A GRAMMARO F THE

SO MALI LANGUAGE

W ITH EXAMPLES

IN

PRO SE AN D VERSE

AND AN ACCO UNT O F THE

Y IBIR AN D M IDGAN D IALECTS

J. W . c . KIRK,B.A .

KING’S CO LLEGE, CAMBRIDGE ,

LIEUTENA NT ,DUKE o r CO RNWALL’

S LIGHT IN FA NTRY ,

A ND 6I H ( SOMALILAND) BATTA LIO N ,KING

’S A FRICAN RIFLES

CAM BRID GE

AT THE UN IVERSITY PRESS

I 90 5

Qtanibrihge

PRIN TED BY JOHN CLAY , M .A .

AT THE UN IVERSITY PRESS .

S .B.N . GB: 576 . 1 1490. l

Republished in 1 9 69 by Gregg Interna tio na l Publ ishers Lim itedWestm ead , Farnbo ro ugh, Han ts . , England

Printed in Ho lland

PREFACE .

f HERE arebut few peoplew ho havem adeany serious studyof them any and interesting tongues of that part of theAfrican

Con tinen t in which theSom a li ra ceha s gro wn up. Our kn owledgeof theSom ali la nguageis dueto thelabours of Rigby, Hunter

,and

La rajasseand Sam pon t. As this is n o t a written language, grea tpraise is dueto tho sew ho first grappled with the difficulty o f

reducing thespeech to writing This ha s n ow been doneso sa tisfactorily tha t I m yself havelately carried on a successful correspondencewith an educa ted Som a li in his n ativetongue, using thespelling and orthography o f thepresen t bo ok . Schleicher’s work isra ther a philologica l treatiseon thela nguage, gathered largely fro misolated individuals of thepeople, a nd n ot fro m practica l a cquaintancew ith theracein their ow n coun try ; but heis to becongratula tedon ha ving co llected a num ber of stories w hich area useful andim po rtant fo unda tion to a Som a li

-litera ture. Paulitschke’

s work isa purely com para tivetreatiseon thethreedia lects, Som a li

,Ga la,

a nd Da nakil , written fro m a n ethn o logica l poin t of view.

Whileserving with Som a li tr0 0ps during theca m paigns of 1 902—1 904 against theMullah, Moham m ed Abda llah, I had them ostfavourableopportunities for a pra ctica l a nd who lesa lestudy of the

coll oquia l dia lect of this people;‘

a nd it seem ed onl y right tha t

results obtained from so intim a tean a cquain tan ceshould not be

left unrecorded,in spiteof them any im perfections which m ust still

exist in therecord. Thework doneby o thers hitherto has beenlargely confined to thecoa st and to them ixed popula tion whichassem bles at thesea -port town s ; a nd it is but recen tly tha t a nystrangers except a few spo rtsm en havebeen ableto dwell in the

interior, a nd so to know and co nversewith thena tives in their o wnhom es and na tura l surroundings. Theresult is that it ha s now

vi PREFACE

been possibleto correct and add to our knowledge, hitherto incomplete, o n certain gra m m atica l poin ts, and to give their properva lueto certa in va ria tions of speech. I refer especia lly to suchpeculiarities of thelanguagea s theSyntax of theSuffixes, Particles,Verbs, Con cord of Noun s, and Com pound Sen ten ces. It is genera llyfound to fo llow very clear and defined, though unwritten , rules,which aredisturbed by very few exceptions.

In rega rd to Orthography, whereI havediffered from Schleichera nd from Laraja sseand Sam pon t, I havegiven thelatters

’ corresponding sign s in theAlphabet. In thespelling of words I haveinm o st ca ses (subject to theorthographica l varia tion s) fo llowed thatused by Larajassein his Dictiona ry, which leaves littleroom for

im provem ent or addition . This book is indispensab leto thestudentof Som a li, or to anyonewho wishes to exa m inethestories and songs

given by Schleicher or m yself. I havethereforen ot in cluded a

vo cabula ry, as such arenecessarily deficient and frequently m is

leading.

In 1 903 I pub lished a sm a ll pra ctica l hand-book, N otes on the

Som a li La ngua ge, but this w a s w ritten on lines to ta lly differentfrom thoseof thepresen t Gra m m a r . It w a s a com pila tion of n otes

which I had found useful to m yself, and w a s intended to servea s

an elem enta ry guideto beginners, who had not thetim eto digest am ore lengthy work . Theorthography, theSpelling, and thefew

gram m atica l rules, havesin cebeen entirely revised and corrected.

I desireto express m y gra teful apprecia tion of the assista ncerendered m eby Mr H. J . Edwards

,Fellow and Assistan t Tutor of

Peterhouse, Cam bridge, and by Mr R. R. Ma rett, Fellow and Tutorof Exeter Co llege, Oxford, in revising thewho leo f thepresen t work,in m anuscript a nd proof : Professor E. G. Brownekindly suggestedsom e im provem ents in the Introduction . I a cknowledge withgratitudeand adm ira tion theprom ptness shown by theofficia ls a ndsta ff of theCa m bridgeUniversity Press, in com pleting aga inst tim ea work invo lving unusua l difficulties of co m position and proofreading.

J . W. C. K .

SEVENOAxs,

Decem ber,1 904.

CONTENTS.

PART I. ORTHOGRAPHY .

PART II. ACCIDENCE.

PARTS OF SPEECH

A. SUBSTANTIVES

1 . Cl asses of Nouns

2. Gender of Nouns

3 . TheSuffixes(a ) Linking Consonants(b) DefiniteArticle(c) Dem onstrativeAdjective(d) PossessivePron om in al Adjectives(e) InterrogativeAdjective

Plural of Nouns

Cases of Nouns

Num erals

Pronouns

(a ) Sim plePersonal Pronouns(b) Possessive(c) Dem onstrative(d) Relative(e) °Interrogative(f ) Indefinite

viii CONTENTS

ADJECTIVES

1 . Classes of Adjectives

(a ) Radica l(b) Derivative(0) Co m pound

2 . Inflexions of Adjectives(a ) Radica l

(b) Derivative(0) Com pound

3. Com pariso n o f Adjectives

C. VERBs

l . Conjugation(a ) Moods and Tenses(b) Affirm a tiveConjugation(0) Negative(d) Interrogative(e) Nega tive-InterrogativeConjugation

2. Peculiarities and Irregular Verbs(a ) l st Conjugation

Irreg. Verb, 0 11(b) 2nd Conjugation

Irreg. Verbs, im o, ogho, 060

(0) 3rd Conjugation(d) Irreg. Verbs, aho , laho , w ah(e) ThePassiveVoice

3. DerivativeVerbs(a ) Intensive(b) Reflexive(c) Attributive(d ) Causative

PARTICLES

1 . Verba l(a ) Adverbia l(b) Prepositiona l

2 . Conjunctive(a ) Introductory(b) Co njun ctive

ADVERBS, PREPOSITIONS, AND CoNJ UNCTIONs

INTERJ ECTIONS,AND SALUTATIONS

CONTENTS

PART III. SYNTAX O F SIMPLE SEN TENCES .

STRUCTURE o r A SIMPLE SENTENCE

1 . Order of Words

2. TheParticles w a , ba , ya

3. Sim pleInterrogativeand NegativeSentences4. Verbs o f Existen cePARTS o r SPEECH

l . TheArticle2. TheNoun

(a ) Cases

(b) Num ber(0) Con cord

3 . TheAdjective(a ) O rder

(b) Com parison(0) Sim ila rity

4. TheNum era ls5. ThePronouns and Pronom ina l Adjectives

(a ) Perso ns

(0) Sim plePersona l Pronoun s(c) Suflixes

(d) Im perso n a l Pronoun s(e) Po ssessiveAdjective(f ) Interroga tivePronouns and Adjectives(g) IndefinitePronouns and Adjectives

6. TheVerb(a ) Moods and Tenses(b) Persons

(0) NegativeTenses7. TheParticles

(a ) O rder

(b) Uses

(c) Adverbial Particles(d) Preposition a l

PART IV. SYN TAX OF COMPOUND SENTENCES .

A Co -ORDINATE SENTENCES

ConjunctiveParticlesB. SURORDINATE SENTENCEs

1 . General rules

CONTENTS

Adjectival SentencesAdverbia l(a ) Tem pora l and Lo cative(6) Fina l(e) Conditiona l(d ) Causa l(e) Con cessive

Substantiva l Sentences(a ) Subjective(b) O bjective

Oratio Obliqua

APPENDIX I. Seas o ns, m onths,days

II. Money, weights, m easuresIII. Tribes and Sub -tribes

EXAMPLES OF PRO SE AND VERSE.

PART I. SOMALI STORIES,AND NARRATIVE

II. TRAN SLATIONS o r THE STORIES

III. SOMALI SONGS (with translations)

THE DIALECTS OF THE OUTCAST TRIBES ,

MIDGAN AND YIBIR .

1 . Account o f thetw o tribes2. Observations on theDia lects

3 . Exam ples of theDia lectsMidgan senten cesYib ir sentencesYibir sto ry o f Moham m ed Hanif

4. Vo cabularies :Yibir-English and Midgan -EnglishCo m parativevo cabulary

,English— So m a li Yibir— Midga n

INDEx

BIBLIOGRAPHY .

RIGBY, Lieut. C. B,

“On the Som aul i Language Transa ctions of the

Bom bay Geographica l Society, Vo l. Ix,1 849 .

HUNTER,Capt F. M.

,A Gram m ar of theSom a li Lan guage Bom bay, 1 880.

CUST, R.,TheModern Languages of Africa ; London, Triibner Co .

,1 883.

SCHLEICHER, A . W.,DieSom al i-Spra che; Berlin, 1 892.

PAULITSCHKE, Dr Philipp, Ethn ographieNordost—Afrikas ; Berlin, 1 896.

LARAJASSE and SAMPONT, Practica l Gram m ar of the Som a li Language;London , Kegan Paul , Tren ch, Triibner Co .

,1 897.

LARAJASSE, Som al i-English and English-Som a li Dictionary ; London, KeganPaul, Trench, Tri

’

Ibner Co .,1 897.

SCRLEICHER, Dr A . W.,Som a li-Texte(edited by Leo Reinisch) Vienna

and Leipzig,

Thesearethem o st im po rtant works upon thelanguage, though otherwriters area lso quoted by Paul itschke.

ERRATUM.

1 5 (b) . for warm , warm in g rea d warn , warn ing.

INTRODUCTION .

SOMALI is thelanguagespoken by theinhabita nts of thesquaretract of country, kn own a s theHorn of Africa (Regio A rom a tzfera

of thean cients), which lies between theFrench port of Djibouti,CapeGuardafui and theriver Juba . This country w as form erlyinhabited by a people, n ow kn own a s Ga la '

,who ha vebeen steadily

driven in la nd by Moham m edan propagandists, w ho call them selvesSom a li. Theneighbours of theSo m a li a re theDanakil on the

n orth, theAbyssinian s, speaking Am haric, on thenorth -west , andtheretrea ting Ga la on thewest and south-west. Thelanguages of

theSom a li and theGa la arequitedistin ct, a nd m utually unintelligible, but possess so m any fundam en ta l chara cteristics in co m m on ,

tha t thereis a m pleeviden ceof their clo serelationship , even if it ca nnot beproved that m odern So m a li is a ctua lly derived from Ga la .

Therehas a lw ays been considerab letradebetween theinhabitantsof Aden and Southern Arabia and thoseof theSom a li coa st, andtheSem itic elem ent in So m a li is sufficien t proof of thelo ca l tradition tha t thepresen t Som a li ra cehad its origin in a Moham m edan

co lonisa tion from Southern Arabia .

If wecom parethevo cabula ries of thethreelanguages, Arabic,Ga la and Som a li, wefind m any words having a ro ot com m on to a l l

three, such a s theSom a li words, a b a father,W il boy, fa ra s horse.

Them ajority of words com m on to Ara bic and Som a li arefoundto betechnica l or lega l term s, or nam es of utensils or articles of

com m ercen o t na tiveto thecountry . Theseareobviously borrowed

1 CAI (o f which theplura l is is then a m eused genera lly to den oteinfidel s, i.s . tho sew ho aren o t Moham m eda n s , a nd m ay beu sed by So m a lis

,

w ithout any disrespect, to in cludeEn gl ish, Abyssin ia n s o r o thers a s well a stho sefo rm er inh abitan ts w ho wo uld n ot em brace the fa ith preached by theMoha m m edan m ission a ries , and to who m then a m eis n ow Specia lly applied .

xiv INTRODUCTIO N

direct from theArabic and haveno bearing o n therelation ship ofthelanguages . But in a few Som a li verb s theArabic ro o t can berecognised, such as, gh a d ta ke, carry ; a kh ri read ; ib i Sell, buy ;gaj o behungry.

On theother hand a la rgenum ber of words in ordinary useare

com m on to Ga la a nd Som a li, b ut aren ot of Arabic origin . These

ha vesim pleand elem entary m eanings, a nd in cludem any verbs.

Such are,n in m an

dig b loodif lightaf m on tha rrab tongue

TheSom a li num era ls arecom m on to Ga la , except one, six, tenand a ba nalrea’ , a nd area ll quitedifferen t from theArabic.In regard to thestructureof thelanguage, them ost striking

features aretheSufi wes, with their generic linking con sonan ts , theuseo f theDefiniteA rticleand its concord with noun a nd adjective(thelatter is com parab lewith thedeclension of theGerm an adjective),theNega tiveConjuga tion of verbs, and .theP a rticles . In a ll thesepoints So m a li resem bles Gala

,but apparently ha s little or no

resem b lan ceto Arabic,except in theparticles .

All threelanguages em ploy sim ilar infiexions in theperson s of

theverb conjugation , but in thetw o form er, as in Ar abic, prefixesa renot used, except in thefiveirregular Som a li verbs.

w an im i I ca m ew ad tim i thou cam estw u yim i heca m ew ei tim i shecam ew ein u n im i wecam e

form s being a s fo llows

w an shega I tellw ad shegta thou tellestw u Shega hetellsw ei shegta shetellsw einu shegn a wetell

INTRODUCTIO N XV

TheSem itic elem ent is a lso exem plified in theguttura l a ndaspira tesounds, which correspond to theArabic letters Ghain ,

‘Ain ,and Ha ; and in theform and con cord of plura l noun s, which largelyresem b letheArabic broken plura ls.

TheBantu languages, which a re prefix languages , seem to

ha venothing in co m m on with So m a li, either in construction or

vocabulary.

Therearecerta in slight varia tions in thespeech of differenttribes, which a lm ost constitute different dia lects . The m ostno tablearetheIshb ak

,Do lbohanta

,Mijjertein a nd theEsa and

For instanceIshh ak

cam el aur

road dau

go tag

thesaddles k o rya sh i

A Do lbohanta will say w e. dOn ah ay a (I want), pron ounced bytheIshhak a s w e. dOneya or We. dou a ya .

“ I want is tran slatedby w a dbneya in Bari, w a dbn aya in Gal bed

Pra ctica lly al l them en I haveserved with havebelonged to theIshbak Section , and in this book it is theeveryday speech of thesepeoplewhich is presen ted, whilewords and form s which a ren ot

fa m iliar to them , but areused by Do lboha nta and others, havebeenavoided. TheIshb ak a lm ostentirely inhabit theBritish Protectora te,and their Speech m ay thereforebetaken by Englishm en as the

standard form of thelanguage.

Within theIshbak thereareslight va riation s again in a ccent,phrases and idiom s, of n o great im portan ce. Thesedepend chieflyon geographica l distribution .

In theEa st (Ba ri) thecom m on form s for“

thepersona l pronounare b an ,

b a d,b u

,etc. , while in theWest (Ga lbed) they a re

represented by yan , yad , yu ,etc.

TheMidga n and Yibir dia lects arequite apart. Theseare

dia lects Spoken by tw o outcast a nd hom eless tribes living a m ong the

Som alis, and aren ow pub lished for thefirst tim e, having hithertobeen kept a secret even fro m theSo m a lis them selves. They are

discussed in full at theend of this book .

INTRODUCTION

Fina l ly, with regard to speaking thela nguage, them odeof speechis tha t of a ll Eastern people, likethelanguageof theBib le. Sen ten cesaresplit up in to strings of short sim plerem a rks, with num erous

copulativeparticles , and expression s m eaning, “a nd so ,

” “and then ,

”

“ hesa id,”

etc. In a n arrative, after each rem ark thespeaker pauses,

when thelistener is expected to an swerwith som esuitab leexpressionof a ssen t, such a s KOdi, or H a iye.

Correct pronun ciation is m ost im porta nt, a nd a s therearen o

definiterules for thea ccentua tion of syllab les I havehad to use

a ccents freely a ll through thebook . TheSom a li is n ot a po liteperson , and though extrem ely good—na tured heis quiteoutspoken ,and ha s n o hesita tion in ridicu ling o ne

’

s fa lsequa ntities or concords,

tha t is to say, if one’

s efforts areat a ll recognisableto him . He

expects a high standard o f a ccura cy, chiefly becauseheis una ccus

tom ed to hearing a European endea vour to grapplew ith his la nguage,but this ha s theadvantageof n ot a llowing thestranger to form to o

fa vourab lea n idea of his ow n skill .

PART I . ORTHOGRAPHY .

1 . In reducing theSom a li languageto writing, wearefacedby the fa ct tha t thereis n o written language. Many educa tedSom a lis writeArabic, but, so far a s thewriter is aware, they havenever a ttem pted to writetheir ow n languageeither in Arabic or

any o ther chara cters. Nor would it bepossib leto em ploy theArabic chara cters to represen t Som a li sounds. Thelist of Ar abicconsonan ts is to o elabora te, whilst thethreevowel-signs arein

sufficient, a grea t variety of vowel sounds being an im portan tpeculiarity of theSom a li language.

According to Hun ter thea lphabetica l signs for Urdu contain al l

thenecessary elem en ts, but heand a ll o thers haveagreed to adopttheRom an characters, for obvious reasons.

Thea lphabet tha t is used here,so far a s it is applicab le, is

tha t recom m ended by theRoya l Geographica l Society in “Hintsto Travellers

,

”

with theaddition of tw o extra sign s for theArabicAine(C)

and thecerebra l d (San skrit E ), which arerepresen ted

respectively by theinverted com m a and d , a s in thegram m a r

pub lished by Laraj asseand Sa m pon t . Thedoublehh is em ployedto represent theArabic Ha (C)

. Accents area lso em ployed freelyto express thedifferent va lues of thevowels.

2 . THE ALPHABET.

d, a , d Arabic “ fatha, or l Arabic £3

6 gli 6 (L. S. h)

d 3 , 3 it

d San skrit 3 [iii

(ha lf d, ha lf r)e, a a s in La tin languagesf Arabic J

2 ORTHOGRAPHY

n , 72 Arabicw

3/

u “

a:

(Schl . S)

There is no doubt a double l (according to Hunter, theSanskrit but it is so seldom used (as in lehh six) that it is notnecessary to havea separa teSign . Thesam erem ark applies to theArabic 5, which occurs in som eSom a li words, and is com m only usedin Yibir.

VOWELS.

3 . Thefoll owing a ccen ts areused to represent thedifferentva lues of vowels

and areon ly used with specia l form s of a a nd 0 respectively.

Thegravea ccen t, is used to exp ress thelong drawn sounds

ofea ch vowel .Thea cutea ccen t, is on ly used to denotethesyll ableupon

which thea ccentua tion Should fa ll,and m ay thereforevary in the

sam eword in different con texts or form s it is to beunderstood tha tthis a ccent does not a lter thelength or va lueof thevowel in any

w ay.

4 8» corresponds to theArabic fa tha and ha s a nondescriptsound, a s theu in

“ bun ,” “

sun ,”

or thea in ba lloonb ad an m anyb an plainda b fire

a is pronounced likea in rat,” “ ha m

, but is not a com m on

sound

w an dksan good

rig m en

kal eh otherSh alei yesterday

4 ORTHOGRAPHY

on . It has a very long draw n out ho llow sound likea gaspingObb

near

m adO b lack

11 is pronoun ced as in fu ll ,” “

put

Beforer it m ust reta in thesa m eva lueand not bepronounced like

gur pick upkun thousandkul ul warm

a is long and full a s ao in foo l,” “

rule

gar sta rt to m archfild soupfil l ride

5 . DIPHTHONGS.

ai is pronounced as in aisle, or“ fire

sort,

“kind

ei is pronoun ced like“ feign , but in this ca sethei is som etim esalm ost heard

Weidi ask

sam ei m akeN ote. In m any words it is hard to distinguish whether thediphthong

is theoneor theother of these, thecom m on a, or

“ fatha ,” and ebeing som uch a likewhen

.

preceding another vowel. Thus this work differs fro mthat of other writers in that the past term inations o f verbs, and the

Continuativetenseinflexions areSpelt with an e,instead of a

,theform er

being to thewriter’s ear distin ctly thesound produced by thetribes hehas been in contact with.

a l l IS liketheEnglish diphthqng ID“ how ,

” u hOur ’ b l l t With around full sound alm ost like ao

aur ca m el

o i very seldom occurs, but whereit does it is exa ctly thesa m eas in English

h o i ! an exclam a tion

VOWEL CHANGES 5

N ote. Theabovediphthongs m ay occur beforeanother vowel, in whichca sei beco m es 31, and it becom es an

laya Sla y ye(lai-a )w a tégeya I am going (tegei-a )w a sam eya I m ake(sam ei-a )b ilaw a dagger (bil aua )goya. cut ye(goi-a.)

6 . VOWEL CHANGES.

When tw o vowels o ccur in succession they m ay both bepronounced separa tely a nd distin ctly, in which ca sethesecond vowelis m arked with thediaeresis,

curseb aan badtem perede

'

1 dog

Morecom m on ly thehia tus is avoided (a ) by elision , (b) by theuseof thesem i-vowels y, W , (c) by theinsertion of som econsonant.

(a ) Elision is thesuppression of oneof thevowels, and takespla ceespecia lly beforethepronouns which area ttached as suffixesto thepreceding word.

Exa m p les, go tti-u becom es go rtu when heh ad an if I

(b) y is used instead of i, or after 1, when preceding a vowel .Em p les, w a sam éi-a becom es w a sam eya I m ake

w a si-a w a s lya I give

(6) Consonants areInserted in theca seof certain inflexions.Ezra/nip les, ab i-h i for a b i-i thefather

m ade-h a m ade-a thebla ckw a il6-b a ilO-a I forget

When a is fo llowed by i, it Is very frequently changed in to 9 ,

whether a consonant is between or not.

Eva m p les, ka.‘ wake, awaken ke‘il a i becom es lei.

sa‘

cow ,si‘i

, or su‘u (for sa

‘i,sa

‘u) thecow

w an tags. I go , w an tegeya I am goingab a fa ther, a b ih i, or ahuhu (for ab ah i, ab ahu)

thefa ther

6 ORTHOGBAPHIEr

7 . CONSONANTS.

Thecon sonants aresounded a s fo llows

Fa uca ls h , hh ).

(aine) is an Arabic sound caused by a sudden contra ction of

theglottis in placeof a hia tus. It is trea ted likea con sonant in a ll

rules as to infiexion s, etc.

‘ab drinkm aga

‘nam e

l a ‘ag m oney

b ‘e‘id oryx‘ld sand

10 ‘ cows‘o l l arm y‘ur

‘u

’

r forearm

In order to learn thecorrect pronuncia tion com paretheabovewith

ab a. fathern ag wom an

b a an badtem peredbeid eggidl ad end, com pletionl o hh plankurur assem b lyu lul growl

N ote. TheAineis a hard letter,and m ust befo llowed by thehard

any other class of consonant in inflexion :

w a ka‘da. shegets up

for ka‘ta

h is liketheEnglish h in“ hit, but is scarcely sounded when at

theend of a word

h a rag sheep-skingesiah brave

hh is thelong draw n Arabic consonant ; in them iddle, or end,of a word it is sounded a lm ost as a who lesyllable, but is hardlydifferent from h at thebeginning of a word

CONSONANTS 7

dehh m iddlel ib ahh lionlehh da thesix

hhun bad

Guttura ls (g, gh , k, kh ).

g is a lways ha rd a s in go .

It m ost nearly resem bles theArabic 5

ga‘an hand

gel cam els

gh is theArabic ghain , e, and m ust belearned by

gh ad carrygh o r writegh an so bow

k is liketheEnglish Itk al i com ehereh a kam a bridle

kh is a softer guttura l-a spiratethan theghain or gh , and m ore

nearly corresponds to theScotch ch, a s in“ loch,

”

but is harder

than thissan dukh box

a kh a l house

N ote. It is o ften difficult to distinguish between gh and Ich,theform er

oeing softer, and thelatter harder than in thetrueArabic form s.

P a la ta ls ‘ (j, sh , y) .

j is a hardj, as in English“ journey,” “

John

j a ‘al like

jog stand

Sh is liketheEnglish , a s in“shoot

sh im b ir bird

sheg tell1 Thesearen o t fo und at theend o f a word in So m a l i .9 Thereis n o so und ch, a s in

“ church,” in So m a li ; theEnglish sound

reproduced by thenativea s j.

8 O RTHOGRAPHY

y is liketheEnglish, a s in you

yer sm a llb iyo wa ter

Denta ls (t, d , d , r, s, l , n ) .

t as in Englishtu ka crowtehh shower of rain

(1 a s in Englishw adan skin paildurug m ove

N ote. At theend of a word d is sounded nearly liketm id one.

(1 is a cerebra l letter, and, a s m entioned above, is of Sanskritorigin .

In them iddleof a word it ha s a lm ost thesound of r , but at thebeginning, or end, of a word it m orenearly approa ches cl .It is form ed by curling thetongueba ck and bringing it forward

a long theroof of them outhad i sheepfa di sit

hed tie

d an a ll, com plete

r is a lways pronoun ced distin ctly, likether of Latin languages,a s in arrow ”

ra‘

a ccom panyb ir iron

sh im b irtu thebird

8 a s in English

1 as in Englishl ib ahh lionl in orange

filfil pepper

CONSONANTS 9

n a s in English11 5g wom an

m in di knife

N ote. 1 and t, where they o ccur in infiexion s or suffixes,becom esh .

h ash i thecam eL'

for h al -ti

W 3 yesh a thou doest, for yel -ta

La bia ls (b , m ,f,w ).

b as in Englishb a rb ar youthb il éw a. dagger

a lb a b door

In a s in Englishm Od thinkdam be behind

f a s in Englishaf m outhiftin lightafa r four

W as in EnglishWiyil rhinocerosw a l él brother

PART II. ACCIDENCE .

THE PARTS OF SPEECH.

8 . All languages cannot be arranged on exactly the sam e

system , a nd, in theSom a liLanguage, thearrangem en t and definitionswhich areapplicab leto thegram m ar of well-known tongues, such a s

English or Arabic, will not al together ho ld good.

Som a li is undoubtedly a sim pleand elem en tary language, inwhich theonly trueand funda m en ta l parts of speech a re

Substa ntive,Verb, Adjective, P a/rticle,

and it is by various com bina tions or form s of thesetha t theo thergenera lly recognised parts of Speech areform ed.

9 . A Substa ntiveis a word describing, or referring to , som ethingwhich exists, or som e object of thought, either m ateria l or imm ateria l .

A Verb is a word expressing thought, being, a ction , or the

suffering of a ction , and affirm s or predica tes so m ething of som e

person or thing.

Thesetw o parts of Speech arecom plem enta ry a nd essentia l oneto theother, and in any form of Speech both theseelem en ts m ustnecessa rily o ccur, un less it is tacitly agreed, to sa veunnecessaryverbiage, that oneo r theother m ay heobviously understo od fromthecontext, and m ay beom itted from a ctua l expression .

An Adjectiveis a word which describes or qua lifies theobject orthought represented by a substa ntive, a ccording to a ny known ideaof qua lity, such a s co lour

,Size, na ture, etc.

A P ar ticleis a word which ha s no m ea ning in itself and ca n on lyoccur in conjunction with other parts of Speech. It m ay qualify the

1 2 ACCIDENCE

A . SUBSTANTIVES.

1 1 . Thesewill bedea lt with in theorder given in thecla ssification above, but it is necessary first to describetheNoun itself,its Form s, and Gender, after which will fo llow theSuffixes, to befo llowed again by thePlura l Inflexions.

Therea son of this order will be seen on a perusa l of the

fo llowing pages, as the questions of gender and num ber are

inextricab ly m ixed with thoseconcerm ng theform of theSuffixes.

1 . Cla sses of N ouns.

12 . Nouns a recla ssified in to Proper and Com m on .

Proper n oun s arenam es of peopleor places.

The com m oner and typica l Som a li m en’

S nam es are, Jam a

Farah,H assan ,

Hu ssein , M o h am m ed,M ah h m ud

,Ahh m ed ,

Ali, O m a r

, N ur, Lib an,

Ro b leh .

Nickn am es a revery com m on In fa ct nearly everyone, whetherSom a li or English, is a lways kn own by his friends bysom enicknam e,such a s

,Gurreh left-handed

,Fam rah hare- lipped, -D unjo g

a ctiveor cute,”

Bul al i fair,Tim o -w ein long hair, Aw arah

one-eyed, Ga l b s, Del o w ein , etc. ,a lways referring to som efea ture

or eccentricity, but without any idea of disrespect.

1 3 . Com m on n oun s areclassed In various ways : according totheir Na turethey areConcrete, or A bstra ct,

a ccording to their Deriva tion they areRadica l, Derivativehor Borrowed,

according to their Gender they areMasculine, Fem inine,or Com m on .

14 . Concrete Nouns in clude the nam es of a ll anim ate or

inanim ateobjects, or parts of them .

Nearly a ll of theseareRa dica l words, or elseareborrowedentirely from another language.

(i) A nim a te n in m an ,n ag wom an

,

gab ad girl, l ib ahh lion ,fa ra s horse,

sh im b ir bird.

ABSTRACT NOUNS 1 3

They in cludeco llectivewords , asdad people, rig m en

,dum ar wom en , arm children ,

gel cam els, h Ol O flo cks, gh al ah , al ab o baggage, kit.

Na m es of rela tionsa b a fa ther, h oyo m other, w al él brother or

In an son ,or daughter, ader un cle.

(1 1) Ina/nim a teobjects arew ahh thing, b ir iron , gh o ri wood, dagahh

bur hill,

m iyi jungle, akh a l house.

1 5 . A bstract Nouns .

(a ) Many abstract nouns of a ction and senseareradical, inwhich ca sethey area lso used a s intransitiveverbs.

h ada l ta lk, yab wonder, d agal fight, ‘a r sm ell,

h arad thirst, h an OD pain , 83 curse, gabei

ad o rage.

(b) Verb-nouns, describing the a ction of a verb , areform ed

from theverb-roo t by theaddition of certa in term in a tions

1 st Class (ending in a consonant) add -n in, or

-in .

2nd Class -o -d .

3rd Clas s -i -s, or

-n .

tolin sewing, seamgh o rin writingb b din jum pingsugnin waiting

fi l an riding . )

so‘o wa lk so

‘o d wa lking

n o kh o return n o kh o d returnga ro understand garad senseb ahso escape behead escapeidl o co m eto an end idl ad end, com pletion

1 4 ACCIDENCE

w eidi a sk w eidis questiongo i cut go

'

I'

S cutting, cleft8 1 give sin presen t

,

sam ei m ake sa m ein con structions afei clean s afein cleaning

(c) Abstra ct Noun s of Qua lity arederived from adjectives, orn ouns

,and havethefo llowing form s

‘u lusn fm o heaviness from ‘

u lu s heavy‘ajisn im o la ziness ‘

a'l is la zyfI

‘

Il an fm o cowardice fil lei cowardn agn fm o wom an liness n ag wom anh o yo n im o m otherliness h o yo

‘a dan whiteness ‘

a d

‘a san redness ‘

a s red

w ein an largeness w ein largea dkan hardness a dag hard

derer length longfudeid lightness fudud light‘u leis weight ‘

ul u s heavya deig strength a dag hard, strong

(cl ) Other radica l abstra ct noun s arethoseof Qua ntity ,Tim e,

a nd P la ce, som eof which areused a s IndefinitePronoun s.

in som e(quan tity) gh a r som e(num ber)gidi , ku l li, d am an a ll , who le go r, k o l tim em alin ,

‘a sh o day m el

,h ag place

1 6 . Borrowed words arechiefly Arabic, m any being com m on to

a ll Ea st African lang uages.

m es tab le, sa‘a d hour, k I

‘

Irsi chair,

san dukh box,

b an dukh gun ,h u kum order, a skari so ldier

In a l b a b (door), theS o m a li ha s taken theArabic definitearticleas well, but adds his own articleto it

a l b a b ki thedoor.

Verbs a revery seldom borrowed, such a s s a fei (clea n ) .English words aren ow beco m ing fa m iliar and naturalised over

thewholeof our Protectora te, a s,

GENDER o r NOUNS 1 5

(coat), tebel (table), so rd (sword), drabel (troub le),ketl i (kettle), k o b (cup).

2 . Gender of N ouns .

1 7 . Therea reno rules determ ining thegender of a Radica lNoun

,either a ccording to its m eaning or form . It m ust therefore

belea rned by pra cticein theca seof ea ch word. This however isnot so difficult a s it wou ld appear

,a s thedefin itearticleis so m uch

a part of then oun , and thegender is so clea rly m arked by it, tha tit is best to lea rn thedefinitearticlewith thenoun in each case.I sha ll, therefore, when qu oting a n oun

, givethedefinitea rticle,separa ted by a hyphen

,as in

n in -ki m an

n ag-ti wom an .

This will im ply tha tn in a m an n ag : a wom an

n in ki them an n agti thewom an .

It will sufficehereto say tha t a ll Fem ininen oun s arethosewhich takethedenta l article, i. s .

-ti or -di ;

Whilea ll Ma sculinen ouns are thosewhich take a guttura larticle, i.e.

-ki,

-gi, -h i, or in som eca ses thevo wel -i

,a lone.

In both ca ses theSuffix con sists of tw o pa rts . Thefin a l vowelis theArticleSuffix

,thecon son ant is theLinking Consonant.

1 8 . TheDeriva tive and Borrowed Nouns do fo llow certaindeterm ina teru les in respect of gender.

Borrowed words a rem a scu linem es-ki

,kursi-gi, h u kum -ki

,san dukh -i

,a l b a b -ki

,tebel-k i

,

kod -ki, etc.

Excqrtions , s a‘a d -di hour

arefem ininew a rkh ad -di letter }

1 9 . OfDeriva tiveNoun s,Verba l Noun s in -in ( l st and 3rd Cla sses) areFem inine

dignin -ti, sugn in -ti, sam ein -ti, etc .

Verba l Noun s in -d,

-s (2nd and 3rd Classes) a reMa sculineso

‘o d -ki

, idl ad -ki, go'

is -ki, etc.

1 6 ACCIDENCE

Adjectiva l Noun s in -m'

m o -an areFem inine.

‘ajisn im o -di

, w ein an -ti.

Adjectiva l Nouns of o ther form s areMasculine.

derer-ki, ‘uleis -ki

, etc.

20 . Nam es of m en and anim als m ay ha vespecia l form s

ea ch gender

Exa m p les,

n in -ki m an , husband

ab a -h i fa theraur-ki m a lecam elsan ga -h i sta llionw an -ki ra m

o rgi-gi he-goa tar -k i lion

2 1 . Som enouns areof com m on gender, and vary on ly in theform of thedefinitearticle.

in an -ki son

w a lal -ki brother

2 2 . TheSuffixes con sist of tw o parts, nam ely ( 1 ) a vowelterm ina tion ,

or syll ab lebeginning with a vowel, and (2) a linkingconsonant, connecting the term ina tion to the substantive, and

denoting thegender of theword.

2 3 . Thefo llowing parts of speech a rerepresen ted by Suffixesin Som a li

viz .

DefiniteAr ticle(the) -i -a -u .

Dem onstrativeAdjective(this ; tha t) -an ;-a s or a .

Po ssessivePron om ina l Adjective.(m g, thy, his, ha t) -is -éd .

(our ( 1 a nd our ( 1 , 2 and 3)-aya

-en -ln -Od .

In terroga tiveAdjective(w ha t?) -eP

1 In Fem in inen oun s ending in -l , thefin a l 1 and thet o f theArticlearetransform ed into sh ; thus hash l theshe-cam el, fo r h a l ti, w a lfishi for w a ldl ti.

