Bibliography
ABBOU, Isaac D., Musulmans andalous et judéo-espagnols, Casablanca, Antar, 1953.
AYOUN, Richard, “Les Judéo-berbères entre mythe et réalité”, in About the Berbers – history, language, culture and socio-economic conditions, ed. Bo Isaksson and Marianna Laanatza, Upssala, Upssala Universitet, 2004, pp. 74-88.
BEIDER, Alexander, A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Mediterranean Region. Vol. 1: Maghreb, Gibraltar, and Malta, New Haven, Avotaynu Inc., 2017.
BEIDER, Alexander, Origins of Yiddish Dialects, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2015.
BRESC, Henri, Arabes de langue, juifs de religion: l'évolution du judaïsme sicilien dans l'environnement latin, XIIe-XVe siècles, Paris, Bouchène, 2001.
BRIGGS, Lloyd Cabot, GUÈDE, Norina Lami, No more forever: a Saharan Jewish town, Cambridge, Peabody Museum, 1964.
BRUNOT, Louis, MALKA, Elie, Textes judéo-arabes de Fès, Rabat, Typo-litho École du Livre, 1939.
CALLASANTI-MOTYLINSKI, Adolphe de, Le Djebel Nefousa. Transcription, traduction française et notes avec une étude grammaticale, Paris, Ernest Leroux, 1898.
CAZÈS, Davis, Essai sur l’histoire des israélites de Tunisie, Paris, A. Durlacher, 1888.
CHOURAQUI, André, Marche vers l’occident: Les Juifs d’Afrique du Nord, Paris, PUF, 1952.
COHEN, David, Le parler arabe des juifs de Tunis. Vol. 1: Textes et documents linguistiques et ethnographiques, The Hague-Paris, Mouton, 1964.
COHEN, Mordecai, Higgid Mordecaï (ed. Harvey E. Goldberg), Jerusalem, Ben Zvi Institute, 1981.
COLIN, Georges Séraphin, Arabe marocain, Aix-en-Provence, Edisud, 1999.
CORCOS, David, Studies in the history of the Jews of Morocco, Jerusalem, R. Mass, 1976.
DALLET, Jean-Marie, Dictionnaire kabyle-français, Paris, Selaf, 1982.
DESPOIS, Jean, Le Djebel Nefousa (Tripolitaine), étude géographique, Paris, Larose, 1935.
DESTAING, Edmond, Dictionnaire français-berbère (dialecte des Beni-Snous), Paris, E. Leroux, 1914.
DESTAING, Edmond, Etude sur la Tachelḥît de Soûs -Vocabulaire français-berbère, Paris, E. Leroux, 1920.
DIANOUX, Hugues Jean de, "Remarques à propos de l’origine apparemment berbère des noms de familles juives d’Afrique du Nord", in Juifs et judaïsme en Afrique du Nord dans l’antiquité et le haut Moyen-Âge, ed. Carol Lancu and Jean-Marie Lassère, Montpellier, Centre de Recherches et d’Études Juives et Hébraïques, 1985, pp. 103-111.
DRAY, Maurice, Dictionnaire français-berbère – Dialecte de Ntifa, Paris, L’Harmattan, 1998.
DURAN, Simon ben Ṣemaḥ, Tashbaṣ I-III, Amsterdam, 1738-1739.
EISENBETH, Maurice, Les Juifs de l'Afrique du Nord – Démographie et onomastique, Algiers, 1936.
GAUTIER, Emile-Félix, Le passé de l’Afrique du Nord: Les siècles obscurs, Paris, Payot, 1964.
GOLDBERG, Harvey E., "Patronymic groups in a Tripolitanian Jewish village: reconstruction and interpretation", Jewish Journal of Sociology 9 (1967), pp. 209-226.
GOLDBERG, Harvey E., "The social context of North African Jewish patronyms", Folklore Research Center Studies 3 (1972), pp. 245-258.
HAMET, Ismaël, Les Juifs du nord de l'Afrique (noms et surnoms), Paris, Société d'Éditions Géographiques, Maritimes et Coloniales, 1928.
HAYOUN, Victor, "Jewish names, surnames, and nickname of Nabeul, Tunisia", in Pleasant are their names. Jewish names in the Sephardi diaspora, ed. Aaron Demsky, Bethesda, University Press of Maryland, 2010, pp. 176-178.
HIRSCHBERG, Haim Zeev, "The problem of the Judaized Berbers", Journal of African History 4 (1963), pp. 313-339.
