Beja
/ˈbɛdʒə
/noun (plural same)
1A member of a nomadic people living between the Nile and the Red Sea.Lesch herself realizes this fact as she says: ‘Fur and Beja [who are non-Arabs] see themselves both as African culturally and as devout Muslims.’...
- Eastern Sudan has been the homeland of the Beja since the days of the pharaohs 4,000 years ago.
- Their crown of fuzzy hair (tiffa) has characterized the Beja for centuries.
2 [mass noun] The Cushitic language of the Beja, with about 1 million speakers.Other linguistic minorities include a few thousand Berber speakers in Siwa oasis, the easternmost outpost of Berber speech, and the small population of Beja (Ababda and Bisharin) in the eastern desert east of Aswan....
- In the north, the greatest contrast was between Khartoum province, which was 96 percent Arabic speaking and Kassala, where 36 percent spoke Arabic as their indigenous language, 50 percent spoke Beja, and 11 percent spoke West African languages.
- He knows all the hills and valleys by name, and can speak Beja better than a native.
adjective
Relating to the Beja or their language.He has worked closely with the Beja opposition for the last ten years....
- Simultaneously, if oil or natural gas is discovered in the Beja land, they have to be the main beneficiaries of such minerals.
- A Beja tribesman, wearing a traditional belt and knife, stands outside the farm where he works in the eastern Sudan area of Oker, on November 15 after returning from a displaced persons camp near Port Sudan.