Merriam-Webster’s definition of “Somali”

[caanoshaah]

Is “a member of a people from Somaliland” Not Somalia?

NO HATE IM JUST CONFUSED LIKE??

yall thoughts?


No beef but it’s deadass the first link when you search “Somali definition” too (atleast for me) I just wanna know how much did somaliland pay for this cuz that’s crazy no offense

 

[Burqad]

Is “a member of a people from Somaliland” Not Somalia?

NO HATE IM JUST CONFUSED LIKE??

View attachment 360447

yall thoughts?


No beef but it’s deadass the first link when you search “Somali definition” too (atleast for me) I just wanna know how much did somaliland pay for this cuz that’s crazy no offense

Somaliland is the English version of Somalia. ia in Italian is Land. In English Somaliweyne used to be called Somaliland in general.

 

[Zak12]

Somaliland is the English version of Somalia. ia in Italian is Land. In English Somaliweyne used to be called Somaliland in general.

The ia suffix in Latin means "land of" in general.

 

[JamalFarah]

Yes, you can see in old english colonial texts, Somalia and Djibouti refered to as Italian and French Somaliland.

For example had Djibouti not cared about the Afars, the could have called their country Somalie.

Prior to colonial forces the Somalilands would probably been refered to as bilad al-Barbar or bilad Al-Somali.

If you look at Italian text, British Somaliland would be referred to as Somalia Britannica

 

[Idilinaa]

Europeans called Djibouti, Southern and northern Somalia as Somaliland.

Italians rendered the name Somalia from Al-Sumaaliyyah which is what Somali scholars referred to the entire Somali peninsula.

 

[Angelina]

1. French Somaliland- Now known as Djibouti
2. British Somaliland- now known as Northern Somalia/Somaliland
3. Italian Somaliland- Now known as Somalia.

The whole region inhabited by Somali peoples was called Somaliland. The dictionary you’re referring to is pointing out the colonial name of Somali regions. They’re not talking about modern Northern Somalia/Somaliland.