IBÁÑEZ, Esteban, Diccionario Rifeño-Español, Madrid, Instituto de Estudios Africanos, 1949.
IBN KHALDOUN, Histoire des Berbères et des dynasties musulmanes de l’Afrique Septentrionale, Algiers, Imprimerie du Gouvernement, 1852.
JORDAN, Antoine, Dictionnaire berbère-français (dialectes techelhit), Rabat, Omnia, 1934.
LAREDO, Abraham I., Les noms des juifs du Maroc – Essai d'onomastique judéo-marocaine, Madrid, Instituto Benito Arias Montano, 1978.
LÉVY, Simon, Parlers arabes des Juifs du Maroc. Histoire, sociolinguistique et géographie générale, Zaragoza: Instituto de Estudios Islámicos y del Oriente Próximo, 2009.
MARCIANO, Eliahou, Les sages d'Algérie: dictionnaire encyclopédique des sages et rabbins d'Algérie, du haut moyen-âge à nos jours, Marseille, IMMAJ, 2002.
MARTY, Paul, "Folklore tunisien. L’onomastique des noms propres de personnes", Revue des études islamiques 4 (1936), pp. 363-432.
MONTEIL, Vincent, "Les Juifs d'Ifrane (Anti-Atlas Marocain)", Hespéris - Archives berbères et builletin de l’Institut des Hautes-Etudes Marocaines 35 (1948), pp. 151-162.
NAIM, Joseph ben, Malkhei Rabbanan, Jerusalem, Abecassis, 1931.
PASCON, Paul, SCHROETER, Daniel, "Le cimetière juif d’Iligh (1751-1955). Etude des épitaphes comme documents d’histoire sociale", Revue de l’Occident musulman et de la Méditeraanée 34 (1982), pp. 39-62.
PÉREZ I PONS, Eduard (ed.), Fonts pera l'estudi de la comunitat jueva de Mallorca: regesta i bibliografia, Barcelona, PPU, 2005.
PREMARE, Alfred Louis de et al., Langue et culture marocaines - Dictionnaire arabe-français, 12 vols, Paris, L’Harmattan, 1993-1999.
SCHIMMEL, Annemarie, Islamic Names. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 1995.
SCHROETER, Daniel J., "La découverte des juifs berbères", in Relations Judéo-Musulmanes au Maroc: perceptions et réalités, ed. Michel Abitbol, Paris, Stavit, 1997, pp. 169-187.
SEBAG, Paul, Les noms des juifs de Tunisie. Origine et significations, Paris, l'Harmattan, 2002.
SEGONZAC, René de, Voyages au Maroc (1899-1901), Paris, A. Colin, 1903.
SLOUSCHZ, Nahum, Hébræo-phéniciens et Judéo-Berbères. Introduction à l’histoire des juifs et du judaïsme en Afrique, Paris, Ernest Leroux, 1908.
SLOUSCHZ, Nahum, Travels in North Africa, Philadelphia, The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1927.
SLOUSCHZ, Nahum, Un voyage d’études juives en en Afrique, Paris, C. Klincksieck, 1909.
TAÏEB, Jacques, "Juifs du Maghreb: onomastique et langue, une composante berbère?", in Encyclopédie Berbère, 26, Aix-en-Provence, Edisud, 2004, pp. 3969-3975.
TAÏFI, Miloud, Dictionnaire tamazight-français (parlers du Maroc central), Paris, L’Harmattan-Awal, 1991.
TALBI, Mohamed, "Un nouveau fragment de l'histoire de l'Occident musulman, 62-196 / 682-812, L'épopée d'Al Kahina", Cahiers de Tunisie 19.73-74 (1971), pp. 19-52.
TAVARES, Maria J. P. Ferro, Os judeus em Portugal no século XV, vol. 2, Lisboa, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 1984.
TOLÉDANO, Joseph, Une histoire des familles – Les noms de famille des juifs d'Afrique du Nord: Maroc, Algérie, Tunisie; des origines à nos jours, Jerusalem, Ramtol, 1998.
TOLEDANO, Jacob Moses, Ner ha-Ma‘arav, Jerusalem, Lunz, 1911.
WEHR, Hans, A Dictionary of modern written Arabic, Ithaca, Spoken Language Services, 1976.
WEXLER, Paul, The Non-Jewish origins of the Sephardic Jews, Albany, State University of New York, 1996.
