Wadaad's writing

Wadaad's writing, also known as Wadaad's Arabic (Somali: Far Wadaad, lit. 'Scholar's Handwriting'), is the traditional Somali adaptation of written Arabic as well as the Arabic script as historically used to transcribe the Somali language. Originally, it referred to a non-grammatical Arabic featuring some words from the Somali language, with the proportion of Somali vocabulary varying depending on the context. The Somalis were among the first people in Africa to embrace Islam. Alongside standard Arabic, Wadaad's writing was used by Somali religious men (Wadaado) to record xeer (customary law) petitions and to write qasidas. It was also used by merchants for business purposes and letter writing.

Stone tablet from the 14th-century in Wadaad's writing

Over the years, various Somali scholars improved and altered the use of the Arabic script for conveying Somali. This culminated in the 1930s with the work of Mahammad 'Abdi Makaahiil, standardizing vowel diacritics and orthographic conventions, and in 1950s with the controversial proposal of Musa Haji Ismail Galal which substantially modified letter values and introduced new letters for vowels.

With the official adoption of Latin Alphabet in 1972, the process of standardization of orthography of Somali Arabic script came to a halt. Makaahiil's orthographic convention remains the most notable final iteration today.

History

The Arabic script was introduced to Somalia in the 10th century by Sheikh Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn (colloquially referred to as Aw Barkhadle meaning "Blessed Father") a man described as "the most outstanding saint in Somalia." Of Somali descent, he sought to advance the teachings of the Qur'an. Al-Kawneyn devised a Somali nomenclature for the Arabic vowels, which enabled his pupils to read and write in Arabic. Sheikh Abi-Bakr Al Alawi, a Harari historian, states in his book that Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn was of native and local Dir extraction.

Although various Somali wadaads and scholars had used the Arabic script to write in Somali for centuries, it would not be until the 19th century when the Qadiriyyah saint Sheikh Uways al-Barawi of the Digil and Mirifle clan would improve the application of the Arabic script to represent the (Maay dialect) of southern Somalia, which at the time was close to standard Somali with Arabic script. Al-Barawi modeled his alphabet after the Arabic transcription adopted by the Amrani of Barawa (Brava) to also write the Swahili dialect, Bravanese.

Wadaad's writing was often unintelligible to Somali pupils who learned standard Arabic in government-run schools. During the 1930s in the northwestern British Somaliland protectorate, Mahammad 'Abdi Makaahiil attempted to standardize the orthography in his book The Institution of Modern Correspondence in the Somali language. Following in the footsteps of Sh. Ibraahim 'Abdallah Mayal, Makaahiil therein championed the use of the Arabic script for writing Somali, showing examples of this usage through proverbs, letters and sentences.

Galaal Script

In 1954, the Somali linguist Musa Haji Ismail Galaal (1917–1980) introduced a more radical alteration of Arabic to represent the Somali Language. Galaal came up with an entirely new set of symbols for the Somali vowels. Galaal's goal was to eliminate the need to use diacritics and also to provide easy to write and read distinction between short vowels and long. Lewis (1958) considered this to be the most accurate Arabic alphabet to have been devised for the Somali language. He had published his work in the Islamic Quarterly, outlining and providing examples as to why a new Arabic based script was needed for use in Somalia.

List of newly created letters by Galaal in order to represent vowels

Despite the accuracy of Galaal's writing system and its correspondence with Somali phonology, his writing system turned out to be controversial, facing criticism from Somalia's religiously devout and conservative society. The introduction of new letters was interpreted as deviating away from the Arabic script, and moreover, a worry arose that teaching such new letters can cause difficulty in teaching the Quran to Somali students.

Mayal/Makaahiil

In 1932, Mahammad 'Abdi Makaahiil (Somali: Maxamed Cabdi Makaahiil), a Somali scholar who studied at Al-Azhar University, published a short book titled "Inšāʾ al makātibāt al ʿarabiyyah fīl-luġah as-Sūmāliyyah" (Arabic: إنشاء المكاتبات العربية في اللغة الصوماليّة; Creating of Arabic correspondences in the Somali language) in which he printed Somali orthographic conventions as well as several sample letters and many sample proverbs. He built upon earlier work by Ibraahim Cabdullaahi Mayal. In this book, he also argues against those who at the time favored adopting Arabic language as the sole official language of Somalia, and he argued strongly for adopting Arabic Script for Somali language.