LINKING CONSONANTS 1 7

n in ki, n in ka , or n in ku them an

n in kan this m an

nin ka s or nin ka tha t m an

n iu kai, n in ka, n in k l s , &c. m y, thy, his, etc. m an

n in ke wha t m an

Theaboveform s arecon sta n t, whether then oun qua lifiedtheSingula r or Plura l .

(a ) I/ in lcing Consonants.

24 . TheLinking Conson ants arepeculiar to ea ch noun , and

conform to its gender and thefina l letter of theword.

2 5 . Ma sculinewords takethegutturals, k , g, h .

Nouns ending in any con sonant, except g, or a gutt. a spira te, takekgh

N otei. Nouns ending in -h, hh, or a guttura l aspirate, would logica llybefo llowed by h, but this addition a l aspirateis hardl y to bedetected bytheear, and need n ot thereforebewritten .

N o te1 1 . With n oun sending in n o linking conson ant is required, un lessit beanother but this again theear cann ot detect.

N o teiii. Wherethen oun ends in a,-ah, the-a is assim il ated to the

form of suffix vowel which fo llows, i.e. if thesuffix is -i,thea. becom es 1, if

u, it becom es 11 .

(Thesuflix is hereseparated by a hyphen , but it m ust berem em beredthat it is n ot spoken as a separateword, and will not beso written inexam ples later.)

a l b ab -ki thedoor

Sh ab él -ki theleopardsul -ki thethum bsan -ki thenose

af-ki them outhm lyi

-gi thejunglea skari-gi thesoldier

a saddle thesaddle kOri-h i, kora -h a , or

koru -h u (iii)d a yah a m oon them oon da yi-h i, d a ya ~h a

, or

da yu -h u (iii)

2

thesheep -skin .

thetoo ththelion (i)thebox (i)thenam e(1 1 )thefork (II)

1 8 ACCIDENCE

a nd

(Waran leh a spearm an thes. Waran l ih i, w aran l ah a,

Waran luhu

fa rdb leh a horsem an theh. fa rdb lih i,fardal ah a

,

fa rdb luh u )

2 6 . Fem ininewords takethedenta ls -t or -d .

Nouns ending in any con sonan t except (1 , or-d ,

-i,-o , or an a spira te,

l a f-ti thebone

m iyid-di thecorpse

sal o -di thedung

gh o rahh -di thesun

w arakh -di theletterN ogal-sh i theNoga l

2 7 . In m any cases thelinking consonant m ay beom itted,ha s been noticed after a spirates, and

It is a lso om itted in certain words,rag-i them en

gel -i thecam elswith thesim plePersona l Pronouns,

an -i,an -a I

add, ad -a thou, etc.

after som eof thePo ssessivePron om ina l suffixes,a kh a l -kis-i his house

h a s-ked -a her fa m ilyd a d -ken -i our people

or after theDem onstra tivev

suffix,

n in -k an -a this m a n

aur-k a s -i tha t cam el

(b) The-DefiniteA rticle.

2 8 . It is seen in 23 tha t theDefiniteArticleha s threea ltern a tiveform s, theuseof which depends entirely on thecontextof then oun defined.

A Short genera l ruleis given here, but thequestio n will bem o re

fully dea lt with under Syn tax 1 50,

20 ACCIDENCE

Exa m p les, fara s-k an this horsefara s -k as tha t horsen ag-tan this wom an

ged -k a s tha t treesandukh -an this boxb usta -h a s tha t b lanketh a -Sh an this cam elm agal o -dan this tow n

3 1 . TheDem onstra tivem ay bein tensified by theaddition of

thedefinitearticlein tw o ways (cf. 1 98)

(i) Thedefinitearticle-a and dem onstrativeadjectivebothrequirelinking consonants.

In this casethelinking consonan t used with theDem onstra tiveSuffix is a lways k for m a sculinewords, and t for fem ininewords.

Exa m p les,n ink ak an this m an n agtata tha t wom angh érigak an this wood m esh a ta s that pla cedagahh ak an this stone san adI

‘

Ikh datan theseboxes

(ii) Thedefinitearticleis suffixed to thedem ons tra tivewithoutany linking consonant.Exa m p les,n in kasa tha t m an

n im an k an i thesem enrOb k an u this rain

(d) P ossessiveP ronom ina l Adjectives.

-ai -gi, or -di)a -gi, or -di)-is -i)~éd -i)-eu -i) (including you

-aya-gi, or -di) (excluding you

your -ln -i)their -b d -i)

Except when qua lifying term s of relationship a s“ fa ther

,

m other,” “ husband

,

”

etc. , theabovesuffixes requirethedefinitearticleas well, a s given in brackets after ea ch person . Only -ai

,a

,

-ay a , however, requirethelinking con sona nt, therem a inder takingthearticlewithout any link .

PO SSESSIVE ADJECTIVE 21

Thelinking con sona n t to thearticle, when used, is a lways -g

for m asculinewords , -d for fem ininewords.

aur-ti ca m elsaurtaidi aurtaida aurtaidu m y ca m els

aurtada aurtadu thy cam elsa urtl si aurtl sa aurtl su his cam els

aurtéda aurtédu her cam elsaurten a au rten u our ca m elsaurtayada aurtayadu our cam elsaurtln a aurtln u your ca m elsaurtOda aurtb du their cam els

With term s of rela tionship, thedefin itea rticleis not used

thepossessive.

Exam p les, m y fa therthy m otherhis wifeher husband

our un cleour tribeyour grandfa thertheir brother

(e) TheInterroga tiveAdjective.

3 3 .

“Which ?” “What areexpressed often by thesuffix -e

This suflix is sounded distin ctly at theend of thenoun, likeEnglisheh but m ust not bepronounced as ci ore.

ninkeP Wha t m ansan dukhe wha t box ?gab addeP what girl ?

22 ACCIDENCE

This form is m o st com m onl y used alone, or with theword w e. (is) ,and usua lly repea ts som enoun a lready m entioned.

Exa m p les, n in ki yim i them an has com en inkeP or w a n in ke9 wha t m an ?

4. Thel a l of N owns.

3 4 . The on ly inflexion which nouns undergo occurs in the

form ation of thePlura l .Therearesix m ethods of form ing thePlura l, and in a ll except

thefirst (Ma sculineMonosyllab les) thegender is reversed in the

pro cess, and the linking consonan t, required with the suffixes,is a ltered from guttura l to denta l, or viceversé .

3 5 . (i) MasculineMonosyll ab les repea t the la st tw o letters.

Them asculine, or guttura l , linking consonan t is retained. In wordsending in

-n , the-n becom es -m, whiletheinflexion is

dab -ki fire

fa s -ki axe

rad -ki tra ckk o b -ki cup‘o l l -ki arm yn in -k i m an

tin -ki tin‘a

'

I'

n -ki belly-b nd

sun -ki strap

Excep tions,rér-ki fam ily, househo ld plura l réro -h i

n a‘s -k i foo l n a

‘eyo -di

gee-k i horn gesa s-ki, or ges o -h i‘cl -k i well ‘ela l-sh ib al -ki fea ther b ala l -sh iaur-k i cam el aur-ti

s ais-ki groom saisis -ki, or seisin -ti

3 6 . (II) Nouns ending in -a , or-ei (al l Ma sculine) change-a ,

-ei into -

ya 1, and takethefem inine, or denta l, linking consonan t.

Exa m p les,kOra -h i plura l kOrya l , k b ryash i

b u sta -h i bustya l-sh i

a b a -h i a b ya l-sh i

PLURAL o r NOUNS 23

tuka -h i crow plura l tukya l-sh i

b il aw a -hi dagger b il aw ya l-sh i

h akam a -h i bridle h ak am ya l-sh i

o dei-gi o ld m an o dya l-Sh i

ffilei-gi coward fil lya l -sh i

Excep tions

Theseplura ls a reused with them asculine, or guttura l, linkingconson ant, by Do lbohanta , and other eastern tribes

b u stya l k i, k b ry a l ki, h ak am ya l ki, etc.

3 7 . (iii) Noun s ending in -0 (a ll Fem inine) add -in, and ta ke

them asculine, or guttura l, linking con sonant.

Exa m p les,‘a sh o -di day plura l ‘

a sh o m -ki

h o yo -di m other h o yo i’

n -ki

1gudim o -di nativeaxe gudim o

'

in -k i

dero -di ga zelle dero'

in -ki

gh an so -di bow gh an so'

in -k i

3 8 . (iv ) Ma sculinePo lysyll ab les (except thoseunder II) add -0 .

If thefina l letter is an a spira teor -yo is added.

Theseplura ls takethefem inine, or den ta l linking con sonant, the0 being then usua lly changed to -a .

Exa m p les,

fan del-ki spoon plura l fan da l o , fan d a l adi

l ib ahh -i lion l ib ahh yo-di

kiIrsi-gi chair k I‘Irsyo

-di

m uda ‘-i fork m ud a ‘

yo-di

m uftah -i key m uftah yo-di

m aga‘-i n am e m aga

‘

yo-di

Exceptions,dagah h -i stoneugahh -i eggsib aihh -i sepoyRgh il -ki chief o gh al -sh i

fara s -ki horseilig-gi tootha skari-gi so ldier

1 Theco m m o n word n ow used. But it is o rigin a lly theplura l o f an o lderword gudin , which is a lso used.

dagah h an -ti

ugah h an -ti

sib a ihh in -ti

agh il in -ti, or

fa rdo -h i

ilk o -di

a skarr-ti

4, ACCIDENCE

gI‘Iri-gi en closure plura l gUrio -h i

Yib ir-k i Yibir Yib ro -h i

M idgan -ki Midgan M idgo -h i

Foreign words often add -

yo in o ther ca ses than tho segiven intheruleabove

ra kab -k i stirrup plura l ra kab yo-di

kitab -ki book kitab yo-di

3 9 . (v) Words borrowed fro m theArabic usua lly fo rm theirplura ls after thefa shion of thebroken plurals of tha t la nguage, andtakethefem ininelinking con son an t.

Exa m p les,

san dukh -i box

b an dukh -i gun b an a dikh -di

Sirkal -ki officerkursi-gi chairw a rkh ad -di paperm o skh in -k i begga r

m usm a r-k i nail

40 . (vi) All Fem inineNoun s, except tho sein (iii), add 0 , andtakethem ascu linelinking consonan t, h .

When thenoun is defined theo is assim ila ted to theform of the

a rticlevowel , as in theca seof m a sculinenouns in a .

wom an

h a l -sh i she-cam el

m el -sh i

lug-ti

deg-ti

l an -ti‘a len -ti

jOn iad -di

ga‘an -ti

ri-di

k ab -ti

Excep tion ,il -sh i in do -h i

san adukh -di

b an adukh -di

sirak l l -sh i

kurasi-diw a rakh -di

m o sakh ln -ti

m u sam a r-ti

n ago , n agih i,n agah a , u sgub u

h a lo,h a l ih i

,

h a l ah a , b a lub u

m elo -h i

lugo -h i

dego -h i

lem o -h i

‘a lam o -h i

jOn ia do -h i

ga‘am o -h i

riyo-h i

ka b o -h i

CAS ES O F NOUNS 25

Thereexist thefo llowing plura l noun s, a ll o f which end in 0

takethem a sculinea rticleh i, and thereforebelong to this class.

b iyo -h i wa ter‘an o -h i m ilkgedo -h i gra ss

tim o -h i hair

h olo -h i flo cks, property

4 1 . An IntensivePlura l, ending in -81 ,-

ya l , is used in poeticphra seo logy.

Exa m p le, Idin ku m a b ul aten 9

Haveyeover pla ins and plains goneto w a r 7

Gera r w a b ogh o l a l . Songs arein hundreds.

42 . After Num era ls theplura l form of a n oun is n o t used

except in theca seof Fem inineNouns of cla ss (vi) . In this casedis added to theinflexion .

Exa m p les,

5. Ca ses of N ouns.

43 . There are no inflexions of the noun to represent theDeclension ; thecases m ust thereforebedistinguished by positionand context. This is n ot an ea sy m a tter

,and requires a knowledge

of other parts of speech not yet described : it will thereforebeleftto bediscussed under Syn tax (cf.

44 . Theusua l order of a sim plesentenceis,

(i) Subject, (II) Object, (iii) Verb .

An Adverb m ay beplaced first of a ll , or beforetheVerb.

lab a n in

afa r san dukhsadeh h b ustato dbb a ‘

a sh o

sh an h a l o d

lab a m el o d

afa r jo nia do dsagal b ilo d

26 ACCIDENCE

Exa m p les,Subject

Bura o gh o b o n don a

I Burao a m going to rea chh art dki fara sk a 8 1

thej owaree (to ) thehorse give

45 . TheP ossessiveCa sem ay beexpressed in tw o ways .

(i) The co m m on m ethod is by theuse of thePossessivesuffix .

n in a kh a l k l su a m an his housesirkal ku fa ra sk l sa theOfficer his horsen agti b o kh o rkeda thewom an her sash

(II) TheNoun in thepbssessiveca seis pla ced after then oun

possessed.

This can on ly bedonewherethePossessor is defined by thedefinitearticle. ThePo ssessor a lways takes thesuffix a .

Exa m p le,akh a l ki n in ka thehouseof them an

not ékha l ki n in ki

(nor is it possibleto say, akh a l ki n in

for thehouseof a

Thefo llowing arethetypica l form s

Thehorseof theofficer fara sk i sirkal ka

Sirkal k a fa ra skl su

Thehorseof an officer n in sirkal fa ra sk l su

A horseof theofficer fara s sirkalk a

A horseof theofficer fa rdah a sirkalk a m id

has died l b a din tei

(litera lly, of thehorses of theo fficer oneA horseof an officer sirkal fa ra skisi

28 ACCIDENCE

4 8 . (i) K6 is on ly used in counting, a nd is never used with a

noun°

m id is not used to qualify a noun,but is used as an Indefinite

Im persona l Pronoun .

onem an n in

one(thing) is bad m id b a b hun

one(m an ) is bad n in b a b hun

num era ls 1 9 , 29 , 39 , etc.,a reusua lly transla ted

l ab ato n m idia 20 m inus one 1 9

séddo n m idl a 30 m inus one 29

b égh o l m idl a 1 00 m inus one 99

(iii) Thenum era ls over 100 aretransla ted as fo llows

(iyo and)1 01 b o gh él - iyo m id

102 b o ghél -iyo l ab a

1 30 b o gh él -iyo séddo n

1 46 b ogh él -iyo léhh yo -afarto n

(iv) Tim ein hours is transla ted by theCardina l num era lstheDefiniteArticle. (sa

‘ad o d hours, m ay beused.)

3 o’clock sadehh da (sa

‘ado d )

1 o’clo ck kodi

half-past 2 lab ada iyo b ad ki

49 . Fra ctions,

a portion m el -sh ib ad -ki

da l b l -ki

w ahh -di

50 . Ordina ls,

first k6w ad , h Ore

second lab ad

third sadeh h ad

fourth afra dfifth sh an ad

Sixth lehb ad twentiethseventh to dOb ad

sided adsagal ad

tb b n ad

k6byo -tb b n ad

etc.

lab ato n ad

PERSONAL PRONOUNS 29

Theseareused likeadjectives and fo ll ow thenouns they qua lify,but arenot inflected.

n in lab ad a second m an

n agti afra d thefourth wom an

k i léhh ad thesixth

5 1 . DistributiveN um bers. N0 specia l form s are used for

these,each ka sta every w a l b a (see 68)

but distributivenum bers areusually expressed by theparticleb a

give10 each Din b a tbb an Si

oneby one m id m id

in tens tb b an tOb an

m a r,k o l

, go r)k o l , m ar

sadehh go r

7 . P ronouns .

(a ) Sim p lePersona l P ronouns .

or En clitic,form s are

I

thouhe

she

we(inclusive)

we(exclusive)

Theseca nnot stand a lonein a sentence, but m ust fo llow,and be

a tta ched to , so m epreceding word, which m ay beany part of speech .

30 ACCIDENCE

go ttes-u yidi then -hesa id

1h ad

’-an im ad o if- I com e

Bura o -ein u n il at Burao -welived1 1m is

’-ad dbnesa E1 how -m any-do -

you want ?n in ki- an dbney a them an

- (whom )-I want

54 . Very often ,however, thesesim pleform s arecom bined with

theletters w b or y (which represen t certain particles, w a,b a

,

ya ) and arethen used a s separatewords.

w an,w ad

,w u

, etc. are form s which m ay be used at the

beginning of a sen ten ce, but arenever used in any other position .

b an,b ad

,b u

, etc.

Van , rawd. yu .etc.

b is preferred by Eastern and Southern Som alis.

y is preferred by theCoa st, Western and Centra l tribes.

Theseform s usua lly o ccur im m edia tely beforetheverb or its

particles, but never at thebeginning of a senten ce(of.

aresynonym ous form s, and arein terchangeable.

5 5 . Therearetw o ways ofem phasising thePersona l Pronoun s,which m ay beused disjun ctively, liketheFrench m oi,

”

toi,

”

etc.

This is doneby theaddition of theDefiniteArticle.

In both cases the Sim pleform for the third person singu larm a scu lineis is .

(i) Thearticlesuffix is added to thesim pleform without anylinking con sonan t, thus :

an i I

an a

an u

Thesearetheon ly person sWhich arefound in this form .

(ii) Thearticlesuffix and linking con sonant is added to thelastor to theEn clitic form s of theplura l .The-a and -u suffixes on ly a reused in this ca se, thus

an igu , an iga I

adigu ,adiga Thou

{ sagu ,isaga He

iyadu ,iyada She

1 A fina l vowel is usua lly dro pped befo retheperson al pron oun , a s is shownhereby an apo strophe

PERSONAL PRONOUNS 3 1

inn agu ,in n aga We

an n a gu ,annega We(exclu sive)

idin ku ,idin k a Ye

iy agu ,iyaga They

To tran slate“ I m yself of. 1 90.

5 6 . Another form is produced by thesuffix o n a (and).

a n n a and I

adn a and you

isn a and he

iyan a. and she

inn un a and we

an n un a and we

idin n a and ye

iyan a and they

5 7 . A com pound, “ Indica tive, form is m adeby theadditionof w ahh (thing) .

w ah h ah ha s them ea ning of“ this is wha t

Theseform s a reespecia lly used with theverbs want,” “

say,

think,

” “do ,

”

but m ay beu sed with any verb .

w ahh a n this is wha tw ah h ad thou .

w uhh u

w ah h ai

w ahh ain u

w ahh ann u

w ahh aidin

w ahh ai

5 8 . An in terrogativeform of thesam eis m adewith m ahh a 9

(wha t

m ahh a in u .

m ahh an n u . P

m ah h aid in .

m ah h ai . P

32 ACCIDENCE

5 9 . Thesetw o form s areused very frequently in introducingquestion s and answers.

Exa m p les,m ah b ad dbnesa 9

what do you wan t ?h agg

’eidin ta kten 9}wheredid you go ?

m uhh u yidi 9

wha t did hesay ? l(2) Objective.

6 0 . Theobjective, or ob lique, ca seof thePersona l Pronounsha s specia l form s

,which areused independently a s separa tewords .

Sim ple E m phatici an iga

ku adiga

u isaga

ku iyadain n aga

an n aga

you i'

dfn k a

them iyaga

Theaccentuation of theseem phatic form s m ust beno ticed, todistinguish them fro m theSubjectiveca se.

Exa m p les, iséga (Obj. ) and isaga (Subj)iyaga and iyaga

6 1 . (iii) TheReflexiveP ron ou/n is iss .

iss dil kill yourself

This is a lso used recipro ca llyiss l a ya slay ea ch other

(b) P ossessiveP ronouns.

6 2 . Theseha vethesam eform s a s thesuffixes 32) with a

consonant (k m asc. t fem .) prefixed, and thedefinitearticlesuffixed,to them (cf.

m ine k a i-gi, -ga , -gu .

thine ka-gi, -ga , -gu .

his k is -i,

-a,

-u .

w ah h an doneye, etc.

I want, etc.

w ah h an n u tagnei, etc

wewent to,etc.

w uh hu y idi

hesaid

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS 33

hers ked -i -a -u ted -i -a -u

ours ken -i -a -u ten -i -a -u

ours ka ya-gi -ga -gu ta ya-di -d a -du

yours kin -i -a -u tin -i -a -u

theirs kod -i -a -u tod -i -a -u

thePlural , theaboveprefix ku , tu , in stead of k ,a s,

ku a igi, tuaidi, ku agi, tuRdi, etc .

(0) Dem onstra tiveP ronouns .

6 3 . Thesea lso havethesa m eform s as theadjectival suffixesand a reused with conson an ts as above.

Sing. Plur .

Ma sc. Fem . Ma sc . Fem .

k an, tan these kuan , tuan

k a s, tas those ku a s

,tuas

{ ka, atThey m ay beintensified by thedefinitearticle, a s fo llows

sing. kan i,kan a

,kan u

,kas a

,tasu, etc.

plur. kua k an,tfiatan ,

k iia k a s, etc.

or ku ani , tu an i, kua si, etc.

An other form is,h i)

,to that yonder

ku o, tu b thoseyonderThedefin itearticleis used independently a s a pron oun in the

ki,k a , ku ti

,ta , tu .

ki kal eh theother oneta w ein thebig one.

Theplur . form is

kuer,tuer

Exa m p le, kuer ‘a d ‘

a da thewhiteones

(d) Rela tiveP ronouns .

None.

6 5 . (e) Interroga tivePr ono uns .

(i) Subjectivew ho ?Wha t ? ya 9 (sing )

kue9 (plur. )

34 ACCIDENCE

ke9 te9 area lso used disjun ctively in this sense, a s theothersuffixes.

(ii) Objectivewhom ? ya 9

wha t? m ah h a 9 58)

6 6 . Thesuffix -m a is used a s an in terrogativepronom ina ladjective, but is not in cluded am ong theother suffixes, a s it ha s notthetypica l form , but is rea lly thein terroga tiveparticle(cf.

n ium a 9 what m an ?go rm a 9 when ?w a sa

‘adm a 9 wha t hour is it?

-m a is a lso used suffixed to thesim plepersona l pronoun sdefinitearticle, m ea ning w hich of

kum a 9 tum a 9 which one?(indefinite)in n am a 9 which of us ?

aun am a 9

idin m a 9 which of you tw o ?

iyam a 9 which of them ?

Theseareused both subjectively and objectively .

Thepossessiveca seis,yaleh 9 kum aleh 9 whose

(j) IndefiniteP ronouns .

6 7 . l a one, they, people

(sim ilar to theFren ch pronoun on , in m eaning and construction) .

This pronoun is used in construction likeany sim plepersona lpronoun .

Thefo llowing euphonic a lterations ta kepla cepronoun or particlefollows

1a i becom esl a 11

l a ku

1a idin

l a k a

36 ACCIDENCE

‘adeisan clean from ‘

adei cleanh agak san straight h agéjl straightenfuran open fur openhedan clo sed hed closew an ék san good w an tiji m akegooddam eyan finished dam ei finish

(ii) N oun Adjectives.

7 3 . Theseareform ed in four ways.

(1 ) by thesuffix - leh (possessing, con taining).Exa m p les,

ga ra dleh sensible fro m ga rad sense

usk agleh dirty u sk ag dirta rleh speckled a r spotb lyo leh containing water b iyo wa ter

(2) by thesuffix -l a (deprived of).

ga radl a foo lish from ga ra d sen se

in dal a b lind in do eyesdegal a deaf dego ears

(3) by thesuffix -a.h (being, m adeof) .

gh o riah wooden from gh o ri wo odb irah of iron b ir iron

fa ridah clever fa rid clevernessAdjectives m ay beform ed at will liketheabovefrom any noun

required.

(4) by thesuffix -cd (expressing origin).

S o m al ied Som a liArabed Arab

Adm ed of Aden

b aded of thesea from b ad sea‘an o w iyiled rhinocero s m ilk, w iyil rhinoceros

(c) Com pound Adjectives.

74 . Form ed from tw o separa tewords

(i) Noun and Adjective.

h Og-w ein strong (h og strength, w ein grea t)h ungu ri-w ein greedy (b un guri throa t)

RADICAL ADJEC’

I‘

IVES 37

aidid -b adan swea ty (aidid swea t, b ad an plenty)af-b ad an sharp (af edge)adeig-run hardy (adeig hardness, run right)

(ii) The 3rd person singular Present Perfect Indica tivea verb, being rea lly an adjectiva l Rela tiveClause.

nin gh o ra clerk , lit. a m an who writesfl‘Ili yagh an kn owing how to ride

af yagh an interpreter, eloquent1a a rka visiblean l a a rkin invisible

2 . Inflexions of Adjectives.

7 5 . Adjectives are inflected to agreewith then ouns theyqua lify in thefo llowing cases

(i) in theplura l num ber,(ii) when thenoun is defined by thea rticlesuffix -i (and in

certain ca ses -a ),

(iii) in case(1 1) theinflexion is different for m asc . (guttur a l),and fem . (denta l) linking consona nts (cf.

(a ) Radica l Adjectives .

7 6 . Thefo llowing genera l rules arefo llowed

(i) Plura l. Reduplica tethefirst syllable.

(ii) Article-k i,

-gi, -h i. Add -a .

(iii) Article-ti,-di. Add -eid .

(iv) If then oun is defined with a rticle,

-a , theadjectiveon ly agrees with it in num ber.

N ote. The rule for the inflexion s -a ,-eid , (II a nd iii) is

invariable.

But when qualifying plura l n ouns with thedefinitearticle(otherthan theReduplica ted Plura ls, as n im an ), adjectives m ay or m ay

not taketheplura l infiexion (cf. Thus,

negibi w aw ein a , or n aghi w ein a thebig wom en ,

a skarrti h hunh h um eid , or a skarrti hhum eid thebad so ldiers .

When qua lifying theReduplica ted Plura ls, and all indefiniteplura ls, theplura l inflexion of theadjectiveis a lways required.

Exa m p les, n im an ki w aw ein a

n ago w a w ein

a skarr hh unh h un

ACCIDENCE

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DERIVATIVE M JJECTIVES 39

(b) Deriva tiveA djectives .

7 7 . Thesea renot usua l ly inflected (except som eVerbal adjectives) w hen qua l ifying a plura l n oun , theinfiexion entirely dependingon thedefinitearticle, suffix , and linking consonant .

(i) Verba l A djectives.

7 8 . The Infiexions a re thesam e a s for Radical Adjectives,except that only som earereduplicated in theplural :

Indefin ite, o r Def.Art.

-ka. -ta. Def. Art.-ki Def. Art. -ti

w an ak san a w an ak saneid

stout

absent m agh a n

sing . hed a n

p lur . hedhed an

sing.

191Wsafeisan sa feisan a safeisaneid

(ii) N oun A djectives .

7 9 . These a renot altered in thePlural .Classes (i) , (ii), and (iii) (adjectives in -1eh , -1a

,-ah ), obey

thefollow ing rules1 . If thequalified noun is defined by -a

, or -i, thenoun portion

of theadjectivetakes its proper articlesufiix -a .

2 . After Article -a (guttural or dental) thereis no furtherinflexion .

3 . After Article -i theterm inal portion of theadjective is alsoinflected

(a ) After Masc . (Gutt . ) Link . Cons.

-k i,

-gi, -h i -a is added

(b) After Fem . (Dent ) Link. Cons.

-ti,-di -a id is added

b a l a dn a b a l a dneid

b a l b a l adn a. b a l b a l adneid

b u rr a b u rreid

b urb u rra b u rb u rreid

m a d a n a m ad aneid

m adm ad an a m a dm a da neid

40 ACCIDENCE

Inflexions of N oun Adjectives .

Indefin ite Art. -k a.,-ta. Art. -ki

(i) ga ra dleh garadkaleh ga ra dkal ah a

sen siblea kh lileh a kh ligaleh a kh ligal ah a

sensibleo gh bn leh o gh on taleh o gh on tal ah a

knowingu sk agleh u sk aggaleh u sk aggal ah a

dirtyb ara leh b a rah aleh b a rah él ah a

spottedb iyo leh b iyah aleh b iyah al ah a

containing wa ter

(1 1) garadl a ga ra dk a l a ga ra dkal a a

sen selessin dal a. in dah a l a in dah al a

'

a'

.

bhnd

lugl a. lugta l a lugtal a'

a'

.

leglessh a u l l a. h au sh a l a h au sh al a a

unem ployed

(iii) fa rid ah fa ridk a ah fa ridk a'

alh a.

cleverb irah b irtaah b irtaah a

of iron

gh o riah gh o riga ah gh o rigaah a.

wooden

Thefol lowing havespecia l plura l form s

‘aal sah

{sing

‘ajisk aah ‘

ajisk a'

a'

h a

la zy p lur .

‘ajisin ta

’

alh ‘ajisin ta ah a

gesiah

{sing gesiga ah gesiga

'

alh a

brave

Ar t. -ti

ga radkal ah aid

a kh ligal ah aid

o gh bn tal ah aid

u sk aggal ah aid

b a rah al ah a id

b iyah al ah aid

ga radkal a'

alid

in d ah al a'

alid

lugtal aa'

id

h aush al aa'

id

fa ridk a éih aid

b irta ah aid

gh o riga'

alh aid

‘agl sk aah aid‘ajisin taa

'

h aid

gesigaah aid

p lwr. gesiyin ta'

alh gesiyin ta'

alh a gesiyin ta ah a id

8 0 . Thela st class of No un Adjectives, in -ed, haveon ly one

inflexion .

When qua lifying a noun with a rticlesuffix -i of any gender or

num ber they take-a .

Theeis usua lly dropped.

COMPO UND ADJEC'

I‘

IVES 41

Exa m p les, S o m al ied S o m al ida.

Ara bed Arab ta

b iladk i So m al ida. theSom a li countryafki Arab ta theArab language

(0) Com p ound Adjectives .

8 1 . It is im possibleto giverules for theinflexions of these,sin cea s far a s po ssiblethenecessity is a voided, by a separa tion intotheco m ponent parts, and thena tives them selves a reby n o m eans

una nim ous on thequestion .

Thefo llowing exa m ples, however, a regiven , being thefew typesthat I havesa tisfied m yself abouta f b a dan sharp

m in di af b adan a sharp knife; m in dida. afk a. b ad an the

sharp knife or, m in didi afka b adneidm in diyo afa f b a db a d an sharp knivesm in diyah a a fa fk a b a db a dan

, or, m in diyih i a fa fk a

b a db adn a thesharp knivesh og w ein strong

n in,n in ka , n ag, n agta , h og w ein a

, or the, strong m an ,

or wom an

n in ki or n im an ki, h og w ein a. thestrong m an , or m en ;n agti h o g w eineid the strong wo m en ; n agih i h ogw ein a thestrong wom en .

af yagh an eloquen t

In adjectives like this theverb is conjugated and thereforeagrees in num ber and gender.

n in a f yagh an an eloquen t m an

n ag a f tagh s'

m wom an

nin kin in k a} a fka yagh an theeloquent m an

22522} a fk a tagh an wom an

n im an a f yagh an in eloquent m enn ago a f yagh an in wom enn im an k i

n im an k a } a fka yagh an in theeloquent m en

n a“

h i

n ag]

ah a } a fka yagh an wom en

42 ACCIDENCE

This adjective m ay be treated a s o ne word, and take the

term ination -ah,in which ca seit is inflected regularly likesuch

deriva tiveadjectivesa fy agh an ah , afyagh an k a ah ,

a fyagh an k a'

ah a ,

a fyagh an k aah aid .

(3) Com pa rison of Adjectives .

8 2 . Thereis n o inflexion for the com pa rison of Adjectives .

This want is supplied by theuseof thepa rticles k a. m ore, m ore

than u,ugu m ost.

Exa m p les, akh a l k an a kh al k a s k a w ein

This houseis bigger than tha t housem id k a.Wein 1a kali bring a bigger onek i 11 w an ak san a Thebestya ugu h o réya P Which is first of a ll ?

m o st, is usua lly transla ted by b a , sé .

k a s sa w anak san tha t is bestsadeh h da s kan b a w ein of thosethreethis is thebiggest

C. VERBS.

1 . Conjuga ti

(a ) Moods a nd Tenses .

TheVerb has four m oods

Im pera tive,

Indicative,Infinitive, Subjun ctive.

Verba l Adjective, or Pa st Participle, and Verba l Noun .

8 4 . TherearethreeRegula r Conjuga tions, distinguished by theform of theVerb ro ot, a nd theform a tion o f theInfinitive.

TheVerb roo t is the2ud person singula r of theIm pera tive.

1 st Conjuga tion . Ro o t ends in a consona nt.2m d -0 .

3rd

TheInfinitiveis form ed

1 , by adding-i to thero ot.

2 and 3, by adding-n to theroot.

44 ACCIDENCE

(n ) In theContinua tivetenses theterm ina tion s are,-eya (or -aya , or

-eyei (or -ayei, or -ah ayei),-eyo (or -ayo , or

-ab ayo ).

Thesearesuffixed, in thel st Conjuga tion apparently to theroot,but in the2nd and 3rd Conjugations to theInfinitive.

Thesyllab leey is short and is not a ccented.

(iii) Thethird class consists of Auxiliary tenses, form ed bytheInfinitivewith an auxiliary verb .

8 7 . In the2nd Conjuga tion (verbs ending in -o ), the -o is

often changed to -a in theInfinitiveand other m oods.

In theSim pleten ses of this Conjuga tion , d is in serted betweentheroot and tenseterm ina tion .

Exa m p les, b a ro learn Infinitive b aranjbgso stop w an jogso da I st0p

8 8 . Therearethreepersons in theSingular a nd Plura l, andtw o genders in the3rd person singular.

Thefo llowing a rethevaria tions in thefour tenseterm ina tionsfor thedifferent person s.

Presen tIndica tive

Sing. 1 .

-a.

-ta

-sa

-a

-ta

-sa

Plur. 1 .-nei -n a

-ten -tene-sen l-sene

3 .-eu -ene

In the 2nd person singular and plura l, and 3rd person fem .

singula r, t is used after a consonant,s is used after i, -e.g. in the3rd Conjuga tion ,and in Continua tivetenses of a l l Conjuga tions .

8 9 . (b) Afi rm a tioeConjuga tion .

I. sh ag tell. II. guteo m arry. III. s am ei m ake.

sam ein .

AFFIRMATIVE CO NJUGATION

Indica tive.

A orist.

I m arry

gursada

gursa ta

gursad a

gil rsata

gur s atei

gursanei

gursa ten

gurs aden

Con tinua tivePresent.

I a m telling I a m m arryingsh agaya gursaneya

sh égesa gursanesa

shegeya gursaneya

shegesa gursanesa

shegen a gfirsanen a

shegesan gursanesan

sh égeyan gut saneyan

45

Let m em akean sam éyo

sa m eih a sam éyo

h a sam éiso

an sam ein osam éya

h a sam eyan

46 ACCIDENCE

Continua tiveP a st.

FutureDefinite.

I am going I am going I am going

to tell to m arry to m akeshegi don a gursan d o n a sam e-in don a

don ta dbn ta don tadon a

don tadonn a

don tandon an

Ha bitua l P resent.

1 am a ccustom ed -I am accusto m ed I am a ccustom edto tell to m arry to m ake

shegi j ira gursan j ira sam éin j ira

declined like don a above.

Ha bitua l P a st.

I used to tell I used to m arry I used to m ake

shegi jirei gursan jirei sam ein jireishegi jirtei etc. etc.

shegi jirei

shegi jirtei

shegi j im eishegi jirten

shegi j iren

I w a s m a rryinggursaneyei

gursanesei

gfi rsaneyei

gursanesei

gursanenei

gursanesen

gursaneyen

I w as m akingsam eineyeisa m éinesei

sam eineyeisam eineseisam eineneis am einesens am eineyen

AFFIRMATIVE CONJUGATION 47

Conditiona l .

I shou ld tell I should m arry I should m akeshegi lah a gursau lah a sam ein lah ashegi l ah a id etc. etc.

sh égi lah ashegi l ah aidshegi l ah ainshegi l ah aidenshegi l ah a iyen

Subjunctive.