Top of page
Notes
About some of these aspects see Daniel J. Schroeter, "La découverte des juifs berbères", in Relations Judéo-Musulmanes au Maroc: perceptions et réalités, ed. Michel Abitbol, Paris, Stavit, 1997, pp. 169-187.
The most detailed scientific discussion of the historical aspects of the issue of JUDEO-BERBERS appears in Haim Zeev Hirschberg, "The problem of the Judaized Berbers", Journal of African History 4 (1963), p. 313- 339. The following quotes from medieval Arabic authors are taken from his text (p. 314-315).
The classical French translation of this passage by de Slane (Ibn Khaldoun [Ibn Khaldûn], Histoire des Berbères et des dynasties musulmanes de l’Afrique Septentrionale, Algiers, Imprimerie du Gouvernement, 1852, vol.1, pp. 208-209) is inexact. It omits the expression “it is possible” (see Mohamed Talbi, "Un nouveau fragment de l'histoire de l'Occident musulman, 62-196 / 682-812, L'épopée d'Al Kahina", Cahiers de Tunisie 19 (1971), 73-74, p. 42).
See Ibn Khaldoun, Histoire..., vol. 1, p. 198, 208, 213-214, 340-342 about Al-Kâhina, and p. 207-209, 211, 215 about Christian and pagan Berbers.
Nahum Slouschz, Hébræo-phéniciens et Judéo-Berbères. Introduction à l’histoire des juifs et du judaïsme en Afrique, Paris, Ernest Leroux, 1908, p. 339, 340, 354.
Richard Ayoun (“Les Judéo-berbères entre mythe et réalité,” About the Berbers – history, language, culture and socio-economic conditions (ed. Bo Isaksson and Marianna Laanatza), Upssala, Upssala Universitet, 2004, pp. 74-88) accurately indicates the absence of any reliable source confirming the historicity of Al-Kâhina. Yet, he makes the same misinterpretation as Slouschz stating that Ibn Khaldûn indicates the Jewish religion professed by Al-Kâhina
See M. Talbi, "Un nouveau fragment...”, p. 42.
One can also note that Ibn Khaldûn (Histoire..., vol. 1, p. 177) quotes the Arabic geographer Al-Bakri (11th century) who asserted that Berber people were originally chased from Syria by Jews. As pointed above, links to Syria and “powerful Jews” also appear in the aforementioned sentence where Ibn Khaldûn discusses the origins of Judaism among Berbers. If to this observation we add the fact that this author describes the genealogy of Berbers in a style similar to biblical genealogies and making regular references to the biblical text (compare Ibn Khaldûn, Histoire..., vol. 1, pp. 169-179), one cannot exclude the possibility that the whole Jewish connection of Berbers was introduced by this author for symbolic reasons.
Compare, for example, Hans Wehr, A Dictionary of modern written Arabic, Ithaca, Spoken Language Services, 1976, p. 844. The same translation also appears in the footnote to the text by Ibn Khaldûn made by the French translator de Slane (Ibn Khaldoun, Histoire..., vol. 1, p. 340) where the Hebrew word Cohen is also mentioned. According to the quotes he provides, Slouschz used the same edition of the book by Ibn Khaldûn and consequently he could not overlook the footnote in question. Clearly, he ignored the direct Arabic explanation that was not fitting his own theory. The approach by Emile-Félix Gautier (Le passé de l’Afrique du Nord: Les siècles obscurs, Paris, Payot, 1964, pp. 210-211, 256) is similar enough. He (incorrectly) states that “Kahena” means ‘female priest’ in Arabic, Hebrew, and Punic, favors the Hebrew derivation and proclaims that the link between the Zenata Berber group (to which belonged Jarâwa) and the Judaism is undeniable. Actually, the Arabic ‘soothsayer’ and the Hebrew כהן (ּCohen) ‘priest’ are two independent words. Yet, the coincidence between their three consonants is not totally fortuitous: Arabic and Hebrew are related Semitic languages and the words in question are based on cognate roots.
See N. Slouschz, Hébræo-phéniciens..., pp. 449-451 and Nahum Slouschz, Un voyage d’études juives en en Afrique, Paris, C. Klincksieck, 1909, p. 13.
Ibn Khaldûn Histoire..., vol.1, p. 209, 215.
N. Slouschz, Hébræo-phéniciens..., p. 412-447
Davis Cazès, Essai sur l’histoire des israélites de Tunisie, Paris, A. Durlacher, 1888, p. 169-179.