Makaahiil's proposed orthography uses the same letters as in Arabic, with only two additional letters, ڎ‎ for /ɖ/ and گ‎ for /g/. On the other hand, there are 8 consonants in Arabic alphabet that do not exist in Somali language (except for writing Arabic loanwords), which include the letters thāʼ (ث), dhal (ذ), zāy (ز), ṣād (ص), ḍād (ض), ṭāʾ (ط), ẓāʾ (ظ), and ghayn (غ).

This writing convention relies on vowel diacritics.

Somali Arabic Alphabet

Name	Forms				Sound represented	Latin equivalent	Notes
	Isolated	Final	Medial	Initial
ʾalif الف‎	ا‎	ـا‎			- / /a/	-	ʾalif has two functions, first as vowel carrier for vowels at the beginning of words. Second for showing long vowel "aa".
bāʾ باء‎	ب‎	ـب‎	ـبـ‎	بـ‎	/b/	b
tāʾ تاء‎	ت‎	ـت‎	ـتـ‎	تـ‎	/t/	t
thāʼ ثاء‎	ث‎	ـث‎	ـثـ‎	ثـ‎	/s/	s	Not used in native Somali words; mainly used in Arabic loanwords.
jīm جيم‎	ج‎	ـج‎	ـجـ‎	جـ‎	/d͡ʒ/	j
ḥāʾ حاء‎	ح‎	ـح‎	ـحـ‎	حـ‎	/ħ/	x
khāʾ خاء‎	خ‎	ـخ‎	ـخـ‎	خـ‎	/χ/	kh
dāl دال‎	د‎	ـد‎			/d/	d
dhāl ذال‎	ذ‎	ـذ‎			/d/	d	Not used in native Somali words; mainly used in Arabic loanwords.
dhā ڎا‎	ڎ‎	ـڎ‎			/ɖ/	dh	Additional letter not present in Arabic Also historically represented by ط‎
rāʾ راء‎	ر‎	ـر‎			/r/	r
zāʾ زاي‎	ز‎	ـز‎			/z/	z
sīn سين‎	س‎	ـس‎	ـسـ‎	سـ‎	/s/	s
shīn شين‎	ش‎	ـش‎	ـشـ‎	شـ‎	/ʃ/	sh
ṣād صاد‎	ص‎	ـص‎	ـصـ‎	صـ‎	/s/	s	Not used in native Somali words; mainly used in Arabic loanwords.
ḍād ضاد‎	ض‎	ـض‎	ـضـ‎	ضـ‎	/d/	d	Not used in native Somali words; mainly used in Arabic loanwords.
ṭāʾ طاء‎	ط‎	ـط‎	ـطـ‎	طـ‎	/t/, /ɖ/	t, dh	Not used in native Somali words; mainly used in Arabic loanwords. Also historically used for representing "dh" instead of ڎ‎
ẓāʾ ظاء‎	ظ‎	ـظ‎	ـظـ‎	ظـ‎	/d/~/z/	d, z	Not used in native Somali words; mainly used in Arabic loanwords. Some such loan words are written in Latin with "z", others with "d".
ʿayn عين‎	ع‎	ـع‎	ـعـ‎	عـ‎	/ʕ/	c
ghayn غين‎	غ‎	ـغ‎	ـغـ‎	غـ‎	/ɣ/~/g/	g	Not used in native Somali words; mainly used in Arabic loanwords.
fāfʾ فاء‎	ف‎	ـف‎	ـفـ‎	فـ‎	/f/	f
qāf قاف‎	ق‎	ـق‎	ـقـ‎	قـ‎	/q/	q
kāf كاف‎	ك‎	ـك‎	ـكـ‎	كـ‎	/k/	k
gāʾ گاء‎	گ‎	ـگ‎	ـگـ‎	گـ‎	/ɡ/	g	Additional letter not present in Arabic.
lām لام‎	ل‎	ـل‎	ـلـ‎	لـ‎	/l/	l
mīm ميم‎	م‎	ـم‎	ـمـ‎	مـ‎	/m/	m
nun نون‎	ن‎	ـن‎	ـنـ‎	نـ‎	/n/	n
wāw واو‎	و‎	ـو‎			/w/ /ɞ:/, /ɔ:/, /ʉ:/, /u:/	w and oo, uu	The letter wāw serves two functions. First is as a semivowel, with a sound [w]. Second is in writing of long vowels "oo" and "uu".
hāʾ هاء‎	ه‎	ـه‎	ـهـ‎	هـ‎	/h/	h
yāʾ ياء‎	ي‎	ـي‎	ـيـ‎	يـ‎	/j/ /e:/, /ɛ:/, /i:/, /ɪ:/	y, ee, ii	The letter yāʾ serves two functions. First is as a semivowel, with a sound [j]. Second is in writing of long vowels "ee" and "ii".
hamzah همزة‎	ء‎				/ʔ/	’

As for vowels, in Somali phonology, there are five vowel articulations. These vowel articulations can either be short or long. Each vowel also has a harmonic counterpart, expressed either at the front or at the back of the mouth. Somali words follow a vowel harmony rule. However, Somali orthography, neither Somali Latin alphabet, nor Arabic alphabet, nor Osmanya alphabet distinguish between the two vowel harmony sets.