(Onl y found in SubordinateClauses. )A orist.

sh égo gursado

shegto , shegtid gursa to ,

gil rs atid

gursa do

gurs ato

gursan o

gursa tan

gurs adan

Con tinua tive.

shegeyo gursaneyo s am eineyoshegeso , sh égesid gursaneso , id sam eineso

,-id

shegeyo gursaneyo sam eineyoshegeso gursaneso sam einesosh égen o gursanen o sam éinen oshegesan gursanesan s am einesanshegeyan gursaneyan sam éineyan

P otentia l .

a d gursatide

h a gursa de

h a gurs ate

an gursane

a d gurs aténe

h a gursa déne

I m ay m akean sam éye

a d sam éiside

h a sam eyeh a sam eisean sam éine

a d sam éiseneh a sam eyene

48 ACCIDENCE

Sing. 1 . shegi don o gursau db n o sa m ein done2 . shegi don to etc.

etc. a s shege.

”

9 0 . Thefo llowing tab legives a ll thetypes necessary for theform a tion of thetenses of a regu lar verbConjugation Ro o t Eng] . In f. Con tinua tivePres.

I hel get heli beleyaII so

‘o wa lk so

‘o n so

‘oneya

III 3 1 give sin sineya

Theo ther Indica tive, and theSubjun ctive, tenses areform ed bychanging fina l -a into -ei, -e

, or-0 .

9 1 . (c) Nega tiveConjuga tion .

TheNega tiveParticles are

Im pera tiveMood, h a, or yan .

IndicativeMood, m a .

Subjun ctiveMood,a n .

Im perative" h a sh égin h a gursan h a sam ein

Indica tiveAorist" m a sh égo

Preterite m a an sheginContin . Pres.

* shegi m a yoContin . Pa st m a sh égin in

Fut. Def.* m a shegidbn o

Habit. Pres .

* m a shegi

jiro

Habit. Past m a shegi

jin n

m a an shegen

m a gursa do m a sam eyom a an gurs a n m a an sam eingfi rs an m a yo sam ein m a yom a gursan in in m a s am ein in inm a gursa n m a s am eindon o do n o

m a gursan m a sam einj iro j iro

m a gursau m a s am einj irin j irin

m a an gur m a a n s a m esa den yen

NEGATIVE CO NJUGATION 49

Subjun ctiveAorist -a n an shegin -an an sam einCon tinuative -an an abeg -an an sam ein

Future -an an s am eindon in

Habitua l -a n an sam éin

j irin

N otes,

6) Onl y theten ses m arked a re conjugated, therem ainder

having oneform of theverb for a ll person s.

(ii) ThePersona l Pronoun s a reonly used with thefo llowingnegativetenses

Im perative,Preteriteand Conditiona l tenses of theIndica tive

Mo od, and theSubjunctiveten ses.

In other tenses of theNegativeConjugation n o pron ouns are

used.

(iii) In thePresent Continua tiveten se,m a yo (am not) is con

juga ted likean auxiliary verb .

(iv) In theSubjun ctivetenses,thenegativeparticle, -an , and

thepronouns areadded a s suffixes to theconjunction ,or conjun ctive

particle.

Im pera tive.

Let m en ot tell Let m enot m arryyan an shegin yan an gurs anh a shegin h a gursan

yan u (or yu ) yan u (or yu )sh ég

'

n gurs auyanei (or yai) yanei (or yai)

sh agin gursauyan an sh égin yan an gursau yan an sam einh a sh égin a h a gursam

'

n a h a sam eim '

n a

yanei (or yai) yanei (or yai) yanei (or yai)sh agin gursau sam ein

Let m enot m ake

yan an sam einh a sam éin

yan u (or yu )s am ein

yanei (or yai)sam ein

50

Sing. 1 .

ACCIDENCE

Indica tive.

Aorist.

(Conjuga ted likeAorist Subj. Afi rm a tive.)

I do not tell I do not m arry I do n ot m akem a shego m a gursado m a sam eyom a shegto m a gursato m a sam eisom a shego m a gursado m a sam éyo

m a shegto m a gursato m a sam eisom a shegn o m a gursan o m a sam éin o

m a sheg‘

tan m a gursatan m a sam eisanm a shegan m a gursadan m a sam eyan

Continua tiveP resent.

I a m not telling Iam notm arrying I am not m akingshegi m ayo gursau m ayo sam ein m ayo

sheg m ayao (orm aysid)

shegi m ayo

shegi m ayao

shegi m ayn o

shegi m aysan

sh ég‘

m ayan

FutureDefinite.

Auxilia ry verb is declined a s theNega tiveA orist

tenseof l st Conjuga tion .)

I a m not going to I am not going to I am n ot going to

tell m arry m akem a shem

'

don o m a gursan dbn o m a sam eindb n o

m a shegi den to(dbn tid )

m a shegi dbn om a shegi don tom a shegi donn om a shegi dentan

m a sh égi don an

52 ACCIDENCE

q.v .) is used, with theInfinitiveof theprincipa l verb , as in thecaseof com pound tenses.

In the.

Negativetenses this is m oreclearlyseen , and herethel st Conjugation retain s the-i of theInfinitive.

Thenega tivetenses of ah ai areused as a separa teword withtheparticles m a

, or an

shegi m ah ayo , or shegi m ayo I a m n ot telling(for m a -ah ayo )

In thepa st ten ses them a m ay besepara ted

yel i m ah a in (for m a -ah ain )}

I w as not doing,

m a yel i ah ain or, I would n ot do

Thesearecon tra cted by Ishhak tribes into

yeli m a in , or m a yel in in

TheSubjunctiveMo od is sim ilarly form edb adan a yeli ah ain

or, h adan u yel in inIf heW111 not do .

(d) Interroga tiveConjuga tion .

TheInterroga tiveparticleis m a, which, when com bined with

Persona l Pronoun s, becom es m i.TheConjuga tion is o therw isethesam eas theAffirm a tive.

Indica tiveAorist m ia n shega P m ian gursada P m ian sam éya P

Preterite m ian shegei P etc. etc.

Con tin . Pres. m ian shegeya PPa st m ian shegeyei P

FutureDef. m ian shegi db n a PHabit. Pres. m ian shegi jira P

Pa st m ian shegi jirei P

Conditiona l m ian shegi l ah a P

(e) Nega tive-Interroga tiveConjuga tion .

9 4 . Herethenegativeparticleused is an .

No tenseis declined except theConditiona l, which is thesa m eas in thesim pleNegativeform .

Indica tiveAoristPreteriteCon tin . Pres .

Contin . PastFut. Def.

Habit. Pres.

Past

Conditiona l

FIRST CONJUGATIO N 53

m ian an shegin Pm ian an shegin P}m i an an sheginin Pm i an an sh égin in P} gursan in in Psam ein in in Pm ian an shegi don in P m ian an m i an an

gursan s am einden in P den in P

m ian anm ian an $11n p

gursan sam emm i an an shegi jl rm P

p a n 0 j irm o

m ian an shegen P m ian an m ian an

gursa den P sam eyen P

2 . Peculia rities a nd Irregu la r Verbs of tbeT/zreeConjuga tions.

(a ) l st Conjuga tion .

9 5 . These verb s ha ve the roo t ending in a ny con sonan t,a spirate, guttura l a spira te(gh or kh ), or a ine

,or 6 .

Thefo llowing changes takepla cein certa in letters when theyo ccur together

1 fo llowed by t becom esh .

1 1 , after 1 or r, is often a ssim ilated to either of thela tter.

t, after gh , kh ,

hh,6, and i, becom es d .

Exa m p les,

dil kill,

hel get, yel do,

dagal fight

A orist.

Sing. 1 . dila hela yela dagala2 . dish a hesh a yesh a dagash a

Plur. 1 . dil la hel la yel la d agal l a

2 . dish an hesh an yesh an d agash an

d ir send .

dirir fight .

jir be

. . l st Plur. Aorist dirra , o r dim a

dirirra, or dirirn a

jirra , or j im a .

54 ACCIDENCE

ra‘

sing. Aorist w ad ra ‘da

da ‘ fa ll da ‘d a

dagh gra ze dagh da

b agh fear b agh da

b ahh go b ahh da

jeb b tear jehh da

i16 forget iléda

fadi sit (cf. 109 ) fadida

Verbs ending in 11, changen to m when it is preceded by tw o

short syllab les and theinflexions begin with a vowel .w a rran givethenews d agal an fightw arram i dagal am i

A orist. A orist.

Sing. 1 . w an w arram a w an dagal am a

2. w a d w arran ta w ad dagal an ta

9 6 . In thecaseof Po lysyllabic verbs, of which thela st syllab leis short and con tain s thevowels a , o , 11 , - thesevowels aredroppedin theContinuativeTen ses, and in tho seperson s of a ll Sim pleTen ses in which theinfiexion does not begin with a con sonant, i.e.

in l st and 3rd m asc. sing. and 3rd plur.

g becom es k beforea vowel or t.

Boot Infin . Ao rist Co n tin . Pres .

a rag see a rki a rka arkeya

dul un chea t dul m i dulm a du lm eya

durug m ove durki durka durkeya

gego l m akethebed gcgl i gcgl a gcgleya

h a da l ta lk h a dl a h adleya

b uru d sleep hurda hurdeya

kh ata l an err kh ata lm i kh ata lm a kh ata lm eya

gh o so l laugh gh o sl i gh o s la gh o s leya

jada l whip jedl i jedl a jedleyam a kh a l hea r m a kh l i m a kh la m akh leya

o ro d run o rdi o rda o rdeyareh an pledge(pawn ) reh m i reh m a rehm eya

Exa m p les of Conjuga tions of tlzea bove,

arag see h ada l ta lk dulun chea t m akh a l hear

FIRST CONJUGATION 55

A orist Indica tive.

a rka h ad la du lm a m akh laarakta h ada sh a dul un ta m akh ash a

aragu a h ada l l a dul un n a m akh a l laaraktan h adash an du lun tan m akh ash an

P resent Continua tiveIndica tive.

arkeya h adleya dul m eya m akh leya

arkesa h adlesa dul m esa ‘m akh a lesa

arken a h adlen a dul m en a m akh alen a

arkesan h adlesan dul m esan m akh a lesan

9 7 . Thefo llowing verbs (a ll containing thevowel a ) changeainto eor i in theInfinitiveand theContinuativeTenses

Boot. Infin . Aorist Indie. Co ntin . Pres. Indie.

tag go tegi taga tégeya

ga l enter geli ga l a geleyak a ‘

get up ke‘i k a ‘a ké‘eya

da ‘ fa ll, or rob di‘i da ‘a di‘eya

n a‘ ha te n i‘i n a

‘a n i‘eya

“ga m a

‘sleep gam

‘i gam a‘a gam

‘eya

go b ib b i b ahh a 3b ahh aya

travel dahb a ”d ahh aya

n ahh bea stounded n ahh a n ih heya

tahh put in line tahh a tfhheya

Exc. n ahh befat n ahbi n ahh a n ah heya

d agh sa ve dagh a digheya

dab a ‘ im print dab i‘i dab a ‘a da b i‘eya

Thefoll owing m akeInfinitives likethe3rd Conjuga tiond a lea ve dein da ya deineya

1a slay lein l aya leineya

9 8 . Verbs ending in 6, requireb after theroot in a ll inflexions,except thosebeginning with a consonant .

d is used for t in theinflexions .

Infin . Aorist. Con tinuative.‘at6 betired ‘

a t6hi ‘a t6b a ‘

at6beya

gab 6 beo ld ga b 6b i gab 6b a ga b 6beya

gh ab 6 beco ld gh ab 6b i gh ab 6b a gh ab 6beya

h a116 belost h a l lab i h a l lab a h al l abeya1 m ah had reta in s thea in theseperso n s .

2 Participlegam e‘san asleep.

3 Theform s of theCon tin . ten ses o f theseverbs m ust benoticed. Cf. 92.

56 ACCIDENCE

converse

i16

k ar6‘0 116 behostileh am b a r6 fa ll heavily

bebla ckbelea n

get possessionof

A orist Indic.

w an i16b a I forgetw ad il6daw ein u i16n a

w eidin il 6dan

tag (go), is irregula r in thePreteriteIndica tive.

Sing. l . w an tegei I wen t2 . w ad ta ktei

3 m . w u tegei

3 f. w ei taktei

Plur. 1 . w ein u tagu ai

2. w eidin ta kten3 . w ei tegen

da ‘

(fa ll, rob) form s eitherde‘ei, or da

‘ci

, in thePreterite.

Its Aorist Subjun ctiveisin an d ‘

o .

Verbs in -ahh conjugatethePreteritea s fo llows.

I wentb ab h go

w an b ah h ai

w ad b ah h dei

w u b ahh ai

w ei bah h dei

w ein u b ah h nei

w eidin b ah h den

w ei behh én

O LL 0 7

1 00 . Theverb o l l (lie, bein ,dwell), is irregular in thePresent

and Pa st Perfect Indica tive.Im perative o l l

Infinitive o l li

IndicativeAorist a l I dwell (Neg. m a a l )Preterite il I dwelt (Neg. m a o l l in )Contin . Pres . dl leya I a m dwelling, I in tend to dwell

Pa st él leyei I w a s dwell ingFut. Def. o l li don a I am going to dwel lHabit. Pres. o l li j ira I a m accustom ed to dwell

Pa st 0 111 jirei I used to dwellConditiona l 611i lah a I would dwell, or would havedwelt

Subjun ctiveAorist in an 0 110 that I m ay dwellCon tinua tive in an él leyo tha t I m ay dwell

Aorist Indie. PreteriteIndic.a l il

ta l til

ya l yil

ta l til

n a l n il

talin til len

yal in yil len

Notetha t theconsonants denoting thepersons areprefixed totheverb , and that thereareno persona l endings in thesetenses(except in 2nd and 3rd

TheNega tiveform of thePresent is thesam eas theAffirm a tive.m a a l I do not dwellm a ta l

etc.

(b) 2nd Conjuga tion .

1 01 . In this Conjuga tion thero ot ends in o, and theInfinitive

is form ed by adding 1 1, but in a grea t m any ca ses theo is changed

to a .

This change m ay a lso take pla ce in bo th Sim ple and Con

tinuativetenses.

58 ACCIDENCE

In theSim pletenses d is added to thero o t, beforeadding thetenseterm ina tion s, but in the2nd pers. and 3rd pers. fem . sing. the

d is lost, being a ssim ila ted into thet of theterm in a tion ,and in

thel st pers. plur. thed is dropped beforethen .

Ta bleI.

102 . The 0 in the Sim ple tenses is long, or at lea st as

a ccentua ted as thepreceding syllab le.

Thecon sonant beforetheo is, h , sh , k , g, j , or or y .

Infin . Aorist Co ntinua tiveam ah h o borrow a m ah h on am ahh oda am ah h éneya

a sh ta k o com plain a skta kbn a sh takb da a shtakéneya

gajo behungry gajbn gajb da gajoueyaga sh o put on ga sh on ga sh oda ga sh éneya

h a rrago swagger h arragbn h a rragoda h arro goneya

riyo dream riyon riyoda riyéneya

so‘o wa lk so

‘o n so ‘

o da so‘éneya

ta sh o consider ta sh on ta sh oda ta sh éneya

tuk o pray tu kon tuk o da tukéneya

10 3 . TheseareAttributiveVerbs form ed by adding 0 to an

adjective.

In conjuga tion 0 is changed to a, which is long in theSim ple

tenses.

grow angrybeco m eripebecom pletedapproachgo far

becom ebadco m eto a n endheentangledgrow fat

grow big

60 ACCIDENCE

Exa m p le, ib so buy

A orist Indica tive.

ib sh a I buy Plurib so ta

ib sh a

ib so ta

A orist.

Sim ilarly,b a dso m akes b a dsh a ,

gh a ib so gh a ib sh a ,b ah h so b ahh sa

,

gurso gurs a ,b uk so b u ksa,

Ta bleI V.

105 . In thefo llowing verbs o is preceded by, b , d , d f, gh ,

kh, l , n ,

r,s . Thesedrop theo in theSim pletenses, except in

2nd pers. and 3rd fem . sing. a nd 1 st plur.,in which thevowel

usua lly appears a s short a in 2m d a nd 3rd fem ., and a s o in 1 st plur.

In a l l persons thed of theSim pleten ses becom es t, except a ftergh ,

kh .

l t, a s usua l, becom es sh .

Exa m p le, h a l so havegot

A orist Indica tive.

w a h a l sta I ha vegot w a h a iso n a

h ai'

sata h aisatan

h a i’

sta h ai'

atanh ai

'

sata

Infin .

b agh an

b a ran b arta b a ran éya

d a lan d a sh a (d a léneya )

dam in o n dam in ta (dam in oneya )

degeiso n degeista degeisoneya

difo n diféney a

SECOND CO NJUGATION 61

Infin .

dim o

die

al so dista disoneyabuild for yourself

don on don ta dbn éneyalook fordo ro d o ro n do rta do réneyachoo sedum o dum an dun ta dum aneyahideyourselfda b b a l o da b b a l an dab b a sh a da b b a laneyaswimfadiso fad lso n fadista fadiséneyasit downfa ra hh al o farahh al an farahh ash a farahh ale

’

m eyawash your ha nds

ga ro garan garan éya

understandh a ison h aista h a l séneya

havegothedo hedon beata hedéneyatieon yourselfh iro h irta h iréneyashaveyourself

gh ado gh ad o n gh ad éneyatakefor yourself

gh o b o gh o b o n gh o hta gh o b éneyaca tch

jéso jésoneyaturn yourselfjido jl daneyahurry onm aido m aid o n m aiata m aidéneyabewashedn aso n aso n n asta n aséneyatakea restn o kh o n o kh o n n o kh da n o kh éneyareturnsam eiso sam eiso n sam eista sam eiséneyam ake

.

for yourself

62 ACCIDENCE

siso n sista siséneya

w eidiso n w eidista w eidiséneya

lukh o n lukh da lukh éneya

TheIrregula r Verbs, im o, O do , o gh o .

10 6 . Theseverbs aredeclined irregularly in theSim pleten ses,with thesam epeculiarity a s theverb 0 11 .

N ote. Thero ot from which theSim pletenses of 0 110 areform ed isrelated to theregular verb yeti ca ll, and a lso a verb yad, found in songs

Exa m p les, dabyera tehhdo ya'

da ba .

Thelittlesong I sing is likea shower of ra in .

Yan sidi danabka yedei.“I spokelikethelightning.

Im pera tive im o com eInfinitiveAdject.Noun im ad-k i

Indic. Aorist im ada idah h da or idah h a

Preterite im i idi, or idahhei

Contin . Pres. im aneya o daneya

Pa st im aneyei o daneyei

Fut. Def. im an db n a o d an dbn a

Habit. Pres. im an j ira o dan j iraPa st im an jirei o dan jirei

Conditiona l im an l ah a o dan lah aPotentia l im ade id ah h deor id ah he

SubjunctiveAorist im ado idah h do ogh ado

Continua tiveim aneyo o daneyo o gh aneyo

1 In stead o f theIm pera tive060 , thewo rd ‘

deh is used.

THIRD CONJUGATION 63

idah h da , or idah h a

tidahh da , or tidahh a

yidah h da , or yidahh a

tidahh d a, or tidahh a

n id ah h n a, or n idahh a

tidahh dan , or tidahh an

yidahh dan , or yidahh an

P reteriteIndica tive.

1 . im i, or im id idi

, or idah hei igh in

2 . tim i , or tim id tidi, o r tidahh dei tigh in

3 m . yim i, or yim id yidi, or yidah hei yigh in

3 f. tim i , or tim id tidi, or tidahh dei tigh in

Plur. 1 . n im i, or n im id n idi

, or n id ahh nei n igh in

2 . tim aden tidahh den tigh tnen

3 . yim a den yid ahh den , or yidahhen yigh inen

TheAorist Subjunctiveof im o , and is declined'

likethe

Indicative, with theSubjun ctiveterm ina tion s, o a nd an .

in an im ado h ad an idah h d o

in ad tim ado , etc. h adad tid ah h do , etc.

TheAorist Subj . of o gh o is regula r o gh ado , o gh ato , etc.

TheNegatives of theAorist Indic . and Conditiona l areregularlyform ed, in theform er by using theAorist Subj . , and in thela tter byreplacing the

‘

Aorist term ina tions by en ; but in theverb ogh o the

Pres. Indica tiveis un a ltered.

I do not com e m a im ad o I would n ot m a an im aden

I do not kn ow m a agh an havecom eAll other Nega tiveform s areregular.

(0) 3rd Conjuga tion .

10 7 . Theseverbs a ll end in -i or -ai, and form theInfin itiveby adding

-n'

. In the Sim ple ten ses i beco m es y for euphonybeforethetenseterm ina tion s which do n ot begin with a consonant.

108 . Certain Participles areirregu lar

in geji dry Part . in gegan dried.

w an adi m akegood w an ak san good

h agaji m akestraight h agak san straight.gh o i m akewet gh o iyan wetted

64 ACCIDENCE

1 0 9 . Certain verbs in i a reconjuga ted likethefirst Conjugation

,adding

-

yi in theInfinitive. Thesetake-d in stead of -t in

the2m d and 3rd fem . person s.

(d) TheIrregular Verbs ah o , lah o , w ah .

1 10 . ah o (be), is an Irregula r DefectiveVerb of doubtfulconjuga tion . It ha s thesa m epeculiarity in thePresent Indica tivea s theo ther Irregula r Verbs, ina sm uch a s it places thePerson a l consonants t, n , at thebeginning o f theword.

Afi rm a tiveTenses.

Im pera tiveInfin .

Indica tivePresent w an ah a i I a m

Past w a n ah a I w a s

Future w an ah a in db n a I a m going to be

Ao rist Indica tive Co n tin . Pres .

pers . sing. 2nd pers. s ing. Indic.‘afi

'

iya‘a dida ‘

afi'

iyeya

ah diya ab dida ah diyeya

a kh riya a kh rida a kh riyeya‘a

'

iya ‘a

'

ida ‘aiyeya

‘a riya ‘

a rida ‘a rlyeya

aw aw iya aw a w ida aw aw l yeya

b a kh tiya b a kh tida b akh tiyeya

b a riya b a rida b a riyeya

b a riya b arida b ariyeya

d aiya d a ida d aiyeya‘eiya

‘eida ‘eiyeya‘eriya ‘erida ‘eriyeya

fadiya fadida fad lyeya

foriya ferida fb riyeya

gabeya gabeda gabeyeya

h aj iya h ajida h ajlyeya

AB C 65

Habit. Pres . w an ah ain j ira I usua lly amPas t w an ah ain jirei I used to be

Conditiona l w an ah alu lah a I should bePo ten tia l an ab ade I m ay be

Subjun ctive in an ab ado tha t I m ay be

1 1 1 . It is only irregular in the Infinitive and Indicative.

Therearen o Continuativeten ses.

Presen t

Sing. 1 . w an ah ai

2 . w ad tah ai3 m . w u yah ai

3 f. w ei tah aiPlur. l . w ein u n ah ai

2 . w eidin tibin3 w ei yib in

1 1 2 . When ah o is conjugated nega tively, it is on ly irregular inthePresent Indica tive.

Neg. Pres . Indie. Neg. Pa st. Indie.

Sing. 1 . m iih i I a m n ot m aan ah ain I w as not

etc .

3 m . m aab a Neg . Co nditio n a l3 f. m aah a m aa n ah aden I should not be

Plur. 1 . m iihin m aa d ah aten

2. m aih idin etc.

3 . m a ah a Neg. Subjun ctivein an an ah ain tha t I m ay not be

etc.

1 1 3 . This verb is used independently a s in

n a‘s b ad tah a i you a rea foo l

n in ‘ajis b u ah a hew as a lazy m an

a skari b an ah ain jirei I used to bea so ldier

But it m ost frequen tly o ccurs com bined with adjectives, especia llyparticiples.

Such adjectives a replura lised in thePlura l persons .

hedan tied w ein large

Pa st.

w an ah a

w ad ab aid

w u ah a

w ei ab a id

w ein u ah ain

w eidin ah aiden

w ei ah ayen

66 ACCIDENCE

P resen t Indica tiveAfi rm a tive.

h édn ah ai I am tied w a w ein ah ai Iam largehedan tah ai w ein tah aihedan yah ai w ein yah aihedan tah ai w ein tah a ihedhedan n ah ai w aw ein n ah aihedhedan tih in w aw ein tih in

hedhedan yihin w aw ein yih in

P resent Indica tiveNega tive.

m a hedn i I am not tied m a w ein i I am not

m a hedn id m a w ein id

m a h san a m a w ein am a hedn a m a w ein a

m a h san iu m a w einin

m a hedn idin m a w ein idin

m a hedn a m a w ein a

P ast Indica tiveAfir m a tive.

hedn a I w as tied w a w ein a I wa s bighedn ah aid w ein ah aid

hedn a w ein a

hedn ah aid w ein ah a id

hedhedn ah ain w aw ein ah ain

hedhedn ah aiden w aw ein ah aiden

hedhedn ah ayen w aw ein ah ayen

P a st Indica tiveNega tive.

Sing. 1 . m aan hedn ah ain m a an w ein ah ain

I w as not tied I w as not bigetc. etc.

1 14 . Theadjectiva l roots, 6g (knowing), j a‘a l (liking), ogb l

(agreeing), aresim ilarly conjugated with ah o , in thePresent andPa st tenses.

Pres . Am rm . Pa st Affirm .

w a 6gah ai I kn ow w a 6gah a I knewja

‘a l ah ai I like ja

‘a l ah a I liked

ogol ah ai I agree ogb l ah a I agreed

68 ACCIDENCE

Presen t Pa st

Sing. 1 . m al ih i I do not possess m a (an ) 1ah ain I did not

possess

This verb is m adeup of theroot leh (po ssessing), and ah o (be) .In theIndica tive thetenses of ah o are conjuga ted in fu ll,

preceded by leh ; but other tenses arecon tracted, a s if from theroo tl ah o .

l ah o litera lly m ea ns havepossession of,”

own .

gel b adan m a leh dah ai P haveyou m anyca m els ?n ag m a leh dah ai P haveyou a wife

[h ai (have, ho ld) , cou ld not beused in theseexa m ples ]

Theroot a loneis used in thefollowing expressionsan iga leh , adiga leh it is m ine, it is yours

etc.

daktarka 1 h

or daktarki bilehyah ai } it belongs to thedoctor

n in b a leh it belongs to som eone

O ther idiom a tic m eaningsm ah b ad leh dah ai P wha t ha veyou to say ?wha t do you

m ean ? wha t is them a tter with yo u?w uh hu lehyah ai, dbn i m a yo , he m ean s, he does not

want to .

lab a rub o d b an ugu leh ah ai, I am owed tw o rupeesby you .

ThePast Indica tiveis used a s an auxil iary with an Infinitive, toform theConditiona l tenseof verbs.

w a tegi l ah a I should go

WAH 69

It m ay a lso govern substantiva l sentences, in troduced by inm alih i in an ku ra

‘o , it is not m y business to go with you .

in ad berri ta kto b ad leh dah ai, you ought (have) to goto -m orrow.

1 1 7 .

Theverb root w ah is conjuga ted a s an irregular defectiveverb ,and is used a s an auxil iary verb , m eaning,

“ fail,

” “beunable,

”

“ cann ot find.

”

It is onl y conjuga ted in thePresent and Pa st Indica tive, andin onetenseof theSubjunctive.

Indica tive.

Present

w ahya , w aiya,w ai

w eida

w ahya , Waiya , w ai

w eida

w ein a

w eidau

w ah yan ,w aiyan , w ai

Sing. 1 w aiyo2 w eido

3 m . w a iyo3 f. w eido

Plur. 1 . w ein o

2. w eidau

3 . w a iyan

Exa m p les (cf. 1 46, 1 95, 274 n ote),im an w aiya I, or he, cannot (or will not) co m eso

‘o n w a i I, he, or they cann ot (fail to) wa lk

sh akh éin w aiyen they would n ot (failed to) workh ad a d tegi w eido if you fail to goh adein u gadi w ein o if wefail to reach itb iyo m esh a k a w ein a wecann o t find water theregh o ri k a w ein w a w ai I cannot fin d larger woodm ahh ad u im an w eida w hy don

’t you com e?w a w ai I, he, or they cannot find itl a w ah onecanno t find it, it cann ot befound

Pa st

w ah yei, w a iyei, w ai

w eidei, w ei

w ah yei, w aiyei, w ai

w eidei

w einei

w eiden

w ah yen , w aiyen ,w ai

70 ACCIDENCE

(e) TheP a ssiveVoice.

Thereis no Pas siveVoicein the conjuga tion of theSom a liverb .

It is transla ted in tw o ways

(i) by thePa st Participleand theverb ah o , cf. § 1 1 3 ;

(ii) by theIndefinitepron oun l a , with the3rd pers . m asc. sing.

of theActivevoiceof theverb .

Herel a is iden tica l in “

m eaning a nd construction with theFren chpronoun on , and m eans

“ they,” “ people,

” “one.

”

w ahh a l a yidi it is said

w ahh b a l agu m a fa l o no thing is donewith itlei shegai I w a s to ldl a n a gh o b séneya weshall becaught

In neither casecan theInstrum ent beexpressed. If required,theInstrum en t m ust beexpressed a s theSubjectn in k an igu diftei I w as struck by this m an (this m an stru ck m e) .

3 . Deriva tiveVerbs.

1 1 9 . Theseare, Intensive, Reflexive, Attributive, Causative,

and m ay beform ed from either nouns, adjectives, or verbs.

120 . (a ) Intensiveverbs express an em pha tic, inten sified or

repeated a ction , and areform ed by reduplica tion of the sim pleradica l verb . Theseall belong to the1 st Conjuga tion .

fo ld up i.e.

unfold } m any fo ldscut up in pieceslook around forpick up a ll

tieup, pack uptear uprepea t word by word

DERIVATIVE VERBS 71

12 1 . (b) Reflexiveverbs im ply doing som ething to or for oneself,or m ay bepassivein m eaning. They areform ed by adding

-0 or

-so to a noun or verb (words ending in i always take-so ) .Thesearea ll of the2nd Conjuga tion .

ha ve, keep your

a sk for yourself

1 22 . (c) A ttributiveverbs areform ed by adding-0 to an

adjective or participle, and areconjugated a ccording to the2nd

Conjuga tion ,the0 being changed to a in a ll ten ses and m o ods .

This 0 gives them eaning of“becom e,

”

and n ot“be,

”

thela tterbeing transla ted by ah o .

Exa m p les ,white becom ewhite

sea t yourself, sit downha lt, stopturn yourselfascertain ,assureyourselflea rnunderstandborrowfind for yourself

beafraid

choosehurry onbewashed, wash yourselfcarry for yourself, weartakefor yourselfshaveyourselftieon to yourselfcatch, takeho ld of

havegot, keep forself

takeyour sharebuy, sellm akefor yourselfm arrytaketo yourself

72 ACCIDEN CE

ripe,cooked b isl o becom eripe, cooked

near a6w o approa chshort gab o becom eshortbad h um o becom ebad

fbg far fbgo go to a distan cesh il is fat sh ish l o beco m efat

Distinguish between thefo llowing tensesw a hhunyah ai it is bad

w a h hum ada it beco m es badw a h h um aneya it will becom ebad

fa rdah aiga m a sh ish l a , m y ponies arenot fat.

fa rduh u m esh atan m a sh ish l ado, ponies do not get fat here.

h a di m iyi l o k ah h ayo w a sh ish l aneya , if they aretaken to thejungle, they will get fat.

1 2 3 . (d) Ca usa tiveverbs im ply thecausing of an a ction or

produ ction of a sta teor a ttributein so m eobject. They areform ed(i) by adding

-i, or-si -si a lways to a word ending in -i) to any

noun or verb , (ii) by adding-ei to an adjective. They

transitiveverbs of the3rd Conjuga tion .

Exa m p les,sh akhei workdam bei bebehind‘ab drinkgh a ib share

gab beshortam us besilen tda l b l -sh i ho leh ab ab lossrad -ki trackb a d beplentifuldurug m ove

Wherethela st lettera ltered to j .

Exa m p les,dagh causeto gra zeb agh frightenjbg stop (tra nsitive)ingeg causeto bedry

m aketo workput behind

causeto drinkdividein shares

shortenm akesilentperfora tecauseto losefo llow thetra ckin crea serem ove, ca useto m ovea guttura l it is usua lly

PARTICLES 73

h agag m akestraightw an ag m akegoodw ereg causeto go round

also

gh ab 6 beco ld m akecold

Verbs form ed from adjectives‘a dei

cooked b islei

hot hulul ai

ha rd adkei

far fbgei

a ll,com plete dam ei

TheVerbs m entioned in 97 a lter a toenter gel i insertawake ke‘i awaken

,arouse

D. THE PARTICLES.

1 24 . Particles areused in Som a li to correspond to variousEnglish parts of speech, but cannot bea ctua lly transla ted, exceptby referen ceto thecon text of thesen ten cein which they o ccur.

They cann ot stand by them selves, but on ly in conjunction witho ther parts of speech, nor arethey subject to any inflexions of anykind.

They m ay either havereferenceto a verb (Verba l Particles), orthey m ay correspond to conjun ctions (Conjun ctiveParticles) .TheVerba l Particles m ay correspond to certain adverbs or

prepositions.

TheConjun ctiveParticles m ay serveto in troducea principa l orsubordina tesentence, or they m ay act as links between tw o cc

ordin atesen ten ces or parts of speech.

1 . Verba l P a rticles.

1 2 5 . (a ) Adverbia l Particles .

w a da a ltogether, com pletelyka l a apart, separa telysi that w ayso this w ay

Thesem ay beused with any verb .

74 ACCIDENCE

Exa m p les,

fardih i w ada ken a bring a ll theponiesl a w ada gh adai they a rea ll rem ovedk a l a durka m oveapart, separateka l a dufo stretch out

ka l a go i cut apartsi so ‘

o go on so so‘o com eon

si jeso turn tha t w ay so jeso turn thissi ga l go in so ga l com einso w ada k ahh ai bring a ll

O ther Adverbia l Particles are

h a , yan , m a,an . NegativeParticles . Cf. 9 1 , 1 45.

m a . InterrogativeParticle. Cf. 94, 1 45.

w a,b a

, ya . Affirm a tiveParticles. Cf. 1 38— 1 44.

Further idiom a tic m eaning s of si and so should benoticed

si m ean s continue”

an a ctionsi sh akhei con tinueto worksi b a ro con tinueto learn

so m eans begin to do som ething, or go and

so a rori h b l ah a go and wa ter theflocksso ib so go and

'

b uy for yourselfso safei go and clean

1 2 6 . (b) Prepositiona l Particles (ku ,11 , k a , 1a ).

ku at, in ,by m eans of, for

b iyo ga l aska ku sh ub

ged b u ku hedn a‘el b u ku da ‘ei

ga‘an ta ku gh o b o

h adig ku hed

gel b an n u ku dirirra

u on a ccount ofm ah h ad u taktei P wha t did you go for?

to (a person)sirkalk i u tag go to theofficerFarah u gei taketo Fa rah

pour som ewater intohew a s tied to a treehefell in to a wellhold with your handtiewith a ropewefight for cam els

ACCIDENCE

adigun a m ahh ad dou ssa P and what do you want ?isn a w a tégei, hetoo ha s gone.

dabedédn a , and afterwa rds.

w a jogsi, n in kuseara rei, I w as there, but them an away.

am a tag am a j6g, either go or stay.

m a shegtei m iseil 6dei P did you tell or forget?in ad takto b an doneya , I want you to go .

h adu yim ado , i kal i, if heco m es, com eto m e.

E. ADVERBS, PREPOSITIONS, CONJUNCTIONS.

1 28 . With theexception of theradica l particles given in thelast section , theseparts of speech arerepresented in Som a li bysubstantiva l expressions.

1 2 9 . Adverbs of Qua lity and Mannerain -ki kind, sortain k an , ain k as likethis, liketha t

m anner

sida , sida s , or so , thussi is a lso used with an adjective, form ing an abstract substan tivesi w an ak san good m anner

Si hh un bad

si ‘ajis la zy

'

Such expression s with theparticle11 becom eadverbia l .Exa m p les,

si w an ak san u sam ei m akeproperlyw a si ‘

ajis u sh akh éineya heis working la zily

Thefo llowing noun s arecom m onl y used in this w ay with 11ad force, effort h os downwardsm lyir pruden ce dib ba ckwardskhum ati straightness h o r forwardsk o r upwards ghun ya r slowness

a lso theverb root da kh ao hurry

ad 11 heji hold tightm iyir u fhl ridecarefullydib u jogso stand ba ckdakh so u tag go quickly

ADVERBS

1 30 . Adverbs of Tim eand Pla ce

Tim e: go r-ti, k o l -ki, m ar-ki, h ad -di, w a

-sfi . b éri-gi, gélin -ki.

