The Guanche language, also known as Tamazight, is an extinct Berber
language that was spoken by the
Guanches
![]() Guanches of the Canary Islands ![]() Canary Islands until the 17th century or possibly later. It died out after the conquest of the Canary Islands ![]() Canary Islands as the Guanche ethnic group was assimilated into the dominant Spanish culture. The Guanche language is known today through sentences and individual words that were recorded by early geographers, as well as through several place-names and Guanche words that were retained in the Canary Islanders' Spanish. Contents 1 Classification 2 History 3 Numerals 4 References 5 External links Classification[edit]
Guanche has been classified by modern linguists as a Berber
language.[3][4][5] Recognizable Berber words and numerous Berber
grammatical inflections have been identified.[1]
History[edit]
The name Guanche originally referred to "man from Tenerife",[6] and
only later did it come to refer to all native inhabitants of the
Canary Islands. Although different dialects were spoken across the
archipelago. Archaeological finds on the Canaries include both
Libyco-Berber and Punic inscriptions in rock carvings, although early
accounts stated the
Guanches
Numeral Recco (1341) Cairasco (song, 1582) Cedeño (c. 1685) Marín de Cubas (1687, 1694) Sosa (copy of 1678) Abreu (attrib. to 1632) Reyes (1995 reconstruction) Proto-Berber 1 vait* *be ben, ven-ir- becen~been, ben-ir- ben, ben-ir- been (ben?), ben-i- *wên *yiwan 2 smetti, smatta- *smi liin, lin-ir- liin, sin-ir-~lin-ir- lini (sijn) lini, lini- *sîn *sin 3 amelotti, amierat- *amat amiet amiet~amiat, am-ir- amiat (amiet) amiat *amiat *karad 4 acodetti, acodat- *aco arba arba arba arba *akod *hakkuz 5 simusetti, simusat- *somus canza~canse canza cansa canza *sumus *sammus 6 sesetti, sesatti- ? sumus sumui~sumus sumus smmous *sed *sadis 7 satti *set sat sat sat (sá) sat *sa *sah 8 tamatti *tamo set set set set *tam *tam 9 alda-marava, nait ? acet~acot acot acot acot *aldamoraw *tizah~tuzah 10 marava *marago marago marago marago marago *maraw~maragʷ *maraw * Also nait, an apparent copy error. Similarly with alda-morana for expected *alda-marava. Later attestations of 11–19 were formed by linking the digit and ten with -ir: benirmarago, linirmarago, etc. 20–90 were similar, but contracted: linago, amiago, etc. 100 was maraguin, apparently 10 with the Berber plural -en. Recco only recorded 1–16; the combining forms for 11–16, which did not have this -ir-, are included as the hyphenated forms in the table above. Spanish does not distinguish [b] and [v], so been is consistent with *veen. The Berber feminine ends in -t, as in Shilha 1: yan (m), yat (f); 2: sin (m), snat (f), and this may explain discrepancies such as been and vait for 'one'. Cairasco is a misparsed counting song, besmia mat acosomuset tamobenir marago. Ses '6' may have got lost in the middle of somuset ( ← *somussesset). Starting with Cedeño, new roots for '2' and '9' appear ('9' perhaps the old root for '4'), new roots for '4' and '5' (arba, kansa) appear to be Arabic borrowings, and old '5', '6', '7' offset to '6', '7', '8'. References[edit] ^ a b Maarten Kossmann, Berber subclassification (preliminary
version), Leiden (2011)
^ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds.
(2017). "Guanche".
Glottolog
External links[edit] José Barrios: Sistemas de numeración y calendarios de las
poblaciones bereberes de
Gran Canaria
v t e Berber languages Languages Historical Proto-Berber†,R Guanche Guanche† Eastern Awjila Fezzan Foqaha Sokna Tmessa Ghadamès Jaghbub† Kufra Nafusi Jadu Nalut Wazzin Yefren Siwa Northern Zenati Eastern Middle AtlasTA Seghrouchen Warayn Northern Saharan Gurara Mozabite South Oranie and Figuig Tidikelt Tuwat Wad Righ Wargla Riffian Central Riffian Eastern Moroccan Iznasen Snouss Western Riffian Shawiya Tunisian-ZuwaraTE Jerba Matmata Sened† Tataouine Zuwara Western Algerian Gouraya Shelif Shenwa Non-Zenati Atlas languages Central Atlas Gharb† Ghomara Judeo-Berber Sanhaja de Srayr Shilha Kabyle Central-Eastern Central-Western Eastern Western Standardized Moroccan Berber Tuareg Tamahaq Tamashek Tawellemmet Tayart Southwestern Tetserret Zenaga Orthography Tifinagh Berber Arabic alphabet Judeo-Berber alphabet Berber Latin alphabet Institutions Governmental AAAL (Algeria) HCA (Algeria) IRCAM (Morocco) DNAFLA (Mali) CRB (France) NGOs Berber Academy World Amazigh Congress TE Transitional to Eastern · TA Transitional to Atlas · † Extinct · R Reconstructed Authority control LCCN: sh85057587 BNF: cb1256 |