Amazigh

Meanings

Noun

• A Berber.

Proper Noun

• The Berber language.

Origin

• From Central Atlas Tamazight ⴰⵎⴰⵣⵉⵖ likely brought to European languages via . From the active participle ⴰⵎ and ⴰⵣⵉⵖ, a currently unattested word in Tamazight. Historically Amazigh was identified as meaning “free-man” with suggested connections to “aze” (“to be strong” in Taznatit), or “jeɣeɣ” (“to be brave” in Tamasheq).
• With the regular sound correspondence of Tamazight ɣ to Semitic k, q; the corresponding root in Semitic, a fellow Afroasiatic language, is , which does have the meaning of “free”, “to be purified from excess”, “to dispense of filth or materials”, to improve”, “to free something of inefficiencies”, “to shed its burdens”, “not to be bogged down”, “to allow to thrive or move freely”.