Place: m el -sh i, h al -ki, h ag-gi.

DOW

form erly

nowhere

77

go rtan , ko l kan , another tim e m ar dam bem a rk an

im in k a , am ink a

h addan som etim esh adda b a

go rta s , k o l k as, at no tim em a rk as

go r

h ad do,h addétb

k o lki here, m a rkihere

ko l ki dam be, m arki yet, stilldam be, da b adéd

k o l here, w agi here, neverbérigi here

P la ce.

h a lk an , m esh an aboveh aggan benea thh a lk as ,h a lka,m ésh as in fron t

h aggas

h a lk b , b aggo

m el d6

m el fogm el , m elun

m el w a l b a

m el l a

m a r kaleh

kona

(For hours , days, m onths, etc . , seeAppendix . )

78 ACCIDENCE

INTERRCGATrVE ADVERBS.

of wha t sort ? ain m a P

how sideP

how m uch in teP

w hy ? m ah h a 11 P (cf. 1 95)when go rm a P

a t wha t tim e? h adm a P

how often ? im isa go r P

how long h a lkyo go rm a P

where? h a lkePh aggeP m elm a P m edei P

how far ? in teP

PREPOSITIONS.

Thesim pleprepo sition s (to , for, from , with, etc.) arerepresentedby theParticles (cf.Other preposition s arerepresen ted byAdverbia l Nouns, theword

governed being pla ced in thepossessive(cf. 5 This m ay be

doneby using theadverb a lone, with thegoverned word fo ll owing itin thepossessiveposition ,

a s

sidi n a ‘s

go rti dagal ki

likea foo lat thetim eof ba ttle

Or theadverb is used with thepo ssessiveadjective, a s

akh a lk a h o rtisi in front of thehousejon iad gudah éda insidea bag

as, like sidi outside dib addisi

at thetim eof go rti, ko lki, m arki beside gestisi

before h o rtisi around h a rero dl siafter dab ad l si between , a m ong dehh dl si

un til h adyo in ti opposite h b rtist

since h a lkyo go rti beyond k a sh ish éi

near to agtl si on this sideof k a sokeifar from fogtisi instead of m esh l si

o ver, on dush isi for thesakeof aw adl si

under h b stisi behind d am b l si

in front of h o rtisi within gudah isi

and,

except m ah ai without la an

INTERJECTIONS 79

RELATIVE CONJUNCTIONS.

go rti, ko l ki, m a rkih adyo in ti, in tiin tih a l kyo go rti

in tan in ti-an , nega tive)m esh i

, h a l ki, h aggiin tisidi

F. INTERJECTIONS AND SALUTATICNS.

w ar m an , sir

n a wom an , m iss, m ada m

Exa m p les,

w ar,’sehé tag ! go away, m an

n a , aya tah ai P who art thou,wom an ?

w a rya ! is used to draw a ttention .

-6 is added a s a suffix to Proper Nam es in ca lling o ut to persons.

w arya , Lib an 6 ! Hi ! Liban !

h a yes

m aya no

h o i h o i ! a shout to a ttra ct a ttentionjo g ! an excla m ation of a stonishm entWa l l ahh ! by God !

ega , Wa l l ahh ! lit. m eans look, by God !”

dega ! lit. m eans “ listen ! ”1

Wa l l ah hi,iyo Bil l ahh i, iyo Ta l l ahh i. An Arabic

h aurarsan a ll righth a ah ato so beit

w atah ai very well (lit. it is)yel kis tha t’s his business, never m ind’as k a da let be’as ka eg look outIl lahh i m ah addi thank GodIl lahhi b a 6g God kn owsk6, k6di, h aiye yes, wel l ?

80 ACCIDENCE

1 3 5 .

N ahad Pea ce

Greeting Reply‘m a n ah ad b a P w a n ab ad

or is it peace? or it is peace86 n ah ad m iya P n ab aa w eiye

m a n ab ad gh ob o ta Phaveyou w a n ab ad gh o b ta

pea ce2m ahh ad sh égta P wha t do you n ahad b an shega

tel l3m a b ariden P areyou safe? h a , b arinei

sidetah ai P how areyou ?’ss k a w arran givenews of yourselfm esh a k a w arran givemews of thepla cem a b ukta P areyou Sick ?m a b u ksanesa P are, you getting better ?m a l adan tah ai P a reyou well ?w a k a si da ra I am worse

1 Theform a l sa lutation .

2 Theco l lo qu ia l, in fo rm a l greeting, How do you do ?3 Corresponds to “ Go od m o rn ing.

”

PART III . SYNTAX OF SIMPLE SENTENCES .

A . THE STRUCTURE or A SIMPLE SENTENCE.

1 . Order of Words .

1 3 6 . Theusua l order of a sim plesen ten ce, such as a com m and

or sta tem ent, is

1 . Subject. 2 . Object. 3 . Verb .

0 . v .

so r n a si, giveus fo od.

0 .

fara sk a korei, saddlethehorse.

8 0 v

n in b a l ib ah h dilei, a m a n ha s killed a lion .

1 3 7 . Adverbs m ay bepla ced anywhereexcept la st. Adverbsof Tim eareusua lly pla ced first.

a . 0 .

h addatan a urta rera, load thecam els at once.

0 . a .

’

U .

fara sk a dakh so u so k ah h a i, fetch thehorsequickly.

a . S . U.

m a rkasa n in ki yidi, then them an said.

a 0 7)

h ab arti b a h a ben ki dam beakh a l k i Su ldan k a so ag m a rtei,

theo ld wom a n on thefo llowing night passed near theSultan ’

s house.

a 8 O’U

‘a sh o di d am bey a h a b arti b ariyo don atei,on thefo llowing day theold wom an begged a lm s.

8 . 0 . a .

n in ka h ol ih isi Bura o b u geineya ,them a n is taking his flocks to Bura o .

82 SYNTAX o r SIMPLE SENTENCES

1 3 8 . 2 . TheP a rticles w a , b a , ya .

Theseparticles a reof such universa l o ccurrence, and so essentia lto idiom atic Speech, tha t a correct understanding of their useis

necessary at the outset. No one m eaning Can be a ssigned to

them ,a s ea ch m ay represent at onetim ea pronoun , at an o ther a

definiteor indefinitearticle, at another theverb “ is,”

are,”

and at

yet an other tim ean adverb .

Their m eanings m ay bedivided into tw o cla sses

(i) Al l three, w a,b a

, ya , areParticles of Affirm a tion ,just as

m a is a Particleof Negation or Interrogation .

w a draws attention to , and precedes, theverb .

b a, and ya (especia lly b a ), draw a ttention to , and fo llow,thesubject.

(1 1) ba, and ya (especia lly ya ), m ay beconjun ctiveor ad

verbia l pa rticles, often to betran slated by and so,

”

and then .

This usageis found in narratives.

1 3 9 . (i) A s P a rticles of Afi rm a tion .

If used without either a persona l pron oun or a particle, a verb isconsidered abrupt.Com pareha and w a in thefo llowing exam ples

(N ote. In theseca ses ha a nd ya aresynonym ous, a nd either

form m ay beused equa lly, but ha is p referred by Ea stern a nd

Centra l tribes .)

1 . n in b a yim i a m an ha s com e2 . n in w a yim i a m an has a rrived3 . Farah b a yim i Farah ha s com e4 . Farah w a yim i Farah has arrived

1, 3 m ean respectively tha t “ it is a m an tha t ha s com e

,and

tha t “ it is Farah tha t ha s com e.

2,4 m ean respectively tha t a m an (a s expected, or o rdered)

has a rrived,”

and tha t “ Farah (as expected, or ordered) hasa rrived.

”

In thefirst ca setheinform a tion rela tes to theindividua l w hoha s com e in thesecond ca seit relates to thearriva l of som ek nownperson .

In short, b a em phasizes theidentity of thesubject, whilew a

em phasizes them eaning of theverb .

84 s TAx o r SIMPLE SENTENCES

3) ( l

(0) Wherethecom plem ent of “ is,

are, is an adjective, w a

is used, but theverb ah o (be) is a lso used, suffixed to theadjective.

h ada l k a s w a hh rin yah a i tha t arrangem en t is bad1a ‘

agti w a‘u l l

‘

l stah a i them oney is heavysirkalk a w a ogyah a i theofficer kn owsw ayah a i, w atah a i a l l right, so beit

(d) When thePreteriteten seis used with w a it becom es a

Perfect or Com pleted tense.

w a yim i

w a a rkei

1 43 . Specia l uses of h a and ya .

(a ) b a , o r ya , em phasizes theidentity of thesubject, especia llyin reply to a question expressed or understood.

ya ku 1a ra‘sya P Farah b a 1 1a ra‘eya .

w ho is going with you ? Farah is .

‘id m a tim i P h a, Jam a b a yim i.

ha s anyonecom e? Yes, Jam a ha s.

Sul dan b a in an lah a .

(therew a s) a Sultan (who ) had a son .

(b) When thesubject of a sentence is a num era l it nearlya lways requires b a , or ya .

so ddo n b a joga thirty arepresen tlab a hé m agh an tw o areabsen tl m isa b a jbga P how m any a represent ?

(N ote. In thefo llow ing ca ses on ly b a is used, a nd not ya .)

(0) h a is used in questions wherethecom plem en t o fare,

”

is a substa ntive.

m a aur b a P is it a cam el ?m a Ara b b a P is hea n Arab ?

m a ka igi b a P is it m ine?

m a isaga b a P is it he?

m a lab a b a P is it tw o ?

( a ) In affirm a tive senten ces, where the com plem ent is an

adjective, b a m ay beused, but theverb ah o, be, is not then

em ployed.

WA ,BA

,YA 8 5

In this ca seb a m ay givea superla tivesenseto theadjective.

Il l ah h i b a Cg God knowsn in b a m agh an o nem an is absentb ah a l ah a gh a r b a h h un so m eanim a ls arebadsadehh d a s kan b a w an ak san this is thebest o f thosethree

(e) b a , used after theobject of a sentence, ha s a distributivem eaning.

n in b a m id 8 1 giveea ch m a n one

a in b a m el gon iah d iga put ea ch kind in a separa tepla cek o l b a n in kel iah h a yim ado let onem a n com eat a tim e

(f ) b a m ay givean indefinitem eaning to a word of

pla ce; or is used with a verb,m ea ning

“a t a l l .

”

m el b a k ii jira it is so m ewhereor o therw ah h b a don i m a yo I don

’

t wa nt anything a t

h a tegin b a don’

t go a t a ll

w a l b a everyl ab a da b a bothsadeh h da b a a ll threew ah h a d doneso b a whatever you wan tm esh i a d takto b a wherever you goko lb a a d dou s so whenever you want

144 . (1 1) As Adverbia l or ConjunctiveP a rticles.

b a and ya , in this sense, correspond to theEnglish particlesnow ,

” “and then ,

” “and so . Their position in the sentence

ha s n o rela tion to thesubject, object, o r verb , but fo llows thefirstphra sein thesen ten ce.

Phrase” hereincludes bo th un qua lified nouns,o r n ouns with their

a ttributes,w hether adjectiveo r rela tiveclause, o r adverbia l expressions. )

h a is appa rently n o t used except when thephra se is a n un

qua lified n oun , usua lly onewhich ha s a lready been referred to in

thepreceding senten ce.

ya is a lways u sed after a n adverb, or adverbia l expression .

Theexam ples illustra ting thesea retaken fro m thestories , ( 1 . v .

Su ldan k a n ag b u gursadei, su l dan k i b a h ajki gh o b tei.

(p. 1 45, l.

86 SYNTAX o r SIMPLE SENTENCES

Ko lkasei tidi,“Berka gényo da in an kaga .

” fn an ki'

b a

sul dan ki u yedei. (p. 1 46, l .Ga lab taan ku so m erm ero . Ga l ab ti b a in an kigen yo di

(p.

M as b a lei hedei, m a ska s b a igu im aneya ,'

o i ‘uneya .

(p. 150, l .D ararti dam be, ya sul dan ku yim i. (p. 1 46, l .Duh urk i k o l kei ab a id , ya w lyish i tim i. (p . 1 48, l .Isago gedk a hurda , ya sh an ti in an u yim aden .

(p . 1 48, l .

3 . Sim p leInterroga tivea nd Nega tiveSentences .

145 . Thesam eparticlem a is used in both kinds of sentences.

Therearecertain differences in its severa l uses .

TheNega tivem a is placed a s nea r to theverb as possible,whiletheInterroga tivem a com es beforeany pronoun or particlequalifying theverb (cf.

b iyo m a k li jiran P is thereany water in ?b iyo ku m a j iran thereis no wa ter in

‘

w ahh m a l agu sl yei P has anything been given youw ahh b a lei m a sin nothing has been givenl m e

When joined to thepersona l pron oun theinterrogativeparticlebecom es m i whilethenega tiveparticleis una ltered.

si P did you see?

you did not see

did hetell you ?hedid not tel l m e

In both cases thepronoun is often om itted when thepersonreferred to is obvious from thecon text.

i m a shegin (he) did n ot tell m em aarkin , or m aa rag (I) did not seeburta m a arkesa P do you seethehill ?w ah h m a donesa P do you want an ything?

Interroga tivem a m ay beseparated from thepronoun by anotherword. In this caseb an ,

b ad, etc. . areused (seea lso

m a h al ka b u tégeya P i s it thereheis going ?m a n in k an b u ku dif‘tei P is it this m an tha t struck you ?

88 SYNTAX OF SIMPLE SENTENCES

gényadi m edeiP ham arku whereis them are? where ism éyeiP thebay?

héro di sirakish u fadida w a whereis theofficers ’ cam p ?h aggeP

h a l kiyo Boh o tleh in téi jirta P how far isBohotlefrom here?

in tu m agh an a w a in teP how long w a s heabsent?

im isa ru b o d b u ku b ih h iyeiP how m any rupees did hepayyou?

h agga burta ka sh ishei sidu how does the coun try lie

du lyah aiP beyond tha t hill?burta k a sb kei sidei tah a iP hOw is it on this side?jbn iada

‘u leiskeda w a in teP how hea vy is tha t bag ?

‘el ka dererk l su w a in teP (or how deep is thewell ?in tu derad a P)

b ah a l k an w a s inm a P what sort of an anim a l is this

In Nega tivequestion s in troduced by why?”

(m ahh a u ?) a

specia l idio m is used with theverb w ah 1 1 7,

m ahh a d u don i w eid a in ad w hy don’t you wan t to go ?

ta kto P

4. TheVerbs of existence, a nd a ttributiveverbs.

14 7 . TheseVerbs (be, live, stay, dwell, grow,exist, lie, befound,becom e) havean equa l variety of corresponding Som a li expression s,a s ah o , 0 11, jeg, jir, fadi, l ah o , n o kho.

(i) TheAuxiliary verb “ be”

requires a com plem ent in the

form Of n oun , adjectiveor pronoun .

(a ) This m ay betran sla ted sim ply by w a , or b a , a s shewnin theexa m ples of tho separticles.

(b) Or it is tran sla ted by ah o , which is used independentlywhen thecom plem en t is a no un

,or is com bined with an adjective

when thecom plem en t is thela tter, and form s an Attributiveverb .

In thela tter ca sew a is required as well, but pronouns areneverused.

Exa m p les,n in w ein b an ah a i I am a big m an .

n a‘s b ad tah a i (contracted thou art a foo l

into b at’h a i)n in fi ‘

an m iu ah a P w a s hea clever m an ?

S o m al i m ii‘

h id thou art not a Som a li

VERRS O F EXISTENCE 89

a skari m aab a heis n ot a so ldierto l lm a tah ai P of what tribeareyouw a w an ak san yah ai heis good

m a w an ak san a heis n ot good

l a ‘agti m a

‘ul iistah a i P is them oney heavy ?

148 . (ii) It m ay refer to the presence or existen ceof an

object in a certa in pla ce.

(a ) jbg is used when referring to anim ateobjects.

Exa m p les,n in ki m a joga P is them an here?

aurti h aggasei jogta thecam els a rethereragu im isa b a jbga P how m any of the m en

presen t ?

(b) jir is used of inanim ateObjects.

Exa m p les,

w ahh kaleh m a jira P is thereanything else?h a l kan m ah h a ku jira P what is therehere?w ahh b a ku m a j iran thereis n othingb iyo w a ku jiran thereis water in

0 11 (literally lie) is often used in this sensesan adukh di h al kan ta l theboxes arehere

a kh a lk aiga b u ya lr it is in m y house

k itab ki m eska dush isi ya l thebook is on thetableb iyo b adan b a yalin thereis plenty of wa ter

( c) 0 11 (dwell, live), a lso refers to people

Exa m p les,

to l lm a h a l kan ya l P wha t tribelives hereBura o -ein u n il welived a t Bura o

h aggeo l li jirten P whereused you to live?fadi is used with sa m em eaning (lit. sit, abide)

m aga l o da an fadiya I stay in thetownBerberu fadiya hestays in Berberah aggesirakishu fad ida P wheredo theofficers dwell

(d) When referring to theexisten ceof anim a ls or plan ts,lah o (possess) is used.

90 SYNTAX OF SIMPLE SENTENCES

Exa m p k s,

m esh asa ugad m a leh d ah ai Pis thereany gam ein tha t pla ce? (lit. does tha t pla cepossess gam e?)gerenuk iyo dero bei leh dah ai,it possesses gerenuk and dero (or g. and d. arefound there).b ‘e‘id m alah a , thereis no oryx there.m el w a l b a au s bei leh dah ai

, thereis gra ss everywhere.

dareiga N ogash u bei leh dah a i, thefig grows in theNoga l .

(vi) n o kh o becom e.

’sek a dig pretend

su ldan b u n Okh dei hebecam eSultann ag b u

’ss k a digeya heis pretending to bea wom an

B. THE PARTS OF SPEECH.

1 . TheA rticle.

1 4 9 . A n oun , which in English is qua lified by theindefinitepron oun , a

,an

,or som e, any, is used in Som a li in its sim plest

form in an indefinitesense.

Sul dan b a in an lah a a Sulta n had a son

s'

i b a ‘eiyeya a dog is barkingkursi w ein b an dOneya I want a big chairfa rdo b a im aneya som ehorses a recom inggedo b an h a

'

I'

sta I havegot som egrassh olo m a leh dah ai P haveyou any flocks ?1a ‘

ag m alih i I haven ot any m oney

150 . TheDefinitearticlesuffix 28) is used to definenouns ina particular or genera l sense.

1 5 1 . -i is a lways used for,

thedefinitearticlewhere-u or -a are

not required by thefo llowing rules.

1 5 2 .-a (i) is used prim arily in defining nouns, referring to

objects or person s a ctua lly present, or in front Of thespeaker.

san dukh a gh ad rem ovethebox (which is in fron t of us)bein b u sh égeya n in ka them an is telling liesN ote. Wherethenoun in this senseis thesubject Of thesentence, it is

m oreusua l to usethedem onstrativeadjective-an this.

92 SYNTAX O F SIMPLE SENTENCES

m em bers of a cla ss,it is used in English with no article, but in

Som a li usua lly takes thearticle-u .

sirakishu ‘an o h a la d m a ja

‘a sh ah a iP do officers like cam el ’s

m ilk

n aguh u w a h ad a l b a dan yah a i wom en aregreat ta lkers .

(v) -u cannot beused with a n oun which is qua lified by an

epithet. In such ca ses -i, or

-a, onl y arefound.

o gh ash i Hab r Yun is theH. Y. headm en

Sirkal k i h ak in k a ah a thejudge- o fficer-u is n ot used with a n oun in theobjectiveca se. If a noun

in oneof theabovesen ses is objective, -a is used (cf. sup ra ) .

go rm a l a gh o b éneya W adadk a P when will the Mullah be

caught ?

1 54 . TheDefiniteArticlem ay beused with any noun ,num era l

or pronoun , a nd is Often used together with theDem onstrativeAdjectiveand Po ssessiveAdjectivesuffixes

, q.v .

Wherea definiten oun is qua lified by a num era l,it is thelatter

which takes thearticle, and n ot then oun

lab adi n in thetw o m en

2 . TheN oun .

(a ) Ca ses.

1 5 5 . Thereareno ca seinflexions in Som a li, and therelation

of a noun to therest of thesentencem ust berecognised from its

position o r thecontext.

1 5 6 . A genera l rulefor subject and Object w a s given in thefirstsection on syntax,

but this is subject to co lloquia l varia tion , wherethem eaning is Obvio us from thecontext.Genera lly, thesubject m ay bedistinguished from theobject by

thegender and num ber o f theverb , and pron oun ,if thelatter o ccurs,

but on ly in cases whereboth aredifferen t.n in k i n agti b u dilei them an killed thewom ann agti n in ki bei dishei

or n in ki n agti bei dishei}Su l dan k i b a ga rtei n agtisi. and theSultan recognised his wife.

b érigi d a m beya in a n , Su ldan d a lei, ya in an ti a rkei Afterwardsa son of a Sultan saw thegirl .

thewo m an killed them an

CASES 93

b a , ya 1 41 ) help to distinguish thesubject.dab ku ya m a ska iyo hh ask a b akh tiyei thefiredestroyed thesnakeand thefence.Herethesubject is a lso denoted by thearticle-u .

Thespecia l form s of thepronouns, w uh h u , etc. , fo llowing thesubject, areused to m akeit clear.

‘o l l k i H a b r To ljal a w uh h u dulei Al i N a l éyah , theforceof

H. T., they a tta cked theAli Na leyah.

D a tive.

1 5 7 . Som everbs m ay havetw o objects,onebeing in theda tive

ca se, or indirect object.Theusua l order is to placethedirect object beforetheindirect.

Farah w arakh di Sirkal k i b u siyei Farah gavetheletter to theofficer

gedo fara sk a 8 1 givethehorsegra ssn in b a tb b an -an dibei I gaveea ch m an ten

Motion to a px son is expressed by theparticle11 , but m o tionto a pla ce requires n o pa rticle, thepla cebeing translated a s an

indirect object.Al i u tag go to Ali

agh il k i igu yim i theheadm an cam eto m e

aurti Sirkal k i u geya take the cam els to the

OfficerBura o b an tégeya I a m going to Bura o

Al i h Ol ih isi rerkisi b u geineya Ali is taking his flocks to hisfam ily

1 5 8 . Nouns m ay be used adverbiall y, as in the last tw oexa m ples, with verbs of m otion or rest, or expressing dura tion Of

tim e. But if they a reabstra ct nouns expressing m anner or qua lity,

11 is required beforetheverb (seeBura o b an fadiya I stay at Buraolab a ‘

a sh o b ain u so‘o nei wem arched for tw o days

1 5 9 . TheA bla tiveis expressed by theprepositiona l particlek a .

m agal o dan ka im i I havecom efrom thetown

94 SYNTAX o r SIMPLE SENTENCES

‘o l l ku sh aleito m esh an ka b ahh a i, the arm y left this place

yesterday.

TheP ossessiveCa se(cf.

1 60 . Noun s a reused adjectiva lly, fo llowing another n oun whichthey qua lify

,expressing origin , qua lity, va lue, use, spa ceof tim e.

n in m agal o da a m an of thetownn in dagal b adan a grea t m an for fightingdagal k i sh alei yesterday’s ba ttle

If thenoun‘

expresses m a teria l,profession , or na tion a lity, it m ay

bem adeinto an adjectiveby thesuffix -ah (being).

san dukh b irah , a box of iron

n in To m al ah a Tom a llab a n in o sirkal ah ,

ffi rsor l a b a n m 0 srrak il

tw o 0 Ge

n in ki a skarigaah a theso ldier m an

If itexpresses thecontents, or features, thesuffix -leh is used.

b a l li b iyo leh a“

pan”

of wa tern in gadleh a bearded m an

Fea tures or clothes m ay beused a lonedescriptively.

n in san w ein a big n osed m an

gh o l idi gam b o‘a s theparty in red puggarees

n agta m aro‘a s that wom an in a red tobe

burta ngh der tha t high peaked hill

1 6 1 . TheP ar titiveCa se. Som eof,” “

any of,”

oneof.

The noun expressing thewho leis either pla ced first in the

senten ce, parenthetica lly, or fo llows thenoun expressing theportion ,Separa ted by theparticleo .

ragu in yer b a jogta a few of them en a rehere

sadehh da s k i 11 w anaksan a w a k a of thosethreetha t is thebest one

aurta ida m id b a din tei oneof m y cam els ha s diedw ah h b adan o h ol ah a iga plenty of m y anim a ls

(b) Num ber .

1 62 . Theplura l of noun s is used a s in English, wherever it isdesired to express plura l num ber, except after num era ls.

96 SYNTAx O F SIMPLE SENTENCES

Com parethefo llowing exam ples

n agti w a im anesa (3rd fem . sing. )a u rk iw a.im aneya (3rd 1na sc. sing. )n im a n k i w a im aneyan (3rd plur. )n agih i w a im aneya (3rd m as c. sing. )a urti w a im anesa (3rd fem . sing. )S irkal k i gh a l a b k isi (3rd m as c . sing. )

ga b addi b o kh o rkéda (3rd fem . sing. )Sirakish i gh a l a b keda (3rd fem . sing. )

gen ya di w a tan (fem )aurki w a. k an (m a sc . )aurti w a. tan (fem )san a dukh di w eineid h a lkan ta l

(3rd fem . Sing. )jOn ia dih i m ad an a w a ku j ira theem pty bags a rein

(3rd m a sc . sing. )ogh al b a fadid a (3rd fem . sing. ) som eheadm en aresitting

N ote. Thefo llowing caseo f fa lseana logy is interesting, as Shewing howin theSo m a li m ind thearticleis theim po rtant factor to beconsidered inthecon cord o f n oun s with adjectives and verbs.

fa rdihi (thehorses) is Often con tracted to fa rdi. Inthelatter casethefem ininecon cord is m o st usua l

,a s to theear it appears that thearticle

suffix is -di, theo rigin a l m a sculinesuffix -hi having been lost.

Exa m p le,

fardihi w a ka‘dleineya (3rd m as c. sing.)

fardi w a k a‘dleinesa (3rd fem . Sing. )

thehorses aretl 'Ottifl g

1 6 6 . The plura l nouns,b iyo

,

‘an o

, gedo , h olo , tim o , are

treated a s trueplura ls.

b iyo m a yalin thereis no water‘a n ih i w a ku an hereis them ilk

w ah h b a (nothing) is usua lly con sidered plura l :

w ahh b a ku m a j iran thereis n othing there

1 6 7 . Adjectives qua lifying plura l n oun s, when used indefinitely,

usua lly agreein num ber (seen oteto Ta blein 7

n ago w a w ein som ebig wom enY ib ruhu w a n im an hhunhhun theYibirs arebad m en

thewo m a n is com ingthecam el is co m ingthem en arecom ingthewom en arecom ingthecam els arecom ingtheofficer’s baggagethegirl

’

s sash

theofficers’

baggage

thereis them are

hereis thecam elherearethecam elsthebig boxes liehere

CON CORD 97

1 6 8 . When thenoun is qua lified by a num era l Specia l ru les forconcord apply.

If thesubject is indefinite(thenum era l having no articlesuffix)theverb is used in thesingular.

Them a sculinem ay a lways beused, but if theplura l is fem inine,and would takea denta l linking consona nt if definite, thefem inineform of theverb m ay beused.

sh an aur m iyigi ku b akh tiyei, or b akh tidei,fivecam els died in thejungle.

lab a n in b a yim i, tw o m en ca m e.afa r n ago b a yim i, four wom en cam e.

If an adjectivequa lifies thenoun a s well , it is used in the

plura l .sh an au r o hh un hh un ya b akh tiyei, fivebad ca m els died.

If however then oun is definite, theverb m ay beeither Singu laror plura l if it is singular it m ay agreein gender as with indefinitenouns .

sh an ti aur m iyig‘i ku b akh tidei, or b akh tiyen ,

thefiveca m els died in thejungle.

Wherethenoun refers to persons, theverb is usua lly used in theplura l.When thesubject of theverb is a plura l pronoun a lone, o r

when thepron oun w ahh a i is u sed, theverb is a lways plura l .Thefo llowing exa m ples aretaken from pa ssages in thestories

given in this book , and in Schleicher’

s Som a li Texte.

sh an ti gab do d ekaleh w ahh a i ku diftan sh an in an o h o dan ah ,

thefiveother girls struck fiverich young m en .

sh an ti { n an u yim aden , thefiveboys ca m eto him .

lab ada s u sa rréyen , thosetw o werein co m m and.

w ah h a ugu yim i ab ahed iyo w a l a l kéd,

therecam eto her her father and bro ther.

lehh aur k a b adei, six cam els wereleft.

lehh di aur, o lehh l ib ah h ‘nuesa

,

thesix ca m els which Six lion s wereea ting.

sh an iyo l ab ato n n in, o h ab siga ku jirei, w ah h a i

twenty-fivem en ,who werein ga o l, (Sehl . p . 1 3, l .

sirkal k a w uh h u direi a skaro aur ku j o gta ,theofficer sent so ldiers on cam els. (Sehl . p . 1 3 , l.

K.

9 8 SYNTAX OF SIMPLE SENTENCES

m a rkas a sagalki w a lal ahed ta sh aden,

Then her ninebrothers con sidered. (Schl . p .

afa rti w a l al a ah a y a ta sh adei,thefour brothers con sidered. (Schl . p . 29 , l.lab a di o dei ya yidi, thetw o o ld m en said. (Sehl . p . 30, l .

3 . TheAdjective.

(a ) Order a nd Syntax.

1 6 9 . It has been Seen in theAcciden ce 69) that adjectivesfo llow thesubstantives they qua lify, and areinflected to agreewiththem in gender and num ber

1 70 . When a n oun is qua lified by m orethan oneadjective,thesecond is coupled by theparticleo (and) .

kitab yer o m ad6 a sm a ll black bookrag kaleh o w an ék san o ther good m en

d agah h an ta w aw ein o‘u l ‘u lus thebig heavy stones

Theadjectiveis coupled by 0 , if then oun is a lso qua lified by a

num era l

lehh h a lo d o h hun h h un six bad cam elsafa r b akh a l o d o w aw ein four big m uleslab a n in o Ha b r Yun is tw o

‘

m en of theHabr Yunis

N ote. When theword kaleh (other) is oneo f tw o epithets qua lifyinga noun , it is coupled by einstead o f o .

0 kaleh has a specia l m eaning. Of. 5 1 77.

Exa m p le,

lehh gab dod ekaleh six o ther girls,but

, lehh gabdod o kaleh would m ean,

six Sim ilar girls

Wheren oun s a reused adjectiva lly they fo llow thesam erule.

sadehh n in o a skari threeso ldiersto dOb a n in o Sira k il seven officers

b ogh o l , and kun , aretreated adjectively a lso , and require0

following them when m ore than one hundred or thousand is

referred to .

lab a b ogh o l o a skari 200 soldierssadehh kun o a di Sheep

1 00 SYNTAX O F SIMPLE SENTENCES

Adv .

akh a lk a s

than tha t houseakh a l k a s

than tha t houseakh a lk a s

than that houseakh a l k a s

than tha t houseakh a lk a s

than that house

1 7 3 . In sim plesta tem ents of co m parison , theverb ah o m ay be

used with theadjective, or o m itted.

k a s m a kan ga b an yah a i P is this shorter than tha t ?rega kan raga s m a k a b adan yah a i P are thesem en m ore

num erous than those?raga s in n agu k a b ad an , wearem orethan thosem en .

san addi hereragi jOgei, kan a k a b a dan , there arem ore

peopleheren ow than last yea r.

In threeof theseexam ples theusua l order is inverted, owing tothesubject being a pron oun

,which is pla ced near theverb .

1 74 . Certain words havea com pa rativem eaning without theparticlek a .

dam a better.

shukh u lk a sh ukhu l dam a sa m éya , do better work thantha t.

erei m akelessym akem ore

,In crease.

u yers i, m akeit less .

m u sh ah aro da ida m a i k o rdinesa P will you in crea sem y

pay

1 7 5 . k a m ay beused with certain a ttributiveverbs, such a s

fo go befar

in ad A . k a fo gado don i In ayo , I do n ot wish you to go

further than A .

fara skagu fara sk a iga k a m a deréyo , your horseis not fasterthan m ine.

V .

k a w ein

(is) bigger

k a w ein b u disayabigger heis buildingk a w ein so d is

bigger buildm a k a w ein P

(is it) bigger ?

k a w ein disesa P

bigger areyou building?

SIMILARITY 1 01

1 7 6 . Thesuperlativem ay beexpressed by SS. ( =Sida ) or theparticleb a , or m ost com m onl y by u

, o r ugu .

w a sew an ak san, it is best.

Sa 8 6. w an ak san , tha t is best.sadehh da s k an sa der, this is longest of thosethree.

k an b a der,w aran ka b a fudud , that spear is lightest.isagu w a ugu w an ak san yah ai, heis thebest of a ll .rega kan k i 11 yera , thesm a llest of thesem en .

in an ti ugu yereid , theyoungest girl .b iladk i S o m alida h Ol ih i laga do fiya m ah h a u b adan P of

thethings which a reexported from Som a liland,wha t is thechief?

(c) Sim ila rity.

sida SO,in them anner, a s

a u rtayada sida a u rtiw aw eineid b iyo b ad an dOn i m ayso ,

our cam els do no t want so m uch water as thebig ones.

w a w an ak san yah a i Sidadu o kaleh , heis just a s good asyou .

Jam a sida Ab di u w an ak san yah a i, Jam a is as go od a sAbdi.

sida u m a w ein a , sida kagi w ahh b a dan gb a di m a yo,

it is not so big, and will n ot carry so m uch a s yours.

6 kaleh thesa m ea s

b ah a lka w ein a ur 6 kaleh w eyei, tha t big a nim a l is justlikea cam el.

d agahh as m id 6 kaleh , another stonelikethat.

léheg resem b linggedk

'

a sa leh h aur b u lehegyah ai, that treeis a s high as

six cam els.

b akh a sh i fara sk a bei lehegtah ai, them uleis equa l tothehorse.

kab ah an m a iss -lehega , thoseShoes arenot a pair.

iss ku or’8 8 ku thesam e(equa l to oneanother) (cf. 250)

ka la differen t (cf.Thesequa lify adjectives or abstra ct n oun sw a

’ss ku 1b , they arethesa m eprice.

lab ad atan w a’ss ku der, thesetw o arethesa m elength.

1 02 SYNTAX O F SIMPLE SENTENCES

’as ku m id , thesam e.

rak ab ya da w a ka l a h os, thestirrups areofdifferen t length .

san adukh da w a k a l a ‘u leis , theboxes areof different

weight.w a k a l a w an fiksan , they arenot as good a s onean other

(aresepara tely good).

Specia l idiom s.

d61isk as ‘el k a m a gadeya P will tha t roperea ch (belongenough for) thewell ?

aurkasa au rk a igi 1a h bg m aah a , tha t cam el is not so stronga s m ine(litera lly, tha t cam el is n ot of strength with m y cam el).

4. TheN um era ls.

1 7 8 . Thenum ber of n ouns qua lified by a num era l and theposition of thelatter ha s a lready been dealt with in theAcciden ce

42,

and in theSyntaxThecon cord of adjectives and verbs with num era ls is dea lt with

in Syn tax

1 7 9 . Thenum era l in Som a li is considered a s a substantive,and m ay takeany of the suffixes. Noun s which In English are

qua lified by a num era l arecon sidered in Som a li a s qua lifying tha tnum era l adjectiva ll y

sadeh h d a s aur o h h un hh un thosethreehad cam elsafartan nef thesefour anim a lsafartan k a nef theforty anim a lssagalk a igi aur m y nineca m els

1 8 0 . When a. num era l qua lifies a pronoun ,the possessive

adjectiveis used in Som a li suffixed to thenum era l .l ab ad ln i

“

you tw o

afa rtayada wefour

leh t di they six

1 8 1 . One when qua lifying a noun is not translated.

onem a n n in

oneanim a l nef

1 01 m en b ogh 6l iyo n in

1 01 anim a ls b ogh 61 iyo nef

1 04 SYNTAX O F SIMPLE SENTENCES

1 8 6 . When thesim pleform is a ttached to a word ending in a

vowel, this fina l vowel is usua lly dropped in speaking, especia llyin theconjunctions go t ti, h a l ki, h adi, etc.

go rta su yidi then hesaidin an kusegen yu (gen yo -u ) lehyah a i but theboy has a m are

go rm’u (go rm a -u ) yim ada P when does hecom e?

k o lk’an n u (ko l ki-an n u ) ‘

o l lk i aragnei when wesaw thearm yn agti Sul dan k

’u (Su l dan k a -u) l a he m ade friends with

sah hebei theSultan ’

s wife

1 8 7 . As sta ted in Acciden ce w an, etc. ,

is on ly used at

the’

beginning of a sen ten ce, whileb an , yan , etc.,arenever used

a t thebeginn ing but on ly in them iddle, and usua lly a s closeto theverb as possib le.

w an,b an , yan , aren ot used in Dependen t or Rela tiveclauses,

thesim plesuffixed form onl y being found, a tta ched to thecon

jun ction ,or, in Rela tiveAdjectiva l clauses, where there is no

rela tivepron oun , to thean teceden t.nin k ad u yedei yim i them an you ca lled has com e

1 8 8 . TheObjectivepronouns 60) arepla ced between the'

subjectiveand theverb .

