Argan as a substratum word

International audience The argan tree grows almost exclusively in Tashlhiyt-speaking regions of Morocco, where it has historically played an important economic role. Internal reconstruction based on Tashlhiyt data and historical records indicate that both the name of the argan tree and the related verb rg for grinding its nuts reflect an original triliteral root whose first consonant has been lost. Comparison with other Berber varieties suggests that rg is etymologically a doublet of the nearly synonymous verb bri, and has undergone at least one sound change irregular for Tashlhiyt but regular for Zenaga, the Berber language of Mauritania. This suggests that the earliest Berber varieties to be spoken in the Sous Valley were closer to Zenaga and more divergent from the rest of Northern Berber than present-day Tashlhiyt would suggest.