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On the basis of linguistic comparisons, and to some extent archaeological and botanical accounts, the development of food production in the Horn has been rooted in grain cultivation and animal adoption that took place around 10,000 BP. Archaeologically, cultivation developed from an intensive collection of wild grains, which date back to 16,000 BP and earlier in the Nile Valley over the Sudanese–Egyptian border. Interrelated crop collection was generally practiced in the broad region of North and Northeast Africa together with the Near East, also known as the Fertile Crescent. Northeast Africa, particularly the Nile Valley, has been identified as the region in which grass collecting was first invented and from which its eventual spread occurred.
The main crops included sorghum, barley, wheat, daafi or teff, eleusine, chickpea, and bun or coffee, with their types naturally subject to climatic geography. It has been estimated that the African side of the Red Sea had a Mediterranean winter rainfall climate during the early period of crop collection. The cultivation of these crops is attributed to the rise of Afroasiatic societies, which used food production as a tool to expand over large parts of Africa and the Near East.
The timespan of Proto-Cushitic separation, as a branch of Afroasiatic, has been estimated at 6,000 to 10,000 BP. These developments led some researchers to postulate that the Horn of Africa is one of two primary candidates for being the ancestral home of Afroasiatic, the other being the Iraq–Levant area. In the Horn, the domestication of sorghum, daafi, chickpeas, and animal species has been attributed to the Cushites, while the domestication of eleusine has been linked to the Omotic. It remains uncertain whether this domestication was invented in the Horn or modeled from practices elsewhere.
Researchers recognize three main stages of domestication. The first is independent domestication of indigenous crops and animals, as with wheat, pea, and olive in the Near East around 12,000 BP, and sheep and goat around 10,000 BP. The second is importing the idea of domestication from primary or secondary origins, as with wheat in Egypt and the rest of Northeast Africa, and chickpeas in the Somali region, which are thought to have come from the Near East. The third is learned domestication leading to further local domestication, where the adoption of food producers such as sorghum and cattle may have encouraged the adoption of barley and camels, both raised in the Horn for thousands of years. It is still not known whether the earliest Cushitic and Omotic ancestors invented their domestication, or borrowed the idea from earlier cultures of the Near East or Lower Nile Valley, nor is it clear whether they were always native Africans or entered the Horn from the Levant.
In 1926, agronomist Nikolai Vavilov considered Somalia and the Horn of Africa as one of the world’s independent centers of agricultural development. He based his conclusion on the existence of more than sixty indigenous species of grain crops, vegetables, oil plants, spices, and stimulants in the region.
The first-known speakers in the Horn were not simply dependent on external influence for resource use. Linguistic comparisons, especially of economic vocabulary, provide valuable clues to complement archaeological knowledge. These comparisons help explore the time and location of Somali nationhood. Much of this lexical inventory was compiled by Christopher Ehret in 1995, though some lexemes are omitted here due to lack of clarity.
The purpose of these comparisons is to show how many agricultural and economic terms are shared across Somali, Arabic, and Egyptian. A few also appear in other branches of Cushitic such as Eastern Cushitic, Southern Cushitic, Northern Cushitic (Beja), and Central Cushitic (Agaw), but none occur in Chadic. In total, more than 57 lexemes are compared, of which 23 relate to grain production, 23 to animal adoption, and 3 to the use of metal. The last eight words suggest that Proto–Eastern Cushitic, at least, shared some practices of clothing, housing, and village formation with Egyptians and some Semitic speakers.
Lexical Comparisons:
On the basis of linguistic comparisons, and to some extent archaeological and botanical accounts, the development of food production in the Horn has been rooted in grain cultivation and animal adoption that took place around 10,000 BP. Archaeologically, cultivation developed from an intensive collection of wild grains, which date back to 16,000 BP and earlier in the Nile Valley over the Sudanese–Egyptian border. Interrelated crop collection was generally practiced in the broad region of North and Northeast Africa together with the Near East, also known as the Fertile Crescent. Northeast Africa, particularly the Nile Valley, has been identified as the region in which grass collecting was first invented and from which its eventual spread occurred.
The main crops included sorghum, barley, wheat, daafi or teff, eleusine, chickpea, and bun or coffee, with their types naturally subject to climatic geography. It has been estimated that the African side of the Red Sea had a Mediterranean winter rainfall climate during the early period of crop collection. The cultivation of these crops is attributed to the rise of Afroasiatic societies, which used food production as a tool to expand over large parts of Africa and the Near East.
