Is KH in Somali borrowed from Arabic or indigenous

[xisaabiye]

i see many use q instead of kh. but kh sounds more close to how i pronounce words like akhas, khanis, khatar.

Sometimes it's because the arabic word has gh ghayn in it which doesn't exist in somali. Like how we change ghala to qalad-qaldaan/khalad-khaldaan. Other times its actualy a kh in arabic so we generally don't change that, the south sometiemes switches those to q khayr/qayr comes from khayr, khuseeya/quseeya comes from khaas or khasoos, khibrad/qibrad comes from khabeer, khadra/Qadra comes from akhtar, khaatumo/qaatumo comes from khatm

 

[xisaabiye]

Also

Dhakhso- in haste
dukhsi- fly


Yeah KH is not borrowed. Somalis need to stop peddling that narrative

 

[MARAQ DIGAAG]

@ Grant , it is pretty interesting if Af Maay does not have the X, C and Kh sounds .

I still think there maybe authentic Somali(Af maxa tiri) words beginning with KH . I will ask some elders .

 

[Qarboosh]

Also

Dhakhso- in haste
dukhsi- fly


Yeah KH is not borrowed. Somalis need to stop peddling that narrative

It's dhaqso and daqsi/duqsi
Pretty sure it's a reer xamar thing to change all q's to kh

 

[xisaabiye]

It's dhaqso and daqsi/duqsi
Pretty sure it's a reer xamar thing to change all q's to kh

Regardless it's used both ways. like bakhti others say baqti or markhaati/marqaati. Point was they're all original somali words that have the kh in them

 

[MARAQ DIGAAG]

It's dhaqso and daqsi/duqsi
Pretty sure it's a reer xamar thing to change all q's to kh

You are correct about duqsi . You are wrong about Daqso : it's Dakhso. The "Northerners" generally use the Kh and Q in their correct forms . We don't substitute Q for Kh.

Ps. Khuuro sounds like the Arabic word for snoring .

 

[xisaabiye]

You are correct about duqsi . You are wrong about Daqso : it's Dakhso. The "Northerners" generally use the Kh and Q in their correct forms . We don't substitute Q for Kh.

Ps. Khuuro sounds like the Arabic word for snoring .

The arabic word for khuuro has three root letters Sh-Kh-R . They can't be the same

 

[MARAQ DIGAAG]

The arabic word for khuuro has three root letters Sh-Kh-R . They can't be the same

Thanks .

Even if we find some Somali words beginning with Kh, it is still strange that we are struggling to find few and far between us . There seem to be more Somali words which contain the Kh sound than those that begin with Kh.This phenomena is not repeated for any other letters . We can probably name hundreds of authentic Somali words beginning with C and X . Why are nearly all Somali words beginning with Kh of Arabic origin ? That question needs to be answered in an academic manner .

 

[xisaabiye]

Thanks .

Even if we find some Somali words beginning with Kh, it is still strange that we are struggling to find few and far between us . There seem to be more Somali words which contain the Kh sound than those that begin with Kh.This phenomena is not repeated for any other letters . We can probably name hundreds of authentic Somali words beginning with C and X . Why are nearly all Somali words beginning with Kh of Arabic origin ? That question needs to be answered in an academic manner .

I thought the point was the letter kh being foreign in the somali language...which it can't be
Beginning with kh is a different story. That's like saying find somali words that ends with K, there's not many

 

[adaharari]

Regardless it's used both ways. like bakhti others say baqti or markhaati/marqaati. Point was they're all original somali words that have the kh in them

If q can also be substituted then the latter was probably the original way and kh was from Arabic influence
The sh-kh-r root also has 2 of it from somali

But if there was an etymology book it’d be interesting to see
@Amun @Prince Abubu are there any of these books?

 

[xisaabiye]

If q can also be substituted then the latter was probably the original way and kh was from Arabic influence

We have R & DH substituted throughout the somali language idhi/iri, gabadh/gabar etc. To say Kh was a loan for that reason is baseless.

 

[Waxwaalan]

Sometimes it's because the arabic word has gh ghayn in it which doesn't exist in somali. Like how we change ghala to qalad-qaldaan/khalad-khaldaan. Other times its actualy a kh in arabic so we generally don't change that, the south sometiemes switches those to q khayr/qayr comes from khayr, khuseeya/quseeya comes from khaas or khasoos, khibrad/qibrad comes from khabeer, khadra/Qadra comes from akhtar, khaatumo/qaatumo comes from khatm

so kh would be more appropriate for north people to use?

 

[adaharari]

We have R & DH substituted throughout the somali language idhi/iri, gabadh/gabar etc. To say Kh was a loan for that reason is baseless.

But here we are talking for such a rare sound and that apparently people say with q too

The etymology of those words have to be seen first

 

[mrcool]

Somali pm name is kharye

 

[adaharari]

Somali pm name is kharye

Kharye is an arabic name and arabic for charitable

 

[xisaabiye]

so kh would be more appropriate for north people to use?

No not at all. I just think some words sound funny as hell when the kh & Q are mixed up, like Qayr instead of khayr, inshaAllah Qayr

 

[Waxwaalan]

No not at all. I just think some words sound funny as hell when the kh & Q are mixed up, like Qayr instead of khayr, inshaAllah Qayr

what if certain people use q for that word?

 

[xisaabiye]

what if certain people use q for that word?

They do, some people say Qayr instead of khayr or Qadro instead of Khadra

 

[Waxwaalan]

They do, some people say Qayr instead of khayr or Qadro instead of Khadra

:siilaanyolaugh:

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[Prince Abubu]

If q can also be substituted then the latter was probably the original way and kh was from Arabic influence
The sh-kh-r root also has 2 of it from somali

But if there was an etymology book it’d be interesting to see
@Amun @Prince Abubu are there any of these books?

I don't know. Somalis stopped writing language books after the war.

But I've never heard Marqaati/Baqti. The way I've always known it is Markhaati and Bakhti.