Arabic Loanwords in Amharic

Wolf Leslau

doi:10.1017/S0041977X00133038

Arabic Loanwords in Amharic

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009

Wolf Leslau

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Needless to say the Amharic speakers also have close contact with the speakers of the other Semitic Ethiopic languages as well as of the Cushitic languages. Nearly all the Semitic Ethiopic and Cushitic languages have many Arabic loanwords for the same reasons mentioned above in connexion with Amharic. It is, therefore, often difficult to know whether an Arabic loanword in Amharic came directly from an Arabic dialect or through the intermediary of another Semitic Ethiopic or Cushitic language. Since we have no adequate means at our disposal for a historical treatment of the Semitic Ethiopic vocabulary, we shall most probably never be able to determine the precise origin of some of the words considered here as borrowings, that is to say whether they come directly from an Arabic dialect or through another Semitic Ethiopic or Cushitic language.

Type: Articles
Information: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 19 , Issue 2 , June 1957 , pp. 221 - 244

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X00133038 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1957

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^{page 221 note 1} The abbreviations are as follows: Ayalon, Gunpowder = Ayalon, D., Gunpowder and firearms in the Mamluk kingdom, London, 1956Google Scholar; Cohen, M., Traité = M. Cohen, Traite de langue amharique, Paris, 1936Google Scholar; Nöldeke, NBsS = Noldeke, T., Neue Beiträge zur semitischen Sprachwissenschafl, Strassburg, 1910Google Scholar; Praetorius, Amh. Spr. = Praetorius, F., Die amharische Sprache, Halle, 1879Google Scholar. For Armbruster, Isenberg, and Guidi, see the dictionaries of these authors in the introduction.

^{page 222 note 1} I wish to express my thanks to Professor R. B. Serjeant for his useful suggestions as to the occurrence of some Arabic roots in the Arabic dialects of Southern Arabia.

^{page 223 note 1} In Southern Amharic an original ṡ became ṭ, as is the case in all the South Ethiopic languages, except in Gafat.

^{page 224 note 1} The situation is the same in Tigre and in Tigrinya. Thus, in Tigre: sä'a ‘run’ (Ar. sa'a), but 'abälləš ‘devils’ (Ar. 'iblīs); Tigrinya: säliṭ ‘sesame’ (Ar. salīṭ), but täilš ‘mat’ (Ar. tillīs). The alternance s: š is also found in Sidamo: thus Amharic käsäl ‘charcoal’ passed into Kambatta as kašala, into Qabenna as kašila.

^{page 224 note 2} The situation is the same in Tigre, Tigrinya, and in Agau of Cushitic. Thus, Tigre: 'assubuล ‘morning’ (Ar. 'aṡṡsubḥ), qämiš ‘garment’ (Ar. qamīṡ); Tigrinya: räsas, räšaš ‘lead’ (Ar. raṡāṡ), säräfä, šäräfä ‘change money’ (Ar. 'aṡrafa); Bilin: sadar ‘breast’ (Ar. ṡadar), šum ‘fast’ (Ar.).

^{page 224 note 3} Arabic ṡ is also represented as s in Isenberg's Amharic words transliterated from Arabic: Amh. qäris ‘stinging-nettle’, Ar. qarīs; Amh. säfsaf ‘willow’, Ar. ṡafṡāf; Amh. sa'əb ‘difficult’, Ar. ṡa'b.

^{page 225 note 1} In Isenberg's Amharic words transliterated from Arabic, ğ of Arabic is likewise represented as g and ğ: Amh. gezira ‘island’, Ar. ğazīra; gerib ‘a measure of grain’, Ar. ğarīb; ağana ‘pot’, Ar. 'ağāna; ‘channel’, Ar.

^{page 226 note 1} In Isenberg's Amharic words transliterated from Arabic, the sound t is represented by t: Amh. mitqal ‘weight’, Ar. ; Amh. quta ‘cucumber’, Ar. ; Amh. təqəb ‘hole’, Ar.

^{page 226 note 2} The sounds s, t corresponding to Arabic also occur in Harari, Tigrinya, and Tigre. Thus, Tigrinya: färsi ‘chyme’, Ar. ; təmni ‘eighth of a thaler’, Ar. ; Tigre: 'asbäta ‘bring witness’, Ar. ; 'atafə' ‘three stones of the cooking pot’, Ar. ; Harari: sälāsa ‘Thursday’, Ar. ; tumma ‘garlic’, Ar.

^{page 226 note 3} In Isenberg's Amharic words transliterated from Arabic, the Arabic sound is represented by z: zäkkärä ‘remember’, Ar. ; zärira ‘fragments of sweet flag’, Ar.

^{page 226 note 4} Also Egyptian Arabic nibīt ‘wine’.

^{page 226 note 5} Isenberg's arbad ‘suburbs, boroughs’ transliterated from Ar. 'arbāḍ shows the presentation of Arabic ḍ as d.

^{page 227 note 1} The Arabic is represented as k in all the Ethiopic languages. Harari: kuffi and ‘shoes of European type’, Ar. ; Tigre: 'ākər ‘end’, Ar. ; kaläfa ‘contradict’, Ar. ; Tigrinya: käbär ‘notice’, Ar. ; känzir ‘pig’, Ar. . The situation is the same in the Cushitic languages of Agau and Sidamo. Thus, Bilin: kadam ‘serve’, Ar. ; Bedja: keli ‘be free’, Ar. ; Sidamo: kalaqi ‘create’, Ar.