N. Slouschz, Hébræo-phéniciens...
Among them are Hamet (Les Juifs...), Eisenbeth (Les Juifs...), and Tolédano (Une histoire...) (see section 4).
Paul Sebag, Les noms des juifs de Tunisie. Origine et significations, Paris, l'Harmattan, 2002.
D. Cazès, Essai..., p. 175.
The comparison of the two sources yields the following results: (1) 58 names appear in both lists, (2) 10 names listed by Cazès are not present in the list by Slouschz, (3) 13 names listed by Slouschz appear in other lists given by Cazès (Essai..., pp. 175-178), that is, among surnames whose etymology was clear to the author, and (4) only three surnames in the list by Slouschz (Arbib, Lalo, and Nefoussi) seem to be absent from the book by Cazès. Arbib and Lalou (equivalent to Lalo) appear in other sources from Tunisia. The “rigor” of the scholarship of the list provided by Slouschz can also be gauged by the fact that it includes an important number of spelling errors in comparison to the text by Cazès including Dania < the original form Dana, Fregoui < Fregoua, Messari < Messas, Metoch < Mettodi, Ouzani < Ouzan, Saied < Souid, Serous < Serour, Schoui < Stioui, Sinourf < Sinouf, Sir < Sis, Sitrouq < Sitrouk, Toubiani < Toubiana, and Zerousi < Zerouk.
Isaac D. Abbou, Musulmans andalous et judéo-espagnols, Casablanca, Antar, 1953, p. 391
Compare Adolphe de Callasanti-Motylinski, Le Djebel Nefousa. Transcription, traduction française et notes avec une étude grammaticale, Paris, Ernest Leroux, 1898, pp. 117-120 and Jean Despois, Le Djebel Nefousa (Tripolitaine), étude géographique, Paris, Larose, 1935.
Mordecai Cohen, Higgid Mordecaï (ed. Harvey E. Goldberg), Jerusalem, Ben Zvi Institute, 1981, p. 224.
Eduard Pérez i Pons (ed.), Fonts pera l'estudi de la comunitat jueva de Mallorca: regesta i bibliografia, Barcelona, PPU, 2005, p. 196.
Simon ben Ṣemaḥ Duran, Tashbaṣ I-III, Amsterdam, 1738/1739, n° I.21
Henri Bresc, Arabes de langue, juifs de religion: l'évolution du judaïsme sicilien dans l'environnement latin, XIIe-XVe siècles, Paris, Bouchène, 2001, p. 87, 289, 44, 151
Paul Wexler (The Non-Jewish origins of the Sephardic Jews, Albany, State University of New York, 1996, p. 127) misuses the medieval Iberian reference to a Jew called Nafuci as “evidence” about the Berber origin of certain Spanish Jews.
N. Slouschz, Un voyage..., p. 12, see also Nahum Slouschz, Travels in North Africa, Philadelphia, The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1927, p. 224
Ismaël Hamet, Les Juifs du nord de l'Afrique (noms et surnoms), Paris, Société d'Éditions Géographiques, Maritimes et Coloniales, 1928.
All other authors whose works are discussed below in this section actually took almost all the correct Berber connections and explanations from his book.
I. Hamet, Les Juifs du nord de l'Afrique…, p. 14.
The surname and its spelling variants appear in Jewish sources as ברהאנץ M. Cohen, Higgid..., p. 229) and בארהנץ (tombstone inscription from the Borgel cemetery of Tunis), both with internal he (ה) and the final tsadi (ץ). The same two letters are also present in the earliest reference in Maghreb to a variant of this surname in question: אלבראהניץ (* Albaranes) appears among the leaders of the community of expellees from Spain to Fez (1494) (Jacob Moses Toledano, Ner ha-Ma‘arav, Jerusalem, Lunz, 1911, p. 78). We find no equivalent to these two sounds in branes, the Berber Tamazight name for the tribe in question.
I. Hamet, Les Juifs du nord de l'Afrique…, p. 4-6
Maurice Eisenbeth, Les Juifs de l'Afrique du Nord – Démographie et onomastique, Algiers, 1936.
M. Eisenbeth, Les Juifs de l'Afrique du Nord…, p. 72.
About the directions of migrations of Jews between various countries of Maghreb see: Alexander Beider, A dictionary of Jewish surnames from the Mediterranean region, vol.1: Maghreb, Gibraltar, and Malta, New Haven, Avotaynu Inc., 2017, p. 84-98
See exact references to these given names in the corresponding entries of: A. Beider, A dictionary….
