Kabyle

Kabyle
/keuh buyl"/, n.
1. a member of a branch of the Berber people dwelling in NE Algeria.
2. the Berber language spoken by the Kabyles.
[1730-40; < Ar qaba'il, pl. of QABILAH tribe]

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Berber people of northeastern Algeria.

Most are Muslim, though a few are Christian. They are predominantly agricultural, growing grains and olives and herding goats. Village government is run by an assembly of adult males. Villages are divided into clans, and the society is organized into classes. The current population is about 2.5 to 3 million.

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people
      Berber people of Algeria inhabiting a partially mountainous region stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the southern slopes of the Great Kabylie mountains and from Dellys to Cape Aokas. Numbering about 2,000,000 in the late 20th century, they are mainly Muslims with a few Christians and are predominantly agricultural, growing grains and olives and herding goats. Their language, Kabyle (also called Zouaouah, or Zwāwah), is a Berber language of the Afro-Asiatic (formerly Hamito-Semitic) family.

      Traditionally, each village was administered by an assembly of adult males (those old enough to observe the fast of Ramaḍān). A code of customary law dealt with all questions of property and persons as well as crimes and general offenses. Villages are divided into rival clans, and the society is organized into castes, with smiths and butchers ordinarily kept at a distance, and a serf (earlier slave) class.

      Traditional dress for men includes a loosely flowing robe, a woolen burnoose draped over a woolen skullcap, and a broad-brimmed straw hat. Women wear bright cotton garments, usually woven in serpentlike stripes, and a silk scarf covers the head.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • kabyle — [ kabil ] adj. et n. • 1739; cabilah 1761; ar. qabilah « tribu » ♦ De la Kabylie, région montagneuse d Algérie. Cheval, chien kabyle. ♢ N. Origine berbère des Kabyles. N. m. (1867) Le kabyle : ensemble des dialectes et parlers berbères de Kabylie …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Kabyle — refers to*the Kabyle people, an ethnic group in Algeria *the Kabyle language *the Kabyle ethnic homeland, a region called Kabylie in French …   Wikipedia

  • Kabyle — Ka*byle , n. [Ar. qab[=i]la.] (Ethnol.) A Berber, as in Algiers or Tunis. See {Berber}. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Kabyle — (a. Geogr.), wichtige Stadt in Thracien am Tonsus, zwischen Beröa u. Marcianopolis, j. Chalil Ovasi …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • kabyle — Berber of Algeria and Tunisia, 1738, also of their language, from French, from Arabic qaba il, plural of qabilah tribe …   Etymology dictionary

  • Kabyle — [kə bīl′, kəbēl′] n. [Fr < Ar qabā il, pl. of qabīla, tribe] 1. a member of any of a group of Berber peoples in Algeria and Tunisia 2. the variety of Berber spoken by these peoples …   English World dictionary

  • Kabyle — Cet article concerne le dialecte kabyle. Pour les locuteurs, voir Kabyles. Le kabyle (taqbaylit ) est un dialecte de la langue berbère parlé en Kabylie (région du centre est de l Algérie) et également au sein de l importante diaspora kabyle, en… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Kabyle — /kəˈbaɪl/ (say kuh buyl) noun 1. a Berber people of northern Africa, occupying the mountainous coastal regions of Tunisia and Algeria. 2. (plural Kabyle or Kabyles) a member of this people. 3. their language. –adjective 4. of a relating to the… …  

  • Kabyle — noun a) A member of the ethnic group that speaks the Kabyle language. b) A of the Berber branch of the family, spoken by over 3,000,000 people in Algeria; native name Taqbaylit …   Wiktionary

  • kabyle — (ka bi l ) s. m. et f. Nom des populations berbères, qui, conjointement avec les Arabes, occupent l Afrique du nord, Maroc, Algérie, Tunisie.    S. m. Le kabyle, langue parlée par les Kabyles, et qui paraît appartenir aux langues berbères.… …   Dictionnaire de la Langue Française d'Émile Littré

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