Weyto people
Encyclopedia
The Weyto people are a group of hippopotamus
hunters who lived in Ethiopia
around Lake Tana
. They were known to speak the Weyto Language
, which became extinct at some point in the 19th century. According to the 1994 national census, 1172 individuals were reported belonging to this ethnic group; it was not an ethnic choice in the 2007 census.
Due to their diet on hippopotamus meat, the Weyto have been considered a outcaste people by neighboring groups. Enrico Cerulli linked them to two other outcaste groups of Ethiopia with similar names and live primarily as hunters: the Watta or Manjo of the Gibe region
and former Kingdom of Kaffa
; and the Watta amongst the Borana people.
Hippopotamus
The hippopotamus , or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse" , is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae After the elephant and rhinoceros, the hippopotamus is the third largest land mammal and the heaviest...
hunters who lived in Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
around Lake Tana
Lake Tana
Lake Tana is the source of the Blue Nile and is the largest lake in Ethiopia...
. They were known to speak the Weyto Language
Weyto language
The Weyto language is believed to be an extinct language formerly spoken in the Lake Tana region of Ethiopia by the Weyto, a small group of hippopotamus hunters who now speak Amharic....
, which became extinct at some point in the 19th century. According to the 1994 national census, 1172 individuals were reported belonging to this ethnic group; it was not an ethnic choice in the 2007 census.
Due to their diet on hippopotamus meat, the Weyto have been considered a outcaste people by neighboring groups. Enrico Cerulli linked them to two other outcaste groups of Ethiopia with similar names and live primarily as hunters: the Watta or Manjo of the Gibe region
Gibe region
The Gibe region is used to indicate a historic region in modern southwestern Ethiopia, to the west of the Gibe and Omo Rivers, and north of the Gojeb...
and former Kingdom of Kaffa
Kingdom of Kaffa
The Kingdom of Kaffa was an early modern state located in what is now Ethiopia, with its capital at Bonga. The Gojeb River formed its northern border, beyond which lay the Gibe kingdoms; to the east the territory of the Konta and Kullo peoples lay between Kaffa and the Omo River; to the south...
; and the Watta amongst the Borana people.