Terminology
Etymologically, the Berber word "Amazigh" means "free man", "noble man", or "defender".
The term Berber has been used in Europe since at least the 17th century, and is still used today. It was borrowed from either the Arabic designation for these populations, البربر, al-Barbar, see Berber (name); or from the Roman and Greek denominations of the Berber people "Barbaricae".
The term Tamazight traditionally referred specifically to the Riffian and the Central Morocco Tamazight dialects. 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 honour the traditions of European writings about the Berbers. European languages distinguish between the words "Berber" and "barbaric", while Arabic has the same word "al-barbari" for both meanings.
Some other Amazigh writers, especially in Morocco, prefer to refer to Berber with "Amazigh" when writing about it in French or English.
Traditionally, the term "Tamazight" (in various forms: "thamazighth", "tamasheq", "tamajeq", "tamahaq") was used by many Berber groups to refer to the language they spoke, including the Middle Atlas, the Riffians, the Sened in Tunisia, and the Tuareg. However, other terms were used by other groups; for instance, many parts of western Algeria called their language "Taznatit" or Zenati, while the Kabyles called theirs "Taqbaylit", the inhabitants of Siwa "Siwi". In Tunisia, the local Amazigh language is usually referred to as "Shelha", a term which has been observed in Morocco as well.
One group, the Linguasphere Observatory, has attempted to introduce the neologism "Tamazic languages" to refer to the Berber languages.
Read more about this topic: Berber Languages