Adeni Arabic loanwords in Northern Somali

[Al-Ma'mun]

Somali has two sources of Arabic loanwords, the first is directly from Classical Arabic and the second are more recent Yemeni dialect words (& foods/customs)

Here's a list I have compiled so far, Northern Somali speakers from SL.Djibouti & Ethiopia can add Adeni loanwords I've missed:

• Babuur- car
• Miz (miis)- Table
• Gidar-wall
• taqa (daaqad)- window
• bissa (bissad)-cat
• mal3aqa (malqaa3ad) - spoon
• shawka (Shawkad)- fork
• habba (xabbad) - one
• matbakh - kitchen
• kabat - cupboard
• tallaaga (tallaajad) - refrigerator
• dist (disti) - pan
• Dukkaan - store
• dira3 - dirac
• Ma3awiz - macawiis
• sahn/suhuun - plate/plates
• matiiba (madiibad) - bowl
• 7ab7ab (xabxab) - watermelon
• Mooz (moos) - banana
• fuul - fava beans
• liim (lemons) - liin (lemons/oranges)
• 3imba (cambo) - mangoe
• shahi (shaah) - tea
• kira (kiro) - rent
• 3iyaal (ciyaal) - children
• mataar (madaar)- airport
• tayyaara (diyaarad) - airplane
• quraa3 (quraac) - breakfast
• Qadaa' (qado) - lunch
• 3asha' (casho) - dinner
• mushakki - someone who always doubts things/paranoid
• sharika (shirkad) - company
• baydh (beed) - egg
• na3ni3 (mint) - nacnac (candy)
• digaag (digaag in somali) - chicken
• hafiis (xafiis) - office
• humma (xummad) - fever
• idha3a (idaacad) - broadcast

And I could go on....

 

[Som]

Many of these words have pure Somali synonym.
Daaqad= derishad.
Digaag= dooro which is used in the south and also in Ethiopian languages like Amharic
Bisad= Yaanyuur or mukulaal
Baydh= Ukun.
Baabuur= Gaari
Xabxab=Qare
I think some of these words may come from a common afroasiatic origin and probably even a south arabian influence that predates the Arabic language by hundreds of years. South Arabians had contacts with horn africans including somalis, according to some scholars northern somali has many south arabian semitic influence

 

[Based]

Do they have Somali loan words? Probably not

 

[reer]

Many of these words have pure Somali synonym.
Daaqad= derishad.
Digaag= dooro which is used in the south and also in Ethiopian languages like Amharic
Bisad= Yaanyuur or mukulaal
Baydh= Ukun.
Baabuur= Gaari
Xabxab=Qare
I think some of these words may come from a common afroasiatic origin and probably even a south arabian influence that predates the Arabic language by hundreds of years. South Arabians had contacts with horn africans including somalis, according to some scholars northern somali has many south arabian semitic influence

dariishad is from the arabic word dariisha.

 

[Som]

Do they have Somali loan words? Probably not

They may have some, I'm not sure though.

 

[Hamzza]

Why do isaaqs have more arabic loan words in their dialect compared to harti who have interacted with the arabs more ?

 

[Apollo]

Why do isaaqs have more arabic loan words in their dialect compared to harti who have interacted with the arabs more ?

Adal Sultanate used Arabic as a lingua franca. They also had a stronger need to learn Arabic to communicate with Afars, Hararis, and Muslim Oromos.

The more isolated Hartis had no need to use Arabic besides the handful of tradesmen and religious clerics.

 

[Al-Ma'mun]

Adal Sultanate used Arabic as a lingua franca. They also had a stronger need to learn Arabic to communicate with Afars, Hararis, and Muslim Oromos.

The more isolated Hartis had no need to use Arabic besides the handful of tradesmen and religious clerics.

It's actually because of the British Colonial days.Population moevments between SL & Aden intensified and I think at one point Aden was like a 1/3rd Somali with the vast majority belonging to the Isaaq clan.

