The Rer Bare (or Rerebere, Rer Shabelle) are a tribe in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

's eastern

Ogaden Ogaden (pronounced and often spelled ''Ogadēn''; so, Ogaadeen, am, ውጋዴ/ውጋዴን) is one of the historical names given to the modern Somali Region, the territory comprising the eastern portion of Ethiopia formerly part of the Harargh ...

region on the Shabele River, near

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

, who currently speak Somali. They appear to have shifted to Somali from a now-extinct language.

Language and origins

Their unattested but apparently non-Somali language seems to have been first mentioned in print by

Lionel Bender Marvin Lionel Bender (August 18, 1934 – February 19, 2008) was an American linguist. Life Bender was born August 18, 1934, in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. He travelled throughout the world, particularly in Northeast Africa, and was an accompli ...

in 1975: Others have linked the Rer Bare to the

Bantu language family The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀) are a large family of languages spoken by the Bantu people of Central, Southern, Eastern africa and Southeast Africa. They form the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid languages. The ...

, implying that they may be the remnants of a Bantu-speaking pre-Somali population or, like the "

Somali Bantu The Somali Bantus (also known as Gosha, or Jareerweyne locally) are a Bantu origin ethnic minority group in Somalia who primarily reside in the southern part of the country, primarily near the Jubba and Shabelle rivers. The Somali Bantus are d ...

" in the

Jubba River The Jubba River or Juba River ( so, Wabiga Jubba) is a river in southern Somalia which flows through the autonomous region of Jubaland. It begins at the border with Ethiopia, where the Dawa and Ganale Dorya rivers meet, and flows directly south ...

valley of southern

, the descendants of Bantu slaves imported from other parts of East Africa in the 19th century. Tobias Hagmann refers to them as "Somalised Bantu".Hagmann, Tobias (2005)
Challenges of decentralisation in Ethiopia's Somali Region
Briefing for Review of African Political Economy Vol. 32, No. 103, p. 5 According to

Ulrich Braukämper Ulrich (), is a German given name, derived from Old High German ''Uodalrich'', ''Odalric''. It is composed of the elements '' uodal-'' meaning "(noble) heritage" and ''-rich'' meaning "rich, powerful". Attested from the 8th century as the name of Al ...

: A British hunter, Colonel Swayne, who visited

Imi IMI may refer to: Companies and organizations * IMI plc, a British engineering company * IMI Systems, an Israeli weapons manufacturer * Indian Music Industry, a trust that represents the recording industry distributors in India * Indonesian Motor ...

in February 1893, relates that he was the guest of Gabba Oboho, a chief of the Adona, for several days.H. G. C. Swayne
"A Trip to Harar and Imé", ''Geographical Journal''
2 (September 1893), p. 251

Notes

Bibliography

* Bender, M. L. ''The Ethiopian

Nilo-Saharan The Nilo-Saharan languages are a proposed family of African languages spoken by some 50–60 million people, mainly in the upper parts of the Chari and Nile rivers, including historic Nubia, north of where the two tributaries of the Nile meet. T ...

s''. Artistic Printers,

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

1975.

External links

* Ahmed Yusuf Farah,

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

Permanent Agricultural Settlements Along The Webi Shabelle River In Gode Zone Of The Ethiopian Somali National Regional State (1995)
(PDF) Ethnic groups in Ethiopia Unattested languages of Africa {{Africa-ethno-group-stub