Wadaad script for Af Somali

[Shimbiris]

Where'd you get the images from ?

The second one is from a guy who had an engravings collection of Koonfur on some collectors site. He made the preview pics pretty damn high resolution so I had no need to purchase his originals:

Old Pictures of southern Somali country​

The first is just from a google search of "Qur'an wood boards, Somalia". A lot pop up. These are still actually used in the rural areas of Somaliweyn to this day.

Qur'an wood boards, Somalia - Google Search

www.google.com

 

[MT Foxtrot]

The second one is from a guy who had an engravings collection of Koonfur on some collectors site. He made the preview pics pretty damn high resolution so I had no need to purchase his originals:

Old Pictures of southern Somali country​

The first is just from a google search of "Qur'an wood boards, Somalia". A lot pop up. These are still actually used in the rural areas of Somaliweyn to this day.

Qur'an wood boards, Somalia - Google Search

www.google.com

I wish someone would make an RPG using this aesthetic. European medieval stasis is so played out.

 

[Shimbiris]

I wish someone would make an RPG using this aesthetic. European medieval stasis is so played out.

For reals. I would love to see an animated show, video games or TV show based on the cultures of Southern Egypt, Chad, Sudan and the Horn with maybe Egypt, SE Africa and Yemen factored in. Would be really cool and interesting and a breath of fresh air. Even West-Africa, wallahi. Those niggas get an unnecessarily bad rep because of the slave trade but they had some cool stuff going with the Mali Empire, the Benin, the Ashanti and so forth. Even Desis and SE Asians are terribly neglected in historical based fiction. Would be a really interesting break to focus on these groups over the usual Western Europe, Japan, Ancient Rome stuff.

 

[Gacanka Cadmeed]

Changing our script now would be far too costly. I think we're better served with using the Latin alphabet. This comment has some ideas about how the script can be further adapted for Somali.

We need to install the change gradually. The good thing is it won't be too difficult to change the script because we don't need to have typewriters that can only use the Latin script.

 

[Shimbiris]

Their have been ancient scripts found which predate Islam and are unfortunately undeciphered.

Talked about this in length in another thread:

I kinda doubt those were from South Arabian visitors. I remember a linguist friend pointing out to me that the "Berbers" of the north Somali coast living in those port-towns most likely did have a literate class. It would be a little odd if they did not given that they were making constant contact with Arabians, Indians, Romans, Greeks, Chinese... All people who had adopted writing at that point and also how during the Islamic period, when the same sort of trade continued, Reer Magaal Somalis wasted no time adopting Arabic as a written language, eventually even creating a way to use it for Af-Soomaali.

And what's further intriguing about those inscriptions found all over the north is that they're often in the hinterland too. On grave markers, supposedly even under some cave paintings and just generally all over the place so unless Arabians heavily colonized the north which we have no archaeological, genetic or historical account evidence for; one wouldn't be far-fetched in assuming some of these inscriptions were probably made by locals. The wide spread of the inscriptions honestly brings Semitic inscriptions to mind:



In Arabia, contrary to popular Islamic belief, it seems there was a high literacy rate during the pre-islamic era to an extent not usually ever seen in pre-modern societies. They have inscriptions literally everywhere. On random rocks, boulders and so on and the messages seem like they were left by normal everyday people who left behind things like love letters, descriptions of everyday life, poetry or their names. Would be trippy if nomads in northern Somalia were once similar and literacy just dropped overtime during the Islamic era like in Arabia.

Plus, if you look at the small amount of ancient Yemeni in Somalis and run some proper models on it the stuff looks "Intra-Horn" mediated. As in from some sort of Oromo-Habesha type source rather than direct Arabian admixture like with Habeshas so I doubt it was left by ancient Yemenis our people traded with who clearly left no linguistic mark.

Some ancestral Somalis probably did know how to write using Musnad or some sort of variant of it would be my guess.

