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JULY, 1890.]
THE ABORIGINES OF SOKOTRA.
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G12, which is the oldest member of the Abyssinian family of languages, shows an affinity in grammatical structure with the ancient Arabic, and is said to be closely allied to the dialects spoken by the Mahra and Kara tribes of Southern Arabia ; and approximates much more to the Hebrew and Syriac than to the Arabic. It appears to have been the prevailing language of the country at the time the Abyssinians were converted to Christianity; and being of SyroArabian, or Semitic origin, has been improperly termed Ethiopic.
It was the vernacular dialect of the Agâzi, who founded the kingdom of Axum, and were the original of that mixed race known by the name of Habshi, of whom the greater part were of Syro-Arabian origin, as proved by the cognate affinities of their language, and by history. An early connection and commercial intercourse existed between the people of this country and those of Southern Arabia ; hence the frequent confusion in the use of the term “Ethiopia,'' which is applied in Scripture and elsewhere both to Southern Arabia and Abyssinia : there was in fact an Asiatic and an African Ethiopia. This intercourse between the two countries probably began about B.C. 769 to 729, when the Cashites - a branch of the Syro-Arabian people-migrated from the kingdom of Midian in Arabia to the western shores of the Red Sea ; and from this period frequent similar migrations seem to have taken place, and to have introduced into the African dialects a great many Semitic words.
Giz is still used in Abyssinia for literary and scientific purposes. It borrowed words largely from foreign tongues - some as mere exotics by translators and scholars, bat many others through direct popular intercourse with foreign nations. Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek have been chiefly laid under contribution; the last especially for words technical to Christianity.32
Wollsted asserts that the Sokotran language go nearly resembles MhAri as to be readily understood by the Arabs of the opposite coast.33 This, however, is not the case. Mahra Arabs who have settled on the island, or who are in the habit of trading with it, learn to speak Sokotran, and make use of it in their intercourse with the natives; but I do not think the latter ever speak Mhari, and the resemblance between the two languages is very slight, as will be seen by examining No. 2 Comparative Vocabulary of English, Soķotran, Arabic and Mhari words.34
The Mhari idiom (sleeps) kaldm th' Mhárí, as spoken by the natives themselves, is a peculiarly sweet language ; so much so that they themselves liken it to the conversation of birds.
The Mahra tribe, said by many writers to be descended from the ancient Himyari of Hadhramaut,35 occupy an extent of country exceeding that of any other tribe in the southeastern part of Arabia. The limits of their coast are generally allowed to be the opening of the great Wâdi Masila on the S. W., in 51°13' E. Long., and the town of Damkôt in the Bay of Al Kamar, on the N. E., in 52°47' E. Long., giving them a coast line of 135 miles. Inland their country extends to the confines of Hadhramaut. In stature they are an undersized race,
12 Jour. B. B. R. A. S., July 1845, p. 302. Enc. Brit., s. 7." Ethiopian." 33 It wonld be interesting to know whether the Bani Kars and the Sokograns understand one another's dialecta.
34 The Sokotran words are taken chiefly from Wellsted's Vocabulary, and the Mhári from Dr. H. J. Carter's Vocabulary of the Mahra Dialect, published in the Jour. B. B. R. 4. 8., July 1847. The Arabic words are Yamani. It will be advisable here to note certain letters which have a peculiar pronunciation in Mhari :1, for the most part, has not a broad sound, but is pronounced more like the a in fute: thus sylg(MhArt) ha almost the same sound as the proper name Mary. e, is generally pronounced soft, though in Yamani Arabic it is, as ofton as not, pronounced hard, like g.
, has a very peculiar sound in the MhAri dialect: it is formed by placing tbe tip of the tongue against the anterior part of the palate, and allowing the air to pass out of the mouth on one side or the other of it, in the manner of a liep, following it with the sound of the letter l, as in by Fre, pronounced shut. v, has the softer sound of the letter ?, as inl e, which is pronounced sejar. É is usually pronounced the same as the Arabic (), and the latter is scarcely distinguishable from g.
» The Bani Kara also claim descent from the Himyari.