1a ‘ag b an ku sineya I will giveyou m oney

go rm u idin n o (n a -u ) direi P when did hesend you to us

it,” “ him

,areusua lly om itted in sem en.

i Si giveit to m e u gei fara sk a take‘him thehorse

(here11 is theparticleand not thepronoun , cf.

1 8 9 . When thereis m orethan oneverb in a sentencewho sesubjects aretheSa m eperson ,

thepron oun is om itted with the

second verb a s in English. But if thesubjects Of thetw o verbs are

different, theform s a n n a,adn a

, isn a , etc.,or an igun a , etc.

,are

used

go rta san k a dab a so‘o dei 0 so gh o b tei,

then I fo llowed after him and caught him .

k o l k a san S6 m a rei,isn a h a l k a su Si so ‘

o dei,

then I ca m ethis way, and hewen t on there.

1 9 0 . The,

Em phatic form s (555) m ay beused fo llowed by thesim plepronouns or n ot.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS 1 05

an igu w a sh akheineya I a m workinganigu db l a da b an k a sh a as for m e, I am working for

kheineya theGovernm en t

I m yself, etc.,aretransla ted by certain words m ea ning

“self,

with thePossessiveadjective.

n af-ti life (ghud -di so le, Single ruhh -h i spirit)an igu n aftaida ku arkei I saw you m yself

n afi aidan k a sh akheista I work for m yselfan n agu ruhh ayaga m agal o da wehaveseen the town our

yan h u so aragnei selves

1 9 1 . To do a thing for oneself is expressed by thederiva tiveverbs in so (of.

sam ei m ake m akefor yourselfib i buy buy for yourself

1 9 2 . The com pound form s w ahh an, w ahh ad

, etc.,

and

m ah h an ,m ahb a d

, etc.,areim porta nt 57,

TheSom a li likes to bevery ca reful that hehas thelistener’sa tten tion ,

before he says wha t he has to say, a nd the form s

w ah b an, etc. , serveto introducea quo ta tion or sta tem ent of a n

event, preparing the listener for thenature of thesta tem ent tofo llow. Thus in quoting a rem ark, after severa l in terjections,a s w a rya ! i degeiso ! k6di, hewill pro ceed with, n iu ka su yidi,w uh h u tha t m an said, this is wha t he and then willfoll ow wha t hereall y did say.

Theseform s m ay beused with any kind of verb .

go rta s an n u tagnei, w ahh an n u tagnei, O lesan ,

then wewen t, this is wherewewent to , O lesan .

They arenearly a lways used with verbs such a s den , m a lei.

w ahh an dbneya , in an m an ta tago I wan t to go to -dayw ahh an u m aleineya , in u ara ri I think he is going to

dbn o run away

1 9 3 .

“

The 2nd person of this com pound form is used to

introduceinstru ctions a s to what a m an is to do,fo llowed by the

Aorist indica tiveof theverb , as in thecom m on expression to an

interpreter (cf.w ahh ad tid ahh da this is wha t you areto sayw ahh ad yesh a this is wha t you a reto do

1 06 SYNTAX O F SIMPLE SENTENCES

1 9 4 . m ah h an, etc.

,a rein terroga tiveform s.

m ah h a d dbnesa P what do you want ?m ah h an yela P wha t a m I to do ?

1 9 5 . Fo llowed by u,ku , thesepronouns m ean , Why ?

’ This

is w hy.

’

w ah h a s m ah h ad u tidi P w hy did you say that ?w ah h an ku idi this is why I said itm ah h a d u donesa h a dig P wha t do you want ropefor ? Iw ah h an ku dOneya , in an want it to tieup thethingsgh al a b k a ku hedhed o with

If theverb after w ah h an u , or m ah h an u, etc. , is negative,

theverb w ah is used (seeConjugation ,

m ah h a d igu Sheg w eida P w hy do you not tell m e?n ot, m ahh ad igu shegi m aysid P

w ah h an kugu shegi w a i this is w hy I do n ot tell you

1 9 6 . Thepron oun iss is both Reflexiveand Recipro ca l .w u iss dilei hekilled him selfw a iss leineyan they arefighting togetheriss is used with ku and k a in specia l idio m s

(c) TheSufixes.

1 9 7 . TheDefiniteArticlesuffix ha s a lready been dea lt with intheAcciden ceand Syn tax 29

,1 51

TheLinking Con sonant, which is necessa ry to a l l,ha s a lso been

described in theAcciden ce 24

1 9 8 . Thethreesuffixes, Defin iteArticle, Dem onstra tiveand

PossessiveAdjectives, m ay ea ch beused a lone, or any tw o or a ll

threem ay beatta ched to one. n oun .

Thefo llow ing a rethepo ssiblecom bina tions.

(a ) Dem onstrativeand DefiniteArticle 3 1

Thela tter is a tta ched without a linking consonant .n in k an u

, gedk a sa , k o l k a si.

(b) DefiniteArticlea nd Dem onstrative 3 1

TheDem onstra tivewhen following thearticletakes a linking

1 08 SYNTAX OF SIMPLE SENTENCES

(n ) It is used with adverbia l noun s to form Preposition s (5s an dukh i du sh isi on thetop of thebox

m eska h o stisi underneath thetab lejbn iada gudaheda insidethebag

Such possessives, used with adverbs a lone, transla tea persona lpronoun governed by a preposition .

h o rtin a in front of youdeh t da between themsidada likeyou

(iii) Wherein English a persona l pronoun is qua lified by a

num era l, in So m a li thenum era l takes thepossessiveadjective.

l a b adayada wetw o

a fartin i you four

In thesa m ew ay thepossessiveadjectiveis used with indefinitepronouns 67 and

in tin a kaleh therest of you

Thedifferencem ust ben oticed between theexam ples,l ab ada idi aur, o r lab a di a u rta idi m y tw o cam elsa u rta idi lab a tw o of m y ca m els

(iv) It is used with thefo llowing wordsrun right bein

We. run it is right wa beinw a run ta i I am right w a hs in taiw a run ta thou a rt right w a bein ta

w a run tl s heis right w a bein tis

w a run tad sheis right w a bein tedw a run ten weareright w a bein tenw a run taya weareright w a bein taya

w a run tin yeareright w a bein tin

w a run tOd they areright w a bein tod

(f ) TheInterroga tiveP ronoun a nd Adjective.

20 2 .-em ay beused either a s a suffix (Interrog. Adj.) or a s a n

In terroga tivePron oun , with thecon son ants k and t .

a kh a l keP what house?keP which one?

lie

it is a lie

I a m lyingthou art lyingheis lyingsheis lyingwearelyingwearelyingyea relyingthey arelying

INDEFINITE PRO NOUNS 1 09

-m a is onl y used as a suffix (cf.

n iu m a P wha t m an ?

nium a ku sh égei P wha t m an to ld you ?

ya P a ya P ayo P wha t ?w ho ?whom ? (cf.

ya ku Siyei P who gaveit to you ?a yad ara ktei P who m did you see

m ahh a P wha t ? (objective).m ahh ad dou s sa P wha t do yo u want ?m ah b a d ku falesa P wha t a reyou doing it for

-m a suflixed to a pron oun ,m ean s which of

idin m a P which of you?

an n am a P which of us ?

kum a P w ho (im personally)

2 03 . The Possessive Pronoun and Po ssessive InterrogativePron oun m ay beform ed with theverb root leh ha ving (cf.

an iga leh it is m ine(or an a leh )isaga leh it is his

etc.

Thesea rem oreidiom a tic than w a kaigi, w a kisa .

yaleh P kum aleh P whose?fara sk an yaleh P whoseis this horse?

(g) IndefiniteP ronouns a nd Adjectives.

204 . (i) l a is a purepron oun , a nd is used to tran sla tethepassivevoiceof theverb (see

20 5 . (n ) Substa ntiva l words, som e,”

any,” “

a ll ,” “

a lone67,

n in b a yim i‘id m a ku tagh an Pw ahh m a dbnes a P

sa dehh gh o f b a din tei‘idl a

h a l kan gh ar b a y a ldaur b a h adeidaur iyo l ab ato n

som eoneha s co m edoes anyoneknow youdo you want anything ?threepersons havedieduna ccom panied, a lonesom eliehere

som earelefttwen ty Odd

1 1 0 SYNTAx O F SIMPLE SENTENCES

in rag b a jogta som em en a rehere

in ti Saka tim i thosethat cam ethis m orningn in hebel a certain m a n

w a r,hebel O P you, what’s your na m e?

206 . When used with a Persona l Pronoun in a descriptivesense, thePossessiveadjectiveis suffixed (cf. 201

in tin a kaleh therest of yough a rk b da thosefewn in ki kéligi tegei them an went a lonean n agu kel igayaga sam einei wedid it by ourselvesgidigb d , dam an to d a ll of them

ku l l igén i a ll of us

isagu go n igisi Si so‘o dei hewent on separately

207 . weli-gi never, is used in thesam ew ay with possessives.

wel iga i m a an a rag I havenever seen itwel igin arki m a ysan you will never seeitwel iga h au n o kh o n never do it again

208 . Som e,” “

a few , etc. , in a partitivesensea retran slated a s foll ows.

in tin a gh a r b a h h un som eof you arebad

in ta b a risk a b a h a dei, or thus m uch of riceis leftin ta b arisk aéih

(iii) IndefiniteAdjectives.

20 9 . Many,” “ little,

” “ few ,

” “o ther,

” “every,” “

a ll .

Theseareusua lly used qua lifying an indefinitepronoun (onlyb a dan and yer agreewith theDefiniteAr ticle).

w ahh b a dan o b a ris l a kali bring us plenty of ricew ah h k a yer i Si givem elessrag b ad an m any m enraga b a dan a ll thosem en (i.e. thosem any

m en )ragi b a dn a them any m enfa rdo yer a few horses

n in uh ,m id un a ny m an ,

a nything a t a l l

in ta kaleh aur gen iah u Sara put therest on a separa teca m elfardu o dan a ll thehorses

1 1 2 SYNTAX O F SIMPLE SENTENCES

2 14 . TheInfinitiveis onl y used with auxiliary verbs,dbn will jir bea ccustom ed to l ah a wou ld k ar beable

w a ku shegi d6n a I a m going to tell youh a l k a s an fa diyi jirei tha t is whereI used to live

(N otetha t thea ccen t is p la ced on thela st sylla bleof theInfinitive

beforejir, a nd, in the2nd a nd 3rd Conjuga tions , beforel ah a .)

ain k a s m a gh o b 6n l ah aid P would you havedonelikethat ?m a so

‘on ka rta P can you wa lk ?

Theauxiliary and prin cipa l verbs aretrea ted as one, and arenot

separa ted by any particles at any tim e.ku m a a rki ka ro I canno t seeyouS o m al idu a in k a s m a gh o b on Som a lis cann ot do liketha tka rto

In theFutureDefinite, theauxiliary is often dropped.

w a yel i I am going to do it

u shegi I will tell him

TheInfinitiveis theba sis from w hich a ll Im pa'

fect tenses“

an d

m ost Nega tivetenses a reform ed.

2 1 5 . TheVerb -Adjectiveand Va h -N ou/n havebeen describedin Acciden ce 1 5 (b),

21 6 . A orist Indica tive.

This tense ordinarily expresses a habitua l or custom ary act,

without theem phasis on thehabit im plied in thePresent Habitual .

Sirakish u tim ir m a‘un ta P do officers eat da tes ?

To m al idu iyo M idgu w a iss Tom als and Midgans interm a rrygursa da

rerk ayaga gu w a lb a ‘s la sk a m y fa m ily is a ccustom ed to draw

tan k a so dam in jira fro m thesewells every sum m er

2 1 7 . It a lso indica tes wha t is to bedone, or can bedoneh agge16 m a ra Bura o P how (by wha t w ay) does onego

to Burao ?

h ilib m agal o da m a l aga ib so da P is m ea t to bebought in thetown ?h aggein u tagn a P w ah h a idin whereareweto go ? you areto

taktan ,Boh o tleh . go to Bohotleh (cf. 1 92,

MOODS AND TENSES 1 1 3

w ahh ad tidahh da you areto say this, or, do you say

this

m a tura P am I to throw it away? or, Sha llI thr ow it away?

m a ku ken a P sha ll I bring it to you

2 1 8 . The3rd person of this ten seis used to translatethePresent Pa rticiple, or rela tiveclause.

n in af yagh an a m an kn ow ing thelanguagesh im b ir f6rida a singing bird

isago gedk a h urda whilehew a s a sleep by thetree

2 1 9 . TheP reteriteexpresses a com pleted act in pa st tim e.sh ilei b u yim i heca m eyesterdayFarah i Shegei in tan ad im an Farah had told m e before you

cam e

2 20 . Or an a ct just co m pleted a t thepresent tim e(usuallyfound with w a ) 1 42 d) .

Sirkal ku w a tegei m an ta theOflicer has goneto -day

sh alei sirkalku tegei theofficer wen t yesterday

22 1 . TheP resent Continua tiveexpresses either a continuousa ction in present tim e, or an in ten tion o r willingness, as in English .

h aggetégesa P whereareyou going ?akh a l b an diseya I am building a house

n ag b an gursaneya I am going to m arry a wifela ‘

ag b an ku sineya I will giveyou m oneym ahb ad iga Sis6nesa P what will you givem efo r it ?m a ga ran ésa P do you understand (what I am

saying)but, af S o m ali m a gara ta P do you understand Som a li

(A orist)

22 2 . The P a st Con tinua tive expresses a continuous, o r

in co m pleted a ction , in pa st tim e.

fara s b an fuleyei I w a s riding a horse

2 2 3 . TheFutureDefiniteis a delibera testatem en t of what isabout to happen .

w a tegi don a I am going to go

m ahb ad yeli den ta P wha t areyou going to do ?

1 1 4 SYNTAx OF SIMPLE SENTENCES

224 . TheP resen t a nd P a st Ha bitua l express a usua l o ccurren ceor habit.sub ahh w a l b a Farah b a an ski Farah usua lly fetches thegra ssso gh a di jira every m orning

b érigi h ore S o m al idu fa rdo form erly the Som a lis used to

b adan l ah a in jirtei possess m any ponies

225 . TheConditiona l is used whenever a condition exists,whether expressed or understood. It refers to a ll tim es, and cannotbeused except in thePrin cipa l sen ten ce.

w a ku sin lah a I Should, or should havegiven you

h adan a rko w a garan l ah a if I saw him I should recognisehim

226 . TheP otentia l expresses suggestion , possibility, or probability, and is often used euphem istically for theFutureDefinite.It is very com m on in songs.

m a l a im an d6ne hem ay probab ly com ein sh a Al l ah h w a 1a hele pleaseGod, wem ay find it

an w a l alk a dilne wem ight kill your brotherim an done iyo im an m ayo , hem aycom eor not, I don

’t knoww ar m a h ayo

w ahh a ka sta a d araktide, h a wha tever you m ay see, do not stopjOgso n

in ka sta h a jirte, w a gadeya however far it m ay be, I willrea ch it

2 2 7 . TheSubjunctivetenses a reon ly used in Subordinateor

Relativeclauses, and will bedea lt with in thesection s referring to

them .

(b) ThePersons.

2 2 8 . The2nd pers . and 3rd fem . sing. aredenoted by t, or S ,in thetenseterm ina tion .

The1 st pers . plur. is denoted by n .

Thel st pers. plur. of theverb has only oneform for both thein clusivea nd exclusivepronouns.

The2nd pers. plur. m ust a lways beused in addressing m ore

than oneperson .

1 1 6 SYNTAX O F SIMPLE SENTENCES

2 3 2 . (1 1 ) Condition a l n is added to theAffirm a tivePo tena nd P oten tia l . tia l. This is conjuga ted with m a

and thePerson a l Pron oun s.

m a an ga rten I Should not understand

2 3 3 . (iii) Im pera tive, P reteritea nd A orist Subjunctive(sta tem en ts) . n is added to theInfin itive(in the2nd and 3rd Conjugation s theInfinitivea lready ends in n

, a nd is thereforeuna ltered).This is not conjugated in theperson s, except in theIm pera tive,

in which the2nd pers. plur. takes -a in thel st conjugation , -in a in

the2nd and 3rd conjuga tions.

h a sh égin (2nd sing.) do n ot tellh a dilin a (2nd plur. ) do n ot killh a jOgso n in a (2m d plur. ) do n ot stopy an u (contra cted to yu ) dil iu let him n ot killyan ai ya i) gursan let them n ot m arrym a an tegin I did n ot go

in an a d tegin b an dOneya I wan t you n ot to go

m a a in u so‘o n ka rin wewereunab leto wa lk

2 3 4 . (iv) The Continua tive tenses of the Indica tive and

Subjunctivehavea lready been described in 92.

2 3 5 . (v) In all Nega tive Interroga tive tenses (except theConditiona l), theparticlean is used.

Sim p leten ses (Aorist, Preterite, Aorist Subj . ) havethesim ple,Infinitive, form a s in (iii).

Con tinua tiveten ses have theform u sed in Past Continuative(sta tem ents) and Continua tiveSubjun ctive.

m ian an ku Shegin Pm ian ad Sirkal 1 a jOgin P

m i an u im an in in P

im i sa n in a n tégin in P

im isa n in b usta an l ah ain P

do , o r, did I not tell you ?are, or, were you not with a n

officeris, or, w a s hen ot com ing ?how m any m en a ren ot com ing?how m any m en haveno b lanket?

PARTICLES 1 1 7

7 . TheP ar ticles .

(a ) Order.

2 3 6 . TheVerba l Particles a nd thePersona l Pron ouns area ll

pla ced in fron t of theverb . Wherem orethan onearefound to the

sa m everb , they fo llow a strict ru lea s to their relativepositions,having, so to speak, separa tevalues, or affinities with theverb , sotha t theparticleor pronoun having thegreatest affinity with theverb is placed im m edia tely beforetheverb , theo thers preceding it intheorder of their affinities, a s in thefo ll owing table.(A has thegrea test affinity, H thelea st. )

m a ? an Pers . Pers . m a

1 45) (Neg.) Pr on . Pron . (Neg. )w a. (subj .) (obj.) ku 145) Si w ada VERB

Exa m p les,

H G F E D B A

m i n an ad n a 1a so w ada k ah ain P did you n ot bring a ll

with us ?

B A

so ka l a diga put down hereseparatelyF E C B

lei (1a 1) m a so dib in it has not been handed m e

E Dm a ku jira P is it there?

D C

ku m a jiro it is not thereF E D

m ahh ad igu Sheg-w eidei P w hy did you not tell m e?

(b) Uses.

2 3 7 . Particles havebeen divided 1 24— 1 27) in to Verba la nd Conjun ctive.

TheSyn tax of Conjunctive Particles will be found in the

section on Coordina teand Subordina tesenten ces (Part Iv) .

1 1 8 SYNTAX OF SIMPLE SENTENCES

TheVerba l Particles m ay beAdverbia l or Prepositiona l . Ad

verbia l particles, as thenam eim plies, qua lify theverb . (i) Theyindica teAffirm a tion ,

Interroga tion or Negation (h a , m a , an , yan ,

w a , b a , ya ) . Thesehavea ll their specia l uses and constructions.

(ii) They m ay correspond to certain sim pleadverbs or prepo sitions.

Thela tter areused in closerela tion with a verb , and arean

essentia l feature of the language. By suitable com bina tion s a

num ber of changes m ay berung, a variety of m eanings given to one

verb , and expressions which would o therwiserequireparaphrasingput m orecon cisely.

(c) Adverbia l P a rticles (w a da , ka l a , Si, so ) .

23 8 . w a da (a ll , who le) m ay beused with theverb a lone, or inaddition to theindefiniteparts of speech, ku l li, gidi , 6 d an , etc.

san adukh di 6 dan w a da kén a bring a ll the.boxes to

getherS o m al idu 6 dan w a ku w ada tagh an a ll theSom a lis know you

2 3 9 . ka l a apart, in differen t ways

Sirak ish i iyo a urti w a kala theofficers aretravelling apartdahh a isa from thecam els

sidel a kala garta P how does onedistinguish them ?n in ki hh um a iyo n in ki w an ék do you know thedifferen cebe

san a m a kal a tagh an P tween a good and a bad m an ?

w a kala jerebeya fardah a I am trying the ponies (forcom parison )

It m ay beused with verbs, adjectives, or nouns (cf.ka la b ihh i unfo ld, expandkal a dero takeyour choicew ekal a dereyan they arenot a s fast as each

otherw a ka l a der they aredifferent lengths

240 . Si,so 1 25) areused with theVerb Noun s as well as

with o ther pa rts of theverb .

si so ‘o dki them arch out

so n o kh o dki thereturn

1 20 SYNTAX O F SIMPLE SENTENCES

‘an ih i yu sib rar ku l issei them ilk hem ilked in to a skin

(ii) with, by m ean s of.

h a m in di ku tab in do n ot touch it with a knifew ahh b a l augu m a fa l o nothing is donewith itb an adukh di bei ugu dishei they shot them with therifles

243 . ku, or u for, on a ccount of

,for thesakeof.

b iyo b u ku m agh an yah a i heis gonefor waterk o lk a sei h a rad u b akh tiyen then they died of thirstgen yo da yan u gh aleya a yo da I a m going to kill them arefor

your stepm otherlab a rub o d b an ugu leh ah a i I am owed tw o rupees by youm ah h ad u taktei P why did you go ?

244 . u is used with certain nouns in an adverbia l sen se.

ad u h ad a l speak updib u fadiso s it b ackd akh so u tag go quickly

u to (a person ).Sirkalk a u tag go to theoflicer

u dig tea ch

24 5 . k a fro m ,out of

,off

h aggek a tim i P wherehaveyou com efro mgh al ab k i san dukh a k a so gh ad takethething out of thebox

h Ol ah a igi leiga h adei m y flocks have been lootedfrom m e

Idiom a tic uses of k a .

m el w a lb a an k a dOneyo , k a

w a I

k o lkei m esh a k a egen , w a k a

w a iyen

m ahh ad k a b agh a tei P

k a tag go from ,i.e. leave, is a lso

thing at a place.

lehh n in b a m esh a laga tégei Six m en wereleft therein an k i b a in an ti uga tégei Wan theboy left thegirl a ram

a cross,over, through .

k a ta labk a b Od

wherever I looked, I could not

find it

when they looked there,they

cou ld not find her

wha t areyou afraid of

used in thesenseof leaving a

PARTICLES 1 21

h bggi darta bei k a so du stei shecam ethrough theholeinthewall

about, con cerning, as to .

w ar m a k a h aisa n in ka P ha veyou news of them an ?

w ar k a m a h a yo I ha ven o news (of him ) .d61ad a b an k a sh akheineya I am working for theGovern

m en tlug b an k a jabei I havebroken m y legm ahb ad uga h adlesa P what areyou grum b ling at?m ahb ad iga Sis6nesa P wha t will you givem efor it?

246 . kaga upon ,against

k o l k a su m ad ah a kaga dit’tei then hestruck it upon thehea d

w ahh ai riyo tei iya du lab a Sh im shedrea m ed tha t tw o birds satb iro d lab ada lugo d kaga jogta upon her tw o legskaga rid Sho otnin Sirkal rasas b a ku da ‘dei

, a bullet stru ck an officer,and

b bdo di kaga da ‘dei hit him on thethigh

247 . l a together with

In addition to ha ving thesim plem eaning of theprepo sition ,

l a is used in certain euphem istic and o ther phrases .

1a tag

1a so‘o stea l

,loot (literally, go o ff with)

l a b Ob

l a kali bring (a thing)l a S6ro d (s o 6ro d) bring (a person )l a jog ha lt

,causeto ha lt

1a hab so escapewith, sa vel a jog, l a fadiso livewith (as a servant)

24 8 . Thereflexivepronoun iss is used with thepa rticles k a ,ku

, u . It is usua lly contracted to ’8 8 k a ,

’ss ku (pronoun ced sk a ,

sku ) .

249 . iss k a,

’SS k a ,

u sed in abrupt com m ands.

’ss k a tag go away’as k a b ahh a get away with you’Ss k a eg look out 1’ss k a da never m ind

1 22 SYNTAX o r SIMPLE SENTENCES

With o ther tenses it m ay betransla ted by“ just,” Sim ply.

w a’sek a fadiya I am just sitting down

w a’ss k a din tei heSim ply died (i.e. a na tura l

dea th)

250 . iss ku ,

’ss ku , iss u

iss ku d ow ada !’ss ku l ab l ab’ss ku tol

iss u gei

iss u d a r, or’ss ku da r

to l l o l lki w a iss Ii jiran

It is theOppositeof kal a (cf.

sidei iss ku yib in P’ss ku m id’SS ku to l l’SS ku ab a’ss ku ih

with oneano ther, together.

clo setogetherfo ld up togethersew togetherbring togetherm ix togetherthetribes area ll together(m ixed up)

1 77 and

how do they com pare?thesam e

of thesam etribe(children ) of thesa m efa therof thesam eprice

1 24 SYNTAX O F COMPOUND SENTENCES

(n ) with theIndicativetenses of theverb to translatetheEnglish participles.

w ahh ai a rken in an ti o dirti they saw thegirl sitting in thefadida trees

rérk b di o l a da ‘ei b u a rkei hefound his fam ily lootedhOl ih iSi an k a gh adn o , isago let us loot his flocks whilehe(isaga o ) sh irka ku m agh an is away at thecoun cilyah ai

(iii) a s m eaning because.w a l o takh sirei o iyagu Shuk they were punished becausehulki gh o b o n w aiyen they would n ot do thework

(iv) in theidiom o m ah ai withou t (Conditiona l).

h a S6 n o kh o n o b an dukh i heli do n ot com e ba ck withoutm ah ai finding therifle

an iga o fasah h i m ah ai h a ka do n ot leave the en closuretégin a h éro da without m y leave

2 5 5 .-n a and, usua lly introduces a new subject.

adigun a m ah b ad donesa P and you, what do wan t ?d a b a dédn a and afterwardsm idn a w a w an ak san yah a i, oneis go od and IS bad

m idn a w a hh un yah a i

-n a fo llowed by a nega tiveverb m ean s no .

n in n a m a jogo

m idn a m a tegin

25 6 . For other particles, see§ 1 27, and Syntax of Com poundSenten ces, Fina l and Conditiona l .

B. SUBORDINATE SENTENCES.

2 5 7 . A Subordinatesen ten ce is onewhich depends on , or

represents som epart of speech in , theprincipa l senten ce, an d is

connected with it by a conjun ction or rela tivepron oun . It m ay

represent

Substantive, Adjective, or Adverb .

ADJECTIVAL SENTENCES 1 25

1 . Genera l Ru les.

258 . In a ll Subordinatesenten ces, if theverb is in Pa st tim e,theIndica tivem ood is used, except in Conditiona l sen ten ces. In

Present or Futuretim etheIndica tiveo r Subjun ctivem ay beused.

TheSubjun ctiveis used to express un certain ty, or what is inthem ind of thespeaker, whiletheIndica tiveis confined to definitefa cts .

Thenega tiveparticlein a ll Subordinateclauses is an (of. § 274,n ote).

2. Adjectiva l Sentences.

25 9 . In English thesesen ten ces a reusua lly introduced by a

rela tivepronoun,

“w ho,

” “whom ,

” “which,”

etc., but theSom a li

has no such pronoun .

Theclausethereforefo llows directly after theAnteceden t, a s inm any ca ses in English.

WheretheEnglish relativepron oun would bethesubject of therela tiveclause, n o persona l pronoun is used in Som a li a s subject totheverb in theclause.

h im an ka , h a l ko fa diyan , u yed call thosem en , w ho aresittingover there

askarrti, h ujudda s sam éisei, the so ldiers, who com m itted

takh sir ‘ulus bei leh dah ai tha t crim e, deservea heavy

punishm en tn in ki

,am in k an ‘ arkeyei, h aggu

” whereha s them an gone, whomk a ‘ei P I saw just n ow ?

fa rdih i, sh alei m ejo rku ib shei3, the ponies them ajor boughtw a la ‘

ag b adn a4 yesterday co st a lot of m oney

h ol ih i, saka l a kénei, m a l a S6 ha vethea nim a ls, which werew a da a roriyei P brought this m orning, been

a ll wa tered?dadka , gelisi 1a da ‘ei, w a yim i thepeople, whosecam els were

looted, havecom en in ki, ai" akh a lkisa fadidei, he said to the m an

,whose

yu ku yidi houseshew a s in

1 Am ink a an .

3 Of. n oteto TableIII. 105.

5 Pronounced a s o neword nm kyai. a.i=she.

1 26 SYNTAX o r COMPOUND SENTENCES

w il ki, an w aran k i k a gh a dei,

w a adaneya

n in ki, an hela l ah ain ,w ahh b a

m a ta rofara ski, an b iyo b adan don in ,

b iladk an ku w an ak san yah a i1

260 . Theparticle6 , fo llowed by theIndicativem ood, is used

apparen tly a s a rela tivepron oun , wherethela tter is thesubject oftheverb in theclause, usua lly when theantecedent is a lso qua lifiedby ano ther epithet, such as an adjectiveor num era l .

sh an ti in an ,egab dih i gursadei, thefiveboys, who m arried the

u yfm a den girls, cam efn an k a H . B .

,egab a ddaidi ye I havegiven a uthority to the

reid gursadei, yan u dibei boy H. B.,w ho m arried m y

h iikum k a young daughter

2 6 1 . TheConjunction o is used with theIndica tivem ood to

translatetheEnglish participles, or an adjectiva l clause, when it islitera lly on ly a coordina tesentence.

w ahb an arkei lehh gab do d o‘el I saw Six girls washing a t a

ku m a id6neya wellw ah h ai ara kta l ab adi Sh im shesees thetw o birds Sittingb iro d , o lab adi lugo d kaga upon her tw o legsjbga

rerkOdi o l a da ‘ei b u arkei, 0 he found his fam ily looted,

‘o l l da ‘

ai looted by a n enem yw ah h a ugu yim i afa r n in , in ta s there cam eto her four m en,0 m idh a an 11 garan in noneof whom recognised her

2 62 . TheSubjunctivem ood is used in Present or Futuretenses,wheretherelativeclauserefers to a group, class, sort, or purpose.

n in ki shukhul dOneyo h a yi them an tha t wants work letm ado him com e

geli 1a ib ineyo m id k a k ah h a iso take for yourself oneof the

ca m els tha t arefor sale

1 Pron o unced w anaksényahal .

theboy I to ok thespea r fromis angry

them an , w ho ha s no property,is of n o use

thehorse, which does n ot wan t, m uch wa ter, is good for thiscoun try

1 28 SYNTAX O F COMPOUND SENTENCES

k o l ku yim ado i so Sheg when hecom es, tell m em el w an fik san -cin n degn o so go and find a go od pla cefordon us to ca m p

2 6 7 . while is transla ted by in ti or 0 .

in tei h a b ash a gh 6deyen , yei k a while they were digging the

gurguratei grave, shecrawled awayisago h ajki ku m agh an a , ya while he w a s aw ay on the

n agtisi d adab tei pilgrim age, his wifehad a

dream

2 6 8 . until, a s far a s, in ti.

in tan so n o kh do m esh a jOgso da wait thereuntil I com eba ckfadi in ti Sh ék a da d am aneso wait un til thestory is finishedin ta d so

‘o n ka rto so

‘o go as far as you can

26 9 . beforethat, in tan (in ti-ah ).

(Herean is theneg . p a rt ,a nd theVerb is used in thenega tive. )

in tan an S6 n o kh o n h a k a tegin a don’t go away beforeI com eba ck

in teidin an dégin in , an a w a idin I will ca tch you up beforeyou

gadeya ha lt

2 70 . after,ko lkan B a dw ein k a tegei, da

b adéd m ahh a k a da ‘ei P

ko l kad Berberah tim id , dab adédto w a l a h élei

ko l ka d sida yesh o , d ab adéd

akh a lk a ga l

2 7 1 . (b) Fina l sentences in order tha t, in .

Always used with theSubjunctive.

m agal o dan‘

gh o b 6neya in an I am going to Berberah to

b aris iyo tim ir so den to fetch riceand dates

1m agaloda an .

after I left Badwein , wha thappened ? (When I left B. ,

afterwards wha t happened?)it w a s found after you cam etoBerberah

a fter you have done that,en ter thehouse

CONDITIONAL SENTENCES 1 29

n im an k a igu yeda , in an l a ca ll those m en tha t I m ay

b adl o ta lk to them

m esh a, ’SS k a dum o ,

in an lagu hidetherethat you m ay n ot

beseen

2 7 2 . (c) Conditiona l Sentences .

If,

.h ad i.

A Conditiona l senten cecon sists of tw o parts,theProta sis, or Co ndition or Assum ption , and theApodosis,

o r Conclusion .

2 7 3 . (i) A ssum p tions . Indica tivem ood in both .

h a dad m o skh in tah ai, m ah h ad if you are a pauper (as youu sh akh éiso n w eida P say), why do you n o t work ?

h a dan ad’

m o skh in ah ain ,m ah h if you arenot a pauper, why

ad 11 sh akheisa ta P do you work ?

h ad ad m agal o da tégesa , Sul if you a re(rea lly) going to thedan ka u tag town , go to theSu ltan

h adan u im an in in ,sugi m a yo if heis n ot com ing, I will not

wait

h ad a d jOgtei, m ah h ad ark if you were there, what didesei P you See?

h adan ad jOgin ,Sid a d Ogtah ai P if you werenot there, how do

you kn ow ?

274 . (ii) FutureDefiniteCondition ,or P rom ise.

Pro tasis— Aorist Subjunctive.

Apodosis— FutureIndicativeor Im perative.

h a du yim ad o , u shegi don a if hecom es, I a m going to tellhim

h a dad tegi w eid o 1

(or h adan a d if you do n ot go , you will betegin ), w a lagu gh o b 6neya caught

2 7 5 . (iii) P resent or P a st Unfulfilled condition (Im a gina ry).

Prota sis— Aorist Subjun ctive.Apodosis— Condition a l .

‘

h adeinu Bérberah jbgn o , 1a‘agti if wewerein Berberah

,I Should

an ku Sin lah a giveyou them oney1 Theverb w ah 1 1 7) is o ften used in Condition a l sen tences to tra n sla tethe

nega tiveverb, in placeo f thepa rticlean with a nega tiveten se.

1 30 SYNTAX o r COMPOUND SENTENCES

h adanein u Berberah jogin , if wewere n ot in Berberah,w ahh a b adan m a an ku I shou ld n ot giveyou so

siyen m uchh a dad sh dlei ta kto , w a u if you had gone yesterday,311 0 13611 l ah aid you would havecaught him

h adan ad Adan o l l i jirin , w ah if you had n ot been living inh a s m a ad garaten Aden , you would not have

understood tha t

2 7 6 . (iv) FutureIndefiniteCondition, or Suggestion .

Pro ta sis— ContinuativeSubjunctive.

