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African American ancestry: the Fulani (Pël, Pëlu)
Of the Egyptian origin of the Fulani Aboubacry Moussa Lam
(translated from the French)
Introduction
"...Finally, this thesis has shown the preponderant role played by the Nile and Egyptian Civilization in understanding the historical facts of black Africa. Whenever we have repositioned a problem in its management and Egyptian Nile, everything became clear as crystal.
It is therefore not a quest of a glorious past but more reasonable search of the intelligibility of historical facts. The African historian has no choice. As the Western specialist who uses the Greco-Roman civilization to understand the facts of the most salient of his society, he must also use the Nilotic cradle for understanding historical events he studies. Cheikh Anta Diop was clearly understood. Again, at the risk of repeating ourselves, the glory has nothing to do with this process driven solely by scientific reasons.
Thus, without questioning the role that cultural area Saharan Africa has played in the emergence of the cultural unity of Black Africa, the hotbed of it is the Nile Valley. It is also one of the major contributions of our thesis. Indeed, the Great Lakes to the Nile Delta, we saw that parallels and similarities exist between the very important poularophones and different groups of people in this part of Africa.
This raises the problem of the dispersion of blacks across the continent, as a corollary, the famous migration is one of the issues that were the subject of our attention at the end of this thesis. Again, taking into account pertinent comments concerning the foundations without which migration may be simple assumptions we have made an effort, certainly significant, but not be limited, given the current state things. It means recognizing that our thesis in this area is improved. We hope it will be completed as soon as possible through quality work, because the scientific dispute that we mentioned in our introduction seems unable to find a definitive solution that the day of solid foundations, historical and geographical names, confine the flyway between the valleys of the Nile and Senegal."
"The Dogon are thought to have originated in ancient Egypt due to significant traditions and oral myths which relate to Egyptian mythology and knowledge of astronomy. One interesting link to the ancient Egyptians is the practice of circumcising both males and females..."
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If you keep in mind that Ancient Egypt was a Black Civilization and not the one fabricated during the European colonial/neo-colonial era, then the understanding of African history becomes crystal clear.
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Perhaps it was due in part to the humiliation of the nation that had allowed the Aamu ("Asiatics") to insinuate themselves into the Delta, attain positions of wealth, marry Satut Kemé (IE, native women), and then ultimately seize control of this region; that would later lead to the installment by the liberated, reunited Kemet of a more radical political legitimacy (as well as the new desire to create an empire in Asia); launched, of course, from the south:
Protection of Royal Matrilineal Descent It was during the 18Th dynasty, and never before this time, that there was imposed an absolute prohibition for any royal heiress to marry anyone other than a reigning king.
Nefertiti and Tutankhamen Also during this period, though not exclusive to it, the pictorial displays of the Queen (mother) only depicted them with their female children. No sons are ever depicted simply because they were irrelevant to royal succession. This fact has caused a few observers to make the superficial conclusion that these queens did not bear any male children! (It is also a convenient way to deny the reality of Kemet being a matriarchal society; Western mythology at work again). It is almost certain, given the radical legitimist characteristics of this dynasty, that Nefertiti was the mother of Tutankhamen, who was the last king of this family dynasty, beginning with Iohotep. In any event, he, like all legitimate royals with the appropriate circumstance, married his sister AnkhesenAmen. Brother-Sister marriage kept the royal blood pure...
The Emergence of Great Kememou Women It is also probably due to the humiliation of the nation by the Aamu occupation, and the reaction of solidifying the Royal line of matrilineal descent, that we witness the emergence of powerful and influential women; Aames-Nefertari, Tiye, Nefertiti, and Hatshepsut (a man's name). In fact, it is for certain that Hatshepsut established the first recorded instance in history in which not only did the woman provide the legitimacy to rule but also actually ruled as well...
Royal Queen Mothers The beginning of the 18Th dynasty actually occurred during the 17Th Dynasty and the struggle to expel the "Hyksos" (Mdu Ntr:Hek khasu or "foreign rulers") from the Delta: The Great Queen Mother of this dynasty was Iohotep (The Moon is Pleased), who was probably originally from "Sudan"; who is by lineage the ancestor of Queen Tetisheri; queen mother of the 18Th dynasty. > also related to this lineage is Queen Tiye, daughter of Lady Thuya; a descendant of a prominent (elite) family from Akhmin, Upper Egypt. Nefertiti being the daughter of Tiye.