^{page 227 note 2} M. Cohen, Traité, 35.

^{page 227 note 3} For the alternance ž; ğ, see below.

^{page 227 note 4} M. Cohen, Traité, 36.

^{page 227 note 5} In Isenberg's Amharic words, the symbol represents the Arabic ḥ or: : Amh. ‘chameleon’, Ar. ḥirbā'; Amh. ‘a swarm of locusts’, Ar. ḥarğal; Amh. ‘capers’, Ar. ; Amh. ‘channel’, Ar.

^{page 227 note 6} Arabic ğ is represented as q in nearly all the Ethiopic languages. Thus, Harari: šuqli ‘work’, Ar. šuġl; Tigre: qaflät ‘suddenly’, Ar. ġafia; Tigrinya: qäsäbä ‘to force’, Ar. ġaṡaba; Gurage: baliq, bariq ‘old man’, Ar. bāliġ. It is important to keep in mind Serjeant's statement according to which classical Arabic q is sometimes pronounced as ġ in Southern Arabic, and classical ġ is sometimes pronounced as q. In view of this statement one would have to examine all the Arabic loanwords with ġ represented as q in Semitic Ethiopic and in Cushitic.

^{page 227 note 7} In Isenberg's Amharic words, the Arabic sound ġ is also transliterated as q and g: qäräb ‘willow-tree’, Ar. ġarab; zäqəb ‘soft and tender hair on the skin’, Ar. zaġb; gubäl ‘gulf’, Ar. ġubb, ġubb, ġubba; bägdonis ‘parsley’, Ar. baġdanūs.

^{page 228 note 1} Landberg, Glossaire , 2364, 2474.

^{page 228 note 2} A. Barthélemy, Dictionnaire arabe-français, 647.

^{page 228 note 3} S. Spiro, An Arabic-English vocabulary, 482.

^{page 228 note 4} In Isenberg's Amharic words, the Arabic sound ḥ is also transliterated h or zero: Amh. həğəl ‘partridge’, Ar. ḥağal; Amh. həzmät ‘bundle of wood’, Ar. ḥuzma; Amh. yamur ‘kind of gazelle’, Ar. yaḥmūr.

^{page 230 note 1} Nallino, C.A., L'arabo parlato in Egitto, 2, 3, 5.Google Scholar

^{page 231 note 1} M. Cohen, Traité, 61, 62.

^{page 231 note 2} M. Cohen, op. cit., 34.

^{page 231 note 3} M. Cohen, op. cit., 100.

^{page 232 note 1} M. Cohen, op. cit., 100.

^{page 232 note 2} M. Cohen, op. cit., 196.

^{page 232 note 3} Praetorius, Amh. Spr., 67, considers gubät (I) ‘gulf, bay’ rightly as a transliteration of Ar. ġubb.

^{page 233 note 1} Nöldeke, NBsS, 61, thinks that this root is common to Arabic and Ethiopic.

^{page 233 note 2} E. Cerulli in Guidi, Supplemento, 70, considers Amh. šärif ‘young one who loses his teeth and does not have any’ a loanword from Ar. šarīf ‘noble’ adding ‘scherz.’ (‘by joke’) and compares Amh. baša ‘blind, who has one eye’ with bāšā ‘military title’. The Amh. šārif, however, is to be derived from the Amharic root šrf ‘lose the teeth’.

^{page 233 note 3} Praetorius, Amh. Spr., 29, wrongly connects Amh. qälänġ ‘kind of ivory’ with aġ; ‘tusk’ deriving it from *qäläġ ‘light tusk’ with an insertede n.

^{page 234 note 1} Perhaps taken from Geez ḥəwas that seems to go back to Ar. ḥawāss.

^{page 234 note 2} The Geez gäwz and the Ar. ğawz are considered by Nöldeke, NBsS, 43, as loanwords from Aramaic.

^{page 235 note 1} The Geez läwz and the Ar. lawz are considered by Nöldeke, ib., as loanwords from Aramaic.

^{page 235 note 2} Nöldeke, NBsS, 64, thinks that the root zabib is common to Arabic and Ethiopic.

^{page 235 note 3} The Geez zöyt and the Arabic zayt are considered by Nöldeke, N ḆsS, 42, as loanwords from Aramaic.

^{page 236 note 1} Nöldeke, op. cit., 61, thinks that this root (Ar. širā', Geez šəra') is common to Arabic and Ethiopic.

^{page 237 note 1} Nöldeke, op. cit., 40, considers Geez K^wəhəl as well as Ar. kuḥl loanwords from Aramaic.

^{page 238 note 1} Nöldeke, op. cit., 41, considers Geez ləg^wam and Ar. liğām as loanwords from Aramaic.

^{page 239 note 1} For the various forms of this root in the Arabic dialects, see Marçais, W., Textes arabes de Tanger, 331, under sdğ.Google Scholar

^{page 240 note 1} Dozy, R., Supplement aux dictionnaires arabes, 150.Google Scholar

^{page 244 note 1} The word zar ‘spirit’ itself passed into the various Arabic dialects from Ethiopic.

^{page 244 note 2} It is very tempting to accept Serjeant's suggestion according to which abdäl would come from Ar. 'abdäl, pl. of badīl ‘Derviche ou weli (a mi de Dieu) qui suit immédiatement le quṭb (“le pôle”) dans la hiérarehie des derviches’ (Kazimirski, A. de Biberstein, Dictionnaire arabe français, I, 97)Google Scholar.

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