About The Horn

Friday, January 06, 2006

THE LAND OF THE GODS - A brief study of Somali Etymology
and its historio-linguistic potential

Abukar Ali

I.
INTRODUCTION

When the author first began the present study
of Somali etymology way back in 1982, it was more in the form of a hobby than
anything serious. As a matter of fact, the author had neither the academic
training nor the resources to embark on the study of a subject as complex as
Somali etymology without even the benefit of a precedent. However, his success
with the first set of words was an inspiration and convinced him that Somali was
an indeed antiquated medium with a rich potential for historio-linguistic
study.

In the course of the present limited study, the author not only
had to enrich his somewhat rudimentary knowledge of Arabic and Oromo but also
found it prudent to study Egyptology, Islam and Christianity – subjects he
thought of potential value to the study.

For the purpose of the present
study, the author carefully selected scores of important cultural words to work
on. Occasionally, he had to ponder and sit on a single word for days, weeks or
even months before he could split a word and understand its components.
Naturally, the first word that topped the list was intriguing and often
misinterpreted name of both the language and its speakers – Somali.

The
present study is by no means conclusive. A lot more needs to be done to realize
the full historio-linguistic potential of Somali. As an amateur linguist, the
author hopes to stimulate interest among linguists, historians and archeologists
and provide them with a fresh perspective of the country known as ‘The land of gods’. Its people and their
language. If it succeeds in this endeavor, then it would have served its
purpose.

II. THE HISTORICAL
PERSPECTIVE

Somalis are a homogenous race of mainly nomads
and occupy a vast but sparsely populated territory between Djibouti on the red
Sea and Tana River in the north-eastern Kenya. Believed a member of the Eastern
Cushitic group, which also includes the Afar, Oromo, Rendille and others, Somali
are Sunni Muslims of the Shafi sect. Though generally fanatic in defence of
Islam, Somalis tend to be rather liberal in practice. Companions of the Prophet
Muhammad reportedly migrated to the Horn of Africa only a few years after
Islam’s appearance in its birth-place of Mecca. To this day, however, the faith
is yet to make a significant impact on the lives of these hardy nomads and
appears to blend well with some age-old pagan traditions.

Historically,
very little was known about the Somali people’s pre-Islamic past. Despite recent
fossil and genetic evidence which strongly advocate the theory that mankind
originated in Africa, and East Africa in particular, there was relatively little
archeological study of the Somali peninsula. Most archeologists and
paleontologists tended to concentrate their search on the more hospitable and
tourist-friendly countries of Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia. The logically more
potential and geologically older terrain of Somalia was somehow ignored. The
inhabitants of the Somali coasts were known to have contact and trade relations
with the two known oldest civilizations of the world, namely ancient Egypt and
Sumaria. Unlike ancient Egypt where scholars were able to uncover and translate
numerous writings and records, our knowledge of Sumaria remained relatively
scant and inadequate. The author, however, thought it of interest that Sumarian
huts which were made of woven reed were an exact replica of a Somali nomad’s
collapsible hut. Also strangely enough, the most important Sumarian deity, MARDUK, literally meant in Somali ‘The one who was once
buried’.

Perhaps the earliest and most detailed historical
record of Somalia was that of the famous Egyptian Queen Hatshepsut’s voyage to
the Land of Punt in 1500 BC. On arrival there, however, the king and queen of
Punt enquired of her why she came after her ancestors forsook them for a long
time. Apparently, contact between the two countries did not begin with the
queen’s visit but existed much earlier.

HATSHEPSUT'S TEMPLE, LUXOR

Ancient Egyptian records narrate how would-be Pharaohs were
ritually required to go on a pilgrimage to ‘The Land of the Gods’ prior to their
ascent to the throne. The name ‘The Land of the Gods’ and this ritual were
apparently lost to historians who failed to appreciate the fact that the country
was an important centre of religion and the cradle of idol worship.