Nsu;Nsuten;Suten These are the more traditional names for the king, which fundamentally is an ideological statement that the Kingship is of southern origin, in its most legitimist form. The term Pharaoh is a Hebrew spelling of the Mdu Ntr word "Fer-ao" which means "Great (double) Houses." but because of its biblical usage, it has become the most popular current title for the king; in reality, Nsu;Nsuten;Suten meant king, royalty, the south.
Kemet: A Matriarchal culture By the very nature in which they are compiled, the Egyptian king's lists are incomplete at best, and probably not entirely accurate. The problem is that dynasties are traced and listed as if one is researching a Patriarchal culture; since those doing the research are products of such a society. It's totally subjective and backwards!
Matriarchal Line of Descent Ancient Egypt was a matriarchy wherein descent to the throne is through the female line , and this Egyptian system was formal and legitimist from the beginning to the end of Pharaonic history.
quote: "Because of the need to ensure that the next king was born to a woman of the purest royal blood and because the role of the Great Royal Wife was of the greatest importance to the succession, the ruling king was usually married to the Great Royal Daughter (who was customarily his sister and the eldest daughter of the previous king and his Great Royal Wife). Inheritance thus passed through the female line; to substantiate his claim to the throne and gain acceptance of his own son as the next heir, each royal heir presumptive had to marry the Great Royal Daughter...Even claimants who had only tenuous links with the main royal line could legitimatize their kingship if they married the royal heiress. --Handbook to Life in Ancient Egypt, p87 by Rosalie David, Oxford
quote: Ancient Egypt's lineage was traced through women and property was passed through women. For this reason, Ancient Egypt originated as a matriarchy. The Pharaohs were trustees of the property passed down and their reign was decided by their matrilineal status. Because of the matrilineal structure, husbands would lose their property and status if their wife died. The property was passed down to the daughters and granddaughters. Many incest relations began with fathers and daughters and granddaughters because the men wanted to stay with the property. There were also numerous brother/sister incest marriages.
...and just plain ol' common sense! If becoming king was based on the male line of descent, what could possibly be the reason for the king to marry his sister or cousin? Why did the king have to marry a royal female to legitimize his rule??? I feel absolutely embarrassed to be asking a question whose answer is self-evident and obvious. A Kemetian patriarchy is as real as the Sirens or a "White Egypt"; it's the same illogic at work here, it is revisionist history/mythology.
In order to trace and record the Egyptian dynasties is to correctly identify the succession of Queen Mothers. -- Who was the Queen Mother of the Eighteenth dynasty, whose daughter would be married to Ahmose I; -- Tutankhamen's legitimacy would necessarily be traced back to this woman as well. and so on... Anomalies, such as the illegitimate ascension to the throne of Rameses I, are the rare exceptions which proves the rule of this Egyptian law.
Nsu, Nsuten, Suten: Southern Legitimacy The basis of the Egyptian line of descent and legitimacy was for the female line to be descended from the South (the Sudan). This is expressed in the very meaning of these words and in the title of Pharaoh -- Nsu Biti -- that the matriarchy and legitimacy were derived from the "Khentu hon Nefer" or "the founders of the excellent order"-- Sudanese Africans. This is illustrated, for example, that when the alien Hyksos invaded and occupied the Delta region, Egyptian royalty retreated to the heartland to regroup and to launch a counter-attack to expel these foreigners, a process which, incidentally, took several centuries. The concept was clear, Egyptian royal legitimacy originated in the South and therefore could only be re- instated from the South. (This ideology makes laughable the designation of the 25th dynasty as the "Kushite dynasty" which was simply a re-enactment of the process of the "Hyksos" era - the restoration of Egyptian royalty and legitimate rule.)
One of the official titles of Tutankhamen included the boast "heq An nsu" - "ruler from Southern On (Heliopolis of the South); emphasizing the southern and therefore formally legitimate origins of the Eighteenth dynasty...
