Editing Berbers (section)

== Names and etymology ==
{{Main|Names of the Berber people}}
The [[indigenous populations]] of the [[Maghreb]] region of [[North Africa]] are collectively known as Berbers or Amazigh in English.<ref name="Berber Definition"/>

Tribal titles such as ''Barabara'' and ''Beraberata'' appear in Egyptian inscriptions of 1700 and 1300 BC, and the Berbers were probably intimately related with the Egyptians in very early times. Thus the true ethnic name may have become confused with ''Barbari'', the designation used by classical conquerors.<ref>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Berbers |volume= 3 | last= |first= |author-link= | pages= 764-767 |short=1}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is very old and would be better replaced with a reference that better demonstrates current terminology and understanding.|date=September 2024}}

The plural form Imazighen is sometimes also used in English.<ref name="Aïtel-2014" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ilahiane |first=Hsain |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/966314885 |title=Historical dictionary of the Berbers (Imazighen) |date=2017 |isbn=978-1-4422-8182-0 |edition=2nd |location=Lanham, Maryland |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |oclc=966314885}}</ref> While Berber is more widely known among English-speakers, its usage is a subject of debate, due to its historical background as an [[Endonym and exonym|exonym]] and present equivalence with the [[Arabic]] word for "[[barbarian]]".<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/881018992 |title=Oxford Arabic dictionary : Arabic-English · English-Arabic |date=2014 |editor=Tressy Arts |isbn=978-0-19-958033-0 |edition=First |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=979, 990 |oclc=881018992}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Maddy-Weitzman |first=Bruce |title=The Berber Identity Movement and the Challenge to North African States |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=2011 |isbn=9780292745056 |pages=14–17}}</ref><ref name="Vourlias-2010"/><ref>{{Cite web |date=23 September 2019 |title="Respecting Identity: Amazigh Versus Berber" |url=https://www.linguisticanthropology.org/blog/2019/09/23/respecting-identity-amazigh-versus-berber/ |access-date=25 October 2022 |website=Society for Linguistic Anthropology |language=en-US |archive-date=25 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221025143159/https://www.linguisticanthropology.org/blog/2019/09/23/respecting-identity-amazigh-versus-berber/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Historically, Berbers did not refer to themselves as Berbers/Amazigh but had their own terms to refer to themselves. For example, the Kabyle use the term "Leqbayel" to refer to their own people, while the Chaoui identified as "Ishawiyen", instead of Berber/Amazigh.<ref name="Goodman-2005"/>

[[Stéphane Gsell]] proposed the translation "noble/free" for the term Amazigh based on [[Leo Africanus]]'s translation of "awal amazigh" as "noble language" referring to the [[Berber languages]]; this definition remains disputed and is largely seen as an undue extrapolation.<ref name="Stepanova-2018">{{Cite journal |last=Stepanova |first=Anastasia |date=15 June 2018 |title=Who Conquered Spain? The Role of the Berbers in the Conquest of the Iberian Peninsula |journal=Written Monuments of the Orient |language=en |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=78–87 |doi=10.17816/wmo35149 |issn=2410-0145 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Chaker-1986">{{Cite journal |last=Chaker |first=S. |date=1 September 1986 |title=Amaziɣ (le/un Berbère) |url=https://journals.openedition.org/encyclopedieberbere/2465 |journal=Encyclopédie berbère |language=fr |issue=4 |pages=562–568 |doi=10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.2465 |issn=1015-7344}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Gsell |first=Stéphane |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k11837281/f133.item |title=Histoire ancienne de l'Afrique du Nord. Tome 5 |publisher=Hachette |year=1929 |location=Paris |pages=119 |language=fr}}</ref> The term Amazigh also has a [[cognate]] in the [[Tuareg languages|Tuareg]] ''"Amajegh"'', meaning noble.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hureiki |first=Jacques |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6btoFb1gzwsC&dq=%22Amajegh%22&pg=PA74 |title=Essai sur les origines des Touaregs: herméneutique culturelle des Touaregs de la région de Tombouctou |date=1 January 2003 |publisher=KARTHALA Editions |isbn=978-2-84586-442-9 |language=fr}}</ref><ref name="Stepanova-2018"/> "Mazigh" was used as a tribal surname in [[Roman Empire|Roman]] [[Mauretania Caesariensis]].<ref name="Chaker-1986"/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Desanges |first=Jehan |url=http://archive.org/details/CatalogueDesTribusAfricainesDeLantiquiteClassiqueALOuestDuNil |title=Catalogue des tribus africaines de l'antiquité classique à l'ouest du Nil |publisher=Université de Dakar |year=1962 |location=Dakar |pages=63 |language=French}}</ref>

Abraham Isaac Laredo proposes that the term Amazigh could be derived from "Mezeg", which is the name of [[Dedan (Bible)|Dedan]] of [[Sheba]] in the [[Targum]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Laredo |first=Abraham Isaac |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9nAbAAAAIAAJ |title=Bereberes y Hebreos en Marruecos: sus orígenes, según las leyendas, tradiciones y fuentes hebraicas antiguas |date=1954 |publisher=Instituto de Estudios Africanos, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas |language=es}}</ref><ref name="Stepanova-2018"/>

The medieval Arab historian [[Ibn Khaldun]] says the Berbers were descendants of Barbar, the son of Tamalla, son of Mazigh, son of [[Canaan (son of Ham)|Canaan]], son of [[Ham (son of Noah)|Ham]], son of [[Noah]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Stepanova |first=Anastasia V. |date=5 September 2018 |title=Origin of the Berber Tribal Confederation of Ṣanhādja |url=https://kigiran.elpub.ru/jour/article/view/1179 |journal=Oriental Studies |language=ru |volume=11 |issue=2 |pages=2–13 |issn=2619-1008}}</ref><ref name="Stepanova-2018"/> 

The [[Numidians|Numidian]], [[Mauri]] and [[Libu]] populations of antiquity are typically understood by contemporary writers to have referred to approximately the same population as modern Berbers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maddy-Weitzman |first=Bruce |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1255524815 |title=Amazigh politics in the wake of the Arab Spring |date=2022 |isbn=978-1-4773-2482-0 |location=Austin |publisher=University of Texas Press |oclc=1255524815}}</ref><ref name="EB319">{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2008 |title=Lebou/Libou |encyclopedia=Encyclopédie berbère |publisher=Edisud |url=http://encyclopedieberbere.revues.org/319 |last=Zimmermann |first=K. |publication-place=Aix-en-Provence |volume=28–29 {{!}} Kirtēsii – Lutte |issue=28–29 |pages=4361–4363|doi=10.4000/encyclopedieberbere.319 |doi-access=free }}</ref>