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Notes on the dialect of the Āl Murra of eastern and southern Arabia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

Bruce Ingham
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It is widely held belief among bedouins that common linguistic characteristics point to a common genealogical origin. Bearing in mind the importance attached to racial origin amongst bedouins, it is not surprising that they should be keen observers of the dialect of their own and neighbouring tribes. My investigations of the bedouin dialects of the North and East of Arabia do indicate that a common geographical origin is often reflected in a uniform dialect. In this area many bedouin tribes seem to have left an original homeland in the west some 200 years ago, so that in the somewhat isolated conditions of bedouin life their dialect retains the characteristics of the speech of their homeland. A particularly striking case of this is the Rashāyida, a tribe which ‘Arab tradition allies to the Hutaim of north-western Arabia. At some time this tribe broke up and many of them moved east to become clients of the Muṭair. Many others however crossed by sea to the Sudan when they acquired new camels and resumed the nomadic way of life. At present, with the increasing prosperity of Saudi Arabia, many of these have returned as immigrant workers or have been repatriated. Their dialect, however, after a period of perhaps 150 years' separation, is still recognizably of the Najdī type. It would not be possible for dialectology to verify bedouin genealogies; nevertheless, it can be seen that it might support traditions about the earlier location of tribes, since historical sources are not very informative for the medieval period in the Arabian peninsula.

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Articles
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Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , June 1986 , pp. 271 - 291
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1986

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References

1 See in particular the writer's ‘Notes on the dialect of the Āl Dhafir of North Eastern Arabia', BSOAS, xlv, 2, 1982, 246–59, and North East Arabian dialects, London, 1982, 29–31 and 87–94.Google Scholar

2 See also al-Bayati, Ala al-Din, Al Rashidiyah [sic], dirāsah anthrubulujiuah ijtimā'iyah, Najaf, 1971.Google Scholar

3 Reproduced in the writer's North East Arabian dialects, 103–6.

4 ‘ōsiri', I, 249 ‘Dōsiri', II, 77, 80, 86.

5 Thomas, B., Arabia Felix, Oxford, 1938, 268.Google Scholar

6 Philph, op. cit., p. 34.

7 C. de Landberg, Édudestudes sur les dialectes de I' Arabic méridionale. 1, Hadramoút. Leid 1901, 539.Google Scholar

8 Philby, H.St.John, The Empty Quarter, London, 1933, 37.Google Scholar

9 ‘Dōsiri', II, 85.

10 ibid., 34

11 ibid., 65

12 Lorimer, J.G., Gazetteer of the Persian gulf, II, B, Calcutta, 1908, 1239.Google Scholar

13 North East Arabian dialects, 33–4.

14 Bhat, D.N.S, ‘A general study of palatalisaiton', Working papers on Linguistic Universals, XIV, 1974, 17–58.Google Scholar

15 The Empty Quarter, 34.

16 Among the Āl Murra, my grateful thanks are expressed to the Āl ‘Umāni, i.e. Rāshid, Mushin Hamad, Jābir and Sa'īd, the Āl al-Gribb and the Āl Khamīs, also Sālim bin Hidfah, Su'd al-Nagādān, Mansūr al-Hōbān and many others whose names I did not learn.

17 The name of the tribe is Āl Murra, the .nisba adjective Marri, not, as is often seen, Murri. The plural of Marri is Marriyya. However throughout the article I refer to the ‘Murra' dialect rather than the less familiar ‘Marri' dialect. The name ‘Ajmān is also strictly speaking incorrect and should be ‘Ijmān. However I have again eschewed this in favour of the more usually seen form. The form ‘Ajimī is correct.

18 ‘Dōsiri', II, 84.

19 ‘Dōsiri', II, 85, 87.

20 ‘Dōsiri', II, 87.

21 ‘Dōsiri', II, 102.

22 ‘Dōsiri', II, 101.

23 Johnstone, Eastern Arabian dialect studies, 66; Ingham, North East Arabian dialects, 88–9.

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31 ‘Dīsiri', II, 86.

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37 C. de Landberg, Êtudes, Hadramoút, 358, gives hubbiš.

38 Reinhardt, C., Ein arabischer Dialekt gesprochen in ‘Omān und Zanzibar, Stuttgart and Berlin, 1894, 22.Google Scholar

39 Prochazka, Th., ‘The Shi‘ite dialect of Bahrain andits relationship to the Omani dialect of al-Ristāq', ZAL, VI, 1981, 53.Google Scholar

40 Pala, H., ‘Characteristics of the Arabic dialect of the BaniSaxar tribe';, Orientalia Suecana, 1980, 120.Google Scholar

41 Thomas, B., Four strange tongues from South Arabia, Oxford, 1937, 25Google Scholar. Johnsto, T. M.Jibbāli lexicon, Oxford, 1981, xvi, xxvi.Google Scholar

42 ‘Dōsiri', I, 278–9.