And I would bet the farm that his parents are Ikhnaton and Nefertiti; an independent, non- National Geographic/Hawass scientific team's performance of a DNA analysis of all the royal mummies would add considerable light on who's who, and I'll win my bet, absolutely...
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The chronicling of the political unification of the various African ethnic groups and clans of the ancient Nile valley into a unified nation is clearly delineated in the Text/Tablet of Narmer:
The Front Side:
A) The first word is at the very top, inside the ideograph of the palace, and contains the name Narmer:
Nar(catfish) mer (chisel). And NO, it does not mean that he was a chiseling catfish! You can get Jan Assman's interpretation of the name in his book...
B) The figure to the right of the conquering king-wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt-, the one where Horus is astride and doing exactly what Diop suggests, as Assman points out, represents the conquest of the Delta or Lower Egypt.
C) The king's servant is identified as "Sashat-the goddess of writing, and I presume, the one who is chronicling all of this. (No, the sandal-bearer wasn't a servant god but merely a scribe.)
The people being subdued (compelled to unite) as well as the ones shown fleeing the land have Black African hairstyles, and many Egyptologists suggest that they represent the original Black African Anu ethnic rulers of the Two Lands.
D) the two figures below the "border" of Egypt represent the determinative "Kher" which means "fall, defeat, slaughter" and is preceded by another glyph which means "Uhan" or "overthrown, throw-down" (Coptic: Ouwdjn/Ouwgan)(also Sdjen).
The Back Side:
A) The first important word on this side is the word Tht;or Tjt; or Tet which means "to assemble" and is obviously referring to the assembled group of four figures bearing Black African totems, as Diop points out.
B) Above the slain enemies- I imagine those who opposed political unification - are the images of
1) a boat with its sails down, which means a journey down river
and
2) of Horus in front of an emblem which Assman interprets as meaning 'gate' - These conquerors would later be identified as the "Shemsu Hor" or the followers of Horus, the Mesnitu ('blacksmiths') and who later claimed that they were from the land of Punt (evidence of the existence of at least two ruling African ethnic groups; Anu and later, the Mesnitu)...
C) The next word, a very large version at that, of two creatures with the twisting long necks is "Kaes" or "Kasu" which means 'to bind or fetter,' Qes/Kes - restrain, bind
which I think indicates the obvious, that the union of the two lands was carried out through armed struggle.
(It has been suggested that the 'formal' union was firmly established by another warrior king, Aha. )
D) the last image is the one that confirms Diops assessment...
1) The bull breaking down the walled city's fortified wall and stomping the Asiatic represents the king. The word inside the wall "Abominable" (IE, "city of the abominables") is a term the Kememu used to describe the Asian or White peoples, especially.
It seems obvious that the Kememu did not regard these peoples as a legitimate part of their ethnic population. It's Kememu ideology...
ref: --The Mind of Egypt: History and Meaning in the Time of the Pharaohs by Jan Assmann, Andrew Jenkins (Translator) --The African Origin of Civilization by C.A. Diop --The Mdu Ntr (Budge, Gardiner, etc...)
▬ ▬ ▬
Fiopy (aka Pepi II) 6th Egyptian family dynasty king...
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A fractal is a pattern that repeats itself at different scales. It is ideal for modeling nature: a tree is a branch of a branch of a branch; mountains are peaks within peaks; clouds are puffs of puffs, and so on. But modern computer scientists aren't the only ones to use fractals: Africans have been using them for centuries to design textiles, sculptures, architecture, hairstyles and more.
Pyramids in Sudan - Egypt
Sudan - Gonder (Ethiopia) - Great Zimbabwe
Kerma city (Sudan) - Lunda houses (Congo) - Tigray (Ethiopia)
... [b]In the ancient Western Sudan (aka West Africa)- Songhai, Ghana... Posts: 3344 | From: Berkeley | Registered: Oct 2003
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Fractal designs appear frequently in cultural artifacts across the continent of Africa. They are found in textiles, architecture, sculpture, village layout, etc. Continent wide studies conclude that the high frequency of the use of fractals in Africa is by both conscious and unconscious design. The scaling and recursion aspect of fractals are employed by African architects with the interest of creating a focus of mind and spirit.
The first image is of the layout of an individual house. This is the seed shape. The second iteration shows the same configuration of a family compound. The third iteration shows the layout of the entire village made up of several compounds.
