![Sorabe-Malagasy Arabic script](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Sorabe-Malagasy_Arabic_script.jpg)
Sorabe or Sora-be () is an
alphabet
An alphabet is a standardized set of basic written graphemes (called letters) that represent the phonemes of certain spoken languages. Not all writing systems represent language in this way; in a syllabary, each character represents a syllab ...
based on
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
, formerly used to transcribe the
Malagasy language
Malagasy (; ) is an Austronesian language and the national language of Madagascar. Malagasy is the westernmost Malayo-Polynesian language, brought to Madagascar by the settlement of Austronesian peoples from the Sunda islands around the 5th c ...
(belonging to the
Malayo-Polynesian language family) and the
Antemoro
The Antemoro (or Antaimoro) are an ethnic group of Madagascar living on the southeastern coast, mostly between Manakara and Farafangana. Numbering around 500,000, this ethnic group mostly traces its origins back to East African Bantu and Indone ...
Malagasy dialect, dating from the 15th century.
History
Researchers are still hypothesizing about the origins of this transcription system. "Sorabe" means literally "large writings" from
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
"
sura" (writing) and
Malagasy "be" (large). This denomination might point to the existence of a previous writing system with smaller characters of
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
origin used in
South East Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...
as it is evidenced in some
Malagasy words.
Traditionally, researchers have speculated that this writing system was introduced through commercial contacts of
Malagasy with
Arab Muslims.
[Ferrand, Gabriel (1905)] However, more recent studies claim that this writing scheme might have been introduced by
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...
nese Muslims.
[Simon P. (2006)] There are striking similarities between "Sorabe" and "
Pegon" writings (the
Javanese version of
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
script).
A couple of hundred old manuscripts have survived to this day though the oldest may have been written no earlier than the 17th century.
Those "Sorabe" are bound in leather and the texts are named after the colour of the skin. Most of the texts contain magical formulas but there are also some historical texts concerning the origin of some of the tribes of the south east of
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
. These origins are traced to
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow ...
or the Prophet
Mohammed even though the practice of
Islam is nowhere seen in the texts.
Sorabe eventually spread across the island beginning in the 17th century and, at the end of the 18th century, the
Merina
The Merina people (also known as the Imerina, Antimerina, or Hova) are the largest ethnic group in Madagascar.[Merina ...]
king
Andrianampoinimerina
Andrianampoinimerina () (1745–1810) ruled the Kingdom of Imerina on Madagascar from 1787 until his death. His reign was marked by the reunification of Imerina following 77 years of civil war, and the subsequent expansion of his kingdom into n ...
called for
Antemoro
The Antemoro (or Antaimoro) are an ethnic group of Madagascar living on the southeastern coast, mostly between Manakara and Farafangana. Numbering around 500,000, this ethnic group mostly traces its origins back to East African Bantu and Indone ...
scribes to teach the children of his court to read and write. This was how the future king
Radama I learned to read and write in Sorabe from his childhood.
Nowadays Malagasy is written using
a Latin alphabet, introduced in 1823.
Alphabet
See also
*
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
*
Malagasy
References
Bibliography
* Adelaar K.A. & Himmelmann N. (2004), ''The Austronesian Language of Asia and Madagascar'', Routledg
.
* Ferrand, Gabriel (1905). ''Les migrations musulmanes et juives à Madagascar''. Paris: Revue de l'histoire des religions.
* Kasanga Fernand (1990), ''Fifindra-monina'', Librairie FLM, Antananarivo.
* Simon P. (2006) ''La langue des ancêtres. Ny Fitenin-drazana. Une périodisation du malgache des origines au XV
e siècle'', L'Harmatta
External links
La Case, les Sorabe, l'Histoire*
Arabic in Madagascar',
Kees Versteegh
Cornelis Henricus Maria "Kees" Versteegh (; born 1947) is a Dutch academic linguist. He served as a professor of Islamic studies and the Arabic language at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands until April 2011.
Versteegh graduated from R ...
, Bulletin of the
School of Oriental and African Studies
SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury a ...
, 2001
East Barito: Who Were the Malayo-Polynesian Migrants to Madagascar?
{{Arabic alphabets
Malagasy language
Arabic alphabets
Writing systems of Africa