tamurt

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tamurt f (plural timura)

1. country, land

   tamurt n Leqbayel ― Kabylia (literally, “the land of the Kabyles”)

tamurt f (plural timura)

1. country, earth

• tammuāt — Central Tarifit
• damuāt — Western Tarifit

Inherited from Proto-Berber *tamurt (“earth”), ultimately from Proto-Afroasiatic *m-r (“field”).

Cognates include Awjila tämûrt (“earth”), Kabyle tamurt (“land, earth”), Siwi tamort (“earth”), Central Atlas Tamazight ⵜⴰⵎⵓⵔⵜ (tamurt, “land,earth, region, countryside”) Tuareg təmurt (“nation, people, land”), Sabaean 𐩣𐩧𐩥 (mrw, “fertile land”), Ngas mar (“farm”), Kanakuru mə́rà (“farming”), Gera màalà (“farm”), Egyptian mr (“pasture, meadow”), Somali mir (“Pasture of the cattle at night”), and possibly Blin maûra (“cattle storage”).

tamurt f (plural timura, Tifinagh spelling ⵜⴰⵎⵓⵔⵜ)

1. earth, ground
2. country, territory
3. land

• IPA^(key): /tamurt/

From Proto-Berber *amur (“part, portion”).^[1] In Amazigh communities, shares were traditionally allocated by drawing lots with sticks or lances, suggesting the original meaning was “arrow” or “lance”. Possibly from Proto-Afroasiatic [Term?] (“lance,spear”) compare Egyptian mrḥ (“lance”), Ugaritic 𐎎𐎗𐎈 (mrḥ, “spear, lance”), Akkadian azmarû (“spear, lance”), and Beja malkḁ (“spear”) (note that Beja -k < Afrasian *-ḥ), though the Egyptian term is sometimes considered a Semitic loanword.

Compare Tuareg ǝṃur (“arrow”), Medieval Tashelhit umuren (“spears”), Central Atlas Tamazight ⴰⵎⵓⵔ (amur, “portion, allotment”), Kabyle amur (“part, portion”), Tachawit amur (“share, portion”) and Tashelhit amur (“portion,part”).

tamurt f (plural timurin, Tifinagh spelling ⵜⴰⵎⵓⵔⵜ, Arabic spelling تامورت)

1. spear, lance

Borrowed from Moroccan Amazigh ⵜⴰⵎⵓⵔⵜ (tamurt, “country, land”), from Proto-Berber *tamurt (“earth”),^[2], ultimately from Proto-Afroasiatic *m-r (“field”).

Cognates include Awjila tämûrt (“earth”), Kabyle tamurt (“land, earth”), Siwi tamort (“earth”), Tarifit tamurt (“land,earth”), Central Atlas Tamazight ⵜⴰⵎⵓⵔⵜ (tamurt, “land,earth, region, countryside”) Tuareg təmurt (“nation, people, land”), Sabaean 𐩣𐩧𐩥 (mrw, “fertile land”), Ngas mar (“farm”), Kanakuru mə́rà (“farming”), Gera màalà (“farm”), Egyptian mr (“pasture, meadow”), Somali mir (“Pasture of the cattle at night”), and possibly Blin maûra (“cattle storage”).

tamurt f (plural timurin, Tifinagh spelling ⵜⴰⵎⵓⵔⵜ, Arabic spelling تامورت)

1. (neologism) country, land

   Synonym: tamazirt

• Stroomer, Harry (2025), Dictionnaire berbère tachelḥiyt-français — Tome 4 t—ẓ (Handbook of Oriental Studies – Handbuch der Orientalistik; 188/4) (in French), Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, →DOI, →ISBN, page 2488a