Fractal model for Ba-ila village (Zambia)
Fractals in textiles Fractals in textiles --------------------- African hair braiding ------------------------------------- an Ethiopian Cross - - and more African hair braiding.Posts: 3344 | From: Berkeley | Registered: Oct 2003
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...ya know, like the Irish just 'sprouted' up in Ireland, and of course the Germans aren't a combination of Nordics and Huns (ya know, Mongolians)...
and with these folks - "African Americans are ONLY from West Africa!"...was there an 'iron curtain'!?! You have to be in kindergarten or severely retarded to believe this crap...
Nah, nah...these people above, all African Americans, along with the Beja, Igbo, Yoruba, Akan, Akele, Wolof, ...are the creators and biological descendants of this ancient Nilotic African Civilization. Posts: 3344 | From: Berkeley | Registered: Oct 2003
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The phallus was a symbol of fertility, and the god Min was often depicted with an erect penis.
The god Min in the color of life and rejuvination erect penises globally
Washington, D.C.
erect penises in Ethiopia
...it is not about juvenile eroticism; it is about the procreation of the human family...Posts: 3344 | From: Berkeley | Registered: Oct 2003
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Of the approximately 388,000 African slaves who landed in America, almost 92,000 (24 percent!) were Senegambians...Hence, people from Senegambia were prominent everywhere in the United States...
-------------------- The wise man knows he knows nothing, the fool thinks he knows all Posts: 70 | From: Paris / France | Registered: Dec 2009
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The first recorded watermelon harvest was in Kemet and it took place nearly 5000 years ago. This is depicted in the Kememou hieroglyphics that are found in ancient buildings. As a matter of fact, watermelons were also placed in the tombs of kings to help nourish them in the after life.
TO AFRICA-AMERICA - a letter from home
"I think it was Geral I first heard call a watermelon a letter from home. After all these years I understand a little better what she meant. She was saying the melon is a letter addressed to us. A story for us from down home. Down home being everywhere we have ever been, the rural South, the old days, slavery, Africa. That juicy striped message with red meat and seeds, which always looked like roaches to me was blackness as cross and celebration, a history we could taste and chew. And it was meant for us. Addressed to us. We were meant to slit it open and take care of business." --John Edgar Wideman, Damballah
Referring to Watermelon as "a letter from home" is a typical African-American expression in this community - especially in the South.
Fried Chicken!! "Fried chicken has been around a long time! It's not as American as one might think. Fried chicken has been around since Ancient Egypt..."
PEOPLE CARRY THEIR HISTORY WITH THEM.Posts: 3344 | From: Berkeley | Registered: Oct 2003
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an illiterate person (the majority) in Kemet knows that the word for "watermelon" is betuke; written for the literate here and hi-lighted in sepia...
however, a literate person, can also read the definition or the sense of the word as it is written...
ideograms
it's a plant
it's masculine; procreates
and the determinative of a bull (strong, potent)
in any case the word for this African melon evokes its significance in this ancient culture, and its meaning surviving in African-American culture: a letter (message) from home.
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Ancient Egypt, like all other great African civilizations, was not the sole creation of a single ethnic group, but rather a collective collaboration of many African peoples, held together by a central government; at times ethnic tensions would plunge the nation into chaos, on other occasions, chaos would be due to other social tensions. Yet it remains the longest historical civilization in human history.
But the history of civilizations is always told as the history of its ruling class or its founders; in Ancient Egypt we have the Anu and later the Mesnitu ruling class obscuring the reality that Ancient Egypt was no different in its ethnic composition than modern Nigeria or Ethiopia, except perhaps with a greater sense of identity as a nationality.
Asiatic myths trumps African reality
It is a given that peoples emigrate from their homelands for a myriad of reasons. Emigrations out of historic Egypt into Asia, based almost entirely on biblical mythology, are readily accepted as historical fact - The Hebrews were enslaved in Egypt for four hundred years, were led out of there by this guy with an Egyptian name, who had a magical stick that parted the "Red" Sea...
