- Sorabe alphabet
Sorabe, or Sora-be, is an
alphabet based on Arabic used to transcribe theMalagasy language (belonging to theMalayo-Polynesian language family) and theAntemoro Malagasy dialect in particular dating from the 7th century. Researchers are still hypothesizing about the origins of this transcription system. "Sorabe" means literally "large writings" fromArabic "sura" (writing) andMalagasy "be" (large). This denomination might point to the existence of a previous writing system with smaller characters ofSanskrit origin used inSouth East Asia as it is evidenced in someMalagasy words.Traditionally, a large number of researchers have speculated about the fact that this writing system was introduced through commercial contacts of
Malagasy withMuslims . However, more studies claim that this writing scheme might have been possibly introduced byJava neseMalagasy ancestors. There are striking similarities between "Sorabe" and "Pegon " writings (the Javanese version ofArabic script).A couple hundred old manuscripts have survived to this day though the oldest may have been written no earlier than the 17th century. Those "Sorabe" are bound in leather and the texts are named after the colour of the skin. Most of the texts contain magical formulas but there are also some historical texts concerning the origin of some of the tribes of the south east of
Madagascar . These origins are traced toMecca or the ProphetMohammed even though the practice ofIslam is nowhere seen in the texts.Sorabe eventually spread across the island beginning in the 17th century and the
Merina kingAndrianampoinimerina called forAntemoro scribes to teach the children of his court to read and write. This is how the future kingRadama I could read and write from his childhood.External links
* [http://www.anthropologieenligne.com/pages/sorabeM.html La Case, les Sorabe, l'Histoire]
* " [http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=85469 Arabic in Madagascar] ", Kees Versteegh, Bulletin of theSchool of Oriental and African Studies , 2001
* [http://epress.anu.edu.au/austronesians/austronesians/mobile_devices/ch04s02.html East Barito: Who Were the Malayo-Polynesian Migrants to Madagascar?]
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