A shortcoming of the Arabic script for Somali language, is that while Somali has 5 vowels, Arabic has 3. This was where, Galaal got the most creative, coming up with brand new letters to represent vowels. In the 1961 Somali Language Committee Report, several other Arabic proposals were also listed, where other solutions were proposed for showing the 5 short vowels and 5 long vowels. None of these other proposals gained traction.

In Mahammad 'Abdi Makaahiil's orthographic convention, he added two new diacritics. For short vowel sounds [a], [u], and [i], Arabic diacritics are used. For long vowel sounds [a:], [u:], and [i:], similar to Arabic, the letters alif (ا), wāw (و), and yāʾ (ي) respectively.

For the short vowel sound [e], Makaahil interpreted the sound to be in between [a] and [i], thus he proposed to combine "◌َ " (Fatha, [a]) and "◌ِ" and (Dhamma, [i]), and write "◌َِ". As for long vowel sound [e:], it'd be written as "◌َِ" followed by yāʾ (ي).

Vowel diacritics in Somali Arabic Alphabet

-a	-e	-i	-o	-u
◌َ‎	◌َِ‎	◌ِ‎	◌ٗ‎	◌ُ‎

Long vowels in Somali Arabic Alphabet

-aa	-ee	-ii	-oo	-uu
ـا‎	◌َِيـ / ◌َِي‎	يـ / ي‎	◌ٗو‎	و / ـو‎

Vowels, when occurring at the beginning of words, are placed on top of alif (ا). Long vowels are written as they would in the middle of the word, except that wāw (و), and yāʾ (ي) would be preceded by alif instead of another consonant.The exception to this convention is long vowel [aa], where similar to Arabic, (alif madda) (آ) is used.

Vowel in the beginning of words in Somali Arabic Alphabet

Short vowels					Long vowels
A	E	I	O	U	Aa	Ee	Ii	Oo	Uu
اَ‎	اَِ‎	اِ‎	اٗ‎	اُ‎	آ‎	اَِيـ / اَِي‎	اي‎	اٗو‎	او‎

Revision by J. S. King

In 1887, British writer, J. S. King wrote for the Indian Antiquary an article titled "Somali as a written language" in which he proposes a standard Arabic based Somali script. Some of the main changes and features were the combined use of both Arabic and Sanskrit features:

• The Somali ⟨dh⟩ sound is represented as a new character with influence from both ⟨ड⟩ and ⟨د‎⟩
• A new ⟨r⟩ letter is assigned which also seems to have been fused from ⟨ड़⟩ and ⟨ر‎⟩
• Somali ⟨g⟩ in this case is written as ⟨گ‎⟩
• A new ⟨l⟩ is introduced, with Sanskrit elements to form ⟨ڸ‎⟩
• Finally, a new ⟨n⟩ is proposed with two dots above the standard Arabic ⟨ن‎⟩

King had also reformed the vowel structure, by introducing separate vowel markers for the Somali ⟨o⟩ and ⟨e⟩.

In this article, he provided over 100 examples of the script in use, some of which include:

King's script	Somali transliteration	English translation
مَنَبَدْبَ	Ma nabad ba	Are you well?
اَفكْي صوماليَِيد كُهَدَل	Afkii Soomaaliyeed ku hadal	Speak in the Somali language
ادِگَ وَِلي ارد الهندي مَتَِگْتي	Adiga weli ard alhindiya (dhulka hiindiya) ma tegtay?	Have you ever been to India?