On the reality side, of Africans emigrating from historic Egypt back into Africa, based upon tons of historical, cultural, linguistic, evidence; this natural phenomena becomes "controversial"
Posts: 3344 | From: Berkeley | Registered: Oct 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Wally: Ancient Egypt, like all other great African civilizations, was not the sole creation of a single ethnic group, but rather a collective collaboration of many African peoples, held together by a central government; at times ethnic tensions would plunge the nation into chaos, on other occasions, chaos would be due to other social tensions. Yet it remains the longest historical civilization in human history.
But the history of civilizations is always told as the history of its ruling class or its founders; in Ancient Egypt we have the Anu and later the Mesnitu ruling class obscuring the reality that Ancient Egypt was no different in its ethnic composition than modern Nigeria or Ethiopia, except perhaps with a greater sense of identity as a nationality.
Asiatic myths trumps African reality
It is a given that peoples emigrate from their homelands for a myriad of reasons. Emigrations out of historic Egypt into Asia, based almost entirely on biblical mythology, are readily accepted as historical fact - The Hebrews were enslaved in Egypt for four hundred years, were led out of there by this guy with an Egyptian name, who had a magical stick that parted the "Red" Sea...
On the reality side, of Africans emigrating from historic Egypt back into Africa, based upon tons of historical, cultural, linguistic, evidence; this natural phenomena becomes "controversial"
No west africans in EGYPT. Egyptians are related to East africans. it is supported by Anthropology and Genetics!
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"In order to have a better appreciation of these developments, it is necessary to start from the political crisis in Igodomigodo also known as Ile (Home) which was the capital of the migrants from Sudan scattered over the present west African and central African sub regions." from "The History of the Ancient Benin Kingdom and Empire" written by Chief D.N. Oronsaye (published 1995; printed by Jeromelaiho).
Chiekh Anta Diop has contributed much to the Afrocentric social sciences. Here we discuss many of Diop's views on using the linguistic sciences to rediscover the ancient history of Blacks.
Chiekh Anta Diop has made important contributions to linguistic theory in relation to African historiography. Diop's work illustrates that it is important for scholars to maintain a focus on the historical and linguistic factors which define the "personnalitè culturelle africaine" (Diop 1991, 227).
Language is the sanctum sanctorum of Diop's Afrocentric historical method. The Diopian view of historiography combines the research of linguistics, history and psychology to interpret the cultural unity of African people. C. Anta Diop is the founder of modern Afrocentricism . Diop (1974,1991) laid the foundations for the Afrocentric idea in education. He laid these foundations using both the historical and anthropological/linguistic methods of research to explain the role of the Blacks in World History.
There are three components in the genetic model: 1) common Physical type, 2) common cultural patterns and 3) genetically related languages. (Winters 1989a) Diop over the years has brought to bear all three of these components in his illumination of Kemetic civilization. (Diop 1974,1977,1978,1991)
The opposition of many Eurocentric scholars to Afrocentric -ism results from white hostility to Diop's idea of a Black Egypt, and the view that Egyptians spoke an African ,rather than Afro-Asiatic language.
Recently, Eurocentric American scholars have alleged to write reviews of Diop's recent book (Diop 1991). Although these reviewers mention the work of Diop in their articles, they never review his work properly, because they lack the ability to understand the many disciplines that Diop has mastered.(Lefkowitz 1992; Baines 1991) For example Lefkowitz (1992) in The New Republic, summarizes Diop (1974) but never presents any evidence to dispute the findings of Diop. The most popular "review" of Diop (1991) was done by Baines (1991) review in the New York Times Book Review. In this "review" Baines (1991) claims that "...the evidence and reasoning used to support the arguments are often unsound".
Instead of addressing the evidence Diop (1991) presents of the African role in the rise of civilization that he alleges is "unsound", he is asking the reader to reject Diop's thesis without refutation of specific evidence presented by Diop of the African contributions to Science and Philosophy. Baines (l991) claims that Diop's Civilization or Barbarism, is not a work of originality, he fails to dispute any factual evidence presented by Diop. Baines (1991) wants the public to accept his general negative comments about Civilization or Barbarism ,based on the fact that he is an Egyptologist. This is not enough, in academia to refute a thesis one must present counter evidence that proves the falseness of a thesis not unsubstantiated rhetoric. We can not accept the negative views of Baines on faith alone. In the recovery of information concerning the African past, Diop promotes semantic anthropology, comparative linguistics and the study of Onomastics. The main thesis of Diop is that typonymy and ethnonymy of Africa point to a common cradle for Paleo-Africans in the Nile Valley (Diop 1978, 67).
