Ghomaras

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.^[2]

Ghomaras

غمارة ⵉⵖⵎⴰⵔⵏ
Location map of the Ghomara tribes[1]
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.^[2]

Tribes

The Ghomaras are traditionally divided into nine tribes:^[2]

• 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.