Geografie, vegetatie, flora en fauna van Arif door C.S. Coon

Gestart door Botermes, 21/01/2014 om 21:34:05

Botermes

Antropoloog C S Coon heeft eind jaren 20, van de vorige eeuw, Arif bestudeert en het boek ' tribes of the Rif' geschreven, en ons daarmee een grote dienst bewezen, hetzij indirect. Het komt uit een tijd waar in er een meer autenthieke Tamazight gesproken werd met minder external noise van andere talen dan tegenwoordig het geval is. Het komt ook omdat ze het leven aanhielden dat ze de voorgaande eeuwen geleefd hebben. Neem een kijk in  het  Arif van 100 jaar geleden, verrijk je kennis en woordenschat !

The course of the Ghis slants southwestward from Targuist, while the Nekor flows
directly northward through sharp canyons from the mountain of Kuin in Gzennaya, to
separate, farther along, Temsaman and Beni Tuzin from Beni Urriaghel. On the other side
of the promontory of Temsaman empties the Amkaran, or Wed el Kebir, which commences
a short distance away in the mountains of Beni Tuzin. Next to the Amkaran lies an unim-
portant stream called the Tasagin, coming down from the Dhar 0 Baran in Beni Ulishk.
Beyond this there are none but the important arteries of the Kert and the Muluya, the
former of which originates in Gzennaya, the seeming umbilicus of the Rif, and the latter of
which flows northward from distant Tafilelt, where its head lies near that of the Draa, a
lengthy watercourse emptying into the Atlantic nearly opposite the Canary Islands.
Such is the catalogue of rivers, the waters of which are jealously guarded and conserved,
and which have been the cause of many of the local wars in the Rif.
The mountains of the Rif are supposed to be fabulously rich in minerals, including coal,
iron, gold, and petroleum. None of these, however, have been extracted by the present in-
habitants of the country, and hence they do not concern us here. Suspicion engendered by
the presence of the minerals does more to hamper travel and research in the Rif than all
other factors combined.
VEGETATION
It is too early in the course of Riffian research to give a complete list of botanical species
from that country; no systematic botanist, as far as I know, has published any description
of its flora. It will therefore have to suffice in this volume to present merely a very frag-
mentary roster of some of the more noticeable wild trees and bushes, such as readily meet
the eye of the traveler, with local names and tentative identifications, made by observation
and by analogy with the rest of North Africa.
Conifers
taidha, a tall, straight-growing conifer, with a large globular cone. This tree is much
prized for house-building material.
taidha temjda, a similar tree, relatively stunted, with thick, wide branches. The taidha
is found on the upper slopes of mountains; the taidha temjda grows on the mountain-tops
and in the passes, where it is exposed to the elements: hence both may belong to the same
species. (Plate I shows examples of both.)
Justinard calls the taidha a pine.1 Hanoteau and Letourneau list for Algeria four species
of terebinths; Pistacia terebinihus L., P. Atlantica Desf., P. Lentiscus L., and Rhus penta-
phylla Desf.2
takka, another conifer, with a small, compact cone. The wood of this tree is used in
making tar. (Perhaps its name is related to the Ntifa word for terebinth.1) Justinard calls
this a juniper.4
afezaz, the scrub juniper (not to be confused with afesas). Laoust postulates that the
Berber root zz indicates the idea of spines or thorns, and cites other words, in Berber dia-
lects, which contain this root and mean juniper.6
1 Commandant Justinard, Manuel de Berbtre Maroeain (Dialccte Rifain), p. 4S.
* A. Hanoteau and A. Letourneau, La Kabylie, vol. I, pp. 82-83.
'E. Laoust, Mots et Choses Berbircs, p. 487. 'Page 131. â–  Page 523.
riarz, a cedar, growing very tall and straight. Its sweet-smelling wood is valued by
carpenters and cabinet-makers.
amerzi, another cedar, with very volatile reddish wood. Its pitch and resin are used as
medicine.
rkanus, a similar tree, considered by the Riffians to be the female of the amerzi. .
The cedars, generally known under the name of thuya, or arbor vitae, form the char-
acteristic coniferous vegetation of North Africa.1
Other Trees
rbejuth, an evergreen oak, with edible acorns.
tashta, another species of oak, with inedible acorns.
rbejuth n yirif, the so-called pig-oak. Its acorns are eaten by wild boars, but not by men
on account of their bitter taste. Justinard lists as oak adren, calling abedjoud the acorn.*
The latter word is derived from the Arabic el-bellut, the difference in renderings being due,
aside from different techniques in transcription, to my retention of the r, the berberization
of the Arabic definite article, in the Riffian dialects. I have always heard it pronounced
with the r. Hanoteau and Letourneau' identify five oaks in Algeria: Quercus castaneaefolia
C. A. Mey., Q. Mirbeckii Dr., Q. Ilex L., Q. Ilex var. Ballota, and Q. Suber L.
adheman, the hawthorne. This tree is used as a base for grafting pear and apple shoots.
Hanoteau and Letourneau give Crataegus Oxyacantha (three varieties), Cr. Azarolus, and
Cr. monogyna for Algeria.4 Laoust identifies Cr. Oxyacantha in Morocco.*
tasanu, the arbute, or strawberry tree. Its fruit is eaten fresh, and also dried and put
into bread; the wood is used in house construction. Laoust finds it in other parts of
Morocco, and gives it the botanical name Arbutus unedo.*
fathis, a large tree bearing a small red fruit, which is eaten. The ashes of its wood are
mixed with water, in which grapes are washed before being set out to dry. These asheu are
also used as soap in washing cloth. Westermarck 7 calls this the lentisk, Pistacia lentiscus.
azemmur, the wild olive. Its fruit is not eaten, but its wood is used in making spoons,
ploughs, and other objects.
thazemmurth, the female of the azemmur, smaller than the male. The male can be used
for grafting domestic olives, but the female is never used for this purpose.
ta'avriz, a large tree with perennial foliage. It bears a seed containing a red liquid. The
wood of this tree was formerly used for gunstocks.
thaghieshth n wushun, a species of wild walnut, called jackal-walnut.
afesas, perhaps a spurge-flax, or broom. It is a bush with a red flower, growing in valley
bottoms. Laoust gives Daphne Gnidium L. for walezaz.* Hanoteau and Letourneau name
three species, Daphne oleoides Schreb., D. Gnidium L., and D. Laureola L., for Algeria.*
This plant has been mistaken by other botanists for an osier, on account of its extensive use
in basketry.'8
thabgha, a wild blackberry. Justinard affirms this designation.11
i Justinard, p. 159; Hanoteau and Letourneau, p. 69; el Belcri (tr. Macguckin de Slane), p. 15 n.
'Page 117. • Page 119. * Pages 48, 89. • Page 509.
• Pages 483-484, 519. » Edward Westermarck, Ritual and Belief in Morroeo, vol. n, p. 185.
• Paget 515-516. • Page 116. »• Laoust, pp. 515-516. "Page 143.




