The God’s name in Tamazight language

By: D. Messaoudi

This is a short research about a Tamazight vocabulary item: the name of God. The research includes
diachronically and synchronically certified terms. At the end, a conclusion is drawn, in which we
descover the true name given in Tamazight language to God.

The different names of God that are certified in Tamazight language in different areas of the Berber
land are the following ones:“Ṛebbi”, (in Taqbaylit, Tachawit, Tachelheyt), “Ayuc” [1] (in Mozabit), and
“Yalla” [2] (in Touareg).

The first comes from the Arabic expression “rabb-i” which means my God. The second, as it is
suggested by its structure and its meaning, belongs to Tamazight language. It is the nominative case
of the verb “uc” whose variant in other Berber idioms is “efk”, meaning to give. The term “Ayuc”
means then the distributor of the goods; it corresponds to the Arabic “al-wahhab”. As for the third,
unless more advanced researches can one day prove its belonging to the Hamito-Semitic common
vocabulary stock, it is also a pure Amazigh appellation. “Yalla” is built on the one-letter root “L”.

It is true that this root is found as well in the Arabic “Allah” and the Hebrew “ilohim”, but these terms
are isolated, unlike the Berber “Yalla” which is surrounded by other derived forms such as “ili / tilin”
(to exist / existence), “ayal / ayla” (to own / property). Therefore, it is more logical to see Tamazight as
the source from which the Arabs and the Jewish borrowed their “Allah” and “Ilohim”.

Moreover, the Arabic and the Hebrew languages have got their own terms to name God; they are
respectively “Rabb” (Master) and “Jehovah” (He lives). A thing which strengthens our previous
argument, because in basic vocabulary, doublets are very often borrowed words.

Then, definitely, the Amazigh term for God is “Yalla”, as in Touareg dialect. “Yalla” would mean He
exists, as the Hebrew “Jehovah” given above.

______________________________
Footnotes

[1] This term is undoubtedly the variant of “Yakuc” (of the root KC « tikci, takuci, tiwci ») certified -
such as reported by the historians - in Berghwata, a confederation of Berber tribes having translated
the Koran into Berber. (On this subject, see the M.A.Haddadou’s book “guide de la Culture et de la
Langue Berbère”, pp 50-51, first edition.

[2] The term “ilu” published by the Academie Berbère de Paris is,in fact, certified nowhere in the
Berber world; it is a pure creation.