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JULY, 1890.)
THE ABORIGINES OF SOKOTRA.
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THE ABORIGINES OF SOKOTRA; AN ETHNOLOGICAL, RELIGIOUS
AND PHILOLOGICAL REVIEW.
BY MAJOR J. S. KING, Bo.S.C. T HE island of Sokotra occupies, in many senses, a unique position. Though situated
1 directly in what has been from the earliest historic period and still is—the chief trade route between the Red Sea and the East, and sighted, on an average, by perhaps two or three steamers every day throughout the year, it is now less generally known then almost any other island of its size in the world. In the minds of the majority of people it is associated in a vague sort of way with aloes and Greek colonisation in the time of Alexander the Great; and the most conflicting accounts have been written by the early European voyagers as to its productiveness and general appearance, as well as the origin and language of its inhabitants. The extraordinary diversity of opinion on the latter points excited my curiosity many years ago, and I have since taken every opportunity of collecting information regarding them. I have twice landed on Sokotra, but owing to the brevity of my visit on each occasion, personal observation has added but little to my knowledge of the island and its inhabitants. The latter, who differ considerably from the inhabitants of the neighbouring African and Arabian coasts, are characterised by thin lips, straight black hair, rather fair skins and a somewhat European type of feature.
It is a well-known historical fact that for many centuries the established religion of the island was Christianity in some form or other. The Soķotran language, which is now confined to the island itself, has never yet been classified.
In the present paper my object is, by collating all available sources of information, to contribute something towards the solution of the interesting problem-"Whence, and who are the aborigines of Sokotra, and what is their language P"
The island of Sokotra is variously called by the Greek writers, Dioscorida, Dioscoris, Dioscorides, Dioscurias and Dioscora. Regarding these names, Vincent 1 says they "may have a Greek origin, but it is so near a resemblance to Socotra that it is much more likely to be a nautical corruption of an Arabic term than the application of a Greek one." If they have a Greek origin, the derivation would probably be from Dioscuri, meaning Castor and Pollux, who were worshipped specially as protectors of sailors, because Neptune had given them power over the winds and waves. Various authors, however, assert that the Greek name of the island is a corruption of an older Sansksit one, Dvipa Sukhadhara, from dvípa, an island,' sukhu, "happiness,' and ádhára, 'support ;' and that this name, contracted into Diuskadra, the Greeks made "the island of Dioscorides."
in a note on this subject Vincent says (p. 159) :-"Greater corrapters of foreign names than the Greeks there cannot be, and the first sound that suggested an idea to a Greek generally led him to find a Greek name, and often to add a tale of mythology to the name. There can be little doubt that Zocotra is a native term of the earliest date, but the Greeks turned it into Dioscorides at the first step."
A much more probable derivation of the word sylab Suķutra suggests itself from the Arabic gw suk, market, emporium,' and syli kutra, the vulgar form of yli kátir, dragon's
1 Periplus, Part II. xv. p. 307.
Vincent might have included the Portuguese in the same category. In the various accounts of their voyages to the East, their corruptions of Oriental words are so extraordinary that it is a matter of no small difficulty to identify them. A notable instance occurs in the name Cape Guardafui, Gardafu or Gardefan, 4 corruption of the local (SomAli) name Girdiyo, this is a corruption of old Arabic term , Jarad (or Garad) Afdwihu, of which the classical name Aromatum Promontorium is a translation. The modern Arabic name of the Cape is Ras Asir. - [The English, the French, the Araba, the Persians, the Burmese, are just as bad: the Chinese much worse. In fact every nation corrapta foreign words and names. Extension of this oategory is merely – question of experience.-R. C. T.)
