Zaila is an Arabic name in origin

[Guure⁸]

The name of the city of Zeila appears to be of Arabic origin
زيلع
1-نوع من الخرز تلبسه النساء
Zaila
A type of beads worn by women
الزَّيْلَعُ : خَرَزٌ تلْبَسُهُ النساءُ
Al-Zaylaa: Beads worn by women
The source is from the book Jamharat al-Arab written in the fourth century AH
What is the matter with these coastal cities and their Arabic names? Even Mogadishu has Arabic origins

Why in the heavens would they name a city beads?

 

[DALMAR0_0]

Why in the heavens would they could a city beads?

In afsomali it's not even written as zeila, it's saylac

 

[Guure⁸]

In afsomali it's not even written as zeila, it's saylac

Yeah the alphabet z isn't even in our language lol

 

[balanbalis]

In afsomali it's not even written as zeila, it's saylac

Has anyone tried to figure out the etymology of the Somali spelling?

E.g. the similarities to 'Saylac' and 'Sayax' (dew) or the etymology of the founder 'Sheikh Saylici'

 

[NidarNidar]

Has anyone tried to figure out the etymology of the Somali spelling?

E.g. the similarities to 'Saylac' and 'Sayax' (dew) or the etymology of the founder 'Sheikh Saylici'

I remember reading seyl or sayl meant flood in archaic Somali, I came across it in a poem a few years ago. It's probably deeply rooted in Cushitic/Afroasiatic langage, the ac is probably a descriptive suffix meaning place of flood or flowing water.

Nowadays we use daad, keep in mind that Saylac is over 2000 years old, words change, modern day English compared to just the 15th century English is night and day.

 

[Guure⁸]

Has anyone tried to figure out the etymology of the Somali spelling?

E.g. the similarities to 'Saylac' and 'Sayax' (dew) or the etymology of the founder 'Sheikh Saylici'

I think it's two words combined, sii laac, laac means reaching out for something, e.g biyaha ii laac means reach out the water for me and siilaac means rich

Has anyone tried to figure out the etymology of the Somali spelling?

E.g. the similarities to 'Saylac' and 'Sayax' (dew) or the etymology of the founder 'Sheikh Saylici'

I think it's two words put together, sii and laac, sii means keep and laac means reach out, so it's keep reaching out siilaac

 

[Riftvalley]

We have Saylad in Somali (enclosure to keep animals). Hard to make a hypothesis for D becoming C.

 

[balanbalis]

I think it's two words combined, sii laac, laac means reaching out for something, e.g biyaha ii laac means reach out the water for me and siilaac means rich

I think it's two words put together, sii and laac, sii means keep and laac means reach out, so it's keep reaching out siilaac

I remember reading seyl or sayl meant flood in archaic Somali, I came across it in a poem a few years ago. It's probably deeply rooted in Cushitic/Afroasiatic langage, the ac is probably a descriptive suffix meaning place of flood or flowing water.

Honestly, for a port both of these would make sense

 

[Shimbiris]

The name of the city of Zeila appears to be of Arabic origin
زيلع
1-نوع من الخرز تلبسه النساء
Zaila
A type of beads worn by women
الزَّيْلَعُ : خَرَزٌ تلْبَسُهُ النساءُ
Al-Zaylaa: Beads worn by women
The source is from the book Jamharat al-Arab written in the fourth century AH
What is the matter with these coastal cities and their Arabic names? Even Mogadishu has Arabic origins

Low IQ take by some in this thread if the name definitely is Arabic in origin. Even Boosaaso's earlier name was "Bandar Qassim". Bandar being a loan from Arabic with originally Farsi roots that means "Port". Are any of you smooth-brained niggas gonna try to argue Boosaaso was ever founded by Arabs?

You imbeciles also don't seem to realize that Arabic was usually the day to day written language of all Somalis throughout the Middle-Ages and Early Modern Period:

Segment of Sultan Farah Guled of the Isaaqs letter to Sultan Saqr of the Qassimis of the UAE in the 1820s:

Segment of a Majeerteen Sultan's treaty letter to a ruler in Yemen from the 1870s:

Segment of manuscripts by a Leelkase Qadi from either 1694 or 1727:

Segment of a letter by Sayyid Mohammad Abdullah Hassan from 1905:

An account of Xamar's 1331 "Barbara" (Somali) Sultan:



Can't find the quote now but Battuta also noted him at one point sending letters that were ostensibly in Arabic.

An example of Far Wadaad in use in 1933:



Arabic is part of our heritage, walaal.

It's like asking why one of the names of a Germanic city in Europe that was actually founded by Germanics and mostly inhabited by them has a Latin name. Cos, genius, they mostly used Latin for writing, liturgy and courtly affairs for much of their history.

Anyway, every account we have of the town from its first mentions where its peopling is described like by Battuta makes it obvious it was inhabited overwhelmingly by Somalis—dark-skinned, camel and fat-tailed sheep herding people who are Shafi'i. Doesn't take a genius to surmise who that is... then you have that an earlier form of it probably existed even a thousand years prior in the form of "Avalites" and any arguing that it wasn't always just a continuation of the northwest Somali port phenomenon is special pleading.

Amazing scholarship on display by some (not necessarily you) in this thread, though. "Arabic name. Hur-dur... definitely means founded by Arabs."