Some of the older Arabic loanwords (especially the religious ones) shared with other Somalis might have entered from around the days of Ifat/Adal.

Many of these words have pure Somali synonym.
Daaqad= derishad.
Digaag= dooro which is used in the south and also in Ethiopian languages like Amharic
Bisad= Yaanyuur or mukulaal
Baydh= Ukun.
Baabuur= Gaari
Xabxab=Qare
I think some of these words may come from a common afroasiatic origin and probably even a south arabian influence that predates the Arabic language by hundreds of years. South Arabians had contacts with horn africans including somalis, according to some scholars northern somali has many south arabian semitic influence

Gaari is an indian word (probably Gujurati) and also came from us Northerners who had to deal with the Indians in Aden and SL.We have Gujurati loanwords such as laangarey (someone with a limp), and baraf (snow).There might be a few more but I don't speak South Asian languages so I wouldn't know

 

[Apollo]

It's actually because of the British Colonial days.Population moevments between SL & Aden intensified and I think at one point Aden was like a 1/3rd Somali with the vast majority belonging to the Isaaq clan.

Some of the older Arabic loanwords (especially the religious ones) shared with other Somalis might have entered from around the days of Ifat/Adal.

Are you sure about this? I remember reading from a history book that the elite of the Adal Sultanate legitimately mostly spoke Arabic, while this wasn't the case in any of the other Somali sultanates.

Arabic spread in non-Arab regions due to the working class mimicking the elite. That's how Arab elites managed to change the language of North Africa despite being heavily outnumbered. Maybe a similar trend happened in Adal but didn't result in language shift.

While browsing some papers on Oromo, I also saw it being mentioned that the East Oromo dialect near Harar contains significantly more Arabic loanwords than the other Oromo dialects.

 

[Shimbiris]

It's actually because of the British Colonial days.Population moevments between SL & Aden intensified and I think at one point Aden was like a 1/3rd Somali with the vast majority belonging to the Isaaq clan.

I think this is a little overstated. There were historically Somalis from all the tribes/subtribes in the north at Aden, and quite significantly. In fact, for my recent seafaring research which I'll be posting soon I noticed that groups like Warsangelis and Majeerteens went to places like Aden and Mocha quite a lot and as far back as 1815 at least. In fact, Aden was heavily dependent on meat from both the northeast and woqooyi galbeed, so much so that MJs began, in part, out-migrating to deal with how large their herds had grown due to trade with Aden during the 1800s. And I've seen at least one source in the late 1800s point out that at least for a time in the 1800s Warsangelis and Majeerteens dominated the Somali seafaring trade over Isaaqs:

It is a curious fact that so few of the tribes inhabiting the coast regions of British Somaliland should be engaged in the dhow traffic across the Gulf of Aden. From the earliest times, the entire trade seems to have been in the hands of two tribes, the Warsangeli and the Mijertain; for some years certainly the Musa Arreh subtribe of the Habr Yunis were in possession of a few buggalows, but they do not appear to have taken very kindly to seamanship or to have been very successful, as the trade has once again almost entirely lapsed back into the hands of the above two tribes.

This was a dude who lived in British Somaliland among Isaaqs for quite some years. It lines up well with a source from a few decades earlier in the 1850s when Warsangelis recount to Speke that they used to be dominant over the Isaaq at sea before the British interfered:

The Warsangali complained to me sadly of their decline in power since the English had interfered in their fights with the (Isaaq), which took place near Aden about seven years ago, and had deprived them of their vessels for creating a disturbance, which interfered with the ordinary routine of Traffic. They said that on that occasion, they had not only beaten (Isaaq) but had seized their vessels; and that prior to this rupture, they had enjoyed paramount superiority over all the tribes of the Somali; but now they were forbidden to transport Soldiers or make reprisals on the sea, every tribe was on an equality with them." (Chapter II the Voyage-Somali Shore, Gerad Mohamoud Ali Shire).

