Meru and Ameru origins: The Meru or Ameru are a Bantu ethnic group that inhabit the Meru region of Kenya. The predominant oral tradition regarding the early history of the Meru is centered around a place called Mbwaa (Mbwa). This place is often described as an island or coastal settlement, (across the Red Sea), where the ancestors of the Meru lived under the oppressive rule of the Nguo Ntuni (Red People), (Fadiman, 1973). Oral traditions mention a crossing of the Red Sea as part of the Meru’s ancestral journey to Egypt and then to Kenya. The starting location of their migratory journey towards Egypt, is still a matter of speculations, because this lost history is scarcely researched by scholars.
Lemba origins: The Lemba are a Bantu-speaking people primarily from Southern Africa (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Malawi) who claim Semitic ancestry and have genetic markers supporting their oral traditions. These people believe their ancestors were Jewish men who left “Land of Israel” around 2,500 years ago. The oral tradition of the Lemba tells that their origin is a place called: “Senna”. The location of this “Senna” is speculated by some scholars to be Yemen or Hadhramaut (in Southern Arabian Peninsula).
The Lemba do not form a socio-political unit, but often live among other groups, such as the Shona , Venda , or Pedi , whose languages they also speak. The Lemba people focus on the production of trade goods and are valued for their metalworking skills . In contrast, agriculture and animal husbandry play only a minor role.
What do they have in common?:
Despite their geographical separation, these oral traditions share common themes:
01-Groups of people immigrated from the Arabian Peninsula and the Fertile Crescent to the Continent of Africa.
02-These People have typical African features.
03-They crossed the Red Sea.
More details:
04-Before their immigration, Lemba ancestors lived close to the Israelites and practiced Judaism. Their origin is a place called: “Senna”.
05-Before their immigration, Meru ancestors suffered harsh oppression at the hand of a “red people“. They moved to Egypt before they continued southward.
The key words: Israelites, Red People, Senna, Red Sea and Egypt.
Piecing the Puzzle Together
They fled their homeland “Senna”, (a place near the Israelites), because they were oppressed by a “Red People“. They crossed the Red Sea towards Egypt before they headed south.
Nguo Ntuni (Red People)
Apparently, Nguo Ntuni refers to the Edomites.
The Edomites were the people who inhabited the ancient land of Edom.
According to Wikipedia: {Edom was an ancient kingdom that stretched across areas in the south of present-day Jordan and Palestine. Edom and the Edomites appear in several written sources relating to the late Bronze Age and to the Iron Age in the Levant. The Hebrew word Edom means “red“, and the Hebrew Bible relates it to the name of its founder Esau, the elder son of the Hebrew patriarch Isaac, because he was born “red all over“.}
This leaves little doubt about the location of their homeland, it is almost certainly: The Land Of Midian.
Fatherland
There are some historical and linguistic indications, that the eastern coast of the Gulf of Aqaba (including Ḥismā region), was once inhabited by indigenous black people.
The ancient ethnonym (a name for ethnic group, tribe, or nation) of these people appears to be “kina” or “Kisa“. The culture of kina-people was predominantly Semitic, and the faith they practiced was more likely Judaism. Apparently, “kina-people” introduced metalworking to the Semitic world, as well as some innovative musical instruments .
Unfortunately, these brilliant people, suffered what can be described as: “Ethnic Succession”.
This occurs, when one ethnic or cultural group gradually replaces another in a specific geographical area, often adopting aspects of the previous group’s identity, including their ethnonym.
For example: “Britons”, an ethnonym initially refers to the Celtic inhabitants of Britain, before the Anglo-Saxon invasions in the 5th century AD.
In addition, ethnonyms in Semitic world, for the most part, are topoethnonyms (derived from place-names). They do not hint at the ethnicity, culture, history, or way of life of the people they refer to.
Ethnonyms such Bel-Qayn, Midianites, Kenites, Sarakēnoí (Σαρακηνοί) and biblical Cushites initially refer to Zanj-Semites (black Semites) once inhabited the Land of Midian.