43 E.Rossi, op. cit., 41–2.

44 ibid., 38.

45 Études, DathÎna, 496, and also Glossaire datínois, 2462–4.

46 Études, Hadramoút, 27. See also Landberg's Arabica, III, Leyde, 1895, 38–40, for a full treatment of this particle in HadhramīGoogle Scholar

47 ‘Dōsiri', II, 99.

48 ibid., 104.

49 ibid., 105.

50 Thomas, B., op. cit., 269.Google Scholar

51 ‘Dōsiri', I, 266.

52 ibid., 265.

53 ibid., 266.

54 ‘Dōsiri', II, 99.

55 ibid., 103.

56 ibid., 105.

57 ‘Dōsiri', I, 291.

58 Greenman, J., op. cit., 60.Google Scholar

59 op. cit., 35.

60 ‘Dōsiri', I, 263.

61 Glossaire dathînois, 1046.

62 ‘Dōsiri', II, 97.

63 ibid., 97, 101.

64 Glossaire dathînois, 252: Étuds, Hadramoût, 538.

65 ‘Dōsiri', II, 85 and passim.

66 ibid., 100.

67 ‘Dōsiri', I, 278.

68 ibid., 275, 281.

69 ibid., 279.

70 ibid., 279

71 ibid., 281.

72 ‘Dōsiri', II, 85, Glossaire dathînois, 1012.

73 ‘Dōsiri', II, 92, Rossi, op. cit., 38.

74 ‘Dōsiri', II, 99, 103.

75 Rossi, op. cit., 29.

76 ‘Dōsire', II, 104.

77 ‘Dōsire', I, 276, 277.

78 ibid., 280.

79 ibid., 273

80 Landberg, Études, Hadramoût, 719.

81 Landberg, Études, Datṯîna, 1241

82 Greenman, op. cit., 57.

83 Études, Hadramoût, 713.

84 The same system is used in the writer's ‘Notes on the didalect of the Dhafir of north-eastern Arabia', BSOAS, xlv, 2, 1982.Google Scholar

85 See in particular Blance, H., ‘ Arabic dialect of ath Negev Bedouins', Proc. Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, IV, 7. 1970, 117Û6]–118[7].Google Scholar

86 -ik the suffix of the 2 m. s. is often in narrative to involve the hearer in the narrative.

87 yallaḏīk yallafik. This form is unclear, it seemed to be a curse though I found it difficult to elicit the exact meaning.

88 jimā'at. The -t of the -tā marbūṭah is retained in this dialect in many non-pausal environments as also in ‘Ajmū (‘Dōsir', II, 95).

89 miriddil-lik<miriddin-lik.

90 yā flān. The vocative particle is used here to indicate a third person involved in the narrative.

91 yḥaţţū<yḥaţţūn.

92 liybiyšurbih <alli yahi yašurbih.

93 mhimmā<mhimmah. This is unusual, though the suffixes -ha and -na often show nasalization as is also noted for 'Ajmī ‘allamthā (‘Dōsiri', I, 283). In general, even if not nasalized, the vowel of -ha and -nais a very back vowel [a] and often quite long as is reflected in Johnstone's transcriptions (‘ Dōsiri', I, 271, -hā and -nā).

94 biddit Imperhaps b-iddat from the verb adda ‘to give'. The meaning was explained to me as ‘on behalf of'.

95 ixizgih. Imperative used to give dramatic effect to the narrative. SeealsoBlanc, H., ‘The Arabic dialect of t h e Negev bedouin', Proc. Israel Acad. of Sciences and Humanities, iv, 7, 1970, [28]139–[29'140.Google Scholar

96 xilli, the internal passive of xalla.

97 uṭmur, šikk- as in note 95 above.

98 rifīgih. The word rifig is used here as a pronoun meaning ‘each other' and does not have the meaning ‘companion'.

99 mér, a particle usually meaning ‘but'.

100 haḷḷa haḷḷa <aḷḷah aḷḷah.

101 ṣuwwib: passive of sawwab.

102 adrā-i. The vowel -i is common as a verse ending element.

