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  • From: Brian Roberts <formoria AT carolina.rr.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] A linguistic chain?
  • Date: Sat, 7 Jan 2006 12:59:49 -0500


On Saturday, January 7, 2006, at 12:43 PM, Karl Randolph wrote:

Brian:

There was a NOVA program on TV that asked concerning the Lemda
tribe in South Africa, and traced them back to a migration caused by
the collapse of an irrigation dam in Yemen about 1000 AD, if my
memory serves me correctly. As such, it was interesting, but well
post Biblical times.

Karl W. Randolph.

Well, as a dilettante, I am not in a position to make linguistic pronouncements regarding this or any other issue. Yet, it strikes me as very interesting that the Lemba call themselves Ba Senna (roughly "children of Senna" I believe?), and we have the name "Abysinnia" alternatively used for Ethiopia which is of uncertain origins. Conti-Rossini identified an Arabian tribe called "Habashat" in the inscriptions as the culture which immigrated to Ethiopia, bringing this name "Habashat" with them. As I understand what I've read, the earliest occurrence of the name "Habashat" in Ethiopia occurs in the 3rd century CE.

So, rather than beat the dead horse that has become identifying the "Habashat", we can take a look at this situation. We have Semitic Africans in Ethiopia (the Qemant) who say their traditional home is Sennar (a city not reflected in any known Ethiopian city). We also have Semitic Africans in South Africa and Zimbabwe (the Lemba) who claim genesis in an ancient Senna in SW Arabia. My question is can this be an accident? Or is this anomaly best explained as these tribal groups having a common root? What does the linguistics have to say about it?

Best Salaams,

R. Brian Roberts
Amateur Researcher in Biblical Archaeology

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