The names of the Berbers

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Amazigh & Berber

Historically, it is not clear how the name "Berber" evoluated itself supposedly from the word "Barbarian", but contrary to the most sources the "Berber/Imazighen" were not called by the Greeks or Romans as "Barbarians". Because the Berbers were known as "Libyans" to the ancient Greeks, and they were known under many names to the Romans like as "Numidians" and "Moors".

Due to the fact that the Berbers were called as "El-Barbar" by the Arabs, it is very probable that the European languages and the other ones adopted it from the Arabic language. The Arabs didn't use the name "El-Barbar" as negative name, because the ancient Arab historians were not aware of the origin of that name. and so, they created some mythes or stories about that name. The notorious myth considers "Barbar" as an ancestor of the Berbers. According to that myth, the Berbers were the descendants of Ham, the son of Noah, the son of Barbar, the son of Tamalla, the son of Mazigh, the son of Canon... [Ibn Khaldun/ The History of Ibn Khaldun - Chapter III].

The fact that the name "Berber" is a strange name to the Berbers led to a confusion. Some sources claimed that the Berbers are several ethnic groups who are not related to each others. That is not accurate, because the Berbers refer to themselves as "Imazighen" in Morocoo as well as in Libya, Egypt(Siwa) and other parts in North Africa.

Not only the origin of the name "Berber" is unclear, but also the name "Amazigh". The notorious explanation is that the name goes back to the Egyptian period when the Ancient Egyptians mentioned an ancient Libyan tribe called "Meshwesh". Those Meshweshes are supposed, by some scholars, to be the same ancient Libyan tribe that has been mentioned as "Maxyans", by the Greek Historian Herodotus.
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Libyans & Numidians

Given that the both names "Amazigh" or "Berber" are relatively recent names in the historical sources, since the name "Berber" appeared firstly in the Arabo-islamic sources, whereas the name "Amazigh" has not been used in the ancient sources. It is not less important to keep in mind that the Berbers were known under several names in the several periods.

The first referring to the Ancient Berbers goes back to a very ancient Egyptian period. They were referred in the pre-dynastic period, on the so-called "The pallet of Tehenou" which is still preserved in the Cairo museum in Egypt. That pallet is considered to be the oldest source wherein the Berbers have been mentioned. The second source is known as "The pallet of king Narmer". This pallet is less old than the first source, and it depicted the Tehenou as captures.

The second oldest name is "Tamahou". This name was mentioned for the first time in the period of the first king of "Sixth Dynasty" and was referred to in other sources after that period. According to Oric Bates, those people were white-skinned, blondish and with blue eyes.

Another important tribe was "The Libou". This tribe was confusing for some scholars, because the name of this tribe appeared with the appearance of the so-called "Sea People" between the sixth- and the fourth century BC. Nevertheless, the Libou were not considered as "Sea People" but as indegenous people, and the emigrating people collaborated with them. The name "Libou" would later be used, by the Greeks, to refer to all the Berbers, and not only the modern North African country Libya. [Mohammed Mustapha Bazma/ Libya: this name in the roots of the history]

The Sea People and the Libyan tribes attacked Egypt but the were defeated, by the ancient Egyptians. Some Libyan/Berber tribes continued to emigrate into the Nile Delta where they served in the Egyptian army untill a Libyan leader from the Meshwesh-tribe could become a pharaoh after that his family served gradually in more important functions in Egypt.

In the Greek period the Berbers were mainly known as "The Libyans" and their lands as "Libya" that extended from modern Morocco to the western borders of ancient Egypt [Because the modern Egypt has a part of the historical Libya like as Siwa that still speaks the Berber language].

During the Roman period, the Berbers would become known as Numidians, Maures and Getulians, according to their tribes or kingdoms. The Numidians founded basically complicated and organized tribes, and thereafter they began to build a stronger kingdom. The most scholars believe that "Alyamas" was the first king of the Numidian kingdom [Mohammed Chafik/ 33 century from the history of the Berbers]. But Massinissa was the most famous Numidian king who made a strong and civilized kingdom from Numidia.

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De bovenstaande tekt heb ik geschreven in wikipedia, maar ik vrees dat het verwijderd zal worden omdat mijn engels niet schitterend is.