Mozabite people Mozabite people are characterized by a very high level of North African haplogroups E1b1b1b (M81) (86%) and U6 (28%). Mozabite people The Mozabite people are a Berber ethnic group inhabiting the M'zab natural region in the northern Sahara in Algeria. They speak Mozabite ("Tumẓabt"), one of the Zenati languages in the Berber branch of the Afroasiatic family. Many also speak Maghrebi Arabic as a second language. Mozabites are primarily Ibadi Muslims, but there was a small populations of Jews as well. Mozabites live in five oases; namely, Ghardaïa, Beni Isguen, El Atteuf, Melika and Bounoura, as well as two other
Berber languages today. It was borrowed from Latin "barbari". The Latin word is also found in the Arabic designation for these populations, البربر ("al-Barbar"); see Names of the Berber people. Etymologically, the Berber root "M-Z-Ɣ" ("Mazigh") (singular noun: "Amazigh", feminine: "Tamazight") means "free man", "noble man", or "defender". The feminine "Tamazight" traditionally referred specifically to the Riffian and Central Atlas Tamazight languages. Many Berber linguists prefer to consider the term "Tamazight" as a pure Berber word to be used only in Berber text while using the European word "Berber/"Berbero"/"Berbère"" in European texts to follow the traditions of European writings about the Berbers.