Apodosis— Conditiona l, or Neg. Pres. Continuative.

h adan nu berri tégen o , n in ki if wewereto go to -m orrow ,

an n u gh o b 6n l ah a in weshould ca tch them an

h adan an n u tégin in , gh o b o n if we were n ot to go, we

m ayn o shou ld n ot catch him

N ote. In a long sentencetheConjun ction , Neg. Part. , and

Pronoun ,m ay beSplit up.

h adiad shukhulk a an dOneya if you do not do thework Ian ad gh 6b o n in ,

shukh u l wish, you are no good to

kaiga ku m a w an ak san id m e

27 7 . is tran slated by h adi .

h adad d6neso iyo h adan ad whether you wan t to or not, goden in in ,

iss ka tag

or by followed by theIm perative.

am a h a sa m ado am a h a b h u whether it is good or bad, do itm ado

, yel

2 7 8 . un less,” “

w ithout, m ay betran sla ted byh a S6 n o kh on ,

b an dukh i o heli do not return , w ithout findingm ah ai therifle

2 7 9 . (d) Ca usa l sentences .

Thereis no conjun ction m eaning“ because, but 0 is used in the

following w ay.

w a lagu takh sirei o adigu shuk you werepunished becauseyouhul ki gh o b o n w a i wou ld not do thework

w ah h an ku adadei, o iyagu lab a I wa s angry, becausethey weresa

‘ado d k a ragen tw o hours late

SYNTAX O F COMPOUND SENTENCES

2 8 4 . (b) As Object.

(i) Indirect sta tem ent, thought, wish, etc.

w ahh an n u dOnen a in ad so r wewan t you to giveus fo odn a siso

w ah b an dOneya in an Adan I want to go to Adentago , or in an Adan tago b andOneya

w a a m a leineya in rOb ku di‘i I think therain is going to fa llden o

k o l k a su o gh adei in rag u _ yim i then helea rned that m en ca m ein an ti to thegirl

k o lk a sa w adadk i dam a‘ei in u then the priest tried to run

a ra ro away

2 8 5 . (ii) Sim pleindirect question s.

in u yim i so hub so find out if hecam eb a l in si fbgtah a i so w eidi go a nd a sk if it is far

in u tégeyo iyo in kaleh w a r‘I do not know if heis com ing

m a h a yo or not

m 6yi in an u ful an ogb on iyo I do not know if hedoes “

n ot

in an u dOn in know how to ride or if he

does not wan t to

28 6 . (iii) Indirect questions, introduced by interroga tivepron ouns.

‘id 11 yab a i so den find out who heis

h adan ad o gb on‘iddi go rsei, if you do not know w ho cut

m ah h an ku sam éya P them ,wha t a m I to do ?

w uhh u deneyo w eidi a sk wha t hewantsw eidi b a l w ah h ai k a b agh a a sk wha t they arefrightened of

neyani Sheg w ah h ai u sh a kh s in tell m e why they would n ot

w a yen work

2 8 7 . (iv) Indirect questions, introduced by interroga tiveadverbs.

h Oluh u in tei yih in m a ku did he tell you how m anysh égei P anim a ls therea re?

1 — I ha ven o new s .

ORATIO OBLIQ UA 1 33

so eg in ti tam b ukh i l éheg go a nd look how big thetent isyah ai

m esh a s in téi jirto w ar m a

h a yom el ii jiro garan w ai

go r 11 Si so‘6neyo w ar m a

h aisa P

5. Ora tio Obliqua .

2 8 8 . In narra tivethereis n o oratio Obliqua in So m a li, butafter theverbs,

‘say

’ ‘ tell ’ (Od o , Sheg), the ora tio recta is re

pea ted.

Thepronoun s,'

w ahh an, etc. ,

aregenera lly used.

w uh h u yidi, “ l ib ahh b an hesaid hehad seen a liona rkei

w uh h u yidi,

“w a idin k a he said he would follow on

d ab a so so‘o neya after you

w ahh a d n a tidi, gel b adan you to ld us weShou ld get m anybeidin h élesan cam els

w ahh ad tidahh da ,“so r b an tell him I wan t food

deneya ”

w ahh ad tidahh da ,“ ’SS k a tell them to go away

taga”

28 9 . In pla ce of w ahh a , w a ti is often used with the

pronoun s.

w a tan ku idi, 86 n o kh o I to ld you to com ebackw atad tidi, ’

8 8 k a jog you to ld m eto stayw arakh di m eP w a ti 1a gubei whereis theletter ? that w a s

burned

how fa r that pla ceis I do no t

knowI do not kn ow whereit is .

do you kn ow when heis goingon

APPENDIX I .

Sea sons in Som a lila nd.

Jila l January— March(Ka l il ) AprilGu May— June(S.W. Mon soon)Haga r July

— October (Ka rif on thecoast)D air Novem ber— Decem ber (N .E. Monsoon)

N a m es of m o nths (corresp o nding to theA ra bic).

A ra bic.

Moharram

Rabia a l Awa lRabia al AkhirJum ad a l AwalJum ad a l AkhirRajabShaaban

Ram adhan

Shawa lDhul KadaDhul Hijjah

D ays of theweek a rethesa m ea s A ra bic.

Monday Ish in -ti Friday Jim a‘-i

Tuesday S a l a sa -di Sa turday S ab ti-diWednesday Rab uhh -i Sunday Ah ad-di

Thursday Kh am l s-k i

D ago

Durah h h o reDurah h dam be

Raja l h o reRaja l dehheRaja l dam be

seb uh aw a b a risSon (or So n kad)Son fur

Sid ata l

Ara fo

APPENDIX II .

l a ‘ag-ti m oney

,silver

m ush ah aro -di wagesh isa b -ti a ccountsa rrif-ki sm a ll changedah a b -ki go ldrub iad -di rupee(pl . rub o d )rub i-gi 5 rupee, 8 anna s

b Ol a d -di 4 anna s

a n tin -ti 2 anna s

gam b o -di anna

beisad -di 2 pics

a rdi-di 1 pie

Weight.

weight, sca lespound1; pound4 o z .

Mea sure.

fathom (roughly 5 ft. 10 in . ) used in

m ea suring ropea ca m el’s m arch (about .9 m iles)a day ’s m archa ha lf m a rch (4 or 5 m iles)

1 40 APPENDIX III

The ARAB are a sm a ll tribe, and, though genea logica llydistin ct, arem oreor less adopted in to theHABR GERHAJIS .

HABR m ea ns “o ld wom an ,

”

or wifeof. ”

ARAB , and EIDEGALLA a re nicknam es, the other are

proper nam es, of thesons and grandsons of Sheikh ISHHAK .

TheHABR AWAL aredivided in to

Hussein Ab okrSaad Musa Jibril A b okr

Abdarahhm an

Abda l lah Saad

IMusa Jibril

Moham m ed Esa Ba Abdarahhm anl Ab okren l

BerWais

Esa Musa Ab okr Esa

Dam w adaga

Abdurahhm an

Adan Esa Rer Idleh

Rer Farah

Rer Odow a

TheEIDEGALLA aredivided

A b okr Musa

Rer Yunis A bdurahhm an

Ba Del o

Ga shanbur

Dam a l YeraBer Esa

TheHABR YUN IS a re

Ishb ak

Arreh Said Musa Arreh

Ha ssan Musa

Saa d Yunis

Ism a il Arreh M11 8 3 1 81 11 3 1 1Idris

A bdal l ah Ism a il Musa A bda l la hO m ar Abda l lah

A li Said

divided into

{Abdil l a h Ishb akKa ssim IshbakJib ril A dan

Musa Adan

M oha m m ed Adan

APPENDIX III 1 41

TheO m a r Ab da l l ah a reim portant a s theSultan ’

s tribe, o r

Roya l House, and aredivided into a num ber of Im porta nt subtribes.

Ugad Om ar Rer Hussein

Om ar Abdal lah

ll

gzgt

b’

Ihohanta RerW511 3 3 111 3 »

Ada n Om ar I Said Bersi fizezvv

ggaba )

Hem Rer AbdiBam h AbdiHersi

Ainanshe

TheARAB a redivided into

Rer othm an

Ahm ed Abda lla hRer Al i Rer Ali

Adan Waraba

TheHABR T O LJALA aredivided in to

Om a r Abekr

Jibril Ab okr A dan Madob a

Yessef

Thechief division s of theDARUD a re

MIJJBETEIN

WARSANGELIDOLBOHANTA

1 42 APPENDIX III

TheD O LBO HAN TA a redivided in to

Jam a Siad

Mahm ud Garad

Ogarien SiadNur Ahm edAl igheri

Ahm ed Garad Ararsam a (in cl Rer Wais Adan

and Rer Hagar)Garad Farah Moham m ed Garad Rer Na leyah

or Ba Ararsam a

Barkad Garad

AbdiGarad Rer Khair

N ote. Ba Idris, Rer Wais Adan,Rer Hagar, arethreesm a ll sub -tribes

which haveinterm arried with HABR YUNIS, a nd livewith them in the

district o f Burao . They are included am ong the tribes friendl y to theBritish Governm ent, theo ther Do lb ohanta having largely sided with theMul lah.

Rer Jibril

Na leyah Ahm ed Ali Na leyah

(incl . Ba Idris)

1 44 EXAMPLES o r PRO SE AND VERSE

A . B .

Therewith it wen t tw o m en , on horseba ck— By GodWah h a 1a tégei lab a n in , o fara s ku

jbga . Wa l l ahh !

and riflecarrying. By God

o b an dukh Sita . Wa l l ah h !

Seeby God Well ?Ega Wa l l ah h ! Haiye.

Thereit is. (Tha t is a ll . ) What do youwant ?Wa in ta . M ah h ad don a sa z"

I want, Yes .

W ah b an dbneya , Ked .

tha t onem ay ca tch thosem en . Wherethey went ?in l a gh éb so to n im an k a . Haggei u ka ‘en

They a rehere, in thetown they stay. Rea llyWa jogan , m agal o d a i fa d lyan . Dega !

By God etc this m orn ing I saw (them )Wa l l ah h i iyo Bil l ah h i iyo T a l l ahhi ! saka -an arkei.

B

Very well . A m an so ldier a ccom pany, and sheww ayah a i. N in sib aihh l a ra

‘

,o u tus .

A .

All right. Go away now .

H au rarsan .

’ss ka tag, h addab a .

In thefab les and na rra tivewhich fo llow, theseexclam ation s areom itted, but no Som a li could tell a story

,nor could another listen ,

without introducing them .

In a na tivecourt, or b an jad , it is not un com m on for thecounselon one side to repea t the speech of his opponent sentenceforsenten ce, or bit by bit, in order appa rently to gain suflicient tim eto

digest thefull m eaning properly. Repetitions are frequen t and

tedio us, owing to this necessity for short, clipped sentences, and theabsen ceof rela tivepron oun s .

A speech or story is usually concluded by theexpressionWa sida,

or Wa in ta Thereit is, Tha t is a l l .An excellent co llection o f som e forty-fiveSom a li ta les, with

Germ an tran slations, is to befound in Schleicher’

s So m a li-Texte.

PRO SE 1 45

I. HABIYO BUTIYA‘.

LAME HABIYO .

Su ldan ba Jl l‘el

,l’

n an bu laha“. Inanka hoyodisi ya dim atei.A Sultan therew as

,a son hehad. Theson his m other died .

Ko lka sa Suldanku 3 nag bu ghrsadei. Suldanki ba hajki‘

ghobteiThen theSultan a wifehe m arried. TheSul tan thepilgrim agem ade.

Nagti Suldanka ls ya Yuhbdi la sahhebei, fnanki Suldanka ya

Thewifeof theSultan a Jew with w as friendly, theson of theSul tan

Yuhodigi la‘o llcbeis. Nagti ya Yuhodigiku yidi’,

“InankatheJew with w as atenm ity. Thewom an theJew to said

,

“Theb oy

an dilno . Kolka sei sorti sun ugu dartei. In ankuselet us kill .” Then she thefo od poison with it m ixed. But theboy

genyu a lehyaha i, wahh w a lba taghan", ko lka sa genyodi inankia m arehepossesses

,which everything knows, then them aretheb oy

ku tidi, Ha ‘

unin sorta . Ko lki sorti 10 1° so digei, ya inanki

to said,

“Do noteat thefo od. When thefo od w as placed, theb oy

sorti didei. Malinti da m be ya YuhOdigi u yim i nagti

thefood refused. Theday fo llowing theJew cam eto thewifeSuldanka , w uhhu yidi,

“ Ko lka Suldanki yim ado , w ahhad

of the Sultan,

he said,

“When theSultan com es, do you

1 This is a go od exa m pleo f o rdin a ry n arrativestylewith its broken sho rtsenten ces . It is a lso a n excellen t exercisein theuses of na , ya ,

theadjectiva lclause

,a nd thecon co rd o f plura l n oun s , upo n which specia l n otes a ren ot given

in m any ca ses.

2 laha m ean s “ havein po ssessio n , o r“ow n , a nd is difieren t fro m

ha vein thehand,ho ld .

3 No tea rticle11 , fo r theabove-m entio ned Sultan .

4 i.e. theMecca pilgrim age.

5 Articlea. for po ssess iveca se.6 99 .

7 address . ku is thepa rticle. Cf. w ahh ad ku tidahh da below . yidi is

m a sc. , a nd therefo rethesubject is Yuhodig'i, and n o t nagti.3gényo u .

9 Fro m ogh o . TheAo rist is hereused for Presen t Participle.

1 ° la n .

u to (a person ) .

1 46 PRO SE

tidahhda ,‘Wa buka .

’Ko lku ku yidahhdo ,

‘Mahha ku daWaa’

say, I am sick ’ When heto you says,

What you will cure?’

w ahhad tidahhda , Genyoda berkeda . Dararti dam be ya

do you say,‘ Them are her liver. Theday fo llowing

Suldanku yim i, ko lkasei san gogo shei, o w ahhai hcsta ka

theSultan cam e, then shea skin laid on thebed, and she underneath

gélisei’ ‘alen beirda . Ko lkei ku sehhotei, ya

‘

alen tiinserted a leaf of a fig-tree. When she on it slept the leafjababa‘ tidi, ko lkasa Suldankiyidi, Mahha ku haya" Kolkaseicrackled, then theSultan said,

“What you has Then she

tidi, “Fedaha ha noneya . Mahha ku daw aa ?”

Kolka sei tidi,

said,“My ribs arehurting.

“What you will cure? Then she said,

Berka genyoda inankaga . Inanki ba Suldanki u yedei,Theliver of them areof your son.

” Theb oy theSul tan called,wuhhu yidi, “Genyodada yan u ghaleya ayoda. Kolkasu

he said,

“Your m are Ii will slay for your stepm other.

” Then heyidi, “Haurarsan . E ga labta -an ku so m erm ero Ga labti

said,“Al l right. This evening let m eon it takea wa lk ”

In theeveningba inanki genyodi fulci, ,

kolka su abihi ku yidi, “Abo,

theb oy them arem ounted, then heto his father said

,Father

,

nabad, o genyodi Ia tegei. Wuhhu tegei, m agalo -u tegei.

goodbye, and with the m are went. He went, to a town hewent.Magaloda agtedi bu ku

lsarkei lehh gabdod 0

“ ‘el ku m aidéneya’.

Thetown near he saw six girls a well at washing.

Inan ti ugu yereid ya araktei, kolkei ninki araktei, bei ‘elkiThegirl youngest saw

,when shethem an saw shethewell

ka so bahhdei, ninki bei ka hishotei. Ko lka su genyodafrom cam e; them an sheconcerning w as asha m ed. Then hethem are

saintéda gubei, kolkasa genyodi‘erka taktei. Inanki ba w uhhu

her tail burned, then them areto thesky went. Theb oy he’

seka diga nin adin la , m agaloda bu ga lei. Wuhhu 1a

pretended to bea m an crippled, thetown heentered. He lived1 daw a , l st conjugatio n . TheAo rist herem ean s , “ is to

,

”o r

“can .

2gen . Causativeverb derived fro m ga l en ter, 5 1 23 .

3 i.e. what is them atter with you4go a nd takea walk.

5 a t.

5ga bdod is qua lified by a num era l and thereforethe rela tive clause is

co upled by 0 .

7 std s ingular after Indef. plur.,

1 68 .

1 48 PRO SE

Dararti dam be ya la yidi, Suldanka iyo nagtisa wahha 11

Theday fo llowing it w as said, TheSultan and his wife there

daw aa ‘an o w lyiled. Inam odi sha n ti gabdod gursadei,

cures m ilk o f rhino cero s. Theyoung m en thefive girls m arried,

shan fara s 0 w anaksan ba la slyei, inaukina Babiyo Butiya daheirfive ponies go od weregiven, and theboyHab iyo Butiya a donkey

ba la siyei. Ko lka sa m agaloda - ai ka behhen ‘.

w as given . Then thetown they from departed.

Inanki Habiyo Butiya , ya genyodisi sainti u gubei, genyodiTheb oy B abiyo Butiya, his m are thetail be burnt, them are

ba u tim i, . kolkasu da rkl si dahabkaaha iyo sefti inta s u

to cam e, then he his clo thes of go ld and thesword that he

ga shodei2.

put on .

Ko lkasu genyodi fulei. Kolkasa genyodi dashei,‘

erkas yei

Then he them arem oun ted. Then them are flew ,that sky she

ghobotei. Ko lka s w uhhu taga m el w iyili ku da shei,reached. Then he goes to where rhinocero s w as bo rn

,

w iyishi yereid bu dohhei, santi bu ka la bahhai,

‘c‘

ob bu

therhino ceros young he skinned,theskin hestretched out, a figurehe

ka sa m eyei. Duhurki ko lkei ab aid ya w iyishi tim i,

fro m it m ade. Theaftern o on when it w as therhino ceros cam e,fnanki Babiyo Butiya ya

’

ss ka digei da lkeda,

‘a nihi yu

theb oy Habiyo Butiya pretended to be her young, them ilk he

hohhdi" sibrar ku lissei, gudulkina sibrar ku lissei.

thefirst part a skin in m ilked, and the seco nd a skin in (he) m ilked.

Wiyishi ya gedo donatei, ko lka sa fnanki‘

o‘

obki’

ss ka

Therhino cero s grass sought, then theboy thefigure threwturei,

‘

a nihi bu ghadei, ged bu tegei, genyodi bu ku hedtei.away, them ilk he took, a treehewent to , them areheto it tied.

Isago gedka hurda , ya shanti fnan e gabdaha

Whileheat thetreew as sleeping, thefiveyoung m en w ho thegirls

1 fro m b ahh .

2reflexiveverb from gal . Verbs in 1 usua lly cha nge1 to 811 in fo rm ing these

deriva tives .

3 thefirst pa rt that is m ilked,and n ot so rich a s thesecond , o r gudul .

Isaga o , 21 8 .

PRO SE 1 49

gursadei u yfm aden ,kolka seiyidahhden , Sa lam a leiku m . Habiyo

m arried to him cam e,then they said, Sa lam a leikum . Hab iyo

Butiya ku yidi, “ Aleikum sa lam . Ko lka su yidi, “ Haggad kuButiya said

,

“A leikum salam . Then he said

,

“Where do

so‘otan ?

” Wahhai yidahhden ,‘Ano w iyiled bannu donena .

you go to They said, Milk o f rhinoceros we wan t.

’

Ko lka su yidi, ‘An o w iyiled ana haya,m ahha iga 3186

Then he said,Milk of rhino cero s I have, what to m efor itwil l you

nesan ? Ko lka sei yidahhden ,

“Wahhad donesid. Ko lkasu yidi,give?” Then they said

,

“What you wish.

” Then he sa id,

Holo dcni m ayo,

ninkl nbalm aga

‘aiga yan futada kaga

Go ods I do n ot wan t, each o f you m y nam e I thebuttock upon

dijfneya . Ko lkaseiyidahhden ,“Haurarsan . Maga

‘

isi yu futa di

w ill print. Then they said,

Al l right. ” His n am ehethebutto ckkaga wada 2 dIJIyei shanti nin ba . Ko lka sa

‘

a nihi hohhdaaha 3

upon a ll prin ted thefivem en . Then them ilk thefirst11 siyei, gudulkina Habiyo Butiya ghatei

‘.

hegave, and thesecond Habiyo Butiya to ok for him self.

Magalodi Suldanki jbgei yei tegen o‘anihi geyen .

Thetown theSul tan dwelt in they went to,and them ilk to ok .

‘Anihi, Shanta nin sidatei, ya Suldanki indihisi logu shubei,

Them ilk,thefivem en carried, theSultan his eyes w as upo n poured,

w ahhba ta ri w aiyen5. Darar da m beya Habiyo Butiya

n othing to be o f use it failed. A day fo ll owing B abiyo Butiya

‘anihisi nagtisi 11 Si dibei

,w uhhu yidi, Ababa iyo hoyoda

his m ilk to his wife hegave, he said,

“Your father and your m otherya nei ku arkin ,

ko lkad ku shubesid. Ko lka sei ‘anihi

let them n ot you see,when you in pour.

” Then shethem ilk

geisei, ko lka seiku shubtei. lndibi Suldanka iyo indibi hoyodedto ok

, then shein poured. Theeyes oftheSul tan and theeyes o fher m other

ya 11“dila ‘ei. Ko lkasei in an ti so arartei, akha lkedi bei tim i.opened. Then shethegirl

'

ran away, to her house she cam e.

1you m en , cf. 200 (i ii) a nd 206.

2 No teo rder o f pa rticles, 236 .

3 ah m ay bea dded to a ny n oun u sed a djectiva l ly o r descriptively .

4 fro m gh ado taketo yo urself.5 plura l agreeing with ‘

an o , which is a plura l n oun .

6 i.s . by rea son o f it.

1 50 PROSE

Kolkasa Suldanki oghadei in Habiyo Butiya indibi u dila‘ei.

Then theSultan learned that Habiyo Butiya theeyes opened.

Suldanki.

ba 11 yedei inam odi kaleh e gabdihisi gursadei,TheSultan ca lled theyoung m en other w ho his daughters m arried,

wuhhu yidi, InankiHabiyo“

Butiya e gabaddaidi yereid gursadeihe said,

“Theb oy Hab iyo Butiya w ho m y girl young m arried

yan u dibei m agalodaida hukum keda . Idinkuna eidan u

I have given m y town its governm ent. And ye servants to

nokhda . Habiyo Butiya dabadéd Suldan nokhdei.him be.” B abiyo Butiya afterwards Sultan becam e.

II. INANKI MASKA DILBI.

Inan iyo fnan w a w a lalaaha . Lo‘

bai Jl ren , m el‘

idl aah bai herku ahayen . Inankun a lo ‘du ra

‘f jirei, inantuna akhalka yei fadiyf

jirtei, babenki bei heroda iss ugu im an jiren . Ina n ti ba ghorohhbadatei

,rag ba weidistei, fnanki ba u didei in la gursado fnant

‘

a .

Malin da m beya nim an akha lki inan ti ugu yim aden . Ko lkasei la

ha ssawen ,fnankiew a lalaahayen im an ta , ya ga labtiso hoidei. Kol

kasu oghadei in rag u yim i fnanti, o iss ka am us. Malintidam beyanim anki inanti u so

_

nokhden ,w ahha i yidahhden , An w a lalka dilne,

gorm u daganyahai?” Kolka sei inanti tidi, Ko lku lo ‘

di lisseyo .

”

Habenki bei yfm aden , ko lku lo ‘

da lisseyei, m uski bei ka so boden .

Ko lku a rkei ‘

o llki, yu sefti .labahhai, ko lkasa w a lashi tim aba

gh6botei, kolka su tim ihi u goryei, m uski bu ka bodei. Odi bai

ghorihisi ka goisei. Ko lka su bahhsodei, w uhhu taga m agalo agted,wahha l ku bedua ged inan . Wuhhu yidi, “Na yatahai?

”

Ko lkasei

tidi, Suldanki m'

agaloda ya i da lei. Wuhhu yidi, “Mahbad ugu”

hedantahai m esha Wahhai tidi, “Mas ba lei hedei, m a skas ba iim aneya o i ‘

uneya Ko lka su yidi,

“Gorm u yim ada Kolka sei

tidi, Asarka .

”

Ko lku yim ado m uhhu sa m eineya m a skuWahhai tidi, “

Biyuhu3 ‘abeya m a rka hore, dabadédto -na anigu

‘ i‘uneya

”

Kolka su yidi,

“Watahai. ” Ko lki m a ski yim i yu biyihiku da

‘

ci, ko lka s inanki sefti labahhai o m adaha kaga diftei, kolka sam aski dintei. Inanti bu kahaistei, m agalodi bu geyei. Dadki

1 Notethis useo f w ahha—Therew as tied to a tree, a girl .9m ahha d u m esha ku hedantah al 7

b iyana u . aniga u .

1 52 PRO SE

w an o hajki ghobtei. Isago hajki kn m aghan , ya nagtisi dadabtei,w ahha i riyotei iyadu labada lugod laba shim birod kaga jogta , 0lugihi u behhen ,

o b ajki ghobotei. Arorti ko lki wagu berlyei, ya

w ahhai arakta labadi shim birod o labadi lngod kaga joga , o lugihi ubehhen . Arorti ko lkei ahaid, yeilabadedi inan iyo wanki iyo labadishim birod kahhaisa tei, hajki bei ghobotei. Dar dauga dehhdeda yeitaktai, wahha ugu yim i abahed iyo w a la lked iyo w adadki iyo

ninkedi in ta s o m idh a a n 11 garanin . Ina m odedi yei u shekeisei,dawodi iyada heshei yei ugu shekeisei

,abahed ba m akhlei iyo

w adadki, ko lkasa w adadki dam a‘ei inu araro

,kolkasa Suldanki

yidi,

“ Fadi in ta shékado dam aneso . Suldanki, inanta abahed, yaw adadki ghortika goiyei, inan ti iyo abahed iyo ninkedi inti w a leisswada ra

‘

ei. Hajki ba la tegei. Inan ti iyo abahed ha lki yei iss kugirten .

Iv. HOGGI DARTA.

Suldan ba fnan laha , fna nki ba yidi, “Wa gursaneya . Suldanki

ba hola badan siyei, m arkabn a w a Siyei. Inanki Suldanka ya dofei

m agalou tegei. Magalodi ko lku tegei, yu nin Suldan la sahhebeiSuldanki ba dar siyei, darti u ku jirei ina nku iyo darti Suldanka yaiss u da loliyei. Nagti Suldanku

2la sahhebei. Malin ti dam beyu

nagti Suldanka inanki ku yidi,“ Sorti ninkaga adu sam ein jirta o

kaleh i sam ei. ” Suldanki ba in anki u tegei, w uhhu yidi,“Aw a

anad wahh i la ‘unese.

”

Suldanki w uhhu yidi, Haurarsan .

”

Inanki ba nagti Suldanka ku yidi, Aw a ko lka anigu iyo Suldanku

annu sorta ‘unch o , wahban doneya inad sorta na sisid.

”

Nagti ba

tidi,Suldanki ya i garanéya .

”

Ko lka su yidi, “Ku ga ran m ayo ,ana ku odan w a nagta idi.

”

Nagti ba tidi, Hadu i garan waiyo ,adiga yan ku

“

ra‘i dona , o nag ku nokhon .

”

Habenki ba Suldankiakha lki yim i

,darkisi bu ghatei, ina nka akha lkisi bu yim i. Nagti

ba hoggi akha lka ka so dustei“, inanka akha lkisi bei tim i. Kolka seiSuldanki iyo inanki sorti slsei. Suldanki ba gartef nagtisi, kursigibu ka ka

‘ei, akha lkisi bu u ka‘ei. Inta nu akha lki gadin yei nagti

boggi ka dustei, gogoshedi yei ku fadisatei, Suldanki ba arkei.

Ko lku arkei yu b a dda na akha lki ina nka ku so nokhdei, boggi bei ka

1 l it. wen t from a ram fo r her, i.e. left a ra m fo r her.

2 Sul danka u .

3 co m eth rough .

PRO SE 1 53

so dustei nagti, neg‘

ti bu baddana arkei. In anki, u

‘fintoda la

‘

uneyei, ya Suldanki ku yidi, Ma. nagta tan sorta inna sluesa m iad

nagtadi m odel Inanki ba yidi,Nagtu w a nagtaidi.

”

Suldanki

ba’

ss ka fa distei. Aroryodi dam beya inanki Suldanka ku yidi,

“Wa dofeya Haurarsa n,

”

bu yidi. Nagti Suldanka ya fnanki

la ba llam ei, o yidi, Arorta ha lka s ka so dus, w a dbfeya .

”

Nagti

ba ha lki ka so dustei, inanki yei u tim i, m arkabki bu geyei, w a ladofei, fnanki ba nagti Suldanka gur sadei, kolku la bahsodei.

v . MAGALODI HOLAHA DADKA KU ‘UNA .

Wahh lei yidi,'

nin ba fara s fulei, w uhhul yim i habar, w ahhai

tidi, “ Hagged ku so‘o ta ? Wuhu yidi, Magalodas an ku 80

‘

oda . Wahhai tidi “Magaloda dadka lagu”

ghasha , yan lagughalonine, ha gelin . Wuhhu yidi

,Ku lli w a geleya .

” Wahhai

tidi,Magaloda nin Suldan ah bei lehdahai, ninka Suldanka { nan

bu lehyahai, fnanta bokhorkeda w a m as,m a sku dadka ‘

una . Aurna

isagu dadka‘una , akha lka hortisa yu fadista , ha lko go lgo l ku fadista .

”

Wahhai tidi,Wa r

,nin o , hadad m agaloda tégesa

a

, inanta Sulda nka

da lei akha lkeda orod 0 ga l .” Wuhhu yidi, Ninki bei yidi“

, Eiga

dadka ‘una

,iyo aurka dadka ‘

una , iyo m a ska dadka ‘una

, haggan ka

dafi dona ? Iyadi ba tidi, Gedaha ghado 05

,aurki yu ku

‘unine

,

kolkad dafiso akha lkiad ku sc ‘o to , gedaba a fka u geli, yu ku ‘unine.

Eigana‘adka ghado o , eiga

‘

agtisi dig 0 , ha‘un o , yu adiga

‘unine.

Maskana w a ka n fnanta dehhdeda ku duban , ghoriga ghado 0 , m askam adahisi sa r, dabadéd m a ska u dim an don a . Ko lkad sida yesho

dabadéd akha lka ga l o fnanta u tag, dabadéd inanta gurso .

”

Ko l

kasu isagu inanta gursadei.

1w uhhu hererepresen ts wahha u,

in which 11 is thepa rticlez to . It m ea n s

l itera lly therefo re, Thereca m eto (him ) a n o ld wo m an .

2 1a ku . ku in , a nd refers to theto w n . gh al onine. Theusua l fo rm is

ghal on fo r thenegativeIm pera tive. This m ust beso m eCo n tinua tivefo rm ,

b ut I haven o t m et it elsew here.

3 Indicativem o od , i.e. If you are(a s yo u say) go in g .

4 bei z ha. 1 . Who is them an referred to is n o t clear . Therem ust beso m e

o m ission in therender ing o f thesto ry.5 Theconjun ctio n o is frequen tly u sed l ikethis with thefirst co o rdin a te

sen ten ce, in stead o f in troducing theseco nd .

1 54 PROSE

VI. NASIB.

Wahh lei yidi, nin ba dan rerei, danki bu kahh ayei, ‘elki bugeyei, w a ka so danshei

‘. Ko lku so dan shei yu aurti

’

ss ku so

hedishei. Kolkiu dehhdi jogei ya lehh aur ka badei, lehhdi kalehso kahhayei. Ko lku m el fog jbgeiyu lehhdi ka hadei w ai. Kolkasudib u so ordei. Lehhdi a ur o

’lehh libahh ‘

nuesa ayu gu yim i,ko lkasu iss kaga yim i. Lehhdi aur o kaleh 0

’lehh libahh é kaleh

‘nuesa ugu yim i. Ko lkasu sibrar bu ka ghatei aurti, gurigbdi yu

yim i,rerkodi o 2 la da ‘ei bu arkei, o

‘011 da

‘

ci.

VII. NAGTI WANAXSANEID.

Nin ba inau laha . Inanki ba yidi, abihi ku yidi, “Abo , w ahhan

doneya , nag an gursada .

”

Ko lka su yidi, Wahhad so kahhaisata

nag arm ali. Ko lka sa a rm alidi so kahhaistei, kolkasu yidi, “Gurso .

”

Ko lkasu gursadei. Ko lka su yidi, “Hadig ku hed, kolkei ku la

hada sho b adiga ka fur.

”

Ko lka su ba diga ku hedei. Nagti ba tidi,Wahhan 3 m aa n arki jirin , m ahhad n ogu

4sam einesa ? Ko lkasu

hadigi ka furei. Arorti yu abihi bu yim i, ko lka su yidi, Mahhaiku

tidi?” Kolka su yidi, “Wahhai i tidi, Wahban m aa n arki jl rin ,wahha s m ahbad n ogu Ko lka su yidi, “ ’

ss ka ‘eri.”

Tasu w a m id.

Inanki ya abihi bu yidi, Nag kaleh so kahhaiso,inan wein so

kahha iso .

”

Kolka su yidi, “Aw a ha dig ku hed. Ko lkei ku la

hadasho ka fur. Ko lkasu hedei, ko lka sei tidi, Wahb an m aa n u

m akhli jirin,m ahbad wahha nogu hédesa ?

”

Ko lka su ka furei.

Aro rti abt 11 yim i, ko lkasu yidi, “Wahhai tidi,‘Wahhan m aan

m akhli jirin , m ahbad b adiga n ogu Ko lkasu yidi,

“ Tanna ’

ss ka‘eri.

” Ta sna w a m id.

Kolkasa yidi, “Wahhad so kahhaisata fn an yer o w anaksan .

Kolka su so kahhaistei. Ko lkasu yidi, Aw a hadig ku hed, ko lkei

ku la hada sho hadiga ka fur.

”

Ko lka sa ina nki’

ss ka sehhodei,habenki 6 dan yu

’

ss ka hurdei. Ko lki a rorti ab aid inanti yeifnanki ke

‘

isei, kolka sei tidi,“ Ha digi

-ad igu heiltei w a iga da‘ei, o

igu m a hedna , hadiga igu hed. Arortina abihi yu u shegei, Abo ,

wahha l tidi, ‘ Hadiga iga da‘ci

, 0 igu m a hedna , ba diga igu

Kolka su yidi abihi ba yidi,“ Ta s b a iso , ta sa ba w a naksan .

”

Ti

dabadéd yu’

ss ka gursadei.

1 from lim o , of. 1 04.

2 Adjectiva l sentences with o , of. 261 .

2 This th ing. no. it

1 56 PRO SE

tidi, Wahhannu ninki indaha la a u naghan , ninki an w ahhba

a rkenin . Ma rka su ki indaha la a yidi, Wahha indala , ninki anoghon laba in , ya inda la .

”

Thefo llowing is an exa m pleof thepuren arrativestyle, being ana ccoun t of Co l . Sw ayne’s expeditions again st theMu llah

,from the

raising of the levy in Novem ber 1 900 to thebattle of Erigo in

October 1 902 . It w a s taken down by m efrom the m outh of a

Som a li na tiveofficer with theforce, Nur Ja m a , Habr Awa l .Notetheuse of iyan n a , iyu , etc. for thepron ouns yan n u ,

~

yu , etc. ThePresent ten seis freely used for thePa st.

Thera ising of theLevies .

Ko lkas “ Swayne ba im aneya , a skarr badan bu ghorfneya

(en list). Ko lka s “Swayne so bahha i, Harrar bu n ogu yim id.

Ko lka su yidi,

“Askarr ban doneya .

”

Ma rka s Oskar Garad,

Im isad demesa ?”

bu yidi. Marka su yidi, “ Bogho l fardoleh ba n

doneya . Ma rka su yidi, Bogho lki lagu sineya .

”Bogholki aya

la siyei. Ko lki la siyei, iyannu so so‘on a . Ad

‘

adleh iya nnu nim id.

Sided kum bani (co m pany) iyannu n okhonei. Ko lka s iyannu

ayarsin a (drill), bil kel iah iyannu fa dinei. Ko lka su‘o l lki

“Swayne”

n o yim i, Bura o -n a ka so sc‘onci

,Ber bannu tagnei.

Co l . Swayne iyo“Co l . Phillips ”

labada s u sarreyen (werein com m a nd). Wadadku w uhhu ya l O lesan . Ko lkas iyannu nim id

Uduwein . Ilalo la direi, w adadki, so ego‘la yidi. Da baded wahha

lei yidi, w adadki bahhsei2. Uduwein iyannu ka gurrei (started) .Dabaded w ahhannu tagnei O lesan . Wadadki w uhhu jirei Nogal .O lesan ba nnu ka gurrei, dabadédto Wadam ago ilalo iyannu ka

dirrei. Ilalodi iyei rero so araktei, ha l iyo a ur iyei so heshei.