DEPICTED ON THE WALLS OF HATSHEPSUT'S TEMPLE

- RELIEFS OF THE EXPEDITION TO
THE LAND OF PUNT

- THE CHIEF OF PUNT
AND HIS WIFE

- GOLD COLLECTED FROM
LAND OF PUNT

Sadly, Egyptologists often worked on the premise that the
ancient Egyptian civilization began along the fertile Nile Valley where farming
and other so-called pre-requisites for civilizations were possible. Without
disputing the fact that this civilization made tremendous development and
reached its zenith along the Nile Valley, its humble beginnings could have
originated elsewhere where time and conditions obliterated any visible signs of
its existence. With its huge obelisks, gigantic pyramids, ruined cities and
other priceless archaeological treasures, Egypt no doubt provided everything
scholars ever dreamed of and much more – and they never looked beyond
since.

While the mysterious ‘Punt’ was probably the ancestor of the
Somali speaking people (? The Biblical Phut in Genesis), it was mainly ‘The Land of the Gods’ which captured the
imagination of the author. It was an indisputable fact that, in ancient
civilizations, religion dominated the lives of people and formed the pillars of
their culture. Little wonder that most of ancient Egypt’s gods as well as the
most important components of their culture came from the country they knew as
‘The Land of the Gods’.

Paintings of their gods show at least six held
the common Somali nomad’s HANGOOL – a
handy stuff hook-shaped at one end and a V-shaped at the other traditionally used for
handling thorn bushes. Another three gods held the slender Somali spear. Ancient
Egyptian traditional dresses, the Royal scarf worn around the waist as well as
the (Ivory) headrest all reminds one of the present day Somalia. Curiously
enough, the beautifully decorated scarf to this day remained part of a Somali
nomad girl’s ceremonial attire and was called BOQOR. The word BOQOR was also the only Somali word for king.
While the method of burying the dead with their belongings was also a
pre-Islamic Somali tradition, there where the persistent reports of the
existence of man-made hills in north-east Somalia- a probable predecessor to
ancient Egypt’s geometrical pyramids.

Apart from the ancient Egyptian
records, the only detailed mention of pre-Islamic Somalia was that by the Greek
geographers and travelers Herodotus, Strabo, Pliny, Ptolemy and cosmos
Indicopleustas who visited the Red Sea coast between the first and fifth century
A.D. According to their records, Somalia was then called Barbaria and its people
were Barbars. The name Berber was apparently a corruption of Barbar and,
therefore, Barbaria must have been the original homeland of the North African
Berbers.

In all probability, the Red Sea Port city of Berbera was
Barbara, the most important town in Barbaria. Perhaps it would be of interest to
note here that the ancient Egyptian Hieroglyph was also called BARBA. Incidentally, BARBA in Somali meant ‘teach to write’ and was
still in use in the old quarter of Mogadishu. BAR in Somali means ‘teach’ and BA was the first letter of the Hieroglyph as
well as the Somali orthography. While the word Barbarism and Barbaric found its
way into some European dictionaries in their correct spelling, they obviously
referred to the hostile and ‘savage’ conduct of the North Africans who then were
the only Barbars in contact with Europe.

Another unexpected source which
the author found valuable was the two Holy Books of the two main monotheistic
religions, namely the Bible and Qur’an. In the opinion of the author, the age of
the two books and their reference to historical events renders them a valuable
source which could not simply be ignored or dismissed. As a matter of fact, the
two books provided some useful hints which added to the mounting etymological
evidence at hand. For instance, the Biblical
YAHWE (later turned Yehova and Jehova) was evidently the same as the
Somali YAHU – traditionally invoked to
ward off evil or danger. While the Cananite god ‘Pal’ was still present in
Somalia in the same sense in one or two words, the ancient Aramaic name for the
almighty, EBBE, was to this day the most
commonly used names for God besides the Islamic ‘Allah’. The Biblical TUBAN-CAIN, whose profession was to make
instruments (Genesis 4:22) was obviously a Greek mispronunciation of TUMAL, the Somali iron-monger.