After the disappearance of these black people, their ethnonyms were transferred to different groups of people inhabiting the same territory.
This is a common phenomenon in the evolution of group identities.
Unsurprisingly, the historical existence of black Midianites is already known to scholars and NOT a recent finding.
“For the rest of the article, kina-people will be called ‘kinanos’, and their land will be called kina”
Land of Qayn
In early-medieval and pre-Islamic Arabia, “Kina” was known as “Land of Bel-Qayn/بلاد بالقين” or “Land of Qayn/بلاد قين”.
“Qayn” is a well-known Semitic word. It is the Aramaic: “קֵינָי” (qaynāy) and the Syriac: “ܩܲܝܢܵܝܵܐ” (qaynāyā). This word is used as an occuponym for metal worker and blacksmith. (e.g., Arabic: qāna “= he fabricated, forged”, Akkadian: “qinay” “= metal worker”).
Interestingly, pre-Islamic Arabian god of blacksmiths and their craft, was named Qayn-an.
Qayn or Qin is also means: slave or black slave and singer. Anther variant of this word is “khin/خن”, used as epithet for describing “wide nostril” of “Zanj” person.
Accordingly, “Land of Qayn” can be translated as: “Land of the blacksmiths” and “Land of the blacks“
In addition, the word for “singing”, in these languages is derived from “Qayn” (e.g., Amharic “qenē” means: song, its Arabic cognate: ghina’ means: singing).
[ Compare Latin: cano = “to sing” ] (a Semitic loanword?)
Moreover, the one who works metal (by hammering it when it is hot and malleable) has anther name in Semitic languages, which is: “tabal” (or tabbal), this word is also means: Drummer! (e.g., Ugaritic tabal means: smith, its Arabic cognate: tabbal means: forger and drummer).
Metal hammering led to the art of making rhythms.
Ugaritic tabal means: smith, its Arabic cognate tabbal means: forger and drummer.
This make the root word [q-n] (or [k-n]) a polysemous word: black, striker, blacksmith, drummer or singer.
This kind of sense development is called: semantic change, it refers to the evolution of word meanings over time, involving the addition, removal, or alteration of senses and connotations. It involves shifts from original to different usage, including narrowing, widening, metaphor, or metonymy, which can lead to entirely different meanings.
Kina and Sina (Sinai)
The ancient heartland of Kina was what later came to be known as: “Midian” and “Ḥismā region” (Midian is cognate with Arabic: Ma’adan = a site where minerals are extracted, a Mine). This heartland of Kina, was a polyonymous place, known by several different names, including: Biblical: “Shur/שור” (calf or gulf) and “Land of Uz/אֶרֶץ־עוּץ” (rod, tree branch or bow).
Wadi Araba stretches between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. This valley was once underwater.
This unique natural feature gave rise to many placenames, such as: Biblical “Land of Uz” (land of arrow or bow), and Arabic: “qăys ăylān/قيس عيلان” (tree bough). Here, English “bough” is doublet of “bow”. Likewise, Arabic “qăys” is a by-form of “qăws” (bow), and doublet of “ġŭṣ–ŭn/غصن” (bough/shoot). “–ŭn” in “ġŭṣ–ŭn” is a diachronic excrescence.
A sound change
In many cases around the world, sound change is the sole reason behind toponymic ambiguity, and consequently: historical uncertainty.
The phoneme “k” in kina underwent a sound change:
/k/ developed into /ts/ and then into /s/.
/k/ → /ts/ → /s/
kina → tsina → sina
That is to say: the name kina still exist as Sina (in Arabic) or Sinai (in English)
This kind of sound change is called: Palatalization of /k/
Palatalization of /k/ (the ‘k’ sound) is a common sound change where the velar consonant /k/ shifts its place of articulation forward, closer to the palate, especially before front vowels (like /i/ or /e/), often resulting in a palatal stop [c], an affricate like t͡ʃ (ch), /dʒ/ or t͡s, or even a fricative like [s] or [sh]. For example:
Latin: centum > Italian: cento, French: cent
Old English: cīsan > cheese.
