Editing Shilha language (section)

== Name ==
Shilha speakers usually refer to their language as {{Lang|shi-latn|Taclḥiyt}}.<ref>Justinard (1914:2), Destaing (1920:166), Galand (1988, 1.14).</ref> This name is morphologically a feminine noun, derived from masculine {{Lang|shi-latn|Aclḥiy}} "male speaker of Shilha". Shilha names of other languages are formed in the same way, for example {{Lang|shi-latn|Aɛṛab}} "an Arab", {{Lang|shi-latn|Taɛṛabt}} "the Arabic language".<ref>Destaing (1920:20, 166). See also {{section link| |Semantics of feminine nouns}}.</ref>

The origin of the names {{Lang|shi-latn|Aclḥiy}} and {{Lang|shi-latn|Taclḥiyt}} has recently become a subject of debate (see [[Shilha people#Naming]] for various theories). The presence of the consonant {{Lang|shi-latn|ḥ}} in the name suggests an originally [[Endonym and exonym|exonymic]] (Arabic) origin. The first appearance of the name in a western printed source is found in [[Luis del Mármol Carvajal|Mármol]]'s {{Lang|es|Descripcion general de Affrica}} (1573), which mentions the "indigenous Africans called Xilohes or Berbers" ({{Lang|es|los antiguos Affricanos llamados Xilohes o Beréberes}}).<ref>Marmol (1573, book I, chapter XXXIII, fol. 43v).</ref>

The initial {{Lang|shi-latn|A-}} in {{Lang|shi-latn|Aclḥiy}} is a Shilha nominal prefix (see {{section link| |Inflected nouns}}). The ending {{Lang|shi-latn|-iy}} (borrowed from the [[nisba (onomastics)|Arabic suffix]] {{Lang|shi-latn|-iyy}}) forms denominal nouns and adjectives. There are also variant forms {{Lang|shi-latn|Aclḥay}} and {{Lang|shi-latn|Taclḥayt}}, with {{Lang|shi-latn|-ay}} instead of {{Lang|shi-latn|-iy}} under the influence of the preceding consonant {{Lang|shi-latn|ḥ}}.<ref>Stumme (1899:3); Laoust (1936:v).</ref> The plural of {{Lang|shi-latn|Aclḥiy}} is {{Lang|shi-latn|Iclḥiyn}}; a single female speaker is a {{Lang|shi-latn|Taclḥiyt}} (noun homonymous with the name of the language), plural {{Lang|shi-latn|Ticlḥiyin}}.

In Moroccan colloquial Arabic, a male speaker is called a {{Transliteration|ary|Šəlḥ}}, plural {{Transliteration|ary|Šluḥ}}, and the language is {{Transliteration|ary|Šəlḥa}},<ref>Fox and Abu-Talib (1966:155), Colin (1993:976).</ref> a feminine derivation calqued on {{Lang|shi-latn|Taclḥiyt}}. The Moroccan Arabic names have been borrowed into English as ''a Shilh'', ''the Shluh'', and ''Shilha'', and into French as {{Lang|fr|un Chleuh}}, {{Lang|fr|les Chleuhs}}, and {{Lang|fr|chelha}} or, more commonly, {{Lang|fr|le chleuh}}.

The now-usual names {{Lang|shi-latn|Taclḥiyt}} and {{Lang|shi-latn|Iclḥiyn}} in their endonymic use seem to have gained the upper hand relatively recently, as they are attested only in those manuscript texts which date from the 19th and 20th centuries. In older texts, the language is still referred to as {{Lang|shi-latn|Tamaziɣt}} or {{Lang|shi-latn|Tamazixt}} "Tamazight". For example, the author [[Mohammed Awzal|Awzal]] (early 18th c.) speaks of {{Lang|shi-latn|nnaḍm n Tmazixt ann ifulkin}} "a composition in that beautiful Tamazight".<ref>Awzal, {{Transliteration|arb|Baḥr al-Dumūʿ}}, v. 5 (edition in van den Boogert 1997).</ref>

Because Souss is the most heavily populated part of the language area, the name {{Lang|shi-latn|Tasusiyt}} (lit. "language of Souss") is now often used as a [[pars pro toto]] for the entire language.<ref>Justinard (1914:2), Laoust (1936:vi).</ref> A speaker of {{Lang|shi-latn|Tasusiyt}} is an {{Lang|shi-latn|Asusiy}}, plural {{Lang|shi-latn|Isusiyn}}, feminine {{Lang|shi-latn|Tasusiyt}}, plural {{Lang|shi-latn|Tisusiyin}}.