he gives a list of words apparently Arabic. Abentahar, Alcoidan, Alguabozeque,
Almabice, Amalhuije, Beneharo, Benrimmon, Bentaguaire, etc., as names of men and
women. Abenguareme, Almaida, Almerchiga, Albarada, Beniche, Benijo, Bentayga,
Beninarfau, etc., as names of places. It is possible that some of these words are Arabic,
but as their meaning is not known there is no certainty that such is the case. Names
beginning with Ben- can be explained by (Berber) uin, ‘he who’ or ui-n ‘that of’, which
might be written vin-, bin- and ben- by Spaniards. And in Beninarfaca (§15) which is a
better reading than Beninarfau, inarfau is not an Arabic word. An exception, however,
is Benrimmon, better Benrimmo (§13), which is translated ‘son of a cripple’. But the
word may well be of introduction later than the date of the conquest of Tenerife.
Berthelot held that Guanche (§3) was derived from Guanscheris or Guanseris (the
Warsenis), a Berber tribe twenty leagues south of Cape Tenez. As this cape lies on the
north coast of Algeria it seems incredible that so remote a tribe should have given its name
to the natives of Tenerife.
On the whole, it may be said that Berthelot’s proofs of affinity between Canarian and
Berber were not very strong, and the words rightly comparable with Berber might be