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''Wadaad'' writing, also known as ''Wadaad'' Arabic ( so, Far Wadaad), is the traditional Somali adaptation of written
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
, as well as the
Arabic script The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used writing system in the world by number of countries using it or a script directly derived from it, and the ...
as historically used to transcribe the
Somali language Somali (Latin script: ; Wadaad writing, Wadaad: ; Osmanya: ๐’–๐’ ๐’ˆ๐’๐’‘๐’›๐’๐’˜ ) is an Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic languages, Cushitic branch. It is spoken as a mother tongue by Somalis in ...
.Lewis, p.139-140 Originally, it referred to an ungrammatical Arabic featuring some words in Somali, with the proportion of Somali vocabulary terms varying depending on the context. Alongside standard Arabic, ''wadaad'' writing was used by Somali religious men ''(wadaado)'' to record '' xeer'' (customary law) petitions and to write '' qasidas.''Singh, p.59 It was also used by merchants for business and letter writing. Over the years, various Somali scholars improved and altered the use of the Arabic script for conveying Somali. This culminated in the 1950s with the Galal alphabet, which substantially modified letter values and introduced new letters for vowels.


History

The Arabic script was introduced to Somalia in the 13th century by Sheikh
Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn ( ar, ูŠูˆุณู ุจู† ุฃุญู…ุฏ ุงู„ูƒูˆู†ูŠู†) (b. 10th century), popularly known as Aw Barkhadle ("Blessed Father")Abdullahi, p.13 or Yusuf Al Kownayn, was a Muslim scholar and traveler. Based on reference to Yusuf Al Ka ...
(colloquially referred to as ''Aw Barkhadle'' or the "Blessed Father"),Lewis, p.135 a man described as "the most outstanding
saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-ล , holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...
in
Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: ๐’ˆ๐’๐’‘๐’›๐’๐’˜๐’•๐’–; ar, ุงู„ุตูˆู…ุงู„, aแนฃ-แนขลซmฤl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...
." Of Somali descent, he sought to advance the teaching of the
Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , sing. ...
. Al-Kawneyn devised a Somali
nomenclature Nomenclature (, ) is a system of names or terms, or the rules for forming these terms in a particular field of arts or sciences. The principles of naming vary from the relatively informal naming conventions, conventions of everyday speech to the i ...
for the
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
vowels, which enabled his pupils to read and write in Arabic. Shiekh Abi-Bakr Al Alawi, a Harari historian, states in his book that
Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn ( ar, ูŠูˆุณู ุจู† ุฃุญู…ุฏ ุงู„ูƒูˆู†ูŠู†) (b. 10th century), popularly known as Aw Barkhadle ("Blessed Father")Abdullahi, p.13 or Yusuf Al Kownayn, was a Muslim scholar and traveler. Based on reference to Yusuf Al Ka ...
was of native and local Dir (clan) extraction. Though 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 The Qadiriyya (), also transliterated Qฤdirฤซyah, ''Qadri'', ''Qadriya'', ''Kadri'', ''Elkadri'', ''Elkadry'', ''Aladray'', ''Alkadrie'', ''Adray'', ''Kadray'', ''Kadiri'', ''Qadiri'', ''Quadri'' or ''Qadri'' are members of the Sunni Qadiri ta ...
saint Sheikh Uways al-Barawi of the Digil and Mirifle clan would improve the application of the Arabic script to represent Somali. He applied it to the Maay dialect of southern Somalia, which at the time was the closest to standardizing Somali with the Arabic script. Al-Barawi modeled his alphabet after the Arabic transcription adopted by the Amrani of Barawa (Brava) to write their Swahili dialect, Bravanese.Lewis, p.139 ''Wadaad'' writing was often unintelligible to Somali pupils who learned standard Arabic in government-run schools.Lewis, p.137 During the 1930s in the northwestern
British Somaliland British Somaliland, officially the Somaliland Protectorate ( so, Dhulka Maxmiyada Soomaalida ee Biritishka), was a British Empire, British protectorate in present-day Somaliland. During its existence, the territory was bordered by Italian Soma ...
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.


Revision by J. S. King

In 1887, British writer, J. S. King wrote for the ''
Indian Antiquary ''The Indian Antiquary: A journal of oriental research in archaeology, history, literature, language, philosophy, religion, folklore, &c, &c,'' (subtitle varies) was a journal of original research relating to India, published between 1872 and 1 ...
'' 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 'เคก and 'ุฏ' * A new '''r letter is assigned which also seems to have been fused from 'เคกเคผ' and 'ุฑ' * Somali '''g in this case is written as 'ฺฏ' * A new l''' is introduced, with Sanskrit elements to form 'ฺธ' * Finally, a new n''' is proposed with two dots above the standard Arabic 'ู†' 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:


Galaal Script

In the 1954, the Somali
linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
Musa Haji Ismail Galal Musa Haji Ismail Galal ( so, Muuse Xaaji Ismaaciil Galaal, ar, ู…ูˆุณู‰ ุงู„ุญุงุฌ ุงุณู…ุงุนูŠู„ ุฌู„ุงู„) (1917–1980) was a Somali writer, scholar, linguist, historian and polymath. He is notable for the creation of the Somali Latin scr ...
(1917โ€“1980) introduced a more radical alteration of Arabic to represent the Somali Language. Galal came up with an entirely new set of symbols for the Somali vowels. 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. This was different from other versions as every vowel and consonant was written, lowering the use of diacritics.


See also

* Osmanya alphabet *
Borama alphabet The Gadabuursi script also known as the Borama alphabet (Borama: ), is a writing script for the Somali language. It was devised around 1933 by Sheikh Abdurahman Sh. Nur of the Gadabuursi clan. History Though not as widely known as Osmanya, t ...
* Kaddare alphabet *Far wadaad script converter https://www.haadka.com/far-wadaad/


Notes


References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wadaad's Writing Writing systems of Africa Arabic alphabets Somali language Somali orthography