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The Names of God in Nokthern Somali 8

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2009

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Extract

In Somaliland God is universally known by the names Allaah and Rabbi, both of Arabic origin, but the full list of His 99 Arabic names is known only to sheikhs and wadaads.1 In addition to the Arabic names, however, there are a considerable number of purely Somali titles for Allaah. The majority of those recorded here will be seen to be praise-names referring to God's attributes and in many cases direct equivalents in Somali of the corresponding titles in Arabic.

Type
Notes and Communications
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , February 1959 , pp. 134 - 140
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1959

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References

page 134 note 1 We cannot rely here on bowl No. 3, because its inscription is not wholly clear in the drawing. Probably: MN ccii ZWZN M-iii (Z)Y PW(N) sng ‘(made) from 202 drachms (and) 3 dangs in weight’ (i.e. 202 drachms). The bowl weighs 544 grm., hence a drachm 544: 202·5 = 2·686 grm. This is rather too little; a correct proportion would be 880: 306 = 582·3: 202·5. However, we may be justified in assuming considerable loss (about 1 in 14) through wear, cf. Ghirshman p. 82 ‘son état prouve une grande usure’.

page 134 note 2 cf. J. Walker, Arab-Sassanian coins, cxlvii.

page 134 note 3 The Sassanian drachm weighed about a whole gramme more.

page 134 note 4 Or rather 2·96, if the 18 mithqāl weight mentioned by Hinz (see below), p. 2, is accurate; for To of 76·23 is 2·9645 (and even of 76·235 merely 2·9647). From the average, 4·231 grm., of smaller glass weights (Hinz, p. l) one also obtains 2·96.

page 134 note 5 And thus have answered in advance Dr. Ghirshman's question ‘les chiffres qui se rapportent aux drachmes, indiquent-ils le poids des objets ou leur valeur ?’ (p. 82).

page 134 note 6 Islamische Masse und Gewichte, p. 6.

page 134 note 7 ‘Mitteliranisch’, 49 sq. Cf. Alföldi, A., Dumbarton Oaks Papers, XI, 1957, 239.Google Scholar

page 134 note 8 There are slight dialectal differences in the Somali spoken by the ‘lise (Esa), Gadabuursi (both Mr), the Ishaaq, Daarood, and northern Hawiye, but these differences are slight in com parison with those between ‘Northern Somali’, spoken by these groups as a whole, and ‘Southern Somali’, spoken by the Rahanwiin and Digil, people of the Banaadir Coast, and southern Hawiye. Cf. Moreno, M. M., II somalo della Somalia, Roma, 1955, 3–22Google Scholar; Andrzejewski, B. W. and Galaal, M. H. I., Hikmad Soomaali, O.U.P., 1956, p. 1.Google Scholar

page 134 note 9 Illaah, and Illaahi, also occur in Somali.

page 135 note 1 The word wadaad-ka is used synonymously with sheikh, although strictly the latter is applied to a man whose knowledge of the Shari'a is more advanced than that of a wadaad.

page 135 note 2 Of the Sa'ad Muuse, 'Abdalla Sa'ad lineage of the Habar Awal clan (Isfraaq) of the British Protectorate.

page 135 note 3 In giving the Somali titles for God I do not include the definite article because contrary to the Arabic convention this is not good Somali usage.

page 135 note 4 Baloolay-da, a she-camel which is not pregnant. The dance is said to have acquired this name from its initiator sheikh ‘Baahilaawe’ through his having on a certain occasion slaughtered a baloolay camel for a party of sheikhs who visited him. It was after this great gesture of hospitality to the 'ulimo that God gave him wisdom and knowledge of the Shari'a and inspired him to create the dhikri by which he is known as sheikh ‘Baloolay’ or ‘Bahilaawe’.

page 135 note 5 The Reer 'Abdille are a large lineage of the Ogaadeen clan of the Daarood clan-family living in the Ogaden region to the south of the British Protectorate. On the Daarood see Lewis, I. M., Peoples of the Horn of Africa: Somali, Afar and Saho, London, 1955, 18–23,Google Scholar

page 137 note 1 See Huntingford, G. W. B., The Galla of Ethiopia.—The kingdoms of Kafa and Janjero, London, 1955, 74–87.Google Scholar

page 137 note 2 Cerulli, E., RSO, x, 1923, 1–36.Google Scholar

page 137 note 3 I do not wish to imply that Waaq is the only name for the Cushitic God, or indeed the only Cushitic God, but that this word is one of the Cushitic names for God as e.g. in Galla and Somali.

page 137 note 4 Lewis, I. M., BSOAS, XVII, 3, 1955, 581–602; xvin, 1, 1956, 145–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 137 note 5 I refer here only to ritual, magical, and religious phenomena. The interaction of the Sharia and secular Somali custom is a vast and complex subject. Various practices regarded as superstitious, and by some as unorthodox, have also been introduced with Islam from Arabia. Fortunetelling by the beads of the rosary and other means, in Somali faal-ka, is of Arabian origin (cf. Ar. fa'l). Contrast Somali sorcery, fal-ka, corresponding to the Ar. sihr. Arabic works of astrology, medicine, and magic such as Kitāb al-Rahma, by Jelān al-Dīn 'Abd al-Rahmān al-Suyūtī, Cairo, 1938, are very popular in Somaliland and much of the terminology of such practices is Arabic.

page 137 note 6 Cerulli, op. cit., 5.

page 137 note 7 In Northern Somali, dardaaran-kca is the last will or testamentary disposition of property made orally by a man in the presence of kinsmen and wadaads who are charged to see that its terms are fulfilled. Dardaar is applied (as an adjective) as a name for the last child of a family of children begotten of the same parents; it has the sense of ‘the last of God's blessing’.