According
to the earliest interpretations of the Quran, the place where Cain slew his
brother, Abel, was ‘GERIYAT’ which
reportedly meant ‘The place of Death’.
Incidentally, the hottest most desolate piece of desert in North-Western Somalia
was called and thus also meant in Somali. GERIYAT (GEERIYAAD) lies about 25km south of the
historical Red Sea Port of Zeila (probably the Biblical Zillah, the mother of
TUBAL-CAIN). Also according to the Holy Quran, WAD (the ancient Hamite god) was one of the
five idol-gods worshipped during the time of Prophet Noah. There was now
etymological evidence that WAD was a
Somali deity as also was HOBAL and
several of ancient Egypt’s gods.

III. THE LAND OF THE
GODS

Linguistically, Somali was classified as a member of the
Eastern Cushitic sub-group of the Cushitic branch of the Hamito-Semitic family.
Languages that belong to the Hamito-Semitic family were usually sub-divided into
branches that represented dialects of the original parent language. These were
Semitic, Egyptian, Berber, Cushitic and Chadic.

While some linguists
rejected the existence of a genetic affinity between the Chadic and other
branches of the Hamito-Semitic, others accepted it Similarly, on the basis of
the low percentage of vocabulary items shared between the West Cushitic
languages and other members of the Cushitic branch, some scholars classified
West Cushitic as a separate branch of the Hamito-Semitic known as Omotic. Still
others connect Omotic with the Chadic group.

In view of such considerable
differences of opinion among linguists as to which language belonged to which
group and the criteria to be applied in identifying a language, it would in the
view of the author, be wise to expand the scope of the criteria to be applied.
Just as new genetic evidence points to the fact that all human beings came from
the same family of man and woman, available linguistic evidence also points to
the same genetic origin of all languages. Obviously, the present criterion for
classifying languages on the basis of the common origin of the most ancient
vocabulary and word elements used to express grammatical relations were clearly
inadequate and the cause of such difference of opinion. Consequently, a study of
a language’s etymology would not only add to our knowledge of a people’s ancient
history and culture but could also help in determining the age of a language as
well as its relationship with other languages. However, the study of the word
formation of a language was a rather complex subject and could only be attempted
by a native with a fairly large reservoir of vocabulary, an inner feeling for
the cultural circumstances in which a word formed as well as a working knowledge
of other sister languages. Studying a language as a foreign medium was, in the
opinion of the author, hardly enough to comprehend variations of the words of an
ancient yet living language such as Somali.

Unfortunately, the present
study raises more questions than it provides answers in a discipline already
beset with conflicting theories and arguments. However, whatever linguistic
characteristics Somali seems to share with other languages of the Cushitic
group, the presence of a fairly large number of ancient objects of worship as
well as names of God clearly separates it from the group and calls for a more
comprehensive study of the language.

(P.S. For the purpose of clarity,
gods of Somali origin identified in the study as well as Somali words used are
rendered in the new Somali orthography.)

Contrary to the accepted
traditional classification and the recent claim by Prof. M. Nuh (PhD UCLA 1981)
that Somali separated from parent Cushitic some 3000 to 3500 years ago, it was
evident from the study the language could well belong to the ancient stage of
the Hamito-Semitic if not earlier. The fact that it survived almost intact over
several millennia could probably be due to its speakers’ unchanged pastoralist
way of life and their almost geographical isolation in the North-Eastern corner
of the Horn of Africa.

Probably the most important word in the Somali
language is its name, i.e. SOMALI. Often
misunderstood and occasionally misinterpreted by Somali and foreign scholars
alike, the author thought it befitting that the study should begin with it.
Contrary to all erroneous theories advanced and meanings attributed to it, the
name was a simple Somali noun describing the profession of its speakers, namely
SOMAAL. In old Somali, so’ meant meat –
now replaced by the modern word HILIB.
Among speakers of MAI dialect, however,
SO’ was still very much in use and was
the only word for meat. The suffix MAAL
means to live on or to make gain from. Hence SO’MAAL literally means ‘one who
lives on meat’ – in other words a pastoralist.