It is not necessarily derived from the word meaning ‘lamb’ (see A. Beider, A dictionary…, p. 308).
M. Eisenbeth (Les Juifs..., p. 124) seems to be the first to suggest the Berber origin for the surname Ergas; compare Berber Kabyle arḡaz ‘man’ (Jean-Marie Dallet, Dictionnaire kabyle-français, Paris, Selaf, 1982, p. 715). This etymology is regularly cited by other authors. Yet, the Berber connection is highly implausible: we deal with a fortuitous phonetic coincidence. In Maghreb, Ergas is known as a Jewish surname only in the city of Tunis and, more precisely, in the community formed by migrants from Italy. Earliest references date from the end of the 17th century. Their text indicates explicitly that bearers of the surname Ergas originate from the city of Livorno. Outside of Livorno, Ergas is commonly found in various other communities formed by former Crypto-Jewish migrants from Portugal and Spain including Amsterdam, Hamburg, and London, sometimes in combination with typical Iberian Christian surnames (Gomes Ergas, Ergas Henriquez). These references exclude the possibility of the Berber origin: the surname is clearly of ultimate Iberian origin. Note also references to the Jewish bearers of the surname Ergas in 15th -century Portugal (see Maria J. P. Ferro Tavares, Os judeus em Portugal no século XV, vol. 2, Lisbon, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 1984, p. 57, 145, 242, 288).
André Chouraqui, Marche vers l’occident: Les Juifs d’Afrique du Nord, Paris, PUF, 1952, p. 132.
David Cohen, Le parler arabe des juifs de Tunis. Vol. 1: Textes et documents linguistiques et ethnographiques, The Hague-Paris, Mouton, 1964, p. 1.
Abraham I. Laredo. Les noms des juifs du Maroc – Essai d'onomastique judéo-marocaine, Madrid, Instituto Benito Arias Montano, 1978, p. 84-86.
About the age of Jewish surnames in Maghreb see A. Beider, A dictionary..., p. 57-84.
Jean-Frédéric Schaub, Les Juifs du roi d'Espagne (Oran 1509-1669), Paris, Hachette Littératures, 1999, p. 222; J. M. Toledano, Ner..., p. 124.
Joseph Ben Naim, Malkhei Rabbanan, Jerusalem, Abecassis, 1931, p. 29.
A. I. Laredo, Les noms des juifs du Maroc…, p. 171-172.
Hugues Jean de Dianoux,"Remarques à propos de l’origine apparemment berbère des noms de familles juives d’Afrique du Nord", in Juifs et judaïsme en Afrique du Nord dans l’antiquité et le haut Moyen-Âge, ed. Carol Lancu and Jean-Marie Lassère, Montpellier, Centre de Recherches et d’Études Juives et Hébraïques, 1985, p. 103-111.
Joseph Tolédano, Une histoire des familles – Les noms de famille des juifs d'Afrique du Nord: Maroc, Algérie, Tunisie; des origines à nos jours, Jerusalem, Ramtol, 1998.
Jacques Taïeb, "Juifs du Maghreb: onomastique et langue, une composante berbère?", in Encyclopédie Berbère, 26, Aix-en-Provence, Edisud, 2004, p. 3969-3975.
The Jewish surname Taous is known in the city of Algiers only (A. Beider, A dictionary…, p. 598). Most likely, it is derived from the identical female given name (‘peahen’) used in Algeria by both Jews and Muslims. As a result, any link between this surname and the toponym Et Taous in the Berber-populated area of southeastern Morocco is highly unlikely.
N. Slouschz, Hébræo-phéniciens..., p. 469.
D. Cazès, Essai..., p. 175.
N. Slouschz, Hébræo-phéniciens..., p. 469.
For example, Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 6, p. 270 and P. Wexler, The Non-Jewish origins..., p. 127-128.
Ibn Khaldoun, Histoire..., vol. 3, p. 252.
In this section, Jewish surnames derived from the discussed given names appear in brackets [].
The only reference known outside of Morocco corresponds to the birth record of Idir Ben David Ben Youssef (1891, northwestern Algeria). The surname reveals the Moroccan origin of the family: it represents an Arabicized form of Ben David Ouyoussef known in Morocco only. In no other civil record for all of Algeria (19th century) we find any other reference to this given name or its variants.
Miloud Taïfi, Dictionnaire tamazight-français (parlers du Maroc central), Paris, L’Harmattan-Awal, 1991, p. 70.