Para ski iyo Rakubki iyannu ka dulinei (sent to a tta ck), dabadéd‘

o llki kolku dulei iyannu ka daba gurrei. Ko lkas laba dararodiyannu so

‘

onei, kolka s Ha ridig (Sa na la ) ba nnu degnei. Rakubki

iyo Para ski sided kun o gelah 3 iyei keuei. Kolkas “ Swayne iyu

yidi “ La ba kum bani iyei ha lkan fadiyesa , gelim a ha lkas iyei lagaka tegi

”

(will beleft) . Ko lkas kum ba nayaga u so b adei, iyo geli.Kolkasa ‘

o llki“Swayne u tegei.

1 in 1a so ego .

2 cf. 1 04,n o te.

3 After sided kun o , gel is m adeadjectiva l by theterm in atio n ah .

PROSE 1 57

Ma cNeil l’

s z a/riba (Sam a kt).

Capt. MacNeill ” iyo Murray ”

iyei heroda laga ka tegei.

Ko lkas ilalodi w adadka iyannu aragnei. Malin ti labada sa‘adod

(2 o’clo ck) ‘

o llkisu no yim id. Kolkannu‘

ollki aragnei, iya sirkalku ,

“ Za’ribada so ga la ,

”

bu yidi, dabadédna iyannu w érerrei (fought),kolkas iyannu iss lem ei (slew ea ch other), dabadédna afar sa

‘

adod

(for 4 hours) iyannu dagal la (fought). Lehhdi sa‘

adod (6 o’clo ck)

iyannu ka‘érinei (cha sed) ko lka dabadéd z aribada gudahi iyannu iss

ku fadisona . Ko lkasu dabadédto todobadi sa‘

adod babenki iyannuw érerrei, léba sa

‘adod bannu da galla , ko lka sa sagalki sa

‘

adod iyannu‘érinei. Haddana kodi bei so nokhden

,b addana sa

‘

ad keliah iyann u

dagalla . Ko lka s iyaga iyannu leina , dabadédn a w a ararem (theyran away). Ko lka s waga iyo beri (in theearly m orning) todobadi

sa‘adod iyei so n okhden , ko lkasann u iss leina , ko lka sannu derewishti

iyannu w ada leina .

Intanei so dow anin (Before they cam e close) gidliganki (theMaxim gun ) iyu leI. Ko lkei so dow aden a skarrti ba nadukhdi iyeiku dishei. (Gidliganki w a w anaksanyahai, w a bahal, w a shaitan ) .Ko lki nim anki fogeyen iya gidliganki lagu Si daysi, ko lka s rag badanka lai (died), kolka s dabadéd haggi zaribada iyei ku so ya ‘

si (fled).Afar nin o a skari w adad 1 w aranki iyu ku dilei. Ko lkas iyann u‘érinei, afarton nin iyannu gh6bonei.

“Capt. MacNeill

”

iyu aniga u yedei, w uhhu yidi, Inti w adadkalaga dilei so tiri.

” Wahh a h kahha istei thban a skari, w ahhannu kadignei afa r bogho l iyo lehhdon inti dim a tei. Ann aga labadikum bani sagal nin iyei ka dilen . Ko lka s “ MacNeill ” ba yidi,w uhhu yidi, Ragi derew ishki dintei m el iss u gei. Ko lka s iyannu

m el keliah so kennei. Ko lka sa ‘o llki “ Swayne iyu no yim id,

w adadki w ahhba isagu ka m a helin .

‘

O llki o da n iyu Bohotleiss ugu yim id. Dabadédna ilalo iyannuka dirrei. Kurm is iyei gel badan ku so araktei. Ilalodi ba so

nokhotei, gel bada n iyannu aragnei,‘o llki _

o dan iya gurei, dabadédna

Kurm is iyannu tagnei. Allegheri gel badan laga so ghadei. Sha n

iyo toban‘

a sho iyannu fadfnei. Badki holahalaha ba no yim id.

Badkiiyu Co lonel -ki 11 ylm aden . Wuhhu yidahhei,“Edinkannu

idin ra‘ena , adigi iya lo

‘elin ”

(will berecovered). Ko lka su yidi,Hadeidin ra

‘esan adigi iyan idin ku ‘elfneya . Reraha o dau so

rera o agteda keua . Ko lkasi Allegheri na ra‘ei. Kolkasu yidi,

1 w addd hereused fo r a Mullah’s m an .

1 58 PRO SE

Wadadkibannu idin la domena . Dabadéd iyannu gurrei. Bohotleiyannu nim id. Ragi buka o a skarrtaaha iya Bohotlelagu rebei(wereleft behind), dabadédna Bohotleiyan nu ka gurrei. Wahhan nu

degneiWudwud, dabadéd ilalo Wudwud iyann u ka dirrei. Wahhai

yidahhen ,

“Wadadku w a fbgyaha i.”

Ko lka sannu ka gurrei, shan

haben iyo shan dararod so so‘

onei. Dararti da m beiyannu‘

o llki

w adadka iss hel lei (m et). Dabaded iya nnu dirirrei. Wahhai kagadilen shan iyo toban a skari iyo sirkalki a f-Arabed (i. s . Capt.Friedrichs) . Dickin son sahib rasas ba ku da ‘dei, bo

l

dodi kagada

‘

dei. Shan iyo labaton askari iyei ra sasti ku da ‘dei

,a n dim a nin

(without being killed). Ko lka s iya nnu biyo webn a (could n ot find)0 so n okhonei. Wahhannu ka so baghanei, a skarrti badanei biyohaison ,

w a b akhtiyesa . Shan iyo toban‘a sho iyannu Berberah u so

dahhnei. Ko lka nnu ha lkan nim id, a skarrti gel badan la siyei,haw ildarki sadehh ha lod iya la siyei, ninki jem adarkaaha afar ba la

siyei. Askarrti fa sahh, nin ba bil fa sahh iyu helei.Force -kan ha lkas iyu ku dam adei.

La s Idleh ra ids .

‘O llki labad iyu Bura o w a so yim i. Burao -n a dabadéd afa r bilod

fadina,ko lka s ilalo laga direi. Ilalodi Ali Na leyah iyei u taktei,

w ahhai tidi, Holo bada n iyannu so aragnei.”

Afa r kum bani iyo“Co l . Gobbe iyo

“ Co l . Swayne iya nnu ku so‘

onei, w ahhannu

tagnei La s Idleh . La s Idlehn a far'

as badan n ogu yim id. Ko lkas

iyannu ilalo dirrei. Ilalodi iyei tidi, “Holo badan iyannu so

aragnei.”Ko lkasannu Las Idleb ka gurrei, kobyo - toba n haben 11 Si

so‘

onei. Jid Ali iya nnu Ali Na leyah u tagnei, ko lkasu kum baniwa liba m el m arei. Co l . Swayne” iyo kum bani badki iya nnu Inelkaga tagnei. Ko lkas iyannu Ali Na leyah w érerrei, babenki iyodararti w a holihi ka da

‘nei. Ko lka s holihi iya nnu z a ribadi i so

kennei, w ihhi-a nnu rag aragnei iyannu leinei. Ko lka san nu ka so

gurrei. Wahhannu tagnei, La s Idleb shan iyo tbban haben iya nnuu so dabbusi. Ko lka s a skarrti ba adi la siyei, ninki a skari ahalabyo

- toban adi la siyei, ninki haw ildarka iyo h aikka labaton laslyei, jem adarki iyo co lor-havildar ”

-ki soddon ba la siyei.“Co l .

Cobbe iyo Co l . Swayne Berberah ku nokhden .

“ Maj. Petrieiyo afar kum bani Burao ~ a nnu so n okhonei, ko lka bil fadinei Bura o .

Ko lka sa Co l . Swayne iya no yim id. Wuhhu yidi,

“ Force”-ku w a

bahhaya ,w adadka iyannu donena . Reidka So m alida gel m aaw inah

i kena,

”

bu yidi. Ko lka siHabr Awa l iyo Habr Yunis gho li w a lba

TRANSLATIONS OF THE STORIES .

I—XI .

I. HABIYO BUTIYA (LAME BABIYO) .

Thereon cew as a Sultan w ho had a son,whosem other w as dead. But

theSultan m arried another wife, and went on a pilgrim age. Now a certainJew w as a friend o f theSultan ’

s wife,but theSul tan ’

s son and theJew

wereenem ies. TheJew said to thewo m an,Let us kill theb oy. So she

m ixed so m epoison in his fo od. But theb oy had a m are,w ho knew every

thing, and them aresaid to theb oy,“Don

’teat thefo od ”

; and when thefo od w as put beforehim ,

theb oy refused it. Thenext day theJew cam eto theSu ltan ’

s wifeand said,

“

.

When theSultan co m es back,say you are

sick,and when heasks what will cureyou, tell him theliver o f them are.

”

Thenext day theSultan cam e. Then she laid a skin on thebed and

placed under it so m efig leaves, and when shelay down theleaves crackled .

Then theSultan said What is them atter with you i? and shesaid,

“I have

a pain in m y ribs.

” What will cureyou ? hesaid ; and sheanswered,

“Theliver of your son’s m are.

”TheSul tan ca lled theb oy and said

,

“I

intend to kill your m arefor your stepm other.

”And theb oy said,

“Verywell, but let m etakea rideo n her this evening . In theevening theb oyrode them are

,and said to his father

,

“Go od-bye, .Father,” and departed

with them are. Hewent to a town,and near thetown hesaw six girls

washing at a well Theyoungest o f thegirls saw him and when shesaw

them an, sheran away fro m thewell, being asham ed beforethem an . Then

hesinged thetail o f them are, w ho went up into thesky. Theyoung m an

then pretended to bea cripple,and went into thetown

,and therebeca m ea

servant.Later the daughters o f the Sultan said

,

“Wewish to m arry. The

Sultan beat his drum ,and ann oun ced

,

“My daughters w ish to m arry.”Then therich young m en cam etogether, and thegirls werebrought, andthepeoplesto od in theplain . Then thegirls wereasked, “

Arethem en

yo u want a ll here And theyoung girl said, “Them an I wanted is not

here.

”Theslavegirls w ho weresum m oning them en wereto ld to ca ll a ll

them en in thetown,so they ca lled theyoung cripple, Lam eHab iyo . Then

theSultan asked thegirls, “Arethem en a ll here7” and they said, Yes.

”

TRANSLATIONS o r THE STORIES 1 61

Thegirls weregiven six oranges, and they wereto ld, “Leteach girl hit the

m an shewants .

”Thefiveother girls hit fiverich young m en

,theyoung

girl hit Lam eB abiyo . Then her father and m other wereso struck withhorror

,tha t they lost their sight and theyoung m an m arried thegirl. On

thenext day they wereto ld, That which will curetheSul tan and his wifeis rhino cero s’ m ilk.

”And theyoung m en w ho m arried thefivegirls were

given fivego od ho rses, and Lam eHabiyo w as given a donkey,and they left

thetown . Therecam eto La m eHabiyo them are,whosetail hehad burned,

and heput on his go ld dress and swo rd and m oun ted them are. Them are

flew up and reached thesky. Then hewent to a placewhererhin ocerosesareborn . A youn g rhin o ceros hecut open

,and opened out theskin and

m adea figurefro m it. In theaftern o on them other rhin o ceros cam e,and

Lam eHab iyo pretended to betheyoung one. Thefirst portion o f m ilk hem ilked into oneskin and thesecond portion hem ilked into another skin .

Then therhino cero s went to gra ze. Then theyoung m an threw away thefigure, and to ok them ilk Hewent to a treeand tied his m areto it. Whileheslept under thetreethefiveyoung m en w ho m arried theo ther girlscam eto him

,and said, Sa la m A leikum and Lam eB abiyo said

,

“A leikum

Sa la m .

” Then hesaid,

“Whereareyou go ing And they said, Wearelo oking for rhino ceros’ m ilk.

” Then hesaid, I havesom erhin o cero s’ m ilk.

What will y ou givefo r it ? And they said, “Wh atever you wish.

”Then he

said,

“Wea lth do I n ot wan t,but I will brand m y n am eon thebutto cks

o feach o f you. Then they said,

“Agreed. So hebranded his n am eon the

butto cks of a ll five. Then hegavethem thefirst m ilk,and thesecond m ilk

Lam eHabiyo to ok fo r him self. They wen t to thetown wheretheSultanlived

,and to ok them ilk. Thefiveyoung m en carried them ilk

,and it w a s

poured o n theeyes o f theSultan,but w as o f n o use. Another day Lam e

Habiyo gavehis m ilk to his wifeand said,

“Let n ot your father and m other

seeyou, when you pour it in .

” Then sheto ok them ilk and shepoured itin . And theeyes of theSultan and her m other wereopened. Then thegirl cam erunn ing away and cam eto her house. Then theSultan learnedthat Lam eHab iyo had opened his eyes

,and theSul tan ca lled theother

young m en that m arried his daughters, and hesaid,

“To theyoung m an

Lam eHabiyo , w ho m arried m y young daughter, haveI given authorityover m y town ,

and you, behis servan ts: Afterwards Lam eHab iyo becam eSultan .

II.

“ THE DRAGON-KILLER.

(A va r za nt Of thestory of Perseus a nd A ndh '

om eda . )

There werea brother and sister w ho kept a cow . They dwelt in a

deserted place,and thebrother used to go with thecow

,whilethesister

used to sit in thehouse, and at n ight they m et in thezariba . Thesister

w as of great beauty, and m en as ked fo r her, but her brother refused to letthegirl bem arried Oneday som em en cam einto thehousefor thegirl,

K. 1 1

62 TRANSLATIONS O F THE STORIES

and they conversed ; and thebrother cam ein in theevening and foundthat m en had co m efor his sister

, but hesaid n othing. Thenext day them en returned to thegirl and said

,Wethink o f killing your brother ; when

is heengaged ?”And thegirl said, “When heis m ilking thecow .

”In

theevening they ca m eas hew a s m ilking thecow and leaped in over thefen ce. When hesaw theenem y

,hedrew his sword. His sister seized

his hair,but hecut it off

,and jum ped over thefence, which cut Off his

genita ls ; and heescaped. Hewent near a town wheretherew as a girl tiedto a tree, and hesaid, Who areyou, girl And shesaid,

“My father is theSultan of thetown .

” And hesaid,

“Why areyou tied up herei” ,

And she

said,

“ I am tied up fo r a dragon , which will co m eand eat m e.

” Then hesaid

, When does it co m e2” And shesaid, In theevening.

”And hesaid,

“When thedragon com es, what will it do ? And shesaid,“First it will

drink thewater, and afterwards eat m e.

”And hereplied

,

“Very well.”When thedragon cam e, it went down to thewater

,but theyoung m an

drew his sword and struck it on thehead, and it died. Then heled awaythegirl, and brought her to the-town , and thepeopleof thetown cam erim ning to him ,

as heled thegirl, and they said, “What is this And he

said,

“ I havekilled thedragon .

” Then hew as brought to theSultan , andthey said, “ This m an has killed thedragon .

”And theSul tan badehim

m arry his daughter. SO thereupon them an m arried her.

III. THE GIRL WITHOUT LEGS.

A Sultan had a daughter, and thedaughter used to betaught theKoran .

Oneday theSultan went on a pilgrim age, and entrusted his daughter to a

priest, and said,

“Continueto teach that girl theKoran . Thepriest

coveted thegirl, wishing to liewith her, but thegirl refused. Oneday she

said, Co m eto m eto -m orrow.

”On theday arranged sherem oved from the

housetheladder by which thepriestused to ascend. Hethen sent a letterto her father, and hew ro te,

“ Your daughter has beco m ea harlot. ” The

Sultan returned from thepilgrim age, and hew as angry with thegirl, andhehanded her over to so m eslaves, and hesaid

,

“Cut that girl’s throat.

”

Then theslaves to ok thegirl, and they brought her to a wooded place, andthey cut off her legs, whilethey dug her grave. Whilethey werediggingthegraveshecrawled away

,and went into so m etrees and hid. When the

slaves had dug thegravethey looked in theplacewhereshehad lain and

could n ot find her. Then they slew a ga zelle, and thegazelle’s blood theypoured into a bottle

,and brought theblo od to theSultan , and said, We

haveslain thegirl.” Oneday later a caravan passed by theplace, and

cam ped wherethegirl lay. In theaftern o on as theparty wereloading up

thecam els , they saw thegirl sitting under a tree. A m an to ok thegirl,and put her on a cam el, and brought her to thetown they cam eto . Them a n w ho took thegirl put her to livein a house. Later on theson Of the

Sul tan saw thegirl’s face, and the young m an saw that her facew as

1 64 TRANSLATIONS OF THE STORIES

hesaw her. Theyoung m an,w ho w a s dining with him ,

said to theSultan ,

Did you think this wo m an w ho is serving our fo od w as your wife2 The

wo m an is m y wife,” hesa id,and theSultan sat down . Thenext m orning

theyoung m an said, I a m sailing.

” Very go od,” heanswered. And the

young m an a rranged with theSultan ’s wifeand said

,In them o rning com e

through that place, I am sailing .

” SO thewo m an passed through and cam eto theyoung m an

,and heto ok her to theship, and sailed. And theyoung

m an having run away w ith theSultan ’s wifem arried her.

V. THE TOWN OF MAN-EATERS.

Thereis a story that a m an w as riding a horse, and therecam eto him an

o ld wo m an,w ho said

,

“Whereareyou going ?” And hesaid,I am going

to that town .

”And shesaid

,

“In that town peoplearesla in and eaten do

not go in , lest they slay you . And heanswered,

“Still I am going in .

”

Then shesaid,

“Thetown has a Sultan , and theSultan has a daughter, andthedaughter’s sash is a snake, and thesnakeeats thepeople. And thereisa cam el w ho eats thepeople

,hesits in fron t o f thehouse, over thereupo n a

bed.

”And shesaid

,See

,m y m an

,if you aregoing to thehouse, run and

enter thehouseo f theSul tan ’s daughter.

”And hesaid

,

“Them an to ld m e,

Thedog eats thepeople, and thecam el eats thepeople, and thesnakeeatsthepeople. How am I going to pass them And thewo m an sa id

,Take

this gras s, and let no t thecam el eat you, but when you pass thehouseyouaregoing to , put thegra ss in at thedo or, lest iteat yo u. And for thedog,takethis pieceof m eat

,and put it near thedog, and let him eat it and n ot

you .

.

And fo r thesn ake,which is tied round thegirl’s waist, takethis stick ,

and pla ceit on thesnake’s head,and then thesnakewill die. After you

havedonethis enter theho useand go to thegirl, a nd then m arry her.

”So

hem arried thegirl.

VI. MISFORTUNES.

Thereis a story that a m an on celo aded his water-cam els and took themto thewell, and went to draw water . When hewent to draw water betiedhis cam els together. When hew as in thenullah heleft six cam els behindwhileheled theo ther Six. When hew as so m edistanceofl', thesix cam elsthat wereleft behind weren ot to beseen . So heran back

,and cam eup

to find six lions eating thesix ca m els . Then heleft them,and returned to

theother six cam els,and found s ix other lions eating these. Then heto ok

a waterskin fro m thecam els,and cam eto his ho m e

,to find his fam ily lo oted

by an enem y.

TRANSLATIONS o r THE STO RIES 1 65

VII. HOW TO CHOOSE A WIFE.

A m an had a son,and theson sa id to his father, Father, I want to

m arry a wife.

” Then his father said, Do you takea widow. SO hetook awidow

,and his father said, Marry her.

”So hem arried her. Then his

father said, Tieher with a rope, and when shespeaks to you, untietherope.

”SO hetied her with a rope, and thewom an said

,This is n ot what

I havebeen accustom ed to see. What areyou doing with m e Thereupo nheun tied therope. In them orning his father cam ea nd said

,

“What didshesay?

”And heanswered, “

Shesaid to m e,This is not what I havebeen

accusto m ed to see. Why a reyou doing that to m e?” Then his fathersa id

, Send her away.

”That w as one.

Thefather said to his son , Takean o ther wife, take a grow n girl.Then hesaid

,TO -night tieher with a rope, and when shespeaks to you,

un tieit. ” So hetied her, and shesaid,

“ This is not what I havebeena ccustom ed to hear, w hy areyou tying m ewith that So heuntied her.

In them orning hecam eto his father, and hesaid, “ Shesaid, This is n otwhat I havebeen a ccusto m ed to hear, what are you doing to m e withtherope2” Then his father said,

“ Send her away too .

”And that w as

another.

Then his father said,DO you go and takea nice

,young girl. ” SO he

to ok one, and hesaid, To -night tieher with a rope, and when shespeaksto you untieit.” SO theyoung m an did so , and went to sleep, and w as

asleep a ll night. In theearly m orning thegirl wokehim up, and said,

Theropewith which you tied m eis fa l len off and is not tied to m e,tieit

upon m e.

”And in them orning heto ld his father, “Father

,shesaid, The

ropehas fa llen off, and is not tied to m e,tieit upon m e.

” Then his fathersaid

,Keep that one

,sheis theright One.

”SO shew as theoneheafter

VIII. MAN AND HYAENA .

It is said tha t theHyaena owned flocks and Man had n one. OnedayMan w as looking after theHyaena ’s flocks, and theHyaena went to theCoun cil. After this Man thought, and hesaid, Let us stea l theHyaena ’sflocks, whileheis away at thecoun cil. ” SO Man put theflo cks in a zariba,and night cam e, and when it w as night, they weredriven off. TheHyaenahowled, and went to theo ther anim a ls , and hesa id,

“See, I havebeen

loo ted.

” Then they said, “Let us attack. ” They cam ea long, and arrivedat a po o l of water, and them a leDikdik said, Ifyou do not let m ecom etothepo o l, you shall n ot drink. ” “

Sir, wewill drink, leaveus,” they said.

Then hescratched sand into it,until thewater w as gone, and they died of

thirst, when they found n o water.

1 66 TRANSLATIONS O F THE STO RIES

IX. CAMEL AND HER FOLLOWERS.

It is said that a Cam el possessed a ltogether a Snake, a Zariba, a Fire, aFlo od, and a Lion , and Deceit

,and Honesty. Those seven the Cam el

owned. Oneday Deceit said, “Wem ight stea l theLion from that b igCam el, let us kill theLion .

” Theo thers said,“How areweto kill him i”

Then shesaid,“Let theSn akebitetheLion, and when you havebitten him ,

go into theZariba.

”SO heb it him and went into theZariba . Then she

said,

“0 Fire, burn up both theZariba and Snake. SO theFireburned

both Zariba and Snake. Then shesaid,“ TheFirehas killed theSnake

and theFen ce,let theFlo od to o put out theFire. After this Honesty said,

“TheFlo od does not travel on them ountain , but on ly in thenul lah, let ustravel on them ountain with theCam el.” SO they travelled on them ountain

,

and then Deceit said,

“Let us slay theCam el. ” SO they slew her, and co okedthesteak, and gulped down thesteak, and except thesteak no thing elseof theCam el did they eat. And them eat stuck in their thro ats, for it w asa big piece, and could not pass through their m ouths. SO they died.

X . THE BLIND MAN .

In a certain placem any m enwereta lking,and thereweretw o m en , oneof whom w as blind and theother w as not blind. Them an with sight said,“Why do you ta lk with a blind m an ? Hecan seenothing. And the

blind m an said,“How do you know a blind m an Theother onesa id

,

“Weknow a blind m an,heis a m an w ho

’

sees n othing.

” Then theblindm an s aid

,Hethat is blind is them an w ho knows n othing, heis blind ”

Then Swaynecam eand began to en list m any askaris. Then Swayneleft and cam eto us at Harrar. Then hesa id, “

I want askaris. ThenOscar Gerard said

,How m any do you want t Then hesaid, I want a

hundred horsem en . Then hesaid,

“Thehundred sha ll begiven you.

”

Thehundred weregiven . When they weregiven wem arched and cam etoAdadleh. Wem adeeight com panies . Then wedrilled, and westayed fo ronem onth on ly. Then Swayne’s fo rcecam eto us

,and weleft Burao and

went to Ber.

Co l . Swayneand Co l . Phillips werein co m m and . TheMul lah lived at

O lesan . Then wecam eto Uduwein . An illa lo w as sen t and to ld to lo okfo r theMullah. Afterwards it w as said to m e

,theMullah had fled. We

left Uduwein . Afterwards wewent to O lesan . TheMullah w as in the

Noga l . Weleft O lesan , and afterwa rds a t Wada m ago wesent out illalos .

1 68 TRANSLATIONS O F THE STO RIES

killed Then wefound no water and cam eback. Wewerea fraid, if theaskaris haveno water they will die. Wespent fifteen days m arching toBerbera When wecam eheretheaskaris weregiven m any cam els. Everyhavildar w as given 3, every jem adar 4, m ilk cam els. Theaska ris receiveda m onth’s leave.

Therew as theend of this fo rce.

Thesecond forcecam eto Bur ao,and westayed at Burao fo r four m onths

afterwards . Then illa los weresent out and they went to theAl iNa leyah.

They said, “Wehavefound m any an im a ls.

” Wem arched there,four com

panies under Co l . Gobbeand Co l . Swayne. Wewent to Las Idleb,and at

Las Idleb m any horses cam eto us . Then wesent illa lo s,and theilla los

said, Wehaveseen m an y anim a ls.

” Then weleft Las Idleb and m archedon for eleven nights. Wewent to Jid Ali

,to theAli Na leyah . Then each

co m pany went its ow n w ay. We left Co l. Swayne and ha lf a com pany.Then weattacked theAli Na leyah, and during thenight and day lo o ted theflo cks . Then webrought thean im a ls into thezariba . Any m en wesaw

weslew. Then weleft. Wereached Las Idleb in fifteen n ights . Then theaska ris weregiven sheep

,each a ska ri w as given 1 2

,a havildar o r naik 20

,

jem adar or co lour-havildar 30. Co ] . Cobbo and Co l . Swaynewent ba ck toBerbera. Maj. Petrieand our four com panies cam eback to Bura o . Thenweha lted for a m onth at Bura o . Then Co l . Swaynejoined us . Hesaid,“TheForcewill go out ; wewill look for theMullah. Let theSom a lipeoplebring cam els to help,” hesaid. Then theHabr Awa l and HabrYunis each brought with them 800 head Of cattle

,theHabr To ljala 600.

Then the fo rce m oved My com pany rem ained behind fo r eight days.Then theCam el Corps and horsem en cam efro m Berbera to Burao under

thecom m and o f Capt. O sborne. Then wefo llowed after the fo rce. In

fivedays wereached Bohotle. Then wejoined Co l . Swayneand thefo rceat Bohotle. Then illa los weresent out. Theilla lo s wereaway for tennights. Theilla los cam eback, and they said

,

“Wehaven ot seen the

Mullah.

” Then theCo lonel said, “Wewill advan ce.

” Weadvan ced intotheNogal . Then wewent to Gerowei. Welooted m any anim a ls fro m the

Mohd Gerad. We stayed at Gerowei twenty nights . Illa lo s were sent

out, they went to theMullah at Mudug. Theillalo s cam eback to us and

sa id,

“It is a dry place, and we sha ll get no water.

” Then we m ade

east and reached Ha lin . We lo oted m any anim a ls fro m the Na leyah

Ahm ed. Then theSirka l said, Wewill go ba ck.

”Fo r twelvedays we

m arched and then cam eto Gaulo . Then theCo lo nel said, Let tw o Officerswith thespearm en and anim a ls go back ” Then theanim a ls and spearm enand tw o British Officers went ba ck. TheCo lo nel left 3000 cam els behind.

Then illa los weresent. They went to theMullah,and then said

,The

Mullah is staying at Mudug.

” Then welo aded up and m arched fo r fiven ights. O n thesixth day in theearly m o rn ing wem et thedervishes at

Erigo . Then we ha lted so m ewhere. After that thedervishes m ade a

m ovetowards us . When therew as a m ilebetween us,theCo lo nel said,

“ They will not fight with us,load up thecam els and m ove.

” Then we

TRANSLATIONS o r THE STORIES 1 69

m oved . The country w as thick with trees. Then every co m pany w as

extended ; thus we m oved, and al l at o n cethey sent a vo lley into us.

Then welay our bel lies on theground, and wefought. Four co m paniesdeparted They were frightened and ran away. We three co m paniesfought, therest ran away. Thethree co m panies tha t fought werem ine

and tw o others. We cam e in to the zariba, then the dervishes cam e.

Threeco m panies went out and drovethem awa y.Afterwards wecam eto Bohotle.

SONGS .

In thesongs a distinctly poetica l styleis noticeab le, a lso a

num ber of words, n ot found in co lloquia l Som ali, m any of whicha reabso lutely unintelligibleby them selves to an unpoetica l native.

Many of thesewords arecoined by theauthor, but m any arepro

bab ly O ld words handed down from generation to genera tion . It is

necessary thereforein m any pa ssages for thea uthor him self, or a

fellow poet (of who m therearem any, both professiona l and a m a teur),to explain therea l m eaning. Severa l of thosewhich I co llected Ihaven ot published here, a s I could get no satisfa ctory rendering or

explanation even from interpreters.

Thosetransla tions which I havegiven arenecessarily freeinm any pla ces and by n o m ea n s litera l . They areinteresting a s

exam ples of style,rather than of gra m m ar.

Songs aredivided into threecla sses, known as

Gera r, G a bei, and Hes ’

.

TheGera r is sung on horseback, and usua lly rela tes to raidinga nd fighting.

TheG abei is a chan t of a m orepea ceful na ture, and is o ften a

lovesong. It is usua lly sung round thefirein theevening.

TheHes is theDan cing-song, and a lways a ccom panies a dance.

It is Often in pa rts for m en and wo m en , and is usua lly Of ana m orous nature.

1 Pa ulitschke(II . Cap . 2) describes six kinds O f songs, and gives n um erous

exam ples .

1 72 SONGS

bala shi ka la saide‘, shaking out his wings,wahh la sisto la w ah

”. beyond com pare.

Ha lna w a iga sa lan . Again wesa lutethee.

Gela , Senyo ”

iyo Laos, Thecam els, Senyo and Lan

,

sangayasha gharéistei, (and) thesta llions havebecom efat,gabdaha sfirta la m oda

‘

, theyoung girls are like straightsticks,

iyo seyahhainu ku jifna . and weliein thedew .

Sadada nabad ba leh . Thetributeis oneof pea ce.

Ha lna w a iga sua l.Suldanki bokhronado ,

hor m ahb an so‘otén ,

sedk a ainu‘

unen o 5 ?

Rabi ya inna Siyei,sadehhdeni Ishhak“,hadanan ku sa lughin ,

adiga O Suldano ,

salo yann a ka yedin ’.

II. GERAR,in g.

TheSinger’

s tribehas been severely lo oted, and hedem ands

justice.

Ma8sidi gelOga , Likethebustard,

O guluf m el ku da rem ei, who ha s seen a n enem y som ewhere,yan gam

‘i w ai haben . I ca nnot Sleep a t night.Sidi arka iyo gosha , Likethelion and lioness,

1 ThePo ten tia l ten seis Often used in so ngs for theIndicative.

2 This litera lly m ean s , “n o thing ca n befo und to begiven fo r it,

” i .e. n o

price.

3 n a m es fo r ca m els .

4 lit. is tho ught, ” an idio m m ean ing “ is l ike. Cf. 1a b ida in Yibir, q.v .

5 i.e. havethepo o r parts o f thean im a l to eat.6 i.e. Habr Gerh ajis , Habr Awa l , Habr To lja la , thethreeIshbak tribes .

7 fo r inana d sal o na ga yedin .

8 appears to befrequen tly used in songs witho ut necessa rily a sk ing a questio nespecia lly in in troducing s im iles .

An d again wehavea question .

TheSulta n w ho reign s,w hy ha st thou co m eforth,that weshou ld eat thesinews ?God gra n ted to us,

.u s three(son s of) Ishb ak,if wedo n ot m aketroub lewith thee,thee

,O Sulta n

,

tha t thou shouldst n ot bring com

plain t against us .

O gabnihi laga layei,gurb an m a igu bote.

Sidi Godir irm an ,

0 élm ihi ka gbaleu ,

garti m a u ulule.

Sidi gan leh shisheyei,to llkei m a iss ugu géftei.

Ma Sidi nin gabObei,o nagu, gunyo ka dlbei,

ku geshiyeya hhum atei,yan ugu ha ntam eya .

Webber gerida joga ,m a gel annu lab ain ,

egudub n ogu m agha na ,

O haghi SO gudbiya’.

Nabsi2w a m a gha bObei,

herna 3 w a m a gfidan ,

Gil li w a wahh m a m ogi,

gObin a4w a warranta .

Gelan m an ta b a ino ,henya godonkOda ,iyo w agérki wadana ,hadano gudfdin

labadiba an gOine,m ia n o garaten

’?

SONGS 1 73

whoseyoung havebeen slain ,

I wou ld m akem uch clam our.

LikeGodir, when with m ilk ,whoseyoung havebeen slaughtered,I wou ld groan for justice.

Likeenem ies apart,m y tribeis divided a m ong itself.

Likean o ld m an ,

whose wives, for whom he paidm uch

,

havegrown bad and la zy,I a m a ngry at it.

For thelives tha t weretaken ,

ca m els tha t wereours,who sefineha s n ot been paid us

,

0 bring out the diya .

”

Fortuneha s not grown Old,

a nd law -is everla sting,God is a ll-knowing,a nd thehigh

-b orn havethenews .

1 Thepriceo f a m an’s l ifeis 100 cam els , whether it takes pla cein a triba l

fight, o r ra id, o r in a priva teafia ir : this is theArabic diya ,

”o r So m a l i

hagh .

”

2 Na sib.

3 So m a li custo m .

4gen try, o r well bo rn , oppo sed to tribes o f do ubtfu l o rigin ,

E sa , Gadaburs i ,Hawiya , an d outca sts .

5 Thegenera l m eaning o f this stan za is clear, but 1 . 27 I cann o t tran sla te.

Let us ha vethecam elstheir genita ls,and hea rt,2

let us cut both,do you decidefor us ?

1 74

III. GERAR , in gh and g.

SONGS

To m y Bag P ong.

Ha m ar O , ghorohhdado

Ha m ar O , garadado

Ham ar O , guw idado

Ham ar O , ghofalkago I

Ha m ar O , gadankago

Ham ar O , ghorohhdado

ghailildof laga kénei,

iyo ghanfirka Hindi,

gh labkan ku arkei,

gésuhugu dinta’.

Ha m ar O , guwidado

gharidiMilm ilad"

ra ti4 ghaib ugu nahhai

ghorigiBerberad

m arkab, ghaid u sugaya ,ghun u joga , m iya".

Ham ar O , garadado

gha lim a li libahh,

iyo saryen ghortu u b a ‘dei,

iyo w lyil ghorah ,m iya .

Ha m ar O , ghofa lkago

suryadan kaga rabto ,

ghalbigu ka garta ,

gelafdidka hawen ,iyo w ayel haj u ghObtei,an iss ku ghOnsan , m iya .

Ham ar O , gadankagu

O Ham ar, your strength !a s a bl a ck-m aned lion

,

and a bull o ryx with broad neck,and a bu ll rhin o ceros.

O Ha m ar, your price

1a bright tarta n clo th , m o st wo rn by Do l boha n ta s .

2 fo r gesah a ugu dinta , l it. I dieo f a sto n ishm en t a t thething I lo ok a t.3 Milm il , in S W. So m a lila n d .

4 Do lboha nta fo r “ca m el . ”

5 This w o rd likem a is O ften used in sim iles . Perhaps it is o n ly “ eh

English.

0 Ha m ar,your beauty

O Ham a r, your strength

O Ha m ar, your sizeO Ham a r

,your Obedien ce!

O Ham a r,your price

O Ha m a r, your bea uty !a cloth brought from over thesea ,

a nd Indian raim ent,things which I look at,

(and) dieof a stonishm en t .

O Ham ar,your size!

a s a ca m el which ha s grown very faton thesand ofMilm il,

a Ship at thepier of Berberah,waiting for orders,stands fa st.

0 Ha m ar,your obedience

thepa th which I desireyour heart understa nds,a s a dutiful wife

,

and a n elder goneon a pilgrim age,without grum bling.

