DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49516#0034
CHAPTER III
KERMA IN MODERN TIMES
The site known as Kerma takes its name from a district which lies on the eastern bank of
the Nile between Argo and Tombos, now inhabited mainly by Dongolawi Nubians or
Berbers. The characteristic outward mark of the place is the pair of mud-brick ruins
called “the deffufa of Kerma”; in the Dongolawi tongue Kerma-n deffufa. The word
deffufah or, more properly, diffufa, probably means, in this case, “fort.” Mr. G. W. Murray
offers the following etymology of the word: “Probably from the Old Nubian word Al Fl n d
meaning village. The word appears in one form in the Mahass dialect and in another form
in the Kenus and the Dongolawi dialects. In Mahass, the modern word is diffi, meaning
(1) village or walled village, (2) fortress, (3) the town of Dirr. In the Kenus and the Don-
golawi dialects, the modern word is dib, meaning (1) village, (2) the town of Assuan (Kenus
only).” Mr. Murray is unable to explain the form diffufa as a Nubian form, and thinks it
is an Arabicized corruption of some ancient form of the word. The fairy tale about the
King of Argo, the buried treasure in the Deffufa of Kerma, and the guardian serpent, is
known far and wide in Nubia. It was once related to me by a Kenus from Shellal and once
by a Kenus from Haifa. Both these men spoke of the Deffufa as well-known ruins. In all
probability, therefore, the name Deffufa has great claims to antiquity and, handed down
thus by tradition for at least some centuries, presents a corruption of the old word diffe, a
walled village, a fortress.
The ruins known as Kerman Deffufa are visible from a great distance and appear to
have been noted by all the early travellers. The first visitors in modern times were Messrs.
Waddington and Hanbury, who described the site in their Journal of a Visit to some Parts
of Aethiopia.1 Under date of November 22, 1820, on pages 42-43, Waddington writes:
In three hours fifteen minutes from here [Askan], we arrived at a small village on the shore
named Burgade [Borgeig ?]. An excursion to an old castle [Upper Deffufa], which was five times
as far off as it seemed to our eyes, albeit accustomed to pure air in Italy and elsewhere, made a dif-
ference of about an hour, so that this place [Borgeig] may be reckoned about six miles due south of
Askan. The castle [Upper Deffufa] from a distance had the appearance of a round building sup-
ported by pillars; it is little more than a shapeless heap of mud; the walls are of immense thickness,
and there are holes or caverns underneath, said to be the haunts of wolves. We picked up some bits
of fine blue-glazed earthenware, retaining the colour perfectly, and there are some red burnt bricks
lying near. We passed, in the way to it, some other ruins, chiefly the foundations of houses; an
old withering palm was standing over them. The people have heard from their fathers, that, three
hundred years ago, all the land was cultivated by sakies erected over wells of water found in the
ground; there are proofs of the truth of this tradition at every step, and one such sakie is now in
existence, at more than half a mile from the river. This was the first water we had seen since we
1 By George Waddington, Esq., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; and the Rev. Barnard Hanbury, of
Jesus College, A.M., F.A.S., London, 1822.
14
KERMA IN MODERN TIMES
The site known as Kerma takes its name from a district which lies on the eastern bank of
the Nile between Argo and Tombos, now inhabited mainly by Dongolawi Nubians or
Berbers. The characteristic outward mark of the place is the pair of mud-brick ruins
called “the deffufa of Kerma”; in the Dongolawi tongue Kerma-n deffufa. The word
deffufah or, more properly, diffufa, probably means, in this case, “fort.” Mr. G. W. Murray
offers the following etymology of the word: “Probably from the Old Nubian word Al Fl n d
meaning village. The word appears in one form in the Mahass dialect and in another form
in the Kenus and the Dongolawi dialects. In Mahass, the modern word is diffi, meaning
(1) village or walled village, (2) fortress, (3) the town of Dirr. In the Kenus and the Don-
golawi dialects, the modern word is dib, meaning (1) village, (2) the town of Assuan (Kenus
only).” Mr. Murray is unable to explain the form diffufa as a Nubian form, and thinks it
is an Arabicized corruption of some ancient form of the word. The fairy tale about the
King of Argo, the buried treasure in the Deffufa of Kerma, and the guardian serpent, is
known far and wide in Nubia. It was once related to me by a Kenus from Shellal and once
by a Kenus from Haifa. Both these men spoke of the Deffufa as well-known ruins. In all
probability, therefore, the name Deffufa has great claims to antiquity and, handed down
thus by tradition for at least some centuries, presents a corruption of the old word diffe, a
walled village, a fortress.
The ruins known as Kerman Deffufa are visible from a great distance and appear to
have been noted by all the early travellers. The first visitors in modern times were Messrs.
Waddington and Hanbury, who described the site in their Journal of a Visit to some Parts
of Aethiopia.1 Under date of November 22, 1820, on pages 42-43, Waddington writes:
In three hours fifteen minutes from here [Askan], we arrived at a small village on the shore
named Burgade [Borgeig ?]. An excursion to an old castle [Upper Deffufa], which was five times
as far off as it seemed to our eyes, albeit accustomed to pure air in Italy and elsewhere, made a dif-
ference of about an hour, so that this place [Borgeig] may be reckoned about six miles due south of
Askan. The castle [Upper Deffufa] from a distance had the appearance of a round building sup-
ported by pillars; it is little more than a shapeless heap of mud; the walls are of immense thickness,
and there are holes or caverns underneath, said to be the haunts of wolves. We picked up some bits
of fine blue-glazed earthenware, retaining the colour perfectly, and there are some red burnt bricks
lying near. We passed, in the way to it, some other ruins, chiefly the foundations of houses; an
old withering palm was standing over them. The people have heard from their fathers, that, three
hundred years ago, all the land was cultivated by sakies erected over wells of water found in the
ground; there are proofs of the truth of this tradition at every step, and one such sakie is now in
existence, at more than half a mile from the river. This was the first water we had seen since we
1 By George Waddington, Esq., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; and the Rev. Barnard Hanbury, of
Jesus College, A.M., F.A.S., London, 1822.
14