Kabyles hadra

The Kabyles Hadra or Kabyles el Hadra are terms that were invented by the French in the 19th century to refer to the group of Arabic-speaking mountain dwellers of North Constantine who spoke a sedentary Arabic dialect.[1] Their region corresponded the land of the Kutama Berbers who have become Arabized.[2] They were found throughout the Jijel province, the north of the Mila province, and the west of the Skikda.[1]

Origin of the name

The expression was originally the name given to the Arabized Berber mountain people of North Constantine who had abandoned mountain life to settle in the plains and in the cities.[1]

As Maghreb cities developed and became Arabized, they referred to the hinterland as "qbail," meaning "tribe".[3] Strangely, the term "Had'ra" seems to have originally had the opposite connotation. According to Mármol, it was used in the 16th century "among the tribes, among the Kbail" to designate, with a disdainful connotation, the Arabs "who live in African cities [and who] are commonly called Hadara, that is to say, courtiers [urbanized] and mostly involved in trade [commerce]". The historian Moussa Lakbal offers an explanation that supports what Marmol writes; according to him, the neologism "Kabaile El Had'ra" was coined to designate the descendants of the Kutama tribes who abandoned mountain life to settle in the plains and cities.[3]

In local tradition, the name used to designate the Arabic-speaking tribes of northern Constantine seems to have been "Qabail El Had'ra", as opposed to the "Qabail En-nighass" or Qabail (Berber-speaking tribes).[1]

Hadra would come from the Arabic word hadara which means civilization or urbanity;[1] it would also have been used to designate the Arabs who remain in the cities of the Maghreb and who are called Hadara, that is to say courtiers (urbanized).[4]

Society

The region of the Kabaile El Had'ra corresponds to that of the Kutama Berbers who have become Arabized.[3] According to Jean Morizot, the name Qabail El Had'ra was accepted by the inhabitants themselves.[1]

The term is thought to come from the Arabic word hadara (civilization, urbanity). It was used in Constantine until the end of the 19th century to distinguish the Kabyles of the Djurdjura or of northern Constantine.[3]

In the 19th century, attempts were made to identify characteristics of eastern Kabylia: independence from Turkish rule, the use of a particular Arabic, dwellings in clearings with an absence of "block" villages, and fruit tree cultivation.[5]

Références

  1. ^ a b c d e f Morizot 2001, pp. 19–21
  2. ^ Kitouni 2013, p. 10
  3. ^ a b c d Kitouni 2013, pp. 13–14
  4. ^ Carlier, Omar (1995). Entre Nation et Jihad: histoire sociale des radicalismes algériens (in French). Presses de la Fondation nationale des sciences politiques. p. 224. ISBN 978-2-7246-0671-3. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  5. ^ Kitouni 2013, p. 16

Bibliography

  • Morizot, Jean (2001). Les Kabyles: propos d'un témoin (in French). Harmattan. ISBN 978-2-7475-1027-1.
  • Housni Kitouni (2013). La Kabylie Orientale dans l'histoire (in French). Paris: L'Harmattan. p. 22.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.