Apparently, in ancient
times, Somalis were more efficiently divided along professional lines as opposed
to the present cumbersome system of lineage. The TUMAAL was the iron-monger, BAAJIMAAL was the potter and BIYOMAAL (literally the one who lives on or
makes gain from water) was either a cultivator or a fisher. Presently, a
sub-clan of the main Dir clan-family is called BIYOMAAL and live along the lower
parts of the Shabelle river – though they practice both farming and pastoralism.
To this day, however, the SO’MAAL, TUMAAL and BAAJIMAAL live true to their old
professions. In line with similar words in the language, the
difficult-to-pronounce Hamzah (’) in SO’MAAL was later dropped and replaced by the
long vowel SOOMAAL.

The only other
Somali word with the suffix MAAL was
DUMAAL which meant ‘one who gained from
death’. DUMAAL was the word commonly used for wife-inheritance. In Somali
tradition, a man is expected to inherit the wife of his deceased brother.
Similarly, in the event of death of one’s wife, her younger sister is usually
given to him in marriage to take the place of her deceased elder sister.
Therefore, in Somali, a sister-in-law was a DUMAASHI (which should have basically been
DUMAAL-SHI).

WAD’AAD (now WADAAD),
evidently the pre-Islamic word for priest (man of religion) was still commonly
used and contained the ancient ‘Hamitic’ god WAD. Hence WAD’AAD, or more recently WADAAD, meant the attendant of WAD. In modern
Somali, WAD meant ‘death’. Similarly, DAR’AAD (currently GARAAD) meant ‘an expert in
law’ – probably the clan advocate. In modern Somali, however, GARAAD today means prince or Sultan of a
clan.

Another supposedly ‘ancient Hamitic god’, HOBAL, also was evidently of Somali origin.
HOOBAL – alternatively HOOYAL – was probably the best known of all
Somali gods and continues to dominate Somali poetry and traditional folklore
songs. Pagan Arabia’s most important god, HUBAL, was none other than the Somali HUBAL,
co-opted and given an Arabised sound. In modern Somali today, HOBAL, was
understood to mean ‘Artiste’. The ancient god was probably the patron-god of
Somali literature.

Undoubtedly the most important aspect of the present
study was the Somali-Egyptian relationship. Present linguistic evidence showed
at least five of ancient Egypt’s gods came from or had obvious links with the
country they at times called ‘The Land of the Gods’. For instance, the supreme
sun god, RA’ (also alternatively called
RA and RE) occurs as a component of a number of culturally-important Somali
words. The all-important ritual word for slaughter, GOWRAC, clearly indicates the sun god was as
old as the language itself. GOWRAC literally meant ‘cut for RAC’. The Oromo word
for the same ritual was GORA’ with a
Hamzah substituted for the more difficult to pronounce C (’). RA was the only god Somali shared with other
Eastern Cushitic branch with the exception of Waq which it also shares with the
Oromo. Other Somali words which also contained the supreme sun god GARAC (an illegitimate child), ARRAWEELO (AR-RA-WEELO), the legendary pagan
queen who castrated a whole generation of the Somali menfolk. ARRAWEELO
literally meant ‘The one who obeyed RA’. The Somali word for ‘wrong’ was GURRAC (GUR-RAC). GUR meant ‘the left hand’,
which in most languages stood for ‘wrong’.

The two words GARRE (GAR-RE) and BARRE (BAR-RE) incorporated the third alias of
the sun god, RE. Consequently, GARRE meant the same as GARAC – both meaning an
illegitimate child. Hence the saying “GARRE GARAC MALE” – meaning the GARRE (a
clan in the south) have no illegitimate child. It was an accepted tradition to
this day among the clan that a newly-wed bride was immediately taken away by
young herdsmen and could not be returned to her husband until she was pregnant.
BARRE (BAR-RE) meant god’s rain. BAR
means rain drops as in BARWAAQO
(BAR-WAQ).