 

[Dima&Damo]

I think this is a little overstated. There were historically Somalis from all the tribes/subtribes in the north at Aden, and quite significantly. In fact, for my recent seafaring research which I'll be posting soon I noticed that groups like Warsangelis and Majeerteens went to places like Aden and Mocha quite a lot and as far back as 1815 at least. In fact, Aden was heavily dependent on meat from both the northeast and woqooyi galbeed, so much so that MJs began, in part, out-migrating to deal with how large their herds had grown due to trade with Aden during the 1800s. And I've seen at least one source in the late 1800s point out that at least for a time in the 1800s Warsangelis and Majeerteens dominated the Somali seafaring trade over Isaaqs:



This was a dude who lived in British Somaliland among Isaaqs for quite some years. It lines up well with a source from a few decades earlier in the 1850s when Warsangelis recount to Speke that they used to be dominant over the Isaaq at sea before the British interfered:

Majeerteen We Even Have The Most Sea Towns In East Africa

 

[Al-Ma'mun]

Are you sure about this? I remember reading from a history book that the elite of the Adal Sultanate legitimately mostly spoke Arabic, while this wasn't the case in any of the other Somali sultanates.

Arabic spread in non-Arab regions due to the working class mimicking the elite. That's how Arab elites managed to change the language of North Africa despite being heavily outnumbered. Maybe a similar trend happened in Adal but didn't result in language shift.

While browsing some papers on Oromo, I also saw it being mentioned that the East Oromo dialect near Harar contains significantly more Arabic loanwords than the other Oromo dialects.

The words are I mentioned above, many are unique to the Adeni dialect and has unique pronounciations such as the jeem being g like gidhaar instead of Jidhaar.Keeping the classical Qaaf instead of the typical G (Qalbi vs Galbi which means my heart).Some of the words are too modern for it to be from the medieval age.The medieval elites you speak of probably used a a version of classical arabic to communicate as they were probably religiously educated from a young age.

Aden was very important for us reer waqooyi (modern SL & British protected Hawd).We would go there for employment and better our living standards.Men would go and work for years to save up and return to Somaliland.There's even a famous SL Somali saying " Ma ana waalan miise caadan ba laaga heesaya)

 

[Al-Ma'mun]

I think this is a little overstated. There were historically Somalis from all the tribes/subtribes in the north at Aden, and quite significantly. In fact, for my recent seafaring research which I'll be posting soon I noticed that groups like Warsangelis and Majeerteens went to places like Aden and Mocha quite a lot and as far back as 1815 at least. In fact, Aden was heavily dependent on meat from both the northeast and woqooyi galbeed, so much so that MJs began, in part, out-migrating to deal with how large their herds had grown due to trade with Aden during the 1800s. And I've seen at least one source in the late 1800s point out that at least for a time in the 1800s Warsangelis and Majeerteens dominated the Somali seafaring trade over Isaaqs:



This was a dude who lived in British Somaliland among Isaaqs for quite some years. It lines up well with a source from a few decades earlier in the 1850s when Warsangelis recount to Speke that they used to be dominant over the Isaaq at sea before the British interfered:

As someone with a grandfather born and raised in Aden.From his own mouth he told me the vast majority were Isaaq and surpirisingly a lot more of the inland Garxajis then one would expect but yes they were other Somalis but Aden's primary connection in the Gulf was Berbera.Berbera like today was always the jewel ethnic Somali major port of the Gulf.Berbera out exported compared to all other Somali ports combined in the late 1800s and early 1900s just like today.This was also why the vast majority of Somali-British seamen were Isaaqs especially from the HA,HY and Ciidigale clans.There's also a reference I once found that mentioned that the HA-HY beef was exported to Aden and the Somalis were physical beating each other and had to be stopped by local authorities

Harti perhaps were more involved with trading with the Mahra and you can educate me as they were primarily under Italian control or atleast the Majerteen were.But the markets of Berbera and Bulhar were far more important then anything from PL and Eastern SL.