The timespan of Proto-Cushitic separation, as a branch of Afroasiatic, has been estimated at 6,000 to 10,000 BP. These developments led some researchers to postulate that the Horn of Africa is one of two primary candidates for being the ancestral home of Afroasiatic, the other being the Iraq–Levant area. In the Horn, the domestication of sorghum, daafi, chickpeas, and animal species has been attributed to the Cushites, while the domestication of eleusine has been linked to the Omotic. It remains uncertain whether this domestication was invented in the Horn or modeled from practices elsewhere.
Researchers recognize three main stages of domestication. The first is independent domestication of indigenous crops and animals, as with wheat, pea, and olive in the Near East around 12,000 BP, and sheep and goat around 10,000 BP. The second is importing the idea of domestication from primary or secondary origins, as with wheat in Egypt and the rest of Northeast Africa, and chickpeas in the Somali region, which are thought to have come from the Near East. The third is learned domestication leading to further local domestication, where the adoption of food producers such as sorghum and cattle may have encouraged the adoption of barley and camels, both raised in the Horn for thousands of years. It is still not known whether the earliest Cushitic and Omotic ancestors invented their domestication, or borrowed the idea from earlier cultures of the Near East or Lower Nile Valley, nor is it clear whether they were always native Africans or entered the Horn from the Levant.
In 1926, agronomist Nikolai Vavilov considered Somalia and the Horn of Africa as one of the world’s independent centers of agricultural development. He based his conclusion on the existence of more than sixty indigenous species of grain crops, vegetables, oil plants, spices, and stimulants in the region.
The first-known speakers in the Horn were not simply dependent on external influence for resource use. Linguistic comparisons, especially of economic vocabulary, provide valuable clues to complement archaeological knowledge. These comparisons help explore the time and location of Somali nationhood. Much of this lexical inventory was compiled by Christopher Ehret in 1995, though some lexemes are omitted here due to lack of clarity.
The purpose of these comparisons is to show how many agricultural and economic terms are shared across Somali, Arabic, and Egyptian. A few also appear in other branches of Cushitic such as Eastern Cushitic, Southern Cushitic, Northern Cushitic (Beja), and Central Cushitic (Agaw), but none occur in Chadic. In total, more than 57 lexemes are compared, of which 23 relate to grain production, 23 to animal adoption, and 3 to the use of metal. The last eight words suggest that Proto–Eastern Cushitic, at least, shared some practices of clothing, housing, and village formation with Egyptians and some Semitic speakers.
Lexical Comparisons:
- Ber (farm): Somali beer; SC baar (grain); Egyptian pert (crop).
- Adb (farmland): Somali adab; Egyptian adb.
- Abur (cultivate): Somali abuur; HEC abuurto; Agaw baruw; SC burubure (cultivation ground).
- Harqot (plough): Hadiya and Kambata harqota (ox); Oromo harkot; Somali harqot (qo’i, farmer); Saho aro’ut.
- Qambar (yoke): EC (Sidamo) qambari; Oromo kambari; Somali qambari; Agaw (Chamira) qamara.
- Nuw (to plough): Agaw nuw; Beja niu.
- ‘Ar (cultivate): Somali ‘arra (soil, land); Egyptian arit (plough); Arabic ḥarth (cultivate).
- Sarn (wheat): Somali sareen (also soor); Afar–Saho sareen; Hadiya serat (sorghum); Beja seram (barley); Egyptian sart (wheat, barley).
- Masanga (sorghum): Somali masango; Oromo misinga; Hadiya masinka; Duley masinka; SC musange (grain); Omotic (Kafa) masingo.
- Dr (sorghum): Chadic (Hausa) dawa; Dira dawro (pennisetum); Matkam dawn; Arabic ḋarra; Omotic (Chara) dara; Cushitic (Afar) daro (grain).
- Daaf (food): LEC daafi; Somali dheef (food); Agaw taf, tab; Egyptian dfa (food); Omotic (Gimira tempo, Kafa teppo, wheat); Ethiopic tef; Chadic def (porridge); Arabic (Ḥadramawt) ṭahaf (local grain).
- Baad (food): Somali baad; Egyptian pat.
- Bur (flour): Arabic bur; Somali bur; Agaw (Chamira) bura (grits); Chadic (Bachama) burey (gruel).
- Buḋ (flour): Somali buḋo (flour); Oromo–Konso buḋiina (bread); Chadic (Bole) budu (flour). The root appears related to Arabic bath. Somali also uses buḋo, biḋi, and bus (powder, dust).
