Bayso (ethnic group)

The Bayso are a small ethnic group in southern Ethiopia . They live on the islands of Gidicho (Gidiccho, Gidiččo) and Golmaka (Gólmakka, Wollage, Wóolige) in Lake Abaya and on its west bank.

Their language is the Bayso of the same name , an East Cushitic language from the subgroup of the Omo-Tana languages . The Bayso live far away from other Omo-Tana-speaking groups, surrounded by other East Cushitic and Ottoman languages . Older Bayso in particular also speak Oromo , while younger ones speak Wolaytta .

On Gidicho the Bayso live in the villages of Bayso and Shigama and in Harro (Haruro), which they share with the Harro or Kachama-Ganjule ethnic group . The Bayso are also called Gidicho, a name that is also used for the local variant of the Harro language. In the 2007 census, 5,483 people were registered as "Gedicho" in Ethiopia.

The Bayso live mainly as farmers and grow sorghum, finger millet, cotton, white cabbage, pumpkins, red and green peppers, beans and tobacco. They also trade between the islands and the mainland and sell woven clothing. Since it is not possible to grow Ensete on Gidicho, they get it from the Gedeo and also sell it to the Gamo at a profit on the Dudane market . Gidicho is also not suitable for keeping cattle, so the Bayso have their herds of cattle tended by the Guji- Oromo on the east bank, with whom they maintain good relationships. On Gidicho itself they keep large herds of goats as well as donkeys and chickens, which are largely free to roam. They use boats made from the wood of the Ambatch tree ( Aeschynomene elaphroxylon ).

The highest ritual office among the Bayso is that of the wono . This office is not hereditary, but it is reserved for a certain clan to provide wono. The villages of Bayso and Shigama each have a wono.

swell

• Rainer Vogt: Bayso language , and Nicole Poissonnier: Bayso ethnography , in: Siegbert Uhlig (Ed.): Encyclopaedia Aethiopica , Volume 1, Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2003, ISBN 3-447-04746-1
• GG Corbett: Gender and number in Bayso (PDF; 1.4 MB), in: Lingua 73, 1987
• Central Statistical Agency : Summary and Statistical Report of the 2007 Population and Housing Census Results ( Memento of March 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 4.7 MB) (p. 84)

literature

• Eike Haberland , Marcello Lamberti: Ibaaddo ka-Ba'iso. Culture and language of the Ba'iso. C. Winter, Heidelberg 1988, ISBN 3-533-04013-5 ( Studia linguarum Africae orientalis 2).