103 The negative particle lam is a Classicism and is not common in t h e spoken dialect.

104 hin the f. pi. suffix is not normally used in the dialect. -humwould be more normal.

105 kūd -inn, alia. The syntax here is rather strange although the meaning is clear, kud means ‘must' by extension from its original meaning of except(see also T. M. Johnstone, Eastern Arabian dialect studies, 16) while ilia also means ‘except'.

106 In the Murra dialect the form of the 3 m. s. suffix is -ih, but when followed by a vowel initial word the vowel of the suffix is elided. This is also true of the 2 m. s. suffix -ik as in sallamk allah ‘God give you peace', arḧamk aḧḧah God give you mercy'. Also occurring in the poem is maŚrūbh adda (1. 34). This is also a point of contrast with the Central Najdī dialects where the vowel is absent in most environments, i.e. mink ‘from you m. s.', minh ‘from him'. Contrast Murra; minnik, minnih. Also Central Najdī hadafk ‘ your aim', waladk ‘your son', Murra; hdifik wlidik.

107 raṡṡir-riba < rassin riba.

108 tirf‘ many a …', like the Classical word biḍa'. In Najdī poetry tirf occurs with the plural of the noun, i.e. tirf irjālin. The words xāṭuī or xīti of the same meaning can occur with singular definite or indefinite i.e. xaṭw alivalad, xaṭwi wlidin or xāṭi wlidin ‘many a lad'.

109 t'axxiraw. The'hamnza occurs only in Classicisms and is otherwise absent as in yisāl<yas'al ‘he asks' maddibah<mu'addibah ‘he had trained it'.

110 ga'ad yḏimmūnih<mu'addibah ‘he had trained it'.

111 tāubi for tāyib, The vowel -i is added in the provious poem.

112 na<ana.

113 Aba Khaiṯān, ‘he of the pieces of string' because he used to always pick up odd pieces of string and other objects and carry them around with him.

114 shōhat: a type of tree found, according to Lane, in the mountains from Taif to Najrān. The tree produces many long stems and was used in the old days to make bows.

115 Illustrating the story by the name of a member of the audience.

116 Normally, slaughtered meat was hung up on thorn bushes to keep it away from the sand.

117 The relevance of this interjection is not clear. It may have just been something the narrator remembered. He mentions it again later on.

118 This may mean either ‘to recapture the camels' or ‘to seek combat with the tribesmen'.

119 It was explained that Ghaihabān struck so fast, that the horseman did not know he was wounded until he fell. The reference to the ‘piece of wood' is not very clear, but this may refer to the wooden camel-saddle. In any case it is insulting, since a well-equipped raider would have a horse for battle and not ride into battle on a camel, although he would use a she-camel for the long-distance march to the encounter.

120 The main sections of the Āl Murra are Ghiyāthīn, Jarābi'a, Ghafrān, Āl Jābir, Āl Buḥaiḥ, Āl Fuhaida and Āl ‘Adhba. See also Cole, op. cit., 91–3 and Oppenheim, M. von, Die Beduinen, 160–1, Philby, H. St. J. The Empty Quarter, 409–12 for further details.

121 In fact just east of Sulayyil.

122 On a raid everything of value might be taken, particularly fine clothing or jewellery belonging to a shaykh's wife.

123 ‘life' ḥaya may also mean ‘rain' in the speech of the Murra.

124 Shabīb, one of the three main branches of the Āl Murra: Ghiyāthīn, Jirāb'a and Shabīb. From Shabīb, through Sa'īd descend the Āl Jābir, Ghaihabān's section.

125 Ka'bi, the name of Ghaihabān's wife. It is a rather unusual name, being masculine in form.

126 i.e., she was clothed in her own long hair. It was explained that she had crouched in a clump of bushes and spread her hair around her out of modesty.

127 A reference to the bedouin notion of the superiority of the camel-herder over the sheepherder.

128 The blood on his sword blade resembles the veins in marble, a colour with white and red mixed.

129 ‘irg a wooden lance without a metal tip, as distinguished from the zān ‘the metal lance'.

130 A reference to his generosity as a host, that they can be sure of good hospitality.

131 The wearing of white clothes is a symbol of pure reputation.

132 The last three verses detail the qualities of the self-seeking man, termed ridi ‘wretched or useless', whose attributes are those to be avoided.

133 The nature of this operation is not clear, but the purpose is plain.

134 Flowing locks, a sign of vanity in the young. Long plaits were, however, common among bedouin in earlier times.

135 Avoiding a well when there were enemies about, the sign of a wise leader.