Yeah all I was trying to say that the Harari etymology for Dir is most likely because the Harari etymology refers to a geographical term “plain,” while the Somali etymology doesn’t.
The passage is in relation to a river, the fact that this same river is still called
Webiga Dir by Somalis makes it a clear open and shut case;
“
The emir Muhammad Zaharbui had gone up with his Muslim army, to the land of Abyssinia, and [returning] joined forces with the imam on the road to the land of the Muslims. The imam Ahmad, may the Most High God have mercy upon him, was coming down from Abyssinia; and they returned together. The imam and his army came to a place on the border of the land of the Muslims called Dir; it was a mighty river. Thereupon, the imam Ahmad pitched his camp by the river bank, and set aside the fifth of the booty, entrusting it to the care of a man…” (Futuh - P. 76)
Girri means giraffe in the Harari and Somali language. Why did Arab Faqih need to add Gedaya before Girri? Is there two Girri, Gedaya Girri and Somali Girri?
Ah so now we have two Girris, like the two Ahmeds that are supposedly both Left-Handed, let me guess your next argument is that both Girris were conflated into one by the Somalis?
Come on man.

what references?
Any historical reference to ancient and medieval Somalia, take your pick, its a vast and diverse collection of references all coming to the same conclusion.
It wasn’t referred to as Barr es-Somal, it was referred to as Bilad Al-Barbar. There is no connection between Barbar and Somali.
“The first person who reported the name of Sūmāl ( Somalia ) may have been Ibn Mājid. In his book he stated that Barr Sūmāl ( the land of Sūmāl ) was an area between al- Barabira ( Berbera ) and Barawa ( Brava )”
And;
“…
according to Sulayman al-Mahri , Barr al-Sumal corresponds to the so-called Horn of Africa extending from Berbera to Ras Ḥāfūni, Mogadishu, and Brava by way of Cape Guardafui." - (Page 350; Essays in Northeast African studies)
Therefore, we have clear medieval references that used Bilad-al Barbar and Barr al-Sumal interchangeably as one and the same, and which covered the entire Somali peninsula. We have no such historic literary evidence of Bilad al-Barbar being used alongside terms like Bilad al-Harla, Barr al-Harari, or Barr al-Oromo, or any other ethnic or occupation derived sobriquet.
If indeed an alternative population had lived there, this would have been the case, but it wasn’t and mind you these historic geographic references were made long before the Conquest of Abyssinia or the Oromo migrations, so good luck trying to explain how an entire geographic region was called al-Sumal if the latter weren’t already the most dominant group in the area.
In fact one of the earliest mention of Somali was from Hararis, they called Somalis “Tumur.” Barbar is more closely tied to Hararis because our literal greeting is tied to the word Bar. The city of Malao literally means “they filled it” in Geysinan. Mosylon is literally Masalegn in Geysinan. Avalites is literally the Harari word for Zeila, Aftal.
This is absurd, because you are mistranslating Hellenic adaptations of local names, for example the Hellenic name for Hafun or Afun was Opone, or Opun, and Hafun is not a Harari root word.
I get why you are doing this though, because any person that seeks to exclude the Somali people from their ancestral heritage would have to go back long before the arrival of Islam because there is a clear overlapping continuum between the ancient and the medieval, and the modern.
Your not the first group to attempt this, but it’s a futile exercise.
“
After this, one of the foremost sultans called Ura'i Abun came to the imam. When the country had been torn by disputes, he had gone to live with the Somalis. He became reconciled with the imam and the latter gave him a district for his support. A tribe called Gim then came to the imam. A dispute had arisen between them and their companions in another tribe called the Marraihan whose emir was called Hirabu, so the imam Ahmad sent a message to Hirabu, emir of the Somalis, to make peace between them.” (Futuh - P. 22)
And;
“
The storyteller, may God have mercy upon him, says: Thereupon the imam disbanded his soldiers, saying to them, 'Each of you return to your town, feed your horses well, keep your weapons in readiness until I come to you, and you set out [again] on a raid. For the moment I am going to a district called Zarba to pacify the country, to make peace between the citizens and the Somalis, and to mobilise an army: and then I will come back to you.'They agreed with what he had to say, broke up. and each person went back to his own town.”
“Those of the emirs who stayed behind in the country, stayed close by the sultan, while the imam Ahmad, may the Most High God have mercy upon him, went down to Zarba with thirty horsemen. The Sultan 'Umar Din, meanwhile, consulted with the emirs of the country concerning the matter of the alms-tax: among them were the wazir Nur, and Garad Ahmusa, Qatin Abu Bakr, Ura'i Abun bin 'Utman, Jasa 'Umar, brother of the sultan 'Umar Din, Garad Ahmad bin Lad 'Utman.” (Futuh - P. 77)
Notice how the above passage makes a distinction between ‘citizens’ and ‘Somalis despite both elements living in Zarba in the country of the Harla? This only supports Shimbiris’ thread that at times the name Somali denoted an occupational habit rather than a all-encompassing ethnic sobriquet. This is even more clear when the author also shows that Zarba included agricultural elements, as you can see from the same passage;
“
Abu Bakr reached the Imam Ahmad who was in Zarba, sitting and giving commands to agricultural workers, 'Do this and do that'. He knew nothing [of this matter] and had heard no news. Then the Qur'anic teacher Abu Bakr handed over their letter, and he read it and understood its contents. The imam then said to the Qur'anic teacher Abu Bakr. 'Return to them and tell them that what they want is vile, but let them do what they desire. I shall leave the country to them.”
What is more interesting (and I will have to re-read the Futuh to do a closer inspection) is whether the author, who regularly jumped between timelines, was referring to the dispute between the tribe of Gim and the tribe of Marehan when he settled down in the district of Zarba. Its extremely likely that he is referring to the same incident that resulted in a amicable conclusion.
Also, in every empire, agricultural groups were a major static source of tax, so in this case the agriculturalists Imam Ahmed was commanding in their farming duties would clearly be the citizens referenced above. In all these examples you have clear prominent Somalis in Imam Ahmed’s core group, the Sultan’s core group, they have a major presence alongside the agriculturalists, the urbanites, are found on the coast, amongst the scholars, the traders, make up the bulk of the army, etc.
What you guys are doing is tantamount to claiming Alexander the Great and the Macedonian Empire wasn’t Greek, because there was also the Greek country of city-states to the south of their realm.