The well-known French berberologist Arsène Roux (1893–1971) has devoted a great part of his life to the research and teaching of Berber in Morocco, in particular Middle Atlas and Tashelhiyt [Taschelhit / Tachelhit] Berber.
The present volume contains two text collections that Roux has used in his teaching of Middle Atlas Berber during the second half of the French Protectorate period of Morocco (1935–1956). The first collection, Récits, Contes et Légendes Berbères dans le parler “Beni Mtir“ was originally a stencilled book of iii + 101 pages, produced in 1942, with black cardboard hard covers. The number of stencilled copies is unknown, nor do we know how many of them were put at the disposal of Roux’s pupils. As indicated in the title, the texts are all in the Beni Mtir (Berber: Ayt Ndir) dialect, a tribe in the region of the town of El-Hajeb in the province of the same name. (Note that the Tashelhiyt Berber counterpart of this book has been published as volume 5 of Berber Studies, see the link below.)
The original of the second collection, Choix de versions Berbères, parlers du Maroc Central (Tamazirht) was produced in 1952, with a flexible sand coloured paper cover. It was a book stencilled in an unknown number of copies. This book contained iv + 44 pages and was distributed among the pupils of Roux, too. It contains very short texts from the oral literay tradition, as well as some ethnographic texts.
These two collections have been published as volume 18 of the series Berber Studies, together with their respective original introductions and tables of content (see the link below). For the present edition these collections have been translated into English. The subseries Textes berbères du Maroc central will be continued at irregular intervals.
In the main series we published further Berber text editions, including a catalogue of the « Fonds Arsène Roux », as well as ethnographic texts of Central and Southwest Morocco, see the following links:
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