Sample text

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Translation	Latin Script	Wadaad's Writing (Mayal/Makaahiil)
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.	Aadanaha dhammaantiis wuxuu dhashaa isagoo xor ah kana siman xagga sharafta iyo xuquuqada Waxaa Alle (Ilaah) siiyay aqoon iyo wacyi, waana in qof la arkaa qofka kale ula dhaqmaa si walaaltinimo ah.	آدَنَهَ ڎَمّانْتيسْ وُحو ڎَشا اِسگٗو حٗر اَه كَنَ سِمَن حَگَّ شَرَفتَ اِيٗ حُقوقَدَ وَحا الله سييَي اَقٗون اِيٗ وَعْيِ، وانَ اِن قٗف لَ اَركا قٗفكَ كَلَِ اُلَ ڎَقْما سِ وَلالتِنِمٗ اَه.‎

See also

• Osmanya alphabet – Alphabet created in the 1920s for Somali
• Borama alphabet – Writing system for Somali developed around 1933Pages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets
• Kaddare alphabet – Writing system for Somali created in 1952

Notes

1. Lewis 1958, pp. 135–137 [PDF pp. 2-4]: "[p.135] Anyone who devotes his life to religion is a wadaad, however slight his acquaintance with Arabic. ... [p.136] With respect to knowledge of Arabic the population may be divided into three classes, those who know a little, those who can read and write a little, and those who are expert in both reading and writing. The middle group have given rise in religion and trade to a type of writing which is known, not inappropriately, as 'wadaad's writing' (or 'wadaad's Arabic'). This is an ungrammatical Arabic containing some Somali words, the proportion of Somali naturally varying with the context. The calligraphy is usually also inexpert and often obscure. 'Wadaad's writing' is used by merchants in business, in letter-writing, in the writing of petitions, [p.137] and in the writing of qasidas by wadaads whence its name is derived.".
2. Lewis 1999, p. 175.
3. Lier, Eva van (2023). The Oxford Handbook of Word Classes. Oxford University Press. p. 495. ISBN 978-0-19-885288-9.
4. Various (2021-03-11). Routledge Library Editions: International Islam. Routledge. p. 29. ISBN 978-1-351-97245-1.
5. Lewis 1958, p. 139–140.
6. Lewis 1958, p. 136.
7. Ylönen, Aleksi (2024-01-25). The Horn Engaging the Gulf: Economic Diplomacy and Statecraft in Regional Relations. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 112. ISBN 978-0-7556-3515-3.
8. Singh 2002, p. 59.
9. Sheikh, Ahmed. “Somali with Arabic Script – a Linguistic Historical Study (Somaliska Med Arabisk Skrift – En Språkhistorisk Studie).” Gothenburg University Publications Electronic Archive, Winter 2019. https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/handle/2077/63249/gupea_2077_63249_1.pdf (Archive)
10. Tosco, Mauro (2015). "Djibouti: AGA" (PDF). The Intergovernmental Academy of Somali Language: 194–195.
11. Abdullahi 2001, p. 13.
12. Lewis 1958, p. 135.
13. Lewis 1999, p. 102.
14. Laitin 1977, p. 85.
15. Quath, Faati (1957). Islam Walbaasha Cabra Taarikh [Islam and Abyssinia throughout history] (in Arabic). Cairo, Egypt.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
16. Lewis 1958, p. 139.
17. Martin 2003, p. 163.
18. Lewis 1958, p. 137.
19. "Arabic Script for Somali - Muuse Galaal" (PDF).
20. Qutbi, A. Sh. A. “The Report of the Somali Language Committee, 1961.” Internet Archive, May 15, 1961. https://archive.org/details/LinguisticReport1961.
21. "Somali as a written language" (PDF).

References

• Abdullahi, Mohamed Diriye (2001). Culture and customs of Somalia. Greenwood. ISBN 978-0-313-31333-2.
• Laitin, David D. (1977). Politics, language, and thought: the Somali experience. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-46791-0.
• Lewis, I.M. (1958). "The Gadabuursi Somali Script". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 21 (1/3). Cambridge University Press, on behalf of SOAS: 134–156. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00063278. JSTOR 610496. S2CID 161856327. Retrieved 2009-09-04.
• Lewis, I.M. (1999). A Pastoral Democracy: A Study of Pastoralism and Politics Among the Northern Somali of the Horn of Africa. LIT Verlag Münster. ISBN 3825830845.
• Martin, B.G. (2003). Muslim Brotherhoods in Nineteenth-Century Africa. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-53451-8.
• Singh, Nagendra Kr. (2002). International encyclopaedia of Islamic dynasties, Volume 43. Anmol Publications PVT. LTD. ISBN 81-261-0403-1.

External links

• Far Wadaad script converter
• 'Wadaad's writing' in Somali, at Omniglot
• Tosco, Mauro (University of Turin) (2010). "Somali Writings". Afrikanistik Online. 2010 (7). Retrieved 2023-04-07. [Covers Wadaad's writing, Osmanya, Gadabuursi, and Kaddare.]