Naming
“Tamazight” is an Amazigh term that means in the Amazigh language free and noble person.
Berbers or barbarians are a Latin name, meaning brutal or primitive savages. The Romans called this name to all foreigners, including the Amazigh, in their conquests of the countries of the Mediterranean basin.
Origins
European origin
Some believe that the origin of the Amazigh / Berbers belongs to Europe, based on linguistic and human data suggesting that the Amazigh / Berber human being is a descendant of the Gallic (gaulois) or related to the Vandals who had previously colonized North Africa.
Local origin
Some rely on the findings of archeology and ancient arts, to the effect that the first human in history was found in some regions of Africa, and therefore the Amazigh man did not migrate to North Africa, but he was found there from the beginning.
Arabic origin
Another trend is to connect the inhabitants of this region with the East and the Arabian Peninsula, as they were displaced from there to North Africa as a result of wars or climatic fluctuations and others.
Canaanite origin
Historian Abd al-Rahman Ibn Khaldun tends to regard the Berbers as Canaanites from the son of Canaan bin Ham ibn Noah, peace be upon him, because the Canaanites are not Arabs, and they are not sons of Sam.
Photo credit: Wikipedia,
The 33 letters of Tifinagh alphabet, according to IRCAM (Royal Institute of Amazigh Culture), and below the correspondences in the Berber Latin alphabet.