page 137 note 8 From ga'al-ka ‘love’.

page 137 note 9 From jid-ka ‘road, path, way’. The JidWaaq are a Daarood clan living mainly as cultivators to the east of Harar in Ethiopia, whither they were driven from their original home in northeastern Somaliland probably in the sixteenth century; see Lewis, Peoples of the Horn, 21.

page 137 note 10 From the verb tag ‘go’. The TagaalWaaq are a Daarood clan living to-day in the western Ogaden between Jigjiga and Harar. Some are found also with the Habar Awal (Ishaaq) with whom they pay blood-money (mag-ta), in the British Protectorate.

page 137 note 11 From 'aabud-ka ‘fearer, worshipper’, cf. Ar. ābid. The 'AabudWaaq are a Daarood clan to-day inhabiting the Northern Frontier Province of Kenya to the north-east of the Tana River. For the movement of the Daarood into this region see Lewis, op. cit., 47–8.

page 138 note 1 Aws-ka is grass in general, including many separate named varieties and also with harrar-ka the general name for those mats woven principally from grass and used in the construction of the walls and roof of the nomadic Somali house. These naturally differ in design and quality.

page 138 note 2 Sabool-ka ‘poor, destitute’, perhaps connected with sabo-da, a patch of parched grass exhausted by over-grazing near a well where stock water.

page 138 note 3 Verb from baaya'ad-da ‘bargaining’ or ‘selling’, cf. Ar. bay'.

page 138 note 4 ‘Hoyal’ is the leading word of the refrain sung at the end of each line by the companions of the soloist. The last three lines are the chorus. The song is transcribed here as it would be sung, and was originally recorded amongst the Dulbahante (Daarood) in the east of the British Protectorate. But it is well known generally in the Protectorate.

page 138 note 5 Large spots of rain are barweyn, small spots baryar. Bar (pi. baro-ha) means also any small spot in general, as e.g. a mark on the skin.

page 138 note 6 Bar-ta (pi. bar-ta) ‘property’ in general, including immovable and movable property and livestock; cf. barlaawe ‘without property, property-less’.

page 138 note 7 Barwaaq ‘prosperous, lucky, blessed’, as in BarWaaq, a nickname of the founding ancestor of the Ogaadeen clan.

page 138 note 8 For the Hawiye see Lewis, Peoples of the Horn, 28–31.

page 139 note 1 Islam was, according to the testimony of Arab historians, established on the Somali coast by the ninth/tenth centuries, see Lewis, Peoples of the Horn, 140. To what if any considerable extent it had at this date penetrated into the interior is difficult to assess. All the Somali clans and clan-families claim ultimately to be of Arabian origin although the extent to which they stress such claims varies considerably. The cult of the Hawiye eponym as a Sufi saint is certainly less developed than that of Sheikh Daarood, who probably reached Somaliland from Arabia in the eleventh century, or of Sheikh Ishaaq (founder of the Ishaaq clan-family) whose date of arrival from Arabia is ascribed to the thirteenth century. According to Shariif 'Aydaruus Shaiiif 'Ali's, Bughyat al-amaal fii taariikh as-Soomaal, Mogadishu, 1955, 279–81, the eponym ‘Samaale’ himself emigrated from the Yemen to Somaliland in the ninth century. At any rate, as the Daarood and Ishaaq clans expanded after the eleventh and thirteenth centuries, the Hawiye, and other Somali, were driven southwards in the direction of their present habitat, and, if the traditions of their Arabian origin are correct, must have originally been Muslim. Their contact with Arabia and Islam may thereafter have decreased in their subsequent migrations. To-day in dress, hair-styles, and other habits, they still adhere as a whole more closely to traditional Somali custom than do either the Daarood or Ishaaq.Google Scholar

page 139 note 2 See Lewis, op. cit., 41–3.

page 139 note 3 The Somali people are primarily segmented into two vast genealogical groups—Samaale and Sab. The first comprises the ‘Pre-Hawiye’ Hawiye, Dir, and Ishaaq, and by intermarriage Daarood, clan-families. The second division consists of the Digil and Rahanwiin clan-families.

page 139 note 4 See Colucci, M., Principi di diritto consuetudinario della Somalia italiana meridionale, Firenze, 1924, 119–39. For a summary history of the Sab, see Lewis, op. cit., 46–8, etc.Google Scholar

page 139 note 5 Cerulli, op. cit., 6–9.

page 139 note 6 From Waaq and du'ayn (v.) ‘to bless, pray for’; the noun is du'o-dda. Cf. Ar. duā. Cerulli, op. cit., gives the form Waaqda'il, and not Waaqda'in, as I have heard it. M. M. Moreno, op. cit., 224, records Waaqda'in from an Ashraaf informant of the Reer Hamar clan of Mogadishu town, in Somalia.

page 139 note 7 Durraamo (v.) ‘beseech, beg repeatedly, implore’, as waan leu durraamaneyaa ‘I implore you’. The noun is durraamusho-da ‘beseeching, prayer’. Cf. the proverbial phrase, Shaydaan naftiisaa janno loo durraantaa ‘The devil is implored to enter Heaven’ (but he always refuses).

page 139 note 8 From Rabbi ‘God’ and tuug (v.) ‘ask for, pray’. The difference between this word and tuug-ga ‘thief’ is that the vowel sound in the second is pronounced with ‘fronting’. According to Andrzejewski's orthography the two words would be written tuug and tuug respectively. See Andrzejewski, B. W., BSOAS, xvii, 3, 1955, 567–80.Google Scholar