It is a natural physiological shift to match the tongue position for front vowels, simplifying the transition and leading to varied outcomes like ‘ch’, ‘ts’, ‘s’, or ‘sh’ in modern languages. (e.g., Latin catta → Old French: tsat → Modern French: shat.) Likewise, /k/ in Kina developed into /ts/ and then into /s/.
/ts/ was part of the consonant inventory of Old Egyptian.
This can be evident in “Sarakene” and “Saraceni” two variants of the same ethonym.
Sarakene is a Greek exonym, originally, refers to a group of people, once inhabited the Land of Midian.
Sarakene is a compound word: Sara + kene.
Sara means Bull, cognate with Hebrew: šōr שׁוׂר (bull).
kene means nose or nostril, cognate with Arabic: Khin خن (nostril).
Sarakene = Bullnose (or Bull nostril).
Kinanos in the Bible
Kinanos are the original referents of biblical: Midianites, Kenites and Semitic Cushites, three different names for the same people.
Ethnonyms can be transferred to different groups due to historical events like migrations, where a name associated with one group becomes applied to a new one inhabiting the same territory. This is a common phenomenon in the evolution of group identities.
Midianites and Kenites are topoethnonyms, (ethnonyms derived from place-names), they do not hint at the ethnicity, culture, history, or way of life of the people they refer to.
Cushite, on the other hand, is originally a racial epithet for black people. Its Semantic equivalent in English can be: “Woolly hair”. Its Arabic cognate is “uksha/عكشة”.
A companion of Prophet Muhammad was given the name: “Ukasha/عكاشة” because he was originally from Midian (Tabuk).
Biblical Cushites
Cushites are usually portrayed in the Bible as dark-skinned inhabitants of Midian. The word “Midian” is an ancient toponym for Gulf of Aqaba Hinterland. [01]
“Can the Cushite change his skin, or a leopard his spots? If so, you might be able to do what is good, you who are instructed in evil.” (Jeremiah 13:23)
Midian is cognate with Arabic: Ma’adan, which means both: Metal and a Mine (a site where minerals are extracted).
In Martin Luther ‘s translation of the Bible, Cushites were originally called “Mohr“, pronounced (mūwar).
Mohr is an obsolete German term for dark-skinned Africans.
The name Kush also appears in Egyptian sources, where it refers to the region of Nubia. However, the Bible also mentions Cushites as inhabitants of Palestine and North Western Arabia . [Wikipedia/Cush]
“The LORD aroused against Jehoram the hostility of the Philistines and of the Arabs who lived near the Cushites.” (2 Chronicles 21:16)
Land of Kushan
“As a scene of havoc, I behold the tents of Cushan; shaken are the pavilions of the land of Midian!” (Habakkuk 3:7)
Midian and Kushan here are parallel. The name Kushan is a lengthened form of Kush. Such lengthening is found with other Biblical Hebrew place-names; note the Naʿaman/Naʿami parallel in Numbers 26:40, the Salmah/Salmon parallel in Ruth 4:20–21, and Yehudan or Yudan for Yehuda, found in inscriptions and in the Dead Sea material. [Moses and Zipporah the Midianite]
Since Midian is located in the same general area as these Negev/north-Arabian Kushu, that is northwest Arabia, and since the name Kushan is a lengthened form of Kush, scholars have therefore concluded that there is some historical connection between Kush(an) and Midian. [02]
Scholars generally thought that the Arabian Kushu assimilated among the Midianites, just as the Midianites later assimilated among the Ishmaelites, and the Ishmaelites among the Arabs. Thus, Kush(an) is the ancient name of Midian or the name of a tribe that had close ties to Midian, and the report in Numbers 12 is a description of Moses’ marriage to Zipporah, the Midianite. [02]
“Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses, because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite.” (Numbers 12:1)
[01]- de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kusch_(Bibel)
[02]- thetorah.com/article/moses-kushite-wife-was-zipporah-the-midianite
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