There is a tradition that the Quran was translated into Temajegh and written out in T’ifinagh, a most improper proceeding from the Moslem point of view. But no European has seen this interesting book, which is said to have been destroyed. It may possibly have survived in some place, for Ahodu told me he had once seen a book in Air written in T’ifinagh, though all the documents which I found in the mosques were in Arabic calligraphy. Until a “Corpus” of T’ifinagh inscriptions has been compiled it will be very difficult to make much progress.
Such a collection would assist in the study of Temajegh itself, for the language is in a somewhat fluid state, tending to vary dialectically from place to place and period to period. It is one of the languages termed “Berber,” the only connection in which I am prepared to admit the use of this word. By many it is considered the purest of the Berber forms of speech. Although related to such dialects as Siwi and Ghadamsi, and to western forms like Shillugh or the Atlas languages, Temajegh is distinct; it was not derived from them but developed independently, and probably preserved more of the original characteristics.
The relationship of the original tongue to the Semitic groups of languages has not yet been defined. The two linguistic families have certain direct analogies, including the formation of words from triliteral verbal roots, verbal inflections, derived verbal formations, the genders of the second and third persons, the pronominal suffixes and the aoristic style of tense. Nevertheless there are also certain very notable differences, like the absence of any trace of more than two genders, the absence of the dual form, and verbs of two or three or four radicals with primary forms in the aorist and imperative only. Berber does not appear to be a Semitic language. But the two are probably derived from a common ancestor.
The Air and Ahaggar dialects of Temajegh differ somewhat from each other. They are mutually quite intelligible, and so far as I could judge not more diverse than English and American. Barth stated that, unlike the rest of the Air Tuareg, the Kel Owi spoke the Auraghiye dialect, which is the name often given to the Ahaggar language. The name is, of course, derived from the Auriga or Hawara ethnic group, which, as we shall see, is the name of the parent stock of most of the Ahaggaren tribes. I have it on the best authority, however, of Ahodu, ’Umbellu and Sidi, that the Kel Owi language does not differ materially from the dialect of the rest of Air and am therefore at a loss to be able to explain Barth’s statement.
The absence of the Arabic ع (’ain) in Temajegh necessitates its transcription by the letter غ (ghen) which is so characteristic of Berber. In all words, therefore, adopted from the Arabic, and especially in proper names like ’Osman, ’Abdallah, ’Abdeddin, etc., the forms Ghosman, Ghibdillah, Ghabidin are used. The Temajegh letter (yegh) ⵗ or ghen is common and so strongly grasseyé that it becomes very similar to an R. The difficulty of transcription of the T’ifinagh into European languages is therefore very considerable,[238] for the R and Gh sounds are very confusing. In some T’ifinagh inscriptions the Arabic letter ع is frankly used when Arabic words occur.
The great feature of the Temajegh language and of the Tuareg is the diffusion of poetry. It is unfortunately impossible to give any examples in this volume, but the collections made by Duveyrier, Hanoteau, Masquerey, Haardt,[239] and de Foucauld[240] show the natural beauty and simplicity of this art among the People of the Veil. Their prosody is not strict, but nevertheless displays certain formality. Iambic verses of nine, ten and eleven syllables are the most usual forms of scansion, with a regular cæsura and rhymed or assonated terminations. In the matter of rhymes there is considerable freedom: the use of similarly sounding words is allowed. Terminations like “pen,” “mountain” and “waiting” would, for instance, all be permissible as rhymes. Poetry is sung, chanted or recited with or without music. The themes cover the whole field of humanity, from songs of love or thanksgiving to long ballads of war and travel. The Tuareg are in some measure all poets, but the women are most famous among them. They make verses impromptu or recite the traditional poems of their race which are so old that their origin has been forgotten. One hears of women famous throughout the Sahara as the greatest poets of their time.
Their way of life is attractive. These famous ladies hold what is called a “diffa,” which is a reception or “salon.” In the evening in front of their fires under an African night they play their one-stringed “amzad” or mandoline and recite their verses. Men from all over the country come to listen or take part. They seem to live and love and think in much the same manner as in Europe those of us do who retain our natural feelings. Only perhaps there are fewer grandes dames in Europe now than in the Sahara.
Poetry, music and dancing are all to a great extent branches of a single art in so far as they all depend on rhythm and seek to express the emotions. In Air the syncopated music of the negro has had more influence than in the north, so the “amzad” is less common. Their other instruments are drums, but the lilt of their dance is rather different from that of the south. Their improvised drums are most ingenious. There is the hemispherical calabash floating in a bowl of milk, the note of which varies according to the depth to which the gourd is sunk, and the millet mortar with a wet skin stretched over the mouth by two parallel poles weighed down with large stones lying across their ends. The other various drums of the Southland are also known and used by those who can afford them. The dances of the Tuareg men are done to a quick step on a syncopated beat. The most effective one is a sword dance by a single man running up to the drum and executing a series of rapid steps, with the sword held by both hands at arms’ length above the head. I have never seen any women dancing among the Air Tuareg and it is said not to be their practice. This may be so, for even among the men dancing is relatively uncommon and has probably been borrowed from the south. It seems hardly to be consistent with their grave and dignified demeanour, of which poetry is the more natural counterpart.
[216]Jean, op. cit., pp. 82 and 176.
[217]Called Assingerma on the Cortier map. Teghazar is the diminutive of Ighazar, and means a small river or torrent.