J.-M. Dallet, Dictionnaire..., p. 152.
David Corcos, Studies in the history of the Jews of Morocco, Jerusalem, R. Mass, 1976, p. 184-195.
About these suffixes see, Annemarie Schimmel, Islamic Names. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 1995, p. 69, 75; Georges Séraphin Colin, Arabe marocain, Aix-en-Provence, Edisud, 1999, p. 75-77.
In section 5 of this article, the Judeo-Arabic pronunciation of various given names discussed by various authors is reconstructed. Corcos, Hamet, Hayoun and others do not provide the exact forms: they make no distinction between full and reduced vowels, as well as between the long and the short ones. A more plausible etymology for the given name Məšîš (Mechich) is given below in this section, note that this surname has the initial vowel that does not appear in Berber Tarifit amšiš ‘cat’ (Esteban Ibáñez, Diccionario Rifeño-Español, Madrid, Instituto de Estudios Africanos, 1949, p. 35). In other Berber idioms the cognate word does not sound close to this given name at all, compare Tamazight mušš (M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 440).
I. Hamet, Les Juifs du nord de l'Afrique…, p. 16.
M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 879.
In the lists of Berber given names used in southern Morocco (M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 878-879) and eastern Algeria (J.-M. Dallet, Dictionnaire..., p. 1027-1035) bisyllabic forms ending in –u, -i, or (mainly for women) –a are commonplace.
I. D. Abbou (Musulmans andalous.., p. 400) speaks about “ridiculous transformations” of biblical names in the South giving such examples as Bagga, Beggo, Bihi, Dokho, Doudou, Haki, Hako, Heddo, Hekko, and Izzo.
G.S. Colin, Arabe..., p. 74, 76.
See Victor Hayoun, "Jewish names, surnames, and nickname of Nabeul, Tunisia", in Pleasant are their names. Jewish names in the Sephardi diaspora, ed. Aaron Demsky, Bethesda, University Press of Maryland, 2010, p. 176-178. Most likely, in the last two examples we deal with the long /î/ in the first syllable.
G. S. Colin (Arabe..., p. 73) mentions the existence of the following Arabic diminutive pattern: three consonants of which the second one is following by the long vowel /î/. Among his examples one finds: Jewish Brîhmu from (I)brâhîm ‘Abraham’, Muslim Ḥmîdu from Ḥməd ‘Ahmed’ and Mbîrku from Mbârək. This pattern, typical for northwestern Morocco, takes its origin from the Standard Arabic diminutive pattern. It is unclear whether its final vowel – u was influenced by Berbers or not. In Judeo-Arabic of Tunis, we find diminutive forms of given names following the same pattern, but with ay in place of /î/ (D. Cohen, Le parler..., p. 168). This pattern is structurally equivalent to the above pattern from northern Morocco because it is precisely in Tunis that the regular Arabic diminutive forms have a variant with the diphthong ay in place of the long vowel î peculiar to Morocco and Algeria. Note also that in all the above Jewish forms from northern Tunisia, the vowel of the first syllable is precisely /ay/ or /î/. In other words, these Tunisian given names are clearly of Arabic rather than Berber origin.
D. Corcos, Studies..., pp. 183-197.
Numerous forms using one of the two patterns discussed in this paragraph appear in the list of Berber given names from eastern Algeria compiled by J.-M. Dallet, Dictionnaire..., pp. 1027-1035): (a) first subgroup: Caca, Fafa, Jijji, Juju, Kuku, Nunu, Ṭiṭi, and Tutu; (b) second subgroup: ‘Jaja, Hbubu, Ḥmimi, and Ṭiṭem. Yet, we also find several forms—such as Aichoucha (from Aicha), Aloulou and Fafani (from Afouna)—used by Arabic-speaking Muslims in Tunisia (Paul Marty, "Folklore tunisien. L’onomastique des noms propres de personnes", Revue des études islamiques 4 (1936), p. 390).
V. Hayoun, "Jewish names...", pp. 176-179.
M. Cohen, Higgid..., pp. 224-228.
D. Corcos, Studies..., pp. 183-191.
Examples taken from René de Segonzac, Voyages au Maroc (1899-1901), Paris, A. Colin, 1903, p. 97.
M. Cohen, Higgid..., p. 224.
See A. Beider, A dictionary..., p. 183-188.
