What does the prefix "Aw" mean in Af-Somali

[Khaem]

The older I get the more I want to learn, since a man without his roots is lost, there is always a deeper meaning behind words in Somali since it's oral culture and most of it is not written down but orally thought.

If only we had a place in some big city like Mogadishu where we can gather the best somali scholars to go out and record all these oral tales like other cultures have done. The Greek classics that are world renoun like the illiad and Odyssey were literally just greek oral tales over hundreds of years old that some random old guy decided to write down in ancient Greece once and forever keep the story alive.

 

[The alchemist]

This guy story is pretty remarkable

Yusuf Barkhadle was the direct paternal ancestor of the lineage of Walashma (the fifth ascending ancestor of the first sultan). Very influential character in Somali history and the Islamic civilization of the Horn of Africa in general.

 

[killerxsmoke]

This guy story is pretty remarkable

Wrong

 

[killerxsmoke]

Been seeing it around recently what does it mean?

Saint or venerable

 

[Soul Kaizer]

Spoiler

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

 

[NidarNidar]

Awdal meaning "Holy country" is pretty badass Ngl.

I don't know of the reputation that Adalite Sultan's had with foriegn states?

Kinda funny how it also ties with the bible since Zeila was known as Havilah and it is associated with the Garden of Eden, it's not the first or the last but many references to that area being holy, it be ripe for archaeological surveying.

Saadia Gaon's tenth-century Arabic translation of the Hebrew Bible substitutes Havilah with Zeila in present day Somalia.[6] Benjamin Tudela, the twelfth-century Jewish traveler, claimed Zeila region was the land of Havilah confined by Al-Habash on the west.[7] Zeila (Havilah) had been sacked by the Portuguese governor of Old Goa, Lopo Soares de Albergaria, while its Harla chief Mahfuz invaded Abyssinia in 1517.[8][9]

while some biblical scholars have identified it with the biblical land of Put or Havilah.[6][7]

At times Punt is referred to as Ta netjer (tꜣ nṯr), lit. 'Land of the God'.[8] - by the Ancient Egyptians.

 

[Khaem]

Kinda funny how it also ties with the bible since Zeila was known as Havilah and it is associated with the Garden of Eden, it's not the first or the last but many references to that area being holy, it be ripe for archaeological surveying.

Saadia Gaon's tenth-century Arabic translation of the Hebrew Bible substitutes Havilah with Zeila in present day Somalia.[6] Benjamin Tudela, the twelfth-century Jewish traveler, claimed Zeila region was the land of Havilah confined by Al-Habash on the west.[7] Zeila (Havilah) had been sacked by the Portuguese governor of Old Goa, Lopo Soares de Albergaria, while its Harla chief Mahfuz invaded Abyssinia in 1517.[8][9]

while some biblical scholars have identified it with the biblical land of Put or Havilah.[6][7]

At times Punt is referred to as Ta netjer (tꜣ nṯr), lit. 'Land of the God'.[8]

Northern Somalia as a whole needs some serious Archeological work done.

We are given the surface taster with these ramarks here and there but we don't know the full story of the classical era in the region.

 

[zeila2wajir]

Wasn't Aw Barkhadle the guy that helped spread Islam among somalis. Or was it that Somali guy that spread Islam to some Galla tribes?

He’s the guy that gave Islam to the Maldives killed Mohammed Hanif, the pagan magician ancestor of the Yibir, introduced the fat tailed Berbera sheep to Somalia, invented nomenclature to write Somali in the Arabic script (precursor of Waddad’s writing) and is apparently the most blessed saint of Somalia.

 

[NidarNidar]

Northern Somalia as a whole needs some serious Archeological work done.

We are given the surface taster with these ramarks here and there but we don't know the full story of the classical era in the region.

I'm getting familiar with lidar technology, and really want to survey some of the old sites in Borama and further up.

I'll be heading to Awdal sometime in 2025 with a Lidar drone, unless I get stopped in Hargeisa, gonna ask a relative first before I bring it, or I might just illegally cross the border instead with one of the elders in the region.

 

[Three Moons]

The older I get the more I want to learn, since a man without his roots is lost, there is always a deeper meaning behind words in Somali since it's oral culture and most of it is not written down but orally thought.

Somali society, historically, was not an oral society any more than most societies on Earth were. The Ottoman Empire’s literacy was only 5%, in the Mughal Empire it was the same. In most of Europe the literacy rates were abysmal and only boomed after the Industrial Revolution.

People like I.M Lewis couldn’t get their hands on Somali manuscripts kept in private libraries (because they didn’t trust him probably) in the 1950s so he coped with the ‘oral society’ bs and people have been parroting it ever since (no offense).

Truth is, each major clan and sub clan, each major city and town had learned men that kept a record of lineages, the important saints, trade agreements, poetry and historic events. Cassanelli for example during his research on the medieval South was well aware that the various towns and cities he visited had people who had manuscripts in their possession detailing their history but he failed to access them.

Somalia is a country ripe for research, be it archaeology, genetics and most importantly the collection and preservation of old manuscripts. This will automatically undo a century of academic stereotypes and gross generalisations placed on the people and country.

 

[NidarNidar]

Somali society, historically, was not an oral society any more than most societies on Earth were. The Ottoman Empire’s literacy was only 5%, in the Mughal Empire it was the same. In most of Europe the literacy rates were abysmal and only boomed after the Industrial Revolution.

People like I.M Lewis couldn’t get their hands on Somali manuscripts kept in private libraries (because they didn’t trust him probably) in the 1950s so he coped with the ‘oral society’ bs and people have been parroting it ever since (no offense).

Truth is, each major clan and sub clan, each major city and town had learned men that kept a record of lineages, the important saints, trade agreements, poetry and historic events. Cassanelli for example during his research on the medieval South was well aware that the various towns and cities he visited had people who had manuscripts in their possession detailing their history but he failed to access them.

