"Berber" language in early Arabic texts

Searching Shamela , I recently realised that the earliest references to a language of (al-)Barbar in Arabic go back further than I had assumed, to the second century AH. While these are unlikely to shed much light on actual linguistic practices, they are worth a look. Two occur in the Qur'ānic commentary ( tafsīr ) of Mujāhid ibn Sulaymān (d. 150 AH = 767 AD); one in his discussion of sūrat…