Cushitic-speaking peoples
Regions with significant populations | |
---|---|
Egypt,Sudan,Horn of Africa,East Africa | |
Languages | |
Cushitic languages | |
Religion | |
Islam(Sunni),Christianity(Oriental Orthodox,P'ent'ay),Haymanot Judaism,Waaqeffanna |
Cushitic-speaking peoplesare the ethnolinguistic groups who speakCushitic languagesnatively. Today, the Cushitic languages are spoken as a mother tongue primarily in theHorn of Africa,with minorities speaking Cushitic languages to the north and south in Egypt, Sudan, Kenya, and Tanzania.
History
[edit]Donald N. Levineheld thatProto-Cushiticwas spoken on theEthiopian Highlandsby 5000–4000 BC.[1]Roger Blench hypothesizes that speakers of Cushitic languages may have been the producers of "Leiterband" pottery, which influenced the pottery of the Khartoum Neolithic.[2]Erik Becker, in a 2011 investigation of human remains from Leiterband sites in the Wadi Howar, finds the hypothetical connection of Leiterband pottery to speakers of a Cushitic language improbable.[3]
North Cushitic
[edit]The nomadicMedjayand theBlemmyes—the latter possibly a subgroup of the former—are believed by many historians to be ancestors of modern-day speakers ofBeja;there appears to be linguistic continuity, suggesting that a language ancestral to Beja was spoken in the Nile Valley by the time of theTwelfth Dynasty of Egypt.[4]From an analysis of the lexicon of theNubian languages,Marianne Bechhaus-Gerst proposes that when Nubian speakers first reached theNile Valleyca 1500 BC, they encountered Cushitic-speaking peoples from whom they borrowed a large number of words, mainly connected with livestock production.[5]
Possible lost branch
[edit]Roger Blench proposes that an extinct and otherwise unattested branch of Cushitic may be responsible for some of the pastoral cultural features ofKhoekhoepeople ca 2000 years BP. As there are very fewKhoekhoewords for which a Cushitic etymology is possible based on existing Cushitic languages, Blench proposes that the contact was with speakers of a now extinct and otherwise unattested Cushitic language which was replaced through assimilation during theBantu expansion.[6]
Contemporary ethnic groups
[edit]Speakers of North Cushitic
[edit]Speakers of Central Cushitic languages
[edit]Speakers of Lowland East Cushitic languages
[edit]- Afar people
- Saho people
- Irob people
- Arbore people
- Daasanach people
- El Molo people(most no longer speak a Cushitic language)
- Yaaku people(theYaaku languageis no longer a living language, but there is a revival movement)
- Oromo people
- Waata(Oromo-speaking)
- Konso people
- Dirasha people, who speakDirasha language
- Bussa people, who are shifting away fromBussa languageto Oromo, Dirasha, and Amharic
- Somalis,named after the country of Somalia in reference to its Cushitic-speaking people, the Somali people.[7]
- Rendille people
- Ariaal people
- Aweer people
- Garre
- Tunni
Speakers of Highland East Cushitic languages
[edit]- Burji speakers of theBurji language
- Sidama people
- Gedeo people
- Hadiya people
- Kambaata people
- Halaba people
Speakers of West Rift Southern Cushitic languages
[edit]References
[edit]- ^Levine, Donald (2000).Greater Ethiopia(2 ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 27–28.ISBN0-226-47561-1.
- ^"The westward wanderings of Cushitic pastoralists: explorations in the prehistory of Central Africa"(PDF).Retrieved2021-12-20.
- ^Becker, Erik (2011).The prehistoric inhabitants of the Wadi Howar: An anthropological study of human skeletal remains from the Sudanese part of the Eastern Sahara(PDF)(PhD). Johannes Gutenberg-Universität.Retrieved2024-04-26.
- ^Rilly, Claude (2019)."Languages of Ancient Nubia".Handbook of Ancient Nubia.Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.ISBN9783110420388.Retrieved2019-11-20.
- ^Blench, R. (1999). "The westward wanderings of Cushitic pastoralists: explorations in the prehistory of Central Africa".S2CID131599629.
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(help) - ^Blench, Roger (2009). "Was there an Interchange between Cushitic Pastoralists and Khoesan Speakers in the Prehistory of Southern Africa and how can this be Detected?".Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika.20:31–49.ISSN0170-5946.
- ^Akou, Heather M. (2011-06-20).The Politics of Dress in Somali Culture.Indiana University Press. p. 4.ISBN978-0-253-22313-5.