Arab-Berber Arabization process in the Maghreb. Various population genetics studies along with historians such as Gabriel Camps and Charles-André Julien lend support to the idea that the bulk of the gene pool of modern Maghrebis, irrespective of linguistic group, is derived from the Berber populations of the pre-Islamic period. Arab-Berber Arab-Berbers (; ) are an ethnic group native to Maghreb, a North African region along the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Arab-Berbers are people of mixed Berber and Arab origin and whose native language is a variant of Maghrebi Arabic. Many Arab-Berbers identify primarily as Arab and secondarily as Berber.
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.