Somalia is a country ripe for research, be it archaeology, genetics and most importantly the collection and preservation of old manuscripts. This will automatically undo a century of academic stereotypes and gross generalisations placed on the people and country.

Just like every society before the advent of cheap paper and printing, the majority of the population would be illiterate, and the elite would be the only people who could read or write, a lot of truth is hidden behind myths and stories, I pray it's within my lifetime we experience the rediscovery of our golden age.

 

[Three Moons]

Awdal meaning "Holy country" is pretty badass Ngl.

I don't know of the reputation that Adalite Sultan's had with foriegn states?

“..on the edge of the Kingdom of Adel, to which kingdom and sovereignty belong Barbora and Zeila; and the king is great and powerful. They say that he is esteemed and looked upon as a saint among the Moorish Kings because he continually makes war upon the Christians; they also say that he receives supplies from the King of Arabia and the Sheikh of Makkah, and from other Moorish Kings and Lords he receives horses and weapons for this purpose” - Narrative of the Portuguese Embassy to Abyssinia During the Years 1520-1527, by Father Francisco Alvarez

 

[Awd]

Been seeing it around recently what does it mean?

It denotes the name of a Saint. Like Awbare, Awbube and Awbarkhadle were all great Ulama.

Their names are recorded in history and the settlements that are named after them are quite ancient and most are in the Gadabuursi territories:

Sheikh Awbare:

"Without returning the salutations of the Bedouins, who loudly summoned us to stop and give them the news, we trotted forwards in search of a deserted sheep-fold. At sunset we passed, upon an eminence on our left, the ruins of an ancient settlement, called after its patron Saint, Ao Barhe: and both sides of the mountain road were flanked by tracts of prairie-land, beautifully purpling in the evening air." First Footsteps, Burton

Sheikh Awbube:

"In the Gadabursi country there is the ancient ruined town of Aubóba, and at the head of the Gáwa Pass, on a hill to the west, and about four hundred feet above it, are some massive ancient ruins, which must have once been a fort, commanding the pass. They are called Samawé, from the name of a sheikh whose tomb crowns the ruins. The hill-top is surrounded by parallel retaining walls built of dressed stone, rising in steps from the bottom. In some places the walls were six or eight feet high, and there were remains of extensive ancient buildings filling the enclosure. Surmounting the whole in the centre was the ruin of a building of cut stone, which appeared to be the sheikh’s tomb." Seventeen Trips through Somaliland, Swayne.

Sheikh Awbube in Futuh al Habasha:

"When the two columns of soldiers that were proceeding on the road came into each other's view, the idol-worshippers mounted a charge against the rear guard of the Muslims. Those in the rear guard held their ground, and mounted their horses. Among those in the rear was Zaharbui Utman, the sharif Ahmad and the Hegano 'Abd Allah, 'Ali Farasaham and the sheikh Kalil, a descendant of Aububah - may God bless us through him, Amen. They were ten knights, and the idol-worshippers were around two-hundred. The Muslims charged the idol-worshippers, and a bloody battle was engaged, until their forearms became exhausted." Futuh Al Habasha

 

[Journey.]

I think it means awoowe or great sheikh My grandfather was a sheikh, so my family name is Aw Yusuf

I also have "Aw" in my abtirsi. It may be the Somali equivalent of "Sheikh". Sheikh was a title for the elderly as well as being a title of respect, especially for scholars of the Deen. Perhaps "Aw" was used similarly among Somalis.

 

[Soul Kaizer]

Kinda funny how it also ties with the bible since Zeila was known as Havilah and it is associated with the Garden of Eden, it's not the first or the last but many references to that area being holy, it be ripe for archaeological surveying.

Saadia Gaon's tenth-century Arabic translation of the Hebrew Bible substitutes Havilah with Zeila in present day Somalia.[6] Benjamin Tudela, the twelfth-century Jewish traveler, claimed Zeila region was the land of Havilah confined by Al-Habash on the west.[7] Zeila (Havilah) had been sacked by the Portuguese governor of Old Goa, Lopo Soares de Albergaria, while its Harla chief Mahfuz invaded Abyssinia in 1517.[8][9]

while some biblical scholars have identified it with the biblical land of Put or Havilah.[6][7]

At times Punt is referred to as Ta netjer (tꜣ nṯr), lit. 'Land of the God'.[8] - by the Ancient Egyptians.

People go searching for the lost island of Alantis with less to go off of.
The arc of the covanent in Axum and the biblical garden of eden in Zeila. This portion of the world is a archelogical goldmine.

 

[Somali_patriotic]

People go searching for the lost island of Alantis with less to go off of.
The arc of the covanent in Axum and the biblical garden of eden in Zeila. This portion of the world is a archelogical goldmine.

Imagine archeologicalists confirm the garden of eden is in zeila

I can't wait to we wuz first humans

 

[killerxsmoke]

He’s the guy that gave Islam to the Maldives killed Mohammed Hanif, the pagan magician ancestor of the Yibir, introduced the fat tailed Berbera sheep to Somalia, invented nomenclature to write Somali in the Arabic script (precursor of Waddad’s writing) and is apparently the most blessed saint of Somalia.

He didnt give them islam it was another person

 

[Soul Kaizer]

Imagine archeologicalists confirm the garden of eden is in zeila View attachment 296846
I can't wait to we wuz first humans

Imagine if the Ogaden war was successful and siad barre wielded the arc of the covenant we would become an interplanetary threat. The era of the Somali would commence.

 

[mohamedismail]

Interesting that's the Af Maxaa meaning. In AF Maay we use "Aw" as father. It also is used as respect for a older person.

@The alchemist