sentences:  These strata have featured all the defining characteristics of caste, states Levine, characteristics such as "endogamy, hierarchy, status, concepts of pollution, restraints on commensality, a traditional occupation and membership by birth".In east Ethiopia ethnic groups, such as the Oromo people, cognates to Somali castes have been recorded in 16th century texts, states Cornelius Jaenen.The table below illustrate some alternate terms for castes mirroring the Madhiban in other ethnic groups that share this region with the Somali people.