 

[Shimbiris]

As someone with a grandfather born and raised in Aden.From his own mouth he told me the vast majority were Isaaq and surpirisingly a lot more of the inland Garxajis then one would expect but yes they were other Somalis but Aden's primary connection in the Gulf was Berbera.Berbera like today was always the jewel ethnic Somali major port of the Gulf.Berbera out exported compared to all other Somali ports combined in the late 1800s and early 1900s just like today.This was also why the vast majority of Somali-British seamen were Isaaqs especially from the HA,HY and Ciidigale clans.There's also a reference I once found that mentioned that the HA-HY beef was exported to Aden and the Somalis were physical beating each other and had to be stopped by local authorities

Harti perhaps were more involved with trading with the Mahra and you can educate me as they were primarily under Italian control or atleast the Majerteen were.But the markets of Berbera and Bulhar were far more important then anything from PL and Eastern SL.

There's no perhaps about it, walaal. I just showed you sources and I've seen many others that point out the same as those; that Hartis traded with Aden and Mocha very extensively and there are several accounts of them settling there in many cases. And I mean no offense but I do trust gaalo more in this respect as they don't distinguish us as a people whereas Somalis will always upsell their own tribe more than others. Ironically, Somali is Somali to some random Brit. They're not going to exaggerate or upsell any particular tribe because they don't care.

It also seems apparent that for at least a good while in the 1800s Harti subtribes like the Warsangeli and Majeerteen were more dominant in regards to seafaring and trafficking to Yemen themselves than Isaaqs but it is possible that Isaaqs settled there more. One does certainly notice a lot of Isaaqs were in Aden from the historical records. I did notice that when Somali traders' tribal origins were mentioned in Aden it was often Isaaqs. Mind you, I think this became more the case in the 1900s.

And you are correct in regards to Berbera. It was the premier singular port in the 1800s of the north. The annual Berbera fair was no joke but when put together the whole northeast was no joke either. The amounts they were exporting to Aden were so exorbitant that it caused clan migrations, walaal. That's just how overwhelmed the nomads became for a time with the large herds required to maintain shipping to Yemen and the Brits point out the main export points were Aden and Mocha, especially the former.

 

[Idilinaa]

Why do isaaqs have more arabic loan words in their dialect compared to harti who have interacted with the arabs more ?

Northern Somali Dialect doesn't automatically mean Isaaq. They are just one clan among many that speak the same dialect. Northern Somali according to linguists are what the other 4 Main Somali clans speak outside of Raxanweyn, where Coastal Somali form a sub-branch from it.

As far as i know there no big difference in loanwords and they didn't interact with Arabs more than other clans.

 

[Shimbiris]

Northern Somali Dialect doesn't automatically mean Isaaq. They are just one clan among many that speak the same dialect. Northern Somali according to linguists are what the other 4 Main Somali clans speak outside of Raxanweyn, where Coastal Somali form a sub-branch from it.

As far as i know there no big difference in loanwords and they didn't interact with Arabs more than other clans.

It's more like there's Af-Maxaa then within it there is North-Somali which means what's spoken by the Dir, Isaaq and Darood; then you have Benadiri/Coastal Somali which has historically been spoken by Hawiyes and groups like the Ajuuraan, though this can vary by region. For example, if I'm not mistaken, Hawiyes in the far west of Galbeed or groups like the Fiqishini in the north just sound like their neighbors. North-Somali itself can further be divided into the "Darood group" and the Northwest dialects or what some linguists call North-Somali proper which is spoken by Dirs and Isaaqs. This last one is what Somalis are talking about when they picture the way reer Woqooyi speak. But it's a little arbitrary. The more west you go from eastern parts of Bari or Nugaal the more the folks, Darood or otherwise, start to sound more and more like reer Woqooyi.