This section gives the Hebrew spellings of surnames if they are available. These spellings are useful to corroborate etymological hypotheses because they provide additional information in comparison to the spellings in Latin characters. For example, the distinction between /t/ and its emphatic equivalent /ṭ/ via Latin characters is impossible. Yet, in the Judeo-Arabic spelling these sounds correspond to different Hebrew characters, tav (ת ) and tet (ט ), respectively.
J.-M. Dallet, Dictionnaire..., p. 948.
Solomon ben Ṣemaḥ Duran, Tashbaṣ IV: Ḥut ha-Meshullash, Amsterdam, 1738/1739, n° 6.
J.-M. Dallet, Dictionnaire..., p. 839.
J.-M. Dallet, Dictionnaire..., p. 518.
M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 878.
Lloyd Cabot Briggs and Norina Lami Guède, No more forever: a Saharan Jewish town, Cambridge MA, Peabody Museum, 1964, p. 44.
M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 165.
Simon Lévy, Parlers arabes des Juifs du Maroc. Histoire, sociolinguistique et géographie générale, Zaragoza: Instituto de Estudios Islámicos y del Oriente Próximo, 2009, p. 146.
See section 7.
E. Ibáñez, Diccionario..., p. 35.
Edmond Destaing, Dictionnaire français-berbère (dialecte des Beni-Snous), Paris, E. Leroux, 1914, p 148.
In this list, only one source for Tamazight is used: M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire.... It is by far more detailed than any published dictionary of Tashelhit, for which the following sources have been used: (1) Antoine Jordan, Dictionnaire berbère-français (dialectes techelhit), Rabat, Omnia, 1934; (2) Maurice Dray, Dictionnaire français-berbère – Dialecte de Ntifa, Paris, L’Harmattan, 1998; and (3) Edmond Destaing, Etude sur la Tachelḥît de Soûs -Vocabulaire français-berbère, Paris, E. Leroux, 1920. A few names in this list can be based on Tarifit too since similar words are also found in Tarifit: Amghar, Amouzig, Aoudai, and Siksou.
M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 38.
M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 252.
M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 351.
M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 354.
M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 408, A. Jordan, Dictionnaire..., p. 31.
M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 417, M. Dray, Dictionnaire..., p. 238
M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 447, M. Dray, Dictionnaire..., p. 60.
M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 639, A. Jordan, Dictionnaire..., p. 108.
A. Jordan, Dictionnaire..., p. 155.
M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 82, M. Dray, Dictionnaire..., p. 277.
A. Jordan, Dictionnaire..., p. 46, M. Dray, Dictionnaire..., p. 430.
A. Jordan, Dictionnaire..., p. 51, M. Dray, Dictionnaire..., p. 238.
A. Jordan, Dictionnaire..., p. 52.
M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 805
M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 449.
M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 122.
E. Destaing, Etude..., p. 291.
M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 684
M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 684
M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 803.
M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 390.
M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 117.
M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 122.
M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 416
M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 83.
A. Jordan, Dictionnaire..., p. 107.
M. Dray, Dictionnaire..., p. 337.
P. Wexler (The Non-Jewish origins..., p. 128) points to the existence of the surnames Ohayon and Benhayoun in Maghreb and Hayon in the communities formed by expellees from Spain in the Ottoman Empire. From that, he concludes that the original Berber surname Ohayon was “de-Berberized” in Spain prior to the expulsion, while in Maghreb “de-Berberizing” was followed by a partial Hebraization yielding the form Benhayoun. As a result, according to Wexler, we have an argument to support his theory about the Berber proselyte origin of Jews in Maghreb and medieval Spain. Such logic is untenable. On the one hand, the Arabic form Hayon (given name, surname) is older than Berber Ohayon and the latter is unknown in Spain. On the other hand, in hundreds of Jewish surnames in Maghreb, the initial Ben ‘son’ comes not from Hebrew, but from the vernacular Arabic. Benhayoun is not an exception from this rule. It is a surname independent of Ohayon: both of them are just derived from the same Jewish given name Ḥayyûn, of Arabic origin.
It is usually considered that Aknin represents a Berber diminutive of Jacob (A. Laredo, Les noms..., p. 356; D. Corcos, Studies..., p. 134). However, the final –nin does not correspond to any known Berber pattern. Note also that the surname with the patronymic Arabic prefix, Aben Aknin (אעקנין אבן), is known in the city of Fez already in the 12th century (J. M. Toledano, Ner..., p. 38). It is older than Ouaknin, the form with the patronymic Berber prefix, whose earliest known reference, from the same city, dates from the 18th century only (J. Ben Naim, Malkhei... p. 84).