HOROUS, the second most
important of ancient Egypt’s gods, also appears to have originated in the ‘Land
of the gods’. The dark falcon deity (Somali ABOODI) still remains a much feared bird. It
was believed to be particularly dangerous to newly-born babies and nursing
mothers. A piece of the bird’s bones or its claw was traditionally tied around
the infant as a protection against its harmful spells. In North-Eastern Somalia
in particular, the male name HORUSE was given to a child of dark complexion. To
protect themselves against the falcon’s evil eye, nursing mothers often carry a
knife or a short stick of the WAGAR tree.
Incidentally, the Egyptian pharaohs reportedly carried the same WAGAR stuff to
the battlefield to ensure victory against the enemy.

OSIRIS, another of ancient Egypt’s gods who
reportedly ruled the underworld after being killed by SET (Ed. Somali SED), was evidently a Greek
distortion of ISIR and WASIIR in Somali. Today, Somalis sometimes
refer to AB and ISIR in their denial of an accusation that was
culturally horrendous. One usually says "I have
neither AB nor ISIR for such an act" – meaning I have neither the genetic
probability nor the cultural or religious orientation to commit such a
horrendous act.

The pair WALCAN
and WASIIR, now on their way to oblivion,
were also used in a similar but slightly varying context. In modern Somali,
however, ISIR was commonly used as a female name.

NEPHDEYS and BES, two less prominent ancient Egyptian gods,
also appear to have some affinity with the Somali language. While NAF in Somali meant ‘soul’, NEF meant ‘breath’. Hence NEPHDEYS literally
would mean ‘The one who releases breath – a function more or less attributed to
the ancient god. BES in Somali meant ‘One who was in his or her deathbed’ – also
a function the latter god was associated with.

The ancient Cananite
god, PAL, was still alive in Somali in
the same sense but probably in only two words – UUR-KU-BAALE-LE and YABAAL. The rarely used UUR-KU-BAAL-LE meant
‘One who has BAL in him’. One would usually ask: “How do you expect me to know your intentions? Do you
think I have BAAL in me?” In essence, this meant only one who had BAAL in
him could foretell the hidden or the unknown. YABAAL, possibly an alternative
name for BAAL, was usually associated with the voice, of an invisible being that
told one what to do or not to do in time of crisis in the
wilderness.

Finally, the ancient Mayan Sea god, MANYA, simply meant sea in the Somali dialect
spoken in the old quarters of Mogadishu.

IV.
CONCLUSION

The above brief study of Somali etymology does
not attempt to re-classify the language nor does it set its probable age. But
the evident fact that Somali contains the two most ancient ‘Hamitic’ gods, WAD and HOBAL, at least five of ancient Egypt’s most
prominent deities as well as two Semitic and one Cananite ancient names of god
clearly calls for a thorough review of this medium hitherto classified as
Eastern Cushitic.

True to its old name ‘The Land of the gods’, Somalia was probably a
very important center of religion in ancient times and the probable cradle of
idol-worship for both sides of the Red Sea and farther afield. The fact that the
Horn of Africa was the oldest settlement that combined both Hamites and Semites
also lends more credibility to the current popular theory that human species
originated in the East African region.

Without any attempt to draw any
conclusions, the present brief study merely seeks to shed some light on our
knowledge of the Somali language and its mainly pastoralist speakers who until
now attracted comparatively little attention from scholars. It was evident
further study was needed not only to re-classify the language and assess its
probable age but also to realize its full historio-linguistic potential.

posted by Abukar Ali @ 8:59
PM

15 Comments:

At 9:07
PM,  Anonymous said…

This is very interesting Ali, please post more.

At 12:41
AM,  Anonymous said…

Studying the relationship between cushitic languages and ancient
egyptiologi is truly facisnating. The Horn of africa the place where mankind
originated from should be me more studied. I personally became intrested in
linguistics when I read in the Qur'an the hamitic but clearly cushitic god of
"waaq". Was Prophet Mohammed familliar with Cushitic languages?¨

There
still people of cushitic origin that worship "Waaq" in Ethiopia.

Exellent article,

At 8:24
PM,  Anonymous said…

Very interesting to read.

At 6:48
AM,  Anonymous said…

Wow you are very articulate, and you live in St. Paul too. So do you go to
one of the universities or colleges around here?

At 10:21
PM,  Nomad said…

Awesome.

