Notes on Kambatta of Southern Ethiopia1

Wolf Leslau

doi:10.2307/1156918

Notes on Kambatta of Southern Ethiopia1

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 August 2012

Wolf Leslau

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The Cushitic group of languages belonging to Oriental Sidamo is spoken to the west, south, and partly to the east of the Gurage domain. The Sidamo languages and dialects are insufficiently known and, with a few exceptions, rather inadequately described. Those known as belonging to this group are Sidamo, Gudella (called Hadiya by the Ṭəmbarro, Kontoma by the Alaba), Kambatta, Ṭəmbarro (a close dialect of Kambatta), Halaba or Alaba, Darasa, and Qabenna (called also Womba by the natives of Qabenna, and Adiya by the Galla). It seems doubtful to me whether Moreno is right in considering Burǧi as belonging to this group.

Type: Research Article
Information: Africa , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , October 1952 , pp. 348 - 359

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1156918 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © International African Institute 1952

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References

^{page 348 note 2} Cerulli, , R.S.O. x (1925), 601Google Scholar n. 2 explains Wȧmbê as a proper noun.

^{page 348 note 3} For some of the languages, see Moreno, M. M., ‘Le mie indagini linguistiche nel Galla-Sidamo’, Oriente Moderno, xviii (1958), 4Google Scholar pages; ‘I recenti studi italiani sulle lingue “Sidama Orientale” e la loro classificazione’, Gli Atmali dell'Africa Italiana, i, 3–4 (1938), 1081–7.

^{page 348 note 4} ‘Note di lingua burgi’, R.S.O. xvii (1938), 350–98.Google Scholar

^{page 348 note 5} ‘Note su alcune popolazioni sidama dell’ ‘Abissinia meridionale’, R.S.O. x (1925), 663–84 ; Studi etiopici, vol. 2, 1938.

^{page 348 note 6} Manuale di Sidamo, 1940.Google Scholar

^{page 348 note 7} I Sidamo fedeli sudditi dell' Impero, 1940; Vocabulary pp. 221–62.Google Scholar

^{page 348 note 8} Ethiopia meridionale, 1890, pp. 463–82.Google Scholar

^{page 348 note 9} Op. cit.

^{page 348 note 10} Da Zeila alle frontiere de Caffa, iii. 465–7.

^{page 348 note 11} R.S.O. x (1925), 599–644.Google Scholar

^{page 348 note 12} ‘Appunti di Cambatta e di Alaba’, Rendiconti della Reale Accademia nazionale dei Lincei, ciasse di scienze morali, storiche e filologiche, ser. 6, vol. xiv (1939), 278–9Google Scholar: ‘Nuove notizie sull’ Alaba e sugli Alaba’, Rassegna di studi etiopici, i (1941), 45–53.Google Scholar

^{page 348 note 13} Studi etiopici, ii. 225–41.

^{page 348 note 14} ‘Appunti sulla lingua darasa’, Rendiconti della Reale accademia dei Lincei, classe di scienze morali, storiche e filologiche, xiii (1937), 211–40.Google Scholar

^{page 348 note 15} ‘Note su alcune popolazioni sidama dell’ Abissinia meridionale’, R.S.O. x (1925), 647–63.Google Scholar

^{page 348 note 16} ‘Appunt i di Cambatta dei Alaba’, Rendiconti della Reale accademia dei Lincei, xiv (1939), 269–77.Google Scholar

^{page 348 note 17} Rossini, C. Conti, Notice sur les manuscrits éthiopiens de la collection d'Abbadie, p. 249 (no. 271), P. 250 (no. 275).Google Scholar

^{page 349 note 1} The abbreviations used in this article are the following: Cerulli = Cerulli, E., ‘Note su alcune popolazioni sidama dell’ Abissinia meridionale’, R.S.O. x (1925), 597–692Google Scholar ; Moreno = Moreno, M. M., ‘Appunti di Cambatta e di Alaba’, Rendiconti della Reale accademia dei Lincei, classe di scienze morali, storiche e filologiche, xiv (1939), 269–79.Google Scholar

^{page 349 note 2} Cerulli 6II transcribes these sounds as ḷ ṇ and considers them as glottalized. Moreno 270 mentions a word amá'ane ‘your mother’, of which he says that it is pronounced amaḍne. It is most probably the stop attack t_n.

^{page 350 note 1} Cerulli, , Studi etiopici, ii, p. 240Google Scholar, considers -te of Sidamo and Darasa as demonstrative.

^{page 350 note 2} Cerulli 648 gives the forms -čóā, -aččoā and -akkiččóā. I did not record the last ending.