 

[reer]

a = ى أ (connects in middle)
aa = ا آ

i = إ ې
ii = ي

e = اۧ ىۧ
ee = ے

o = اٛ ىٛ
oo = وٓ

u = اٗ ىٗ
uu = وٰ

 

[reer]

@Gacanka Cadmeed @Shimbiris arabic script is actually good for double letters. @Helios @Al Muslim
bb = پ
g = ڬ gg = گ
rr = ڔ
nn = ڹ
mm = ݦ
ll = ݪ

 

[Shimbiris]

@Gacanka Cadmeed @Shimbiris arabic script is actually good for double letters. @Helios @Al Muslim
bb = پ
g = ڬ gg = گ
rr = ڔ
nn = ڹ
mm = ݦ
ll = ݪ

Yep, that's what I meant earlier when I mentioned the diacritics and long vowels. Just make some adjustments to make it more vowel friendly for Somali and you're good to go. A beautiful Afro-Asiatic script for an Afro-Asiatic language.

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[Vanessa]

It's so easy to read and write Arabic.

 

[Gacanka Cadmeed]

@HIBAQ123 @rocktheboat305 @Amirah what do you think should be our script.

 

[4head]

Far Wadaad is too complicated in its original form, in my humble opinion:



Somalis who can read the standard Arabic script or even the more complex Classical Arabic of the Qur'an struggle to fully grasp it. We would be better served using the normal Arabic script with a few revisions to integrate letters like "O" and "G" with more vowel use. You could roll this out fairly easily too as most Somalis, being Muslims, can read the Arabic script.

Beautiful letter.

 

[Gacanka Cadmeed]

That may have been the case a century ago, but now, I am willing to bet that Somalis are more familiarized with the Latin script, more so than the Wadaad Arabic one. Changing the script will be a bit too costly for this reason, as it will take quite a while longer to refamiliarize the Somali population with the new script.

As @Alhazred mentioned, it's far more effective to use accent letters to shorten the words, and make it look more comprehensible. Words like "aa" could be "á", and "ee" could "é", and so on and so forth.

Even today Somalis learn Arabic In malcamad and are already familiarized with the script. A huge number of somalis are illiterate in Latin anyway but still know the Arabic script.

 

[Gacanka Cadmeed]

Abdi Daud

Far Wadaad Baro

www.haadka.com

Let us return to the scripts of our forefathers. Goodbye Latin.

 

[exposedmeat]

Nahh, it's gonna look like we begging the ayrabs, I rather use kaddare script it looks ancient pretty nice ngl

 

[Gacanka Cadmeed]

Nahh, it's gonna look like we begging the ayrabs, I rather use kaddare script it looks ancient pretty nice ngl
View attachment 182934

Do Iranians look like they are begging of arabs or kurds.

 

[Gacanka Cadmeed]

Nahh, it's gonna look like we begging the ayrabs, I rather use kaddare script it looks ancient pretty nice ngl
View attachment 182934

Even Pakistanis use the Arabic script

 

[exposedmeat]

Do Iranians look like they are begging of arabs or kurds.

they have a history and culture well known, farahs and xalimos in the west don't know sh@it about their culture if we were maybe equal to ayrabs as paki, Persians are, I would adopt it but we are not, our culture and history is not that well know and is inferior to them and we will be Arabised quickly.
IF WEAK CULTURE MEETS WITH STRONG CULTURE, THE STRONG CULTURE DOMINANT THE WEAK, WHICH IS JUST A FACT.

 

[Anubis]

Changing our script now would be far too costly. I think we're better served with using the Latin alphabet. This comment has some ideas about how the script can be further adapted for Somali.

Its actually cheaper. It would save both time and money that would have otherwise been spent on programmes to raise the literacy rate. Plus schools are going to need text books and there aren't really any curriculum text books in Somali it would be costly to write and produce them adopting wadaad would allow Somalia to import text books in Arabic.

 

[Gacanka Cadmeed]

they have a history and culture well known, farahs and xalimos in the west don't know sh@it about their culture if we were equals to ayrabs as paki, Persians are I would adopt it but we are not our culture, history is not that well know and is inferior to them and we will be Arabised quickly.
IF WEAK CULTURE MEETS WITH STRONG CULTURE, THE STRONG CULTURE DOMINANT THE WEAK, IS JUST A FACT.

All this fear mongering is too much. At least we have 3 Somali governments that protects Somali history and culture. You should be more worried if you were a tuareg or a Fulani who are spread over several countries with no government protection.

 

[Gacanka Cadmeed]

Its actually cheaper. It would save both time and money that would have otherwise been spent on programmes to raise the literacy rate. Plus schools are going to need text books and there aren't really any curriculum text books in Somali it would be costly to write and produce them adopting wadaad would allow Somalia to import text books in Arabic.

From now on I will write Af Somali in the Arabic script inshallah.