Hey, brother, I'm promoting a petition for unity in
Somalia. Please do take time to read it and spread the word!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/544365865

At 9:18
PM,  Gavin said…

Fascinating essay.

At 6:43
PM,  Anonymous said…

ma hada ayaad ku masquulaysaan,
jaamici ayey baratay tani,
anoon
jaamacad dhigan, ayaan ku masquuline, waa tane iga qabo...
waxaad ka
baartaa, luqadaha aduunka
macanaha uu leeyahay magaca..
FIRCOON,ina soo
sheeg haddi aad ka soo hesho luqad kale oo aduunka ka jirta maanta, oo aanan
aheyn luqada afsoomaliga.

At 11:07
AM,  Anonymous said…

Hi Abukar,
this article is very exciting. I'd like to do a bit of a
study on these things, too. It's a pity that you don't have a proper
bibliography. Could you tell me via email what kind of sources you used for
this article? My email address is jsfan at web dot de.

At 1:49
PM,  asha-kin said…

Walaal Abukar

This is very enlighting article. would this article be
published somewhere that the young generation of Somalis in the diaspora will
get benefit of?

the 11th International Somali Studies will be held in
Columbus, OHIO on -16 August is looking for articles , would you be interested
to contact the organisers?

At 10:01
AM,  Anonymous said…

Absolutly enlightening, entertaining and simply generating a deep pride and
ego of being a Somali. Well done, Mr Aboker

At 6:44
AM,  Samale said…

Excellent article Abukar. You presented some excdellent items to ponder
upon, I wish you will go farther in suggesting re-classification of the Somali
language so that its relationship with the ancient Egyptian language can be
studied further. I have in mind other words like "Ar" meaning lion in Somali
and the ancient Egyptian word of "R" for lion and the somali word for cat
"besat" and the cat goddess Bastet.

All in all quite a wonderful work
for an amateur.

At 12:52
AM,  Anonymous said…

not to mention egypt and somalia have always had good relationship compare
to other countries

At 8:50
PM,  Ahmed
Quick said…

Excellent work Abukar. As Samaale stated, I have one other word to add:
Amun - which is a Somali female name is also reffered by the Eygptian as a
god.

At 8:23
PM,  kaci said…

Hello, I was looking for the people on the Board and found your posting. I
am intrigued by the correlations between Somali, and Arabic. Some of the 99
Names, look to have their derivations in Somali? Have you further information
in a comparison study? Have you found the works of Neil Douglas Klotz, to be
useful at all. I have studied with him, and he's well versed in Aramaic, which
you might also find useful.

At 10:40
PM,  Anonymous said…

i found those Egyptian and Somali words are similar:
EGYPTIAN
WORDS......SOMALI ENGLISH
Hess................Hees
music
Tat.................Daad flood
Habis...............habis
dress
Ujeit...............ujeed see
Oday................Oday
Leader
Perit...............Beerit
planting
Shafit..............Shafit
Jafit'

Akhat...............Akhasho starvation

Bas.................baas
angel of death
Bale...............Balaayo "
you might wanna look into
it.

Post
a Comment

<< Home

About Me

Name: Abukar
Ali

Location: St. Paul, Minnesota, United
States

A former newsman and an accomplished professional
translator, Abukar did numerous translation work for a number of international
organizations in Somalia, including the UN and USAID. After coming to the US in
2001, the author continued doing translations for a number of institutions
including the world-famous Mayo Clinic. He also contributed articles in both
English and Somali to Minnesota-based Somali newspapers. In Minnesota, Abukar
was a co-founder of the Somali American Democratic Association which helped
sensitize and motivate the Somali Community to play a significant role in the
2004 US elections. Abukar who was largely self-educated is now retired and lives
in the Minnesota capital of Saint Paul. He has 4 sons, 3 daughters and 6
grandchildren.

View my
complete profile

Previous Posts

The
Tale Behind Women's Circumcision

DHULKII
ILAAHYADA - QAYBTII LABAAD

DHULKII
ILAAHYADA

QUUDHSIGU
QIIL MA LEEYAHAY

Web Site Counter