abrid

Coon was tevens docent/hoogleraar van David hart. David hart heeft het werk van coon op een aantal punten verbeterd. Volgens Hart maakte Coon die fouten omdat hij het Tmazight niet goed begreep.

Botermes

Ik herken gewoon veel woorden, velen die ik wel eens gehoord had maar niet precies de betekenis ervan wist. Bijvoorbeeld het woord 'thaidha' blijkt dus een dennenboom te zijn.


Thaidha

Botermes

#4
thaghieshth n wushun, a species of wild walnut, called jackal-walnut.

Hieruit valt op te maken dat hij een oost Riffijnse dialect had geleerd. 'Thaghiështh' is zeker wat wij ' thaghyiëyth' noemen, oftewel de walnoot. Ik vraag me af of deze wilde variant nog ergens te vinden is in Arif. Ik heb er nooit van eerder van gehoord maar ik ken wel thabsatch n wushen, een type wilde bosui, (die niet eetbaar is), die er voorkomt. Via dat woord is het toch wel uiteindelijk herkenbaar.

Botermes

#5
amerzi, another cedar, with very volatile reddish wood. Its pitch and resin are used as
medicine.


Een type cederboom, misschien wel een variant op de bekende Atlasceder http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlasceder   , die we dan Rifceder kunnen noemen vanwege de karakteristieke rode kleur van het hout.

Het woord Amerzi had ik nooit eerder opgepikt , maar wel  het woord ' Thimarzith', dat woordtechnisch een vervrouwelijking van Amerzi lijkt te zijn. De Thimarzith is een soort onkruidboom, een nutteloze boom die overal kan groeien. Er was een gezegde, dat wanneer iemand je de Thimarzith toewenst, dat het in ieder geval niets goeds was maar opzich nog wel wat meevalt.