Onomastics is the science of names. Diop has studied legends, placenames and religious cult terms to discover the unity of African civilization. Diop (1981, 86) observed that: "An undisputed linguistic relationship between two geographically remote groups of languages can be relevant for the study of migrations. A grammatical (or genetic) relationship if clear enough is never an accident".
As a result, Diop has used toponyms (place-names), anthroponyms (personal names) and ehthnonyms (names of ethnic groups/tribes) to explain the evidence of analogous ethnic (clan) names in West Africa and the Upper Nile (Diop 1991).
In Precolonial Black Africa, Diop used ethnonyms to chart the migrations of African people in West Africa. And in The African Origin of Civilization, Diop used analyses acculturaliste or typological analysis to study the origin and spread of African cultural features from the Nile Valley to West Africa through his examination of toponyms (Diop 1974, 182-183). In the Cultural Unity of Black Africa, Diop discussed the common totems and religious terms many African ethnic groups share (Diop 1978, 124).
LINGUISTIC TAXONOMY
This linguistic research has been based on linguistic classification or taxonomy. Linguistic taxonomy is the foundation upon which comparative and historical linguistic methods are based (Ruhlen 1994). Linguistic taxonomy is necessary for the identification of language families. The determination of language families give us the material to reconstruct the proto-language of a people and discover regular sound correspondences.
There are three major kinds of language classifications: genealogical, typological, and areal. A genealogical classifica-tion groups languages together into language families based on the shared features retained by languages since divergence from the common ancestor or proto-language. An areal classification groups languages into linguistic areas based on shared features acquired by a process of convergence arising from spatial proximity. A typological classification groups languages together into language types by the similarity in the appearance of the structure of languages without consideration of their historical origin and present, or past geographical distribution.
COMPARATIVE METHOD
Diop has used comparative and historical linguistics to illuminate the Unity of African civilization. Diop (1977, xxv) has noted that "The process for the evolution of African languages is clearly apparent; from a far we (have) the idea that Wolof is descendant by direct filiation to ancient Egyptian, but the Wolof, Egyptian and other African languages (are) derived from a common mother language that one can call Paleo-African, the common mother language that one can call Paleo-African, the common African or the Negro- African of L. Homburger or of Th. Obenga."
The comparative method is used by linguists to determine the relatedness of languages, and to reconstruct earlier language states. The comparative linguist has two major goals (1) trace the history of language families and reconstruct the mother language of each family, and (2) determine the forces which affect language. In general, comparative linguists are interested in determining phonetic laws, analogy/ correspondence and loan words. Diop is a strong supporter of the comparative method in the rediscovery of Paleo-African. The reconstruction of Paleo-African involves both reconstruction and recognition of regular sound correspondence. The goal of reconstruction is the discovery of the proto-language of African people is the recovery of Paleo-African:
(1) vowels and consonants
(2) specific Paleo-African words
(3) common grammatical elements; and
(4) common syntactic elements.
The comparative method is useful in the reconstruction of Proto-languages or Diop's Paleo-African. To reconstruct a proto-language the linguist must look for patterns of correspondences. Patterns of correspondence is the examination of terms which show uniformity. This uniformity leads to the inference that languages are related since uniformity of terms leads to the inference that languages are related since conformity of terms in two or more languages indicate they came from a common ancestor.
HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS
A person's language provides us with evidence of the elements of a group's culture. Diop has noted that reconstruction of Paleo-African terms can help us make inferences about a group's culture going backwards in time to an impenetrable past undocumented by written records. This is semantic anthropology, a linguistic approach which seeks to discover aspects of man's culture from his language. Thusly, linguistic resemblances can help the anthropologist make precise inferences about a groups culture elements.
Linguistic resemblances denote a historical relationship. This suggest that resemblances in fundamental vocabulary and culture terms can help one reconstruct the culture of the speakers of genetically related languages.
LINGUISTIC CONSTANCY
The rate at which languages change is variable. It appears that linguistic change is culture specific. Consequently, the social organization and political culture of a particular speech community can influence the speed at which languages change.
