Ghomara people

The Ghomara (Arabic: غمارة, romanized: Ghumāra, Berber languages: ⵉⵖⵎⴰⵔⵏ Ighmaren) are a group of tribes in northern Morocco belonging to the Berbers. They live in the western Rif, in the area of Chefchaouen and Tetouan.

Ghomaras

غمارة ⵉⵖⵎⴰⵔⵏ
Location map of the Ghomara tribes
Regions with significant populations
Western Rif, Morocco
Languages
Arabic, Ghomara Berber (for Bni Bouzra and Bni Mansour)
Religion
Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
other Berbers

Originally, Ghomaras were a Berber tribal group belonging to the Masmuda confederacy. While most have shifted to speaking Arabic, a minority continue to speak the Berber Ghomara language.

Tribes

The Ghomaras are traditionally divided into nine tribes:

• Beni Bouzra
• Beni Grir
• Beni Khaled
• Beni Mansour
• Beni Rezin
• Beni Selman
• Beni Smih
• Beni Zejel
• Beni Ziat

Bibliography

• G. Camps & J. Vignet-Zunz, "Ghomâra", Encyclopédie berbère, vol.20, 1998, pp. 3110–3119
• Jamal el Hannouche, "Arabic influence in Ghomara Berber", Leiden University, 2010.
• Jamal el Hannouche, "Ghomara Berber, a brief grammatical survey", Leiden University, 2008.
• Peter Behnstedt,"La frontera entre el bereber y el árabe en el Rif", Estudios de dialectología norteafricana y andalusí vol. 6, 2002.
• Georges Séraphin Colin, "Le parler berbère des Ghomara", Hesperis 9, 1929, pp. 43–58.

References

1. A. Zouggari & J. Vignet-Zunz, "Jbala: Histoire et société", in Sciences Humaines, (1991), p.463. (ISBN 2-222-04574-6)
2. G. Camps & J. Vignet-Zunz, "Ghomâra", in Encyclopédie berbère, vol. 20, 1998