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Igawawen
Igawawen or Gawawa, mostly known as Zwawa (in Kabyle: Igawawen, in Arabic: زواوة, and in Latin: Jubaleni) were a group of Kabyle tribes inhabiting the Djurdjura mountains, Greater Kabylia, in Algeria. The Zouaoua are a branch of the Kutama tribe of the Baranis Berbers.
In the most restricted sense, the Igawawen were a confederation (kabyle: taqbilt, derived from arabic "قبيلة" meaning tribe) of 8 tribes split into two groups:
"Zwawa" was the Arabic name of medieval Muslim historians for the tribes who inhabited the region between Bejaia and Dellys. Some say that it's a deformation of the word "Igawawen", which was the name of a Kabyle confederation made up of eight tribes organized into two groups: the Ait Betrun (Ait Yenni, At Wasif, Ait Budrar, Ait Bu Akkash), and the Ait Mengellet (Ait Mengellet proper, Ait Aqbil, Ait Attaf, Ait Bu Yusef), and used as pars pro toto by the Kabyles of Lesser Kabylia to refer to Greater Kabylia. They were named after the mountain they occupy, the Agawa mountain, the most densely populated, in the north of Djurdjura.
Kabyles do not refer to themselves in their language as Zwawa, and is no longer used in Algerian Arabic either, except in western Algeria, where Kabyles are still called Zwawa.
Zwawa was also a personal name. In the 9th century, one of the chiefs of the Huwwara Berber tribe, who took part in the Muslim conquest of Sicily, was called Zwawa ibn Neam al-Half, who assisted in the triumph of the Muslim armies against the Byzantines.
Ibn Hawqal in the 10th century, was the first Muslim traveler and geographer to mention the name in his book, ZwawaKitab al-Masâlik wa l-Mamâlik, but without giving substantial information about them.
Adolphe Hanoteau, a 19th-century French general, thought that the word Zwawa might be an alteration of "Ath Wawa", the regular plural of Agawa (son of Awa), used to designate a man from the Igawawen, by replacing the Kabyle "th" with "z".
During the time of the Regency of Algiers, the Kabyles were considered such excellent infantrymen that the name "Zwawi" became synonymous with "infantryman". The various factions of the Titteri tribes provided a certain number of infantrymen who at times guarded Algiers and especially the surrounding bordjs (plural of fortress). They were only paid during active service. It was also said about them: "The Zwawa are in front for misery, behind for pay."
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Igawawen
Igawawen or Gawawa, mostly known as Zwawa (in Kabyle: Igawawen, in Arabic: زواوة, and in Latin: Jubaleni) were a group of Kabyle tribes inhabiting the Djurdjura mountains, Greater Kabylia, in Algeria. The Zouaoua are a branch of the Kutama tribe of the Baranis Berbers.
In the most restricted sense, the Igawawen were a confederation (kabyle: taqbilt, derived from arabic "قبيلة" meaning tribe) of 8 tribes split into two groups:
"Zwawa" was the Arabic name of medieval Muslim historians for the tribes who inhabited the region between Bejaia and Dellys. Some say that it's a deformation of the word "Igawawen", which was the name of a Kabyle confederation made up of eight tribes organized into two groups: the Ait Betrun (Ait Yenni, At Wasif, Ait Budrar, Ait Bu Akkash), and the Ait Mengellet (Ait Mengellet proper, Ait Aqbil, Ait Attaf, Ait Bu Yusef), and used as pars pro toto by the Kabyles of Lesser Kabylia to refer to Greater Kabylia. They were named after the mountain they occupy, the Agawa mountain, the most densely populated, in the north of Djurdjura.
Kabyles do not refer to themselves in their language as Zwawa, and is no longer used in Algerian Arabic either, except in western Algeria, where Kabyles are still called Zwawa.
Zwawa was also a personal name. In the 9th century, one of the chiefs of the Huwwara Berber tribe, who took part in the Muslim conquest of Sicily, was called Zwawa ibn Neam al-Half, who assisted in the triumph of the Muslim armies against the Byzantines.
Ibn Hawqal in the 10th century, was the first Muslim traveler and geographer to mention the name in his book, ZwawaKitab al-Masâlik wa l-Mamâlik, but without giving substantial information about them.
Adolphe Hanoteau, a 19th-century French general, thought that the word Zwawa might be an alteration of "Ath Wawa", the regular plural of Agawa (son of Awa), used to designate a man from the Igawawen, by replacing the Kabyle "th" with "z".
During the time of the Regency of Algiers, the Kabyles were considered such excellent infantrymen that the name "Zwawi" became synonymous with "infantryman". The various factions of the Titteri tribes provided a certain number of infantrymen who at times guarded Algiers and especially the surrounding bordjs (plural of fortress). They were only paid during active service. It was also said about them: "The Zwawa are in front for misery, behind for pay."