But you are correct, I've never heard of there being some notable difference in Arabic loanwords across the dialects. More than anything, what I've noticed is that reer magaals generally throw more Arabic and overall foreign words into their speech than reer miyi. This is true regardless of region across Somaliweyn. If you want to hear authentic Somali go deep into the hinterland and talk to some nomads or farmers. This is a trope among Arabs as well. That the Bedouin hold the most authentic and "pure" speech. Was the case even in the Prophet's (SAW) time.

 

[reer]

Northern Somali Dialect doesn't automatically mean Isaaq. They are just one clan among many that speak the same dialect. Northern Somali according to linguists are what the other 4 Main Somali clans speak outside of Raxanweyn, where Coastal Somali form a sub-branch from it.

As far as i know there no big difference in loanwords and they didn't interact with Arabs more than other clans.

you have a point. but to alot of somalis the "reer waqooyi" is a codeword for isaaq. its like saying someone is "reer bari" or "reer gedo" are codewords for certain clans. laakiin isaaq have some other arabic loanwords. madaar vs ayraboor/garoon diyaarado. malcaqad vs qaado. casiir/sharaab vs cabitaan/biyo. from the way "reer waqooyi" talk vs eg mogadishu i noticex there is a difference in arabic loanwords but its not easy to spot.

 

[Shimbiris]

you have a point. but to alot of somalis the "reer waqooyi" is a codeword for isaaq. its like saying someone is "reer bari" or "reer gedo" are codewords for certain clans. laakiin isaaq have some other arabic loanwords. madaar vs ayraboor/garoon diyaarado. malcaqad vs qaado. casiir/sharaab vs cabitaan/biyo. from the way "reer waqooyi" talk vs eg mogadishu i noticex there is a difference in arabic loanwords but its not easy to spot.

I'm a saqajaan. I always ask where someone is from as code for what qabiil they're of. I need to stop, I know. Soomaali waa Soomaali.

 

[Idilinaa]

I see a couple of words in the list that aren't actual loanwords like Qaado which comes from Qad(To take) and Bisaad which exist in other Somali dialects including May. It would take some time to verify what you listed , we should control for accuracy and cite actual papers.

But if you search it up there is already threads about Arabic loanwords and listed words within the Somali language: https://www.academia.edu/4874976/300_Arabic_Loan_Verbs_in_Somali

Arabic loanwords within the Somali language isn't really surprising for historical-cultural and proximity reasons. But If you think about it is still surprising that Somalis don't have far more loanwords or influences given that reason.

Take Ottoman Turkish for example some say 80% of it was Arabic and Persian derived. Bulk it of it being Arabic.

We also know the extant of which Arabic influenced Spanish: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_language_influence_on_the_Spanish_language

And then Arabic's big influence on Swahili , which made some people incorrectly think it was some hybrid creole language of Arabic: https://brill.com/previewpdf/book/edcoll/9789004363397/BP000016.xml

 

[Hamzza]

I think this is a little overstated. There were historically Somalis from all the tribes/subtribes in the north at Aden, and quite significantly. In fact, for my recent seafaring research which I'll be posting soon I noticed that groups like Warsangelis and Majeerteens went to places like Aden and Mocha quite a lot and as far back as 1815 at least. In fact, Aden was heavily dependent on meat from both the northeast and woqooyi galbeed, so much so that MJs began, in part, out-migrating to deal with how large their herds had grown due to trade with Aden during the 1800s. And I've seen at least one source in the late 1800s point out that at least for a time in the 1800s Warsangelis and Majeerteens dominated the Somali seafaring trade over Isaaqs:



This was a dude who lived in British Somaliland among Isaaqs for quite some years. It lines up well with a source from a few decades earlier in the 1850s when Warsangelis recount to Speke that they used to be dominant over the Isaaq at sea before the British interfered:

You are rigt bro, reer bari are the people of the sea .
According to british explorer mills who visited the majerten coat in 1871, there was 20 or so buggalows(large boats) which belonged to the ports of bender ziada, bender kassim, qandala, bender murcanyo and caluula and countless of sambuukhs.