Based on the history of language change in Europe most linguists believe that the rate of change for all languages is both rapid and constant.(Diagne, 1981,p.238) The idea that all languages change rapidly is not valid for all the World's languages.
African languages change much slower than European languages. (Armstrong, 1962) For example, African vocabulary items collected by Arab explorers over a thousand years ago are analogous to contemporary lexical items.(Diagne,1981, p.239) In addition there are striking resemblances between the ancient Egyptian language and Coptic, and Pharonic Egyptian and African languages.(Diagne, 1981; Diop, 1977; Obenga, 1993)
The political stability of African political institutions has caused languages to change very slowly in Africa. Pawley and Ross (1993) argue that a sedentary life style may account for the conservative nature of a language.
African oral traditions and the eye witness accounts of travelers to Africa, make it clear that African empires although made up of diverse nationalities illustrated continuity. To accomodate the plural nature of African empires Africans developed a Federal system of government. (Niane , 1984) In fact we can not really describe ancient African state systems as empires, since this implies absolute rule or authority in a single individual. This political state of affairs rarely existed in ancient Africa, because in each African speech community local leadership was elected by the people within the community. (Diop, 1987) For example the Egyptians often appointed administrators over the conquered territories from among the conquered people. (Diop ,1991)
The continuity of many African languages may result from the steady state nature of African political systems, and long standing cultural stability since neolithic times. (Diop, 1991 ; Winters 1985) This cultural stability has affected the speed at which African languages change.
In Africa due to the relative stability of socio-political structures and settled life, there has not been enough pressure exerted on African societies as a whole and African speech communities in particular, to cause radical internal linguistic changes within most African languages. Permanent settlements led to a clearly defined system of inheritance and royal succession. These traits led to stability on both the social and political levels. This leads to the hypothesis that linguistic continuity exist in Africa due to the stability of African socio-political structures and cultural systems. This relative cultural stability has led African languages to change more slowly then European and Asian languages. Diop (1974) observed that:
First the evolution of languages, instead of moving everywhere at the same rate of speed seems linked to other factors; such as , the stability of social organizations or the opposite, social upheavals. Understandably in relatively stable societies man's language has changed less with the passage of time.(pp.153-154)
There is considerable evidence which supports the African continuity concept. Dr. Armstrong (1962) noted the linguistic continuity of African languages when he used glottochronology to test the rate of change in Yoruba. Comparing modern Yoruba words with a list of identical terms collected 130 years ago by Koelle , Dr. Armstrong found little if any internal or external changes in the terms. He concluded that:
I would have said that on this evidence African languages are changing with glacial slowness, but it seems to me that in a century a glacier would have changed a lot more than that. Perhaps it would be more in order to say that these languages are changing with geological slowness. (Armstrong, 1962, p.285).
Diop's theory of linguistic constancy recognizes the social role language plays in African language change. Language being a variable phenomena has as much to do with a speaker's society as with the language itself. Thus social organization can influence the rate of change within languages. Meillet (1926, 17) wrote that:
Since language is a social institution it follows that linguistics is a social science, and the only variable element to which one may appeal in order to account for a linguistic change is social change, of which language variations are but the consequences.
THE BLACK AFRICAN ORIGIN OF EGYPT
Diop has contributed much to African linguistics. He was a major proponent of the Dravidian-African relationship (Diop 1974, 116), and the African substratum in Indo-European languages in relationship to cacuminal sounds and terms for social organiza-tion and culture (1974, 115). Diop (1978, 113) also recognized that in relation to Arabic words, after the suppression of the first consonant, there is often an African root.
Diop's major linguistic effort has been the classification of Black African and Egyptian languages . Up until 1977 Diop'smajor area of interest were morphological and phonological similarities between Egyptian and Black African languages. Diop (1977, 77-84) explains many of his sound laws for the Egyptian-Black African connection.
In Parènte Génétique de l'Egyptien pharraonique et des Langues Négro Africaines (PGEPLNA), Diop explains in some detail his linguistic views in the introduction of this book. In PGEPLNA , Diop demonstrates the genetic relationship between ancient Egyptian and the languages of Black Africa. Diop provides thousands of cognate Wolof and Egyptian terms in support of his Black African-Egyptian linguistic relationship.
