Berber

Ber·ber

B0196600 (bûr′bər)n.1. A member of a North African, primarily Muslim people living in settled or nomadic tribes from Morocco to Egypt.2. Any of the Afro-Asiatic languages of the Berbers.

[Arabic Barbar.]

Ber′ber adj.

Berber

(ˈbɜːbə) n1. (Peoples) a member of a Caucasoid Muslim people of N Africa2. (Languages) the language of this people, forming a subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic family of languages. There are extensive differences between dialectsadj3. (Languages) of or relating to this people or their language4. (Peoples) of or relating to this people or their language

Ber•ber

(ˈbɜr bər)

n. 1. a member of any of a group of peoples of the mountains of North Africa and mountains and oases of the Sahara, including, in most usages, the Tuaregs. 2. the group of closely related languages spoken by these peoples: a branch of Afroasiatic. [1835–45; < Arabic barbar < Greek bárbaros; see barbarous]

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	Berber - a member of an indigenous people of northern AfricaAfrican - a native or inhabitant of AfricaAlmoravid - a member of a Muslim dynasty of Berber warriors that flourished from 1049 to 1145 and that established political dominance over northwestern Africa and SpainRiff, Riffian - a Berber living in northern Morocco
	2.	Berber - a cluster of related dialects that were once the major language of northern Africa west of Egypt; now spoken mostly in MoroccoAfrasian, Afrasian language, Afroasiatic, Afro-Asiatic, Afroasiatic language, Hamito-Semitic - a large family of related languages spoken both in Asia and AfricaTuareg - the dialect of Berber spoken by the Tuareg

Translations

berbero

Berber

1. a member of a Caucasoid Muslim people of N Africa 2. the language of this people, forming a subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic family of languages. There are extensive differences between dialects

Berber

the language of the Berbers. It is spoken in the United Arab Republic, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, the western Sahara, Mauritania, Upper Volta, Niger, Nigeria, and the Republic of Chad. It is related to the Hamito-Semitic languages. The language is divided into a large number of dialects (about 300), which can be unified in five basic dialectical groups: Tuareg (about 500,000 people in Libya, Algeria, Mali, Upper Volta, Niger, Nigeria, and Chad); Zenete (over 2 million people in Algeria, the Algerian Sahara, and northern Morocco); Tamazight (about 2 million people in Morocco); Tashelhit (about 2 million people in Morocco); and Zenaga (about 10,000 people in Mauritania). There are about 7 million Berber-speaking people. While the Berber language is losing ground to Arabic in the United Arab Republic, Libya, Tunisia, and Mauritania, the Berber-speaking population is increasing yearly in Algeria and Morocco.

The Berber language has three groups of phonemes—consonants, vowels, and sonants. The accent is very weak; a root may consist of one, two, three, and even four consonants. The phonetic, morphological, syntactical, and lexicological unity of Berber dialects is unconditional, and thus one can speak of one language.

In Berber culture, oral popular art is predominant. From ancient times there have been attempts to give the Berber language and its dialects written form with the assistance of different systems of writing: the Berber Tifinaq and the Arabic and Latin alphabets.

REFERENCES

Zavadovskii, Iu. N. Berberskii iazyk. Moscow, 1967.
Basset, A. “Les parlers berbères.” In Initiation à la Tunisie. Paris, 1950.
Picard, A. “Les parlers berbères.” In Initiation à l’Algérie. Paris, 1957.
Laoust, E. “Les parlers berbères.” In Initiation au Maroc. Paris, 1959.

Berber

noun

Words related to Berber

noun a member of an indigenous people of northern Africa

Related Words

African
Almoravid
Riff
Riffian

noun a cluster of related dialects that were once the major language of northern Africa west of Egypt

Related Words

Afrasian
Afrasian language
Afroasiatic
Afro-Asiatic
Afroasiatic language
Hamito-Semitic
Tuareg