?! In Salih or Ain Salih... What is the correct name for toponymy
Everyone must have noticed the populist hysteria that some people express in the comments whenever a media page on social media mentions the name “In Saleh”!! Where some of them woke up from their sleep and found that the name (in Saleh) that they used to have changed in the blink of an eye and in all the private and official media channels and without any prior warning, so what is ?the reason and how did that happen
Since independence, many of the names of toponymy* in Algeria, especially in the south, are pronounced and written by mistake in books, documents, and official media. After the creation of the ten new states last year, the discussion returned about the need to control these designations and find a unified reference for national toponymy, which transcends the naming forms of some municipalities and states of the national framework. To the global with the international media and the Internet as the Wilayat of Tougourt, which means the high place in the tongue of Imohag, for example, we find ten different names for it Tigrit, Tougourt, , Toukourt, Toukkort, Toukourt, Touqqourt, Touqourt … which is what many think, especially in reports Foreign they are names of different regions.
This problem and others prompted some state bodies to hold a symposium last March at the headquarters of the Algerian News Agency, attended by researchers in the field, most notably Farid Ben Ramadan, who is a doctor in language sciences and a co-researcher in a project on utopia at the Research Center in Social and Cultural Anthropology in Oran (Krasek). In which the supreme province of the Amazighs, and they raised the problem of the lack of a national reference for Toponemia with a statement specifying the correct names for the new states created (01) The intention is to unify the names of all forms and differences, which is what made the authority. Adopt the symposium outputs by imposing the correct names for these states. The President of the Republic's descent from those areas and his good knowledge of the culture of the South, in which he held various administrative positions during his career, must have played a role in that. Where a telegram was issued from the audiovisual control authority to the media in the country with the need to respect the correct designations for these states (02). Including that in Salih instead of (Ain Salih), that in Gazam instead of (Ain Gazam), that in Aminas instead of (Ain or om annas!) ...
This bold decision aroused the ire of the Arabization movement in Algeria, and it seemed to be dealt with on the basis that it was a global conspiracy against it, as a YouTuber called Dumir published on his channel a video that asked, through its title, who is behind the recent change of names, and in his words, what suggests a global conspiracy against the elements of the Badisan movement. Something that made him express in the comments that hysteria.
During the alleged (historical investigation) conducted by the owner of the video on the issue, he wanted to correct what was true with what was wrong, and the first thing he seemed to do was deny a written statement by Muhammad Hamza, who is a researcher in the Amazigh heritage of the people of the south. He said that the correct name is that in Saleh and not ( Ain Salih, as for the response used by the so-called Dumir, it brought references from French books naming the region Ain Salih, as well as an old document of one of the people of the south region without Ain Salih in it as well, in addition to a reference from the journey of Al-Aghouati that was revised by Abu Al-Qasim Saad Allah, in which he mentioned “Ain Salih” without examining whether Saad Allah had transferred it from the journey of Al-Aghouati in that form, or he had changed it to Ain Salih, thinking that the French had made a mistake in the phrase (in).
The truth is that this method is completely unscientific for valid reasons, which is that selecting the testimony of historians as Dumir did is not sufficient in this matter for the following reasons:
- There are many French references that call the state that Saleh replaced Ain Saleh, for example but not limited to the book: In-Salah et le Tidikelt written in 1903 (link from the French archive (https://cutt.us/uxFMq) On what basis do we believe a French book He wrote (Ain Salih) and we deny another, older one, that he wrote ?that in Salih
– On what basis do we lie to a researcher in the southern Amazigh language and heritage (03) who researched it with all the research findings today in the field of Amazigh and believe another from the last century who may not have had the means today to obtain the necessary knowledge, and he spoke only on (Ain) Salih without the rest of the names?
- And why did Dumir focus on naming (Ain Saleh) only without the rest of the other names that have been corrected and which are widespread in the south in the form of “in”? Is it because he did not ? .find old documents that you mentioned in the distorted form
What is certain is that the scientific research in utoponemia is not limited to mentioning what the historians said only, but rather the most important of all is the name that is still alive in the tongue of the inhabitants of that region until today, as well as its linguistic meaning in their local language associated with the practiced culture, where any of us today can ask the residents of the south About the correct naming that they pronounce: In Saleh, In Zazam, In Aminas…. (This is a statement by a Tamazight professor from the Tuareg who participated in the symposium that demanded the correction of these names. In this video, he confirms in his own words that the correct name is In Salih and not (Ain) Salih:
Secondly, which is very important as well, which is the necessity of answering the question: What does “that” mean in the names of the regions in the south through the Amazigh language for the people of ?the region
And the answer is that “that” possessive pronoun in Sanhajiyya, we say that Salih, i.e. ownership of Salih, is “celui de salah”. In the Kutama and Zanata Amazighs, the Amazighs of the North use different expressions such as “Ath”, “At”, “Ait” and “Ah”. Ath Omalu, Ath Manasir, Ath Mozab, Uh Farah...
In the south we find In Salih, In Ghazam, In Adaq (Burj Baji currently Mukhtar), In Zaghmir (Bashar), In Ghar (in the state of Tamanghast), In Amjal (Tamghest), In Aminas (in Illizi), In Safra (in Naama In Hamo, in Azaro, in Zaghlouf, in Azawa, in Tilmin...
What indicates the validity, seniority, and locality of these nomenclatures is when we know the feminine form of them, where the “in” in the masculine form becomes “fig” in the feminine, so we find many nomenclature in the south in the feminine form, such as:
Tin Zawten, Tin Adov (Tindouf), Tin Maimon (Bashar), Tinirkouk origin is Tin Yerkouk (Bashar), Tin Venturine (instead of Ventorin), Tin Henan (the land or property of the famous Queen Henan and the name Henin we knew through history books that it was the name of The daughter of the Almohad caliph Ibn Tumart as well, because it is a common name among the Sanhajas, Timiaween (Bashar), Tin Miaween (instead of Timiaween), Tin Bektu (instead of Timbuktu)….
You can review the dictionary on Algerian toponymy that was recently published by Dr. Fadil Cheriguen (F. Cheriguen, Dictionnaire de toponymie algérienne des lieux habités, HCA, 2021).
As for (Ain Saleh), the old name for it is “In Tadkelt”, which is circulated by the residents of the state today.
Written by Mostafa Samit
Source: websites