PALEO-AFRICAN
African languages are divided into Supersets (i.e., a family of genetically related languages, e.g., Niger-Congo) sets, and subsets. In the sets of African languages there are many parallels between phonological terms, eventhough there may be an arbitrary use of consonants which may have a similar sound. The reason for these changes is that when the speakers of Paleo-African languages separated, the various sets of languages underwent separate developments. As a result a /b/ sound in one language may be /p/ or /f/ in a sister language. For example, in African languages the word for father may be baba , pa or fa, while in the Dravidian languages we have appan to denote father. Diop has noted that reconstruction of Paleo-African terms can help us make inferences about an ethnic group's culture going backwards in time to an impenetrable past undocumented by written records. This is semantic anthropology, a linguistic approach which seeks to discover aspects of man's culture from his language.
Thusly, linguistic resemblances can help the anthropologists make precise inferences about a linguistic group's cultural elements.
BLACKS IN WEST ASIA
In PGEPLNA Diop makes clear his views on the role of African languages in the rise of other languages. Using archaeological evidence Diop makes it clear that the original West Asians: Elamites and Sumerians were of Black origin (1974, 1977, xxix-xxxvii).
Diop (1974, 1991) advocates the unity of Black Africans and Blacks in West Asia. Winters (1985,1989,1994) has elaborated on the linguistic affinity of African and West Asian languages.
This view is supported by linguistic evidence. For example these languages share demonstrative bases:
Proximate Distant Finite
Dravidian i a u
Manding i a u
Sumerian bi a
Wolof i a u
The speakers of West Asian and Black African languages also share basic culture items: Chief city,village black,burnt
Dravidian cira, ca uru kam
Elamite Salu
Sumerian Sar ur
Manding Sa furu kami,"charcoal'
Nubia sirgi mar
Egyptian Sr mer kemit
Paleo-African *sar *uru *kam
OBENGA
Obenga (1978) gives a phonetic analysis of Black African and Egyptian. He illustrates the genetic affinity of consonants within the Black African (BA) and Egyptian languages especially the occlusive bilateral sonorous, the occlusive nasal apico-dental /n/ and /m/ , the apico-alveolar /r/ and the radical proto-form sa: 'man, female, posterity' in Black Africa.
Language
Agaw asau, aso 'masculine
Sidama asu 'man'
Oromo asa id.
Caffino aso id.
Yoruba so 'produce'
Meroitic s' man
Fonge sunu id.
Bini eso 'someone'
Kikongo sa,se,si 'father'
Swahili (m)zee 'old person'
Egyptian sa 'man'
Manding si,se 'descendant,posterity,family'
Azer se 'individual, person'
Obenga (1978) also illustrated the unity between the verbs 'to come, to be, to arrive':
Language
Egyptian ii, ey Samo, Loma dye
Mbosi yaa Bisa gye
Sidama/Omo wa Wolof nyeu
Caffino wa Peul yah, yade
There is t =/= d, highlight the alternation patterns of many Paleo-African consonants including b =/= p, l =/= r ,and g =/= k.
The Egyptian term for grain is 0 sa #. This corresponds to many African terms for seed,grain:
Galla senyi
Malinke se , si
Sumerian se
Egyptian sen 'granary'
Kannanda cigur
Bozo sii
Bambara sii
Daba sisin
Somali sinni
Loma sii
Susu sansi
Oromo sanyi
Dime siimu
Egyptian ssr 'corn'
id. ssn 'lotus plant'
id. sm 'herb, plant'
id. isw 'weeds'
In conclusion, Diop has done much to encourage the African recovery of their history. His theories on linguistics has inspired many African scholars to explain and elaborate the African role in the history of Africa and the world. This has made his work important to our understanding of the role of Black people in History.
Here we have shown the methods Anta Diop has used to rediscover the long and great history of Africans in Africa and the world. This methods allow us to reconstruct the Paleo-African culture formerly practiced by Africans in Africa, Asia and the Americas.
It also shows that West Africans and Cushitic speakers share common terms for the principal items of culture because they were all part of the Pan-African Egyptian civilization.
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