^{page 351 note 1} Cf. Amharic -am with the same meaning; it is most probably a Cushitic element. Praetorius, , Amharische Sprache 182Google Scholar, considers it as ‘ein interessantes Stück semitischen Altertums’.

^{page 352 note 1} The article is -i also in the Gurage dialects of Wolane, Zway, and Aymallal.

^{page 352 note 2} The information given by Cerulli 648 is incomplete.

^{page 353 note 1} Cerulli 649 affirms that Kambatta has no possessive suffixed pronouns. Moreno 270 gives the suffixed pronouns as follows: Sg. 1st -'i, 2nd -kki, 3rd masc. -si; pl. 1st -nne, 2nd -'ne (also pronounced -ḍne, that is, ^tne of my recordings), 3rd -ssa.

^{page 353 note 2} Moreno 270, in discussing the personal pronoun of the plural gives the forms náō ‘we’, án'o ‘you’, issō ‘they’ with the variants naoti, an'óti, issoóti, considering -ti as feminine article having the function of the article of the plural. It is quite possible, however, that Moreno's final -ti is the same element as the one of identity mentioned above.

^{page 354 note 1} These forms agree mostly with those given by Moreno 272. From mar ‘leave’: sg. 3 masc. marré (= mar'e), fem. marté, 2 com. marténta, 1st com. marrém (= mar'ém); pl. 3rd com. maréi, 2 com. marténta, 1st com. manném. The forms given by Cerulli 650 are different. From ši ‘kill’: sg. 3rd masc. šémō, fem šiténte, 2nd com. šiténte, Ist com. šémō; pl. 3rd com. šémō; 2nd com. šitenánta, 1st com. šinémō. Cerulli's forms might be those which correspond to the ‘long’ inflection of Sidamo (Cerulli, , Studi etiopici, ii, p. 67Google Scholar; Moreno, M. M., Mauale dt Sidamo, p. 45).Google Scholar

^{page 354 note 2} Note that ə serves as disjunction vowel between the geminated s and the following suffixed morphemes t, n.

^{page 354 note 3} For woqär-nem.

^{page 354 note 4} See also Cohen, M., ‘Du verbe Sidama’, B.S.L., xxvii (1927), 169–200.Google Scholar

^{page 355 note 1} Moreno 275 gives the form itim-ba.

^{page 355 note 2} For the negative morpheme Moreno also gives variant -ba (after consonant), -bba, b'a (after vowel).

^{page 355 note 3} Cerulli 651 gives the following forms: sg. 3 masc. š-am-ba, fem. šitámba (šitántibá), 2 com. šitámba (šitántibá), 1 com. šámba; pl. 3 com. šámba;, 2 com. šitenámba, 1 com. šinámba.

^{page 356 note 1} Moreno 271 gives this form as an imperfect and translates it (p. 273) as present-future; see also Cerulli 650. According to the information I gathered its value is that of the future. For the sg. 3 fem. Moreno gives -ta (instead of -ta'i), for the pl. 3 com. -ta, for the 2 pl. -tenanta. Cerulli 650 considers the form with -ano as durative and gives one single form for the present-future. Thus from ši ‘kill’: sg. 3 masc. šámō, fem. šitánti, 2 com. Śitánti, 1 com. šámō; pl. 3 com. šámō, 2 com. šitenánta, 1 com. šinámō.

^{page 357 note 1} Moreno 275 has the forms: sg. it-tôte, pl. it-tinô-če. Cerulli 651: sg. ši-toti, pl. ši-tenoččiye.

^{page 357 note 2} Cerulli 650 gives for ši ‘kill’: sg. ši, pl. šiye. Moreno 271 has the forms: sg. 2 com. it-i, mar-i; 3 com. it-ûn, mar-ûn; pi. 2 com. it-e, marré. The form the 3rd person, however, is that of the jussive. As for the 2 com. it is different from the form recorded by me.

^{page 357 note 3} Moreno 271 has it-u-wá.

^{page 357 note 4} mt assimilated to nt.

^{page 357 note 5} This is the form I recorded; one would expect woqäräm-näyom bä'a.

^{page 357 note 6} For woqäräm-näyom, mn becoming mm.

^{page 358 note 1} In the contact between the final s of the causative morpheme and the initial t of the verbal suffixed ending the result is either s or ss. So, for instance, woqärsis-o'i instead of woqärsis-to'i.

^{page 358 note 2} Metathesis for woqärsis-nom.

^{page 359 note 1} Metathesis for woqärsis-nəm bä'a

^{page 359 note 2} For woqärsis-t-o.

^{page 359 note 3} Metathesis for woqärsis-näyom.

^{page 359 note 4} Metathesis for woqärsis-nam bä'a.

^{page 359 note 5} Metathesis for woqärsis-nam.

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