The Arbore are an ethnic group living in southern

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

, near

Lake Chew Bahir Lake Chew Bahir (Amharic: ጨው ባሕር ''č̣ew bāhir'', "salty lake") or Lake Istifanos, also called Stefanie, Basso Naebor and Chuwaha, is a lake in southern Ethiopia, located on the southwestern end of the South Ethiopia Regional State, n ...

. The Arbore people are

pastoralists Pastoralism is a form of animal husbandry where domesticated animals (known as "livestock") are released onto large vegetated outdoor lands (pastures) for grazing, historically by nomadic people who moved around with their herds. The anima ...

. With a total population of 6,850, the Abore population is divided into four villages, named: Gandareb, Kulaama, Murale, and Eegude.

Language

The Arbore language is classified as a member of the Omo-Tana group within

Lowland East Cushitic Lowland East Cushitic is a group of roughly two dozen diverse languages of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic family. Its largest representatives are Oromo and Somali. Classification Lowland East Cushitic classification from Tosco (2020:2 ...

, together with Daasanach, Elmolo, Bayso, Rendille, Boni and the various Somali dialects. Its grammar exemplifies many typical features of Lowland East Cushitic as well as some specific innovations. Of historical interest is the language's preservation of at least a dozen verbs of the Afroasiatic "Prefix Conjugation".

Genetics

A 2021 study comparing a variety of Ethiopian populations discovered that the Arbore people along with the linguistically closely related Daasanach people cluster closer to the Nilotic Nyangatom and the South Omotic Karo people than they do to most other Cushitic populations of Ethiopia.

Ethnography

The people who also call themselves the Hor (Hoor) live in four villages in the delta of the Limo River (also known as Dullay or Weito) at the northern end of Lake Stephanie (Bau or Chew Bahr) in

South Omo Zone South Omo Zone is a zone in the Ethiopian South Ethiopia Regional State. South Omo is bordered to the south by Kenya, to the west by West Omo Zone, to the northwest by Keffa Zone, to the north by Ari Zone and Gofa Zone, to the northeast by G ...

. The name Arbore is used by the inhabitants of two of the four villages, Gandaraba and Kulama, whereas the inhabitants of Eegude and Murale refer to themselves as Marle, Arbore being the term traditionally employed by anthropologists and by the Ethiopian government. The Arbore practice pastoralism, sorghum cultivation, seasonal fishing and hunting and engage in a wide regional network of bond friendship for the exchange of gifts. In 1996 their population numbered 3,840. Their economy of subsistence depends largely on the periodical floods of the river. The age organization controls cattle, pasture and water. It distributes cultivable land after floods and guarantees law and order in the territory of the Arbore. Each generation class (''herr'') comes to power after an initiation which is held once in about 40 years in rituals known as ''ner'' and ''chirnan''. Each generation class consists of four age classes (''jim''). The group containing the young people waiting to be initiated into a ''jim'' is called ''morqo''. The same term is used for the four age classes organized and named, but waiting to form a generation class by undergoing initiation at the close of the 40 years. The Garle and Olmoque clans, who are senior and junior, jointly lead the political and ritual life of the Arbore and their neighbors, and the leaders of the age organization survey the smooth running of daily life among the Arbore. The political chief is usually called ''kyrnat'', the ritual ''qawot'', even though it does not imply that political and religious life and functions are strictly separated. Both the Arbore and their neighbors enter the sacred cattle-gates of ''qawots'' (ritual chiefs) with gifts of heifers, bulls, honey, coffee, tobacco and herbs to receive blessings for human, animal and crop fertility, for rain and for victory against their enemies.

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