M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 539.
The dates are mainly taken from J. M. Toledano, Ner... and J. Ben Naim, Malkhei... (see exact references in A. Beider, A dictionary…). Many of these references correspond to the city of Fez. Their presence in this Arabic-speaking area explains the use of the Arabic prefix ben ‘son of’ in some of these surnames.
Compare Tamazight azzaglu (M. Taïfi, Dictionnaire..., p. 797) and Kabyle azaglu (J.-M. Dallet, Dictionnaire..., p. 935).
Alfred Louis de Premare et al., Langue et culture marocaines - Dictionnaire arabe-français, 12 vols, Paris, L’Harmattan, 1993-1999, vol. 5, p. 276.
A.L. de Premare, Langue..., vol. 6, p. 139.
A.L. de Premare, Langue..., vol. 6, p. 139.
According to this characteristic, the inception of Jewish surnames from North Africa is similar to that of their coreligionists from the medieval Iberia and that of the Christian population of various European countries (with a notable exception of the Scandinavian ones). Yet, the initial development of surnames from Maghreb is dramatically different from that of the surnames of Ashkenazic Jews acquired only during the 18th -19th centuries as a result of the promulgation of laws
Harvey E. Goldberg, "The social context of North African Jewish patronyms", Folklore Research Center Studies 3 (1972), pp. 249-254.
The last two possibilities are purely theoretical: no historical evidence exists to corroborate them.
See N. Slouschz, Un voyage..., pp. 41, 50, 59. The same source (p. 37, 43, 59) also mentions the following given names of uncertain etymology: male בלחייא and חברון (both also known in Tripoli, M. Cohen, Higgid..., pp. 224-225) and female נספה.
Harvey E. Goldberg, "Patronymic groups in a Tripolitanian Jewish village: reconstruction and interpretation", Jewish Journal of Sociology 9 (1967), p. 211.
S. Duran, Tashbaṣ IV..., n° 15, 1, 24, 33.
Eliahou Marciano, Les sages d'Algérie: dictionnaire encyclopédique des sages et rabbins d'Algérie, du haut moyen-âge à nos jours, Marseille, IMMAJ, 2002, p. 96, 193, 229.
See corresponding entries in A. Beider, A dictionary…
Vincent Monteil, "Les Juifs d'Ifrane (Anti-Atlas Marocain)", Hespéris - Archives berbères et builletin de l’Institut des Hautes-Etudes Marocaines 35 (1948), pp. 151-162.
Paul Pascon and Daniel Schroeter, "Le cimetière juif d’Iligh (1751-1955). Etude des épitaphes comme documents d’histoire sociale", Revue de l’Occident musulman et de la Méditeraanée 34 (1982), p. 39-62.
V. Monteil, "Les Juifs...", p. 154; P. Pascon and D. Schroeter, "Le cimetière...", , p. 47.
The list of oldest inscriptions from Ifrane appears in J.M. Toledano, Ner..., p. 4-5 and V. Monteil, "Les juifs...", p. 158-159. Dates present in it are unreliable (see V. Monteil, "Les juifs...", p. 155-158). The readable parts of certain inscriptions actually do not include any date. Moreover, for example, the inscription including the Arabic name Maymûn is “dated” 4 BCE, that is centuries before the Arabs came to Maghreb.
See details in Alexander Beider, Origins of Yiddish Dialects, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2015, p. 382-386, 419-428, 433-436.
In the cities of Fez (Louis Brunot and Elie Malka, Textes judéo-arabes de Fès, Rabat, Typo-litho école du livre, pp. III-IV) and Tunis (D. Cohen, Le parler..., pp. 10-11) Berber influence is unknown not only in the system-level parts of the language, but even in the lexicon.
J. Tolédano, Une histoire..., p. VII.
A similar false idea was extrapolated by Chouraqui (Marche..., p. 132) to an absurd conclusion. Unaware about the actual age of surnames, he states that the small percentage of names of North African Jews based on Hebrew and Aramaic implies that the large majority of these Jews descend from (Berber) proselytes to Judaism. If one follows the same logic, one should also assert that Ashkenazi Jews who bear surnames with Slavic roots and/or suffixes (such as Abramovich, Bialik, Dubnov, or Slouschz) are descendants of Slavs converted to Judaism, while those bearing surnames of German origin (such as Einstein, Freud, or Landau) had German Gentile proselytes as their ancestors.
Top of page