1 76 SO NGS

Ma tani la dagughei’

,

iyo fardi ghad ku dulbelei,iyo debilihi la kahhayei,gasha n kun

’la dareyei,

m a dim Onewahha s,O to llim Ono ka dOrne

o sam ir bannu 3 deda l lei,wahh ku daida ha lka sna .

0 w ar,to llo , naga daya

Hadi tana la dido,

If this is refused,o laga dOrto

‘

O lladda , and enm ity preferred,anna na

3w a dirirra , wetoo m ust fight,

‘O llo , 11a inn a dulin yearm ies , do not atta ck us 3

V. GERAR, in g.

English.

Neika gadada wein leh My broad- chested bea st,

a m autis garan m ayo how to pra isehim I know n o t.

Ma Haud"geda leh ba ? Likegra ss- covered Haud

‘

Erku o galab hore Likethepatteringgabda nkisa ,

m iya ? rain fro m la st evening’

s sky

Libahh m el n ka guhha Like» thecubs of agabnihisi, m iya ? lion roaring a fa r ?

Gela , (Iredo 5 iyo Lan5

Likethefoa ls of theganihisu ,

m iya ? ca m els, Gedo and Lan ?Ana , (ired 6 iyo Hobbed 7, Likem y ow n song

gera rkeigu, m iya o f Ged and Hohhad

Afartisi gundod His four ho ofs

dulka ugu gara‘

a , cla tter over theground,m a sidi gaha d wein ,

likea grown girl,0 geyankeda E1 la siyei, w ho ha s been given her husband,

1 lit. covered w ith stones . Wells o ut o f u seareshut up by their owners,

by covering them w ith wo o d and sto nes .

2upo n . This m ea n s tha t thereis o n ly en o ugh to fil l theho llow o f a shield.

3 refers to “we, thesinger’s - peo ple,” a n d n o t to theo thers . Thepro n oun

inna gi in l ine1 in cludes thepeopleaddressed.

4 Thedistrict S W . o f theNoga l Va lley .

5 Na m es o f cam els .6 Thespring winds . (Haga n )

7 Thesum m er wind. (Ka rif. ) 9 m ea n s the betro thed.

"

Thewells areshut down,

and thehorses aresore-ba cked,and thecam els a redriven o ff

,

m ilk is drawn on to shields,wem ust n o t forget tha t,and m u st chooseto beof onetribe,and wish for pea ce,consider so m ewha t theretoo .

O yetribes, desist

SO NGS 1 77

o guyo’ wein lagu dibei, ani b as received grea t flo cks,

da rka ti gana‘leh, w ho , with m o st co stly robe,

iyo garba sarka baridah, and silken raim en t,iyo gasha li huw atei, a nd dress, ha s clothed herself,o gor ga iidka hadkeda , a nd at thetim eof m id-day shadows ,ninkiyo ga m a

‘sa n

,to her Sleeping husband,

gasinka u sita brings his food,

0 kabihi ga dda lo‘ada

”

,a s with theShoes of cow’

s hide

gara‘ésa m iya ? shecla tters ?

VI. GERAR , in s.

Fara skeigu soyan ,

m idabkagu m a SO ka n‘ad ba ?

Sifahagu guyédna

m a sagal gujir baMa sidi nin Sirkalah ?

Intan ku sa lahh o,

sankarkaga tura ,go lab an sa lebeya ,o sabarka ka idleya ,an gedo kugu saya .

Ha lki Senyo ku Softo ,

adigo wahh ku sem a’

,

O sem a iga rid m ahai,

sunka ka. de‘b ‘

in m ayo .

Wahhba ha i la sula‘an

,

O salogiga ghunyar‘.

VII. GERAR,in b .

A Ra iding Song.

So m a li.

Idinku baneyal Haveye, over plains and plain s,banan idinku baneyal, over (countless) plains,

1 i.e. thedow ry .

2 Thewo m en ’s shoes aren o t fa stened by a strap a t theheel , an d, bein g just

a s heavy a s them en ’s,m akea grea t clatter in w a lkin g . Thebest shoes a reo f

cow’

s hide.

3 touch,but herethem ean ing is “ lo o t.

4 This is them ea n in g given m eby theauthor, but I can n otexplain it.5 An inten sivefo rm O f theplura l .

English.

My finehorse,your co lour, is it n ot white?

Your m anners and age

a rethey n ot nineyears ?Areyou n ot likea gentlem an 7

As I groo m you ,

I throw away thedirt,I clean thestab le,a nd rem ovethedung,whileI put down grass for you .

Whereca m els gra ze,with you I m ust a tta ck,and until I get m y share

,

I will n ot loosen girths .

DO not prancewith m e,

a nd neigh softly.

1 78 SONGS

Illahh beididi ba iste,

whoserichness belongs to God,dula n m a u bulaten goneout to war .

7

Barbar m a iss ka gfirten ? Haveyea ssem bled theyoung m en .7

Bado’m au ghObsoten ? Haveyecaught Bado .

7

Bustihi’iyo shalka 8 m a Bado Haveyeput on Bado theJelanket

huwisen .7 and trappings

Rakabka birtaah sulka m au Haveyeput thetoein thestirrupbarkisen ‘

iron

Yassin 5 m angu bahhden ? Haveyem adeyour prayersButlyihi

‘

Ollku jehhai, Wheretheenem y cut theground,iyo budn lki m a héshen ? haveyefound thetra cksIsago ka ba law aya, Whileheis ta lking,

banan m augu takten ? haveyetaken to theplain ?Wila l, Ebba badbadshei, Boys, enriched by God,dabka m a u bilblshen ? haveyeprepared thefire7Sibrar ‘

anaba bokha “, A skin of curdled m ilk,iyo habenkana barurta , and fat fo r to -night,m a ba rura ‘

un ten ? haveyeea ten fat .7

VIII. GERAR, in b .

On theRa ising of theTriba l Horse,

Som a li.

Gerar w a boghola l , Songs a rein hundreds,w a badwein iyo m ojad, likethegrea t sea and waves,w a baburki sidisa . liketheships.

Ninki an badinahain Them an who is not fu ll of them ,

berka w a ka ghalaha . his bowels arecut out.Babir m ai m akhashen Do yehea r m y song ?

Hadi gaso lo bilabo , If com panies areco llected,0 Bura o lagu tontOm o

", and hailed to Burao ,

1 Na m eOf a ho rse.2 is thehairy skin placed o ver thesaddle.3 is thewo o l len trappings on headsta l l an d brea st-plateWith theSo m a lis

, a s w ith o ther Africa n horsem en , thestirrup iro n issm a ll , and o n ly theb ig toeis inserted.

5 TheProphet._

5 Curdled m ilk and m elted sheep’s ta il fa t a retheusua l suppl ies taken bya So m a l i on a ra id.

7 This and thenext tw o werem adeby m y sa is , o r gro o m , o n theocca s iono f thera ising o f m oun ted n ativelevies for theOpera tio n s aga in st theMullah ,1 902- 4.

3 fro m “ to m to m drum .

1 80 SONGS

inan forska 1l u bodo , tha t I join theforce,w a ha l a n bihhiha inin , is a thing of n o va lue,Sirka l berka u sheg. let theSirka l rem em ber in his hea rt .

XI. GABEI’

,in d.

La m ent on theInva sion a nd Ra ids qf theMu l la h,

Moha m m ed Abda llah,1 900— 1 904 .

Da‘

da"gabeiga wa ta n

‘beriaha daba ‘ei digéya ,

Forget theho ly song I form erly laid down ,Hadba anigu o dayei ya dari tidahhai,

Now I m yself to o haveceased from what peoplesang,

An dubeyo w a ki beriaha igu dahhsonei.

And from what cam eto m eto sing before.

An ku d‘

odo , Som ali yan bada lka defn ahain ,Let m espeak out

,and if Som a lis ceasen ot their chatter,

Dabolki an ku rido,bedoda an daboka gud saro .

Let m eput on thelid, and cover up thedish.

Digti halei dahhdiga ka m a gam‘

in , da‘kirka an ka ‘

ci,

A ll last night m y heart could no t sleep,in them orning I arose,

Derewishtu w a ti ka tim i degalodoryo ,ThereweretheDervishes com efrom their hom es

,

Dari‘idki5 wagi horeyei dabin ogholen ,

Darud first had laid his snare,

Dabadedn a w a ti lei yim i dagahha n Idoro",And a fterw ards hew as com eto theland o f Idoro ,

Dareghada7 iyo w a ti guben , dinti Nébiga da b ku shiden ,

Therewerethepriests’ scho o ls burned, thefaith of theProphet set fire1 Adopted fro m theEnglish.

2 I havegiven a s l itera l a tra n slation o f these Gabeis a s I can , but in

so m eca ses w hereI a m n o t ableto expla in h o w them ean ing is a rrived a t, I

havegiven them ea n ing derived fro m a co llo qu ia l pa raphra seby thea utho r.

3 1— 5 . O ld songs do n o t suit thepresen t days o f strife,No w keep quiet un less yo u w ish m eto stop.

4 And la ter 1. 7, w a. ti, cf. 289 .

5 Na m eo f theSo m a li tribes,including Do lboha n ta , Ogaden , etc. , i.e. the

tribes o f theMul lah.

6 A n am efo r Ishhak .

7 Darogh o is a scho o l w hereyoung m en lea rn their religion , o r aretra inedfo r priesthood . Thechief scho o ls area t u . Sheikh , Hargeis a ; theu . Sheikho neis that referred to here.

SONGS 1 8 1

Dabuna da‘

ci iyo dunida nafodei,And hecarried off lo ot and laid wastetheearth

,

Dadku da ‘ei,agouti dulm iya ‘

, derisadu layei,Herobbed thepeople, injured theo rphan

, slew theneighbours .

Dubki’ iyo sha ladki,arladdi lagu doafei,

Their headcovering and chant,as they tram p over theground,

Sidi danab ku da ‘ei, rerihi digoda lo rebei.Fell like lightning and thunder

,our hom es wereleft as dung .

Ebbo , adi ya dayenah, an duri ku m oghene0 Father, thou art everlas ting, and al l knowing,Da lki adaha laba nin 3

ya dasaddu tunei,Tw o sides haveclam oured for po rtions of theland

,

Rabo , ka la dabal eida m adha r leiss la doneya .

O God, separatethearm ies which seek onean other.

XII. GABEI,in 772.

My futureWife.

An m a leyo ta n ‘m agew a m adahhada Guledo .

It is in m y m ind that Shewho m I woul d m arry is the(daughter of) the

head o f theGuleds .

Ma rrin 5 ‘a s weiyei, o ga

‘

a m o w a m ajen o robah,Sheis pink

,and her hands arelikedrops of rain

,

Kub m a lasa n ba lehdahai, m arodi w a Sohhei,Her ankles areround, her skirt is pleated,Ta laboda m agug 0 m a ridei, w a m iyirisei.

Her steps aren ot thoseof a foo l, shewal ks daintily.Ma laék sam eis an farsam o , lagu m a nagin

“.

Sheis after thefashion of an angel, a virgin ful l o f skil l,7Weli m elod jogta na m aa rag, ku m aana m oghene.

Never yet haveI seen theplaceo f your abode, nor haveI an y knowledgeof you.

1 Orphan s a reo rdered to bespecia l ly pro tected by theKora n .

2 Thewhiteclo th they tieo ver their heads a s a badge.

3 TheMull ah ’s peopleand theBritish Govern m en t.1 ti an .

5 pink co lour , o r l ight copper , thefavo uriteco lo ur am ong Som a l is .

6 Fro m nag wo m an .

7 TheS inger n ow addresses thelady .

1 82 SONGS

Halun lba m irtidaha ghalbigu ka m uradsidei,

Last night, for ha lf thenight, in m y heart I dream ed o f you.

Ma rrwein hoyoda w ahhannu sin Mur’ai rerato s,

Wewill giveyour aged m other a loading cam el,Wa lalkana ham ar m aidan ban m alin ho Odane‘

And to your brother oneday I m ay present a pureb ay pony.

Mos ban u jebin abaha , Mura"iyo Hem a leh",

I will dividea host of cam els with your father.

An m ajalis wada ghadOnne, m idayéda kali.Let us all takeour pla ces, com eto m y people.

XIII. GABEI, in d.

To D aha b.

Dirahh hérte, Guban

“o lei dilei, dukha la hayam ei.

In theSpring tim e, Guban is dead, thepeoplehavetaken thero ad

Ninki dan o kahhayo banan dauga so ghObeya ,

Hew ho leads water-cam els,takes thero ad to theplain .

Dukhanlsiyo Ogaz 5 o da lei, .

derig la danshbdo ,Dukhan and Oga z havefoa led, and a reproud with repletion.

Wa derejo labadeni o gho l lad’

ss ku darei,Hereis honour fo r both of us

,w ho m eet in oneroom ,

Un siga ad nagu dadisida . Dabab'

O ,n o 1 am

Whileyou sprinklescent over us . 0 Dahab, com e!Wahhad dOnto w a laga beleya , Dahab 0 ,

n o kali !Whatever you wish will begiven you, O Dahab, com e!Dud7 annu nahai la m a horeyo , Dahab 0 ,

n o kali !Our tribeis second to none

,0 Dahab

,com e!

Akha l dOrah m od leiss ku darei, ga lm o daba joga ,Our goods arelaid together in a beautiful house, thecam els wait behind,Durba bolab a n aga ghobo , Dahab 0 ,

no kali !Now takeour flocks

,O Dahab

,com e!

1 Hal al nu .

2 Na m eo f a ca m el .3 Tha t shem ay lo ad .

4 Ho take, ho ld . Odo say.

5 Na m es o f ca m els .

3 Them aritim epla in from w hich thetribes wa nder in to them o refertileOgo , o r so uthern slopes o f theGo l iera nge, a t this tim eo f year .

7 Forest. Hereused for tribe.

THE DIALECTS OF THE OUTCAST TRIBES,

YIBIR AND MIDGAN .

1 . ACCOUNT OF THE TWO TRIBES.

Thesetw o tribes a reca lled by Som a lis Sa b, or outca st, beingcon sidered Of low origin and n ot descended from D a rud or Iskha k

(of. Appendix III). For this reason Som a lis will n ot m ix with themor interm arryThe Yibirs a resaid to be sorcerers, and to haveprophetic

powers and the power of cursing. They live by begging, but

especia lly by thelevy of a ta x on So m a lis, a t a m arriageor the

birth of a child,a ccording to an Old tradition to ld in a story which

is given herein Yibir dia lect.TheMidga ns areby na turehunters or trappers, and livelargely

by them eat of ga m ethey can kill in thejungle. They area lsoem ployed by Som a lis to work for them ,

in return for which theyreceiveo cca siona l paym ent, in fo od or o therwise, and protection ,

from their em ployer. This work consists in fetching wood, drawingwater, and digging and cleaning wells.

Both tribes a lso work in lea ther, tanning hides, a nd m akinglea ther orn am ents, saddles, shoes, etc.

They profess to beMoham m edans likepureSo m a lis, but theMidga ns arevery lax in their religion ,

being unclea n in them a tterof them ea t they ea t. Many, however , a recom paratively civilisedand a restrict on this point.Neither Yibir n or 'Midgan haveany definitetra ct of land, like

thenum erous tribes of Som a li. They aresca ttered a s wanderersover thewho lecountry, theMidgan s either atta ching them selvesto so m eSom a li tribeas a bba n , or living upon them a s robbers an d

thieves.

Ea ch tribeha s its ow n dia lect, which ha s hitherto been kept a sa so lem n secret from therest of theworld. They still insist upon

YIBIR AND MIDGAN DIALECTS 1 85

secrecy from Som a lis, a nd m adem eprom isen ot to divu lgeto theirhereditary enem ies wha t they werequitewilling to explain to thewhitem an .

I, therefore, rely upon a ny w ho m ay read this n ot to disclosetoa ny Som a li wha t I ha vebeen a llowed to writedown for thebenefitof theSir/ca l, but if a ny o ther officer of a n enquiring dispositionwishes to pursuethe subject, he Should bea cquain ted with the

Som a li language, which a ll theSab kn ow, a nd discuss thesethingswith oneof them .

2. OBSERVATIONS ON THE DIALECTS.

(Q uoted by kind perm ission of theEdito r of theJ our na l Of theAfrican Society

l. )

Yibirs and Midgans areboth very jea lous of their la nguages ,and keep them a secret from other Som a lis, a lthough a ll speak thecom m on la nguage of the coun try , n am ely So m a li. There are,

I believe, n o Som a lis w ho kn ow anything of either dia lect, a nd

whileI w a s ha ving m y interviews with thesepeople, they wereveryparticu lar not to a ll ow a ny Som a li within hea ring, our conversa tionsha ving to becarried on in thelatter’s language.

Herelet m erepea t tha t I w a s put on m y word by b oth peoplesnot to divulgeanything to a Som a li, but w a s a llowed to writeitdown for theuseof British ofi‘icers, their va nity being evidentlytouched by the idea of a white m an wan ting to study theirlanguage.

ThereforeI m ust ask any who m ay read this a nd w ho m ay

sojourn in thecountry,'

n ot to repea t w ha t I givehereto a ny Som a li,n ot of Yibir or Midga n birth.

A . W . Schleicher is theonly author w ho refers to an unkn ow nlanguage(D ieSo m a li-Sp ra che, p . x)

Unter den So m a li leben m ehrereHelotenvOlker, vo n denen die

Midgan , Tom al und Yibber diebekanntesten sind. Nur dieYibber scheineneineeigeneSprachez u besitzen , diesieun ter sich sprechen .

”

“Bestim m teAngaben dariiber konnteich nicht erha lten, dem Som a lisind dieYibber ein Greuel Nach Hussein versteht kein Som ali ihreSpra che,doch verstehen dieYibber a lledas So m al i.

”

1 J ourna l of theAfrica n S ociety, No . xm . , O ctober, 1 904.

1 86 Y IBIR AND MIDGAN DIALECTS

Theconstruction of thelanguages, I find, is thesa m ea s tha t oftheSom a li tongue, a s spoken a l l over thecoun try, and by all tribesthat is to say, they areidentica l in , and thesa m erules apply in

( 1 ) Syntax,(2) Conjuga tion ofVerbs,

(3) Inflexions of Nouns and Adjectives,(4) Methods of form ing Deriva tiveVerb s, etc.

In them a tter of Vo cabula ry, thefo llowing parts of speech are

pra ctica lly a ltogether different from Som a li a nd from oneanother,though a very few roo ts arecom m on to a l l three

( 1 ) Nouns,

(2) Adjectives,(3) Verbs,

and consequen tly, (4) Adverbs,(5) Conjun ction s,(6) Prepositions.

On theo ther hand such parts of speech a s,

( 1 ) DefiniteArticle,(2) Dem on stra tivePronoun

,

(3) Po ssessivePron oun ,

(4) a ll Pa rticles,arecom m on to a ll three, and havethesam eform s and construction s.

TheYibir vocabulary is fairly com plete, though poorer thanSom a li. TheMidga n, on theother hand, is extrem ely deficient.A largenum ber of words havethereforeto do duty for severa lm eanings ea ch, a ccording to thecontext.

Exa m p les,Yib ir .

da l an ga any anim a l or bird (an appropria teepithet or description being required for ea ch individua l kind) .

thing, stufl'

,food, etc.

rer,”

fa m ily, hom e, flocks, belongings, baggage,property.

any vegetable, tree, grass, wood.

light, sun m oon star, rupee, Silver,m oney (a s adjective bright or white) .

Y IBIR AND MIDGAN DIALECTS

I a m hungry (Mid ) gura tada w a. negh ata l , litera ll y, m y belly isSm a ll (or thin ) .

look at (Mid ) in dOkh o l ah a ku yef.

(Yib a in ta ku yef, litera lly, turn your eyes to .

(Mid ) go m o sim o’ss ku dah h dah h b i

, litera ll y,buy yourself with wa ter.

(N .B. Does this refer to theMoha m m edan ab lutions beforepraying, or ha s it any connexion with Christian baptism ?)

evening (Mid ) iftim o w ih i negh a tal a h im irki SO‘idbeya ,

litera lly, thesm a ll light, a s night com es on .

Notice that these phra ses are sim ilar in ea ch language. A

num ber of words too arecom m on to both

On perusing a gra m m ar of Ga lla , I found that n o specia lconnexion exists, a s I had expected, between tha t languageand

either of thesedia lects. Whereany Sim ilarity occurs, it pervadestheSom a li a s well.Many Som a li roots a refound in thesedia lects, with additiona l

syllables.

ku lh il afil l a feiti

l agh dan (tongue) l agh o w a (throa t)lagh (ta lk)

iftim o w a

in dOkh o l

m akh a sh im ei

gh o rib irro

NOTES ON THE DIALECTS 1 89

Theinflexions of Yibir and Midgan arethesa m eas thoseof theSom a li

,and n ot of theGa lla language, as, for instance, agreem en t of

Adjectives, inflexions of Verbs, plura ls of Nouns, and theDefinitearticles.

Deriva tivewords areform ed in thesa m ew ay a s in Som a li

so‘idib

‘idhi

so shancom e’

sham ei }fe

'

d (Y) wish. kul (M) give.

fedo look for. kusho eat, or drink.

in dékho l (M) indOkh o lei

(Y) aim ei

m akha li (Y)}

m akha lei m akha leido listenm akhashin (M) m akh ashim ef m akha shim efso to .

ghan (M)}

gham i gham o

yifan (Y) yifn o

Thefo llowing Midga n root ragh , or ragh ah h , is in teresting a s

regards its various deriva tives a nd constructions, which areall

purely Som a li.

ragh ahh i m a yo’SS k a ragh ahh

so ragh ahh

ku ragh ah h

fa ras ku ragh ahh

gosad ku ragh ahh i

ragh ahh o

ku ragh ahh san

ragh ahh sanei

ragh ahh san o

ku ragh ahh san o

In an a ccount, given m eby a Midgan , of thetraditiona l originOf his tribe, it w as suggested tha t this languagew as invented

so‘idhi

so sham ei

‘id (Y) give.

‘ido eat

,or drink.

indoko leisi

a im eisi

act, do , fix

I will not do itsit down (set yourself)waitca tch, holdridea horse

set,pla ce, m ake

out (with a knife)taketo yourself, m arrybe, exist, lie, livewish

,have

givelo ok forlike, love

1 90 YIBIR AND MIDGAN DIALECTS

by theMidgan s’

an cestors in thejunglea s a secret code. This m ay

possibly betheca se, judging from thefo llowing exa m ples

fa ro l ah éto from Som a li

arrow dego yir

breast fedo l ah ato

Cla rke’s ga zelle dib o der(Dibatag)

geso der

yiryiro

gad l ah ato

m a dOb iyO

ribs

taillong

geso horn s

yeryer plur. form

of yer sm a ll

gad beard

m a d6 bla ckb iyo wa ter

1 92

iftim Ow aha ban Aji sukhodin kudukhei.

aw inta ida yagOlka raghahhsanta .

m oyodibigga erifogad iss dukhesa

w a Shar.

w a m ahai na ska s bakhrinka ku

raghahhsan

yagOlkaigi m akaburta ghan ku

raghahhsana .

na skakan hangaguri shar ku

m idsha , haj la bann u ku ra

ghahhadna .

hadad hangaguri ghan i indo

kho leisineso , m akabur sb a r ban

ku kuleya .

him irkija l m ahaiga laga 1a Sirei.

iftim Owihi tegedeya , kulhidi m o

yodi jalm ihi b igga erifogad u

sha m eineso,a n rufino m oyoda ,

0 ja lm ihi la Sirn o .

Yibir .

m a yafantahai?

m a yafnan ba ? so yafnan m iyabiggeu bidbideinesa ?

bigga dugagelgu w a tegedeya .

m ahbad fédesa ?

wahb an ka fédeya inad ka lweini ‘ida .

hum aggi m ahb ad ‘fdatan

gOdibki m a‘

idata n ?

dugagagu weli m a aw élisatei?

weli m a awelisan .

dérigas m ahbad ku awelein ?

YIBIR AND MIDGAN DIALECTS

to -day I shot a So m a li with a

bow .

m y wifeis a t hom e.

the people fighting over therea rem a ny.

wha t is that on your head?

m y houseis by thebig hil l .

herearem any a nim a ls, wecatchthem in traps.

if you shew m e a lio n, I willgiveyou m uch m oney.

in the night m y cam els werelooted.

to - m orrow,when thepeopletake

theca m els over there, let us

kill the people, and go off

with thecam els.

areyou well ?is it pea ce?wherea reyo u goingI m yself a m going there.

what do you wan tI want you to givem ea tobe.

w ha t do you eat at night ?do you drink m ilk ?areyou m arried yet 7

I a m n ot m arried yet.

wha t areyou going to dothat ?

EXAMPLES O F SENTENCES AND CONVERSATION

Yibir .

ja lm o m a ku dashisa ?

ku m a dashlyo .

a lkhailahagu w a inhim a

w a ghandid.

aw aski yafneisfya , dalanga w a so

bidbideineya .

a nghagi ad yiftim eisei m a so

ganiden

gOriedka S ain ba rufsan .

derigi lagu anghaksodo“huw ad

ba la bida .

khabar ghandid ba lagu bida .

m ahha bakhreineya ?m a lawo ?agarm a ku m idesa ?

agar ku m a m ideso .

kulhim ad bidbideinesa ?

biggeka so tegedei?a lkhail ku tegedeya .

m ahb ad u tegedi weida ?goriedki m a m ideya ?

bigga darsad’

ss ka m idi.

ainta igu so yef.

godib i so shim i .

ja lam ada SO shim iya .

dalangaha bakhreineya agarm a

u fedeya ?ada higgan m idsiya .

ja la m ada kabarta ku m idsiya .

agartada la tegedhiggisa ha m ideyo .

khabarm a aweleinesa ?w a lei rufiyei.

difadki iga bilehh .

kalweinti hum éksaneid yafnan

iss ugu shim i.

agarm a aim eisei?

khabarm a m akha leidanesei?

dérigas m a ku duhuresa ?

ku m a dubhro .

wha t did you see?

wha t did you hear ?do you understand tha t ?I do n ot understand.

1 93

E ig lish.

haveyou any ca m els ?I ha venone.how m any areyour horses ?they arem any.

m akethe za riba strong, a wildbea st will com e.

have you caught the Mullahyou werefighting ?

tha t m an is one-eyed.

the thing one prays on is a

huw ad.

”

you aregood at thela nguage.what is tha t n oise?rain ?wha t is in there?nothing is there.when areyou going ?

whereha veyou com efrom 7

I am riding a horse.

w hy don’t you go ?

is them an here?

sit down at theba ck there.

lo ok this w ay.

bring m esom em ilk .

bring theca m els here.

wha t does the anim a l m akingtha t n oisewant ?

put thethings down here.load up thecam els .

takeyour things away.

(lea veit a lone.) let it be.

wha t areyou doing ? (abstract )I am killed.

cut theropefrom m e.

fo ld up theb lanket well .

1 94

kulbfda gOriedka so tegeda , i solagh.

khabarka s’

Ss ka ladishei.

agarteidi w a ku m idesa .

saddehhi kfilhiod w a ku laghei.

w a-tahhadi darsad ga labidi so

tegeda .

w atahho w a lba kulhidi iftinti so

godista w a so tegedena .

ani, yaha lnyahh ba la bida .

gam aghda, gam aghdis ba la bida .

hegha yu lakheya .

khabar lagu aweleya , m a ku

duhuresa

gorieddi yiftim eisa khabar yafanm a ka so tegedeya ?

bigga w a lagu orem ei.khabarka s urshen ba la bida .

gorieddi a lm anki fedateiagar m a

a im eisei aga r ghandid bei

aim eisei.

higgi lo gurei, a lm anki m a la ga

bagheyeia l bi darsad

,awa s ba aim eina

ghorim ada yafan dugaglna a we]eyei, law ihilaga tegedo , derii

’

hi

urshena m a awelin .

igu m akha leido , k haba r an ku

laghi.w a ku m akha leidaneya ,khabarka s

i lagh.

higga s ugu orensanyahai.

goried yafan ba lagu bida ,kha

barkagi i la gh, bidbidsin m ayo .

ha bidin .

w aferka ka towa ku m a da shlyo .

hilagham aha hadeidina n agar ka‘idin

,m a yafna khabarka s.

YIBIR AND MIDGAN DIALECTS

when them an co m es, tell m e.

never m ind tha t. lea veit a lone.m y things arethere.

I haveto ld you threetim es.

com eback to -m orrow evening.

wewill com eevery day at sunrise.

it is big, sm a ll .you areright, heis right.heis tell ing a lie.

do you understand wha t is sa id

to you ?

is there go od news from the

arm yhew a s killed there.

that is bad news.

ha s theforcefound som esto ck ?they havefound plenty.

w a s the force frightened awayfrom wherethey wen t to ?

at thenext villagewefind goodgra ss.

your peoplem adethegood boa tsto cro ss the sea on , thebad

ones they didn ’t m ake.listen to m e, I will tel l you a

story.

l a m listening , tell m etha t story.

it is torn there.you area good m an

,say your

say, I will not go against it.

n o . it is n ot.

that knifeis b lunt.if yo u do not giveanything forthewives, it is not good.

1 96 YIBIR

A CONVERSATION, IN YIBIR.

Ana ski ya‘

unkaaha dadodisi

inhideruftei?

How m any of the o ld m an’

s

Sheep died ?Aferiganadod iyo lim ihiganadod Thirty havedied, tha t num ber

ya rufei,huw adisi inhida aha .

Khabarm a u laghei?

Ka lweina leh bu u shim lyei.

Iftim o yu ka fedtei, ja lankisi

anigaaha yu la tegedei.Inhim a ku so shansaneyei?

Ya ‘un fila iyo ya ‘

un asera , lim ihika lweinod,iyo m ado kushan iyodifad asuw anta kalweinta ku

shansoto , yu ku so shansodei.

Asuw antadiinhideiftim o u‘idei

Aferi iftim od iyo aferi ganadodinhida s u

‘idei. Kulhidiu ‘idei

bu i laghei,“ higgaga m idi,

badan iftim o darsad aim ei’

sto

w a ku so‘idahaya .

”

Kulhidas dugageda na laghdei,Gam agh .

”

Anasko hadiasuwantadiu inhidas

o iftim o u‘idei, a suw anteidi

inhidead u‘idei?

Lim ihiganadodiyo lim ihiiftim od

ban u‘idei.

Hadad inhida s u ‘idei, m iad inbi

gha ndidah u‘idei?

Inhida o iftim o an ku da shiyei,inhikelem ad hadan ku da shiyo ,ban u

‘idi laha .

Iftim o m ad u m aghurtei?

Maghurti aim ein w a i.

An iftim o u m aghure, m a u

shim inesa ?

U shim in m ayo , higgeiga nnu

m idinena .

of skins therewere.Wha t did hesay ?Hetook them to Berbera .

Hewants to sell them ,hewent

with his big ca m el .How m uch w a s hecarrying ?Onem an

’

s riceand da tes, tw otobes, and an anna , and a

sash to tiehis wife’s dress, heto ok.

How m uch m oney did hegiveyour wife?

Twenty-four rupees he ga ve.

When hegaveit, hesa id she

w a s to stay where she w a s,

and if hegot m orem oney, hewould giveit.

Then shesa id to us,“All right.

If tha t m an gavetha t m oney toyour wife, how m uch did yougivem ine?

I ga veher twelverupees.

If you gave tha t, did you givem uch ?

So m uch I b ad, if I had hadm ore, I would havegiven it.

Did you borrow m oney ?I could get n o loan .

I m ay lend you som e m oney,will you takeit?

I will not takeit, wea restayingwhereweare.

MOHAMMED HANIF 1 97

MOHAMMED HANIF (ANCESTOR OF THE Ym m s) .

Kulhidi horim ad anghag ba lagu bidei‘ Hig bu m idsha’

,

Thetim e before a priest there w as . Wherehe lives

goried la m a m idin jirin . Deri'

ihini3 horim ad, iyo deriihi

peoplewith not to live used Your people before, and thepeople

anghaksodei dehhdodi u m idshei, lim ihi ya yiftim eyei. Deri

(w ho ) prayed (who ) am ong them lived, bo th fought. A m an

yabar ghandldsan ya la bidei. Deri'

ihini horim ad ya 11 so

of property plenty he w as . Your people before to (him )

godisei.“Awa s no

‘idhi, yei lagben .

“Khabarkeku fedesan ‘

cam e. A herb to us bring,” they said “Wh atreason for doyou w ant(it)?

yu laghei. Kulhida s yu laghei,“Deriahan anghaksoda yannu ku

he said Then they said,“Thesepeople (w ho ) pray wewith (it)

rufinena . Kulhida s yu laghei, Wa iftim o ghandidah, idinku

will kill .” Then he said,

It is m oney plenty you

i ‘idi m ahais

, awaskeiga idin‘

idin m ayo . Kulhida s yu

to m egivewithout, m y herb to you give(I) will not.” Then they

goderOwi iftim o iyo goderOwi ja lm o inhida s aw aski yei kagaa hundred rupees and a hundred cam els so m uch theherb they for

d0 1yOden . Kulhida s yu aw a ski u sa ra‘idei". Kulhidas ya deriihi

bought. Then hetheherb to (them ) gave. Then thepeople

a nghaksOneyei a lm an SO fedten ’. Kulhidasa yei deriihini horim ad

(who ) prayed a raid went for. Then they your people before

yei a lm an u so fedten . Kulhidas lim ihi goderOwi o lawoda yeithey a raid on (them )went for. Then for tw o hundred years theybig m idshei, o higgiu tegedei ya aim ein w aiyen . Kulhidasa

a place lived,

and wherethey went (they) find coul d not. Then

1 Think. 1a b ida it is thought. This is used for “ is”

(Som a li w a ).2 Aorist

,fro m m idso .

3 Plur . derl o . Herethen a rra tor refers to thepeopleo f theperson hew a saddressing (i.e. m yself), who m he co n siders to be the sa m e a s theGa la .

deriihi anghak so del m ean s Mo slem s .

4 Som a li : m ahhad kn denesan ?6 So m a li : idinku 1 sin m ahai unless you givem e.

6 Hand over. So m a li dib .

7 Look for. (w an tedta .) Som a li dbno . a lm an reao , Som a li am .

Water, ra in s, i.e. year.

1 98 YIBIR

deriihi a nghakséneyei bigga ku rufen . Kulhidas yei anghagi

thepeople (who ) prayed there died, Then they thepriestyabar yifm eiyen

langhagi bu rufei. Adlsi ya la a lm an . Weled

property fought thepriest he died His hom e w as loo ted A boy

yaha fnyahh u u jagh‘idei

, ya higgi ka so godisei, weledki iyosm al l (whom ) he begat, therefrom ca m e

,theb oy and

aferi kelem ad big m idin j1rei. Weledki Moham m ed Ha nif befour others a place live used to . Theboy Moha m m ed Hanifla bidei. Weledku kulhida s yu a nghag nokhdei, a suwano yu

w as . Theboy then he a priest becam e, wom en he

difadin’

jirei. Dugagisu3 bigga m idsha o asuwano difadsha

’

,

used to . (while) He there lives and wom enanghagi yifna ya 11 so Sham ei,Au-Bakhardlibu nokhdei. Kulhida sthepriestgreat to (him ) cam e, Au-Bakhardli he w as . Then

yu u laghei, Khabarm a higgo u m idesa , O anghag lagugu bida ?

he said, Wh at therefor do you live, and a priest for are

Kulhidas bu laghei, Dugagagu m a iga anghaksantahai?

Then he said,

“Yourself (areyou) m ethan (m ore) ho ly ?Hulhida su laghei, Ka anghaksa nahai. Kulhidas yu u laghei,Then he said,

“Moreho ly I am .

” Then ‘

he said,

Khabarka ad iga anghaksantaha i igu aim idsi. Kulhidasu

Thereason you m ethan (m ore) ho ly arem eto shew.

” Then helaghei,

“Higgas an ka‘

godisaya , ka godis dugagagu. Kulhidasu

said, There I will penetrate, thr ough go yourself.” Thento m alaha anigab yu hosidlsi ka god1se1 . Kulhida s ka godisei,that hill great hebeneath it through went. Then (he) Went through,0 higgo u ku godisei, yu u laghei Au-Bakha rdli

,

“Tom alaha O ,

and therehe in went,heto him said Au -Bakhardli

,

“0 Hill,

gan‘id. Kulhidas tom alihi

’

ss ku godisei, kulhidas yu big u

seize.” Then thehil l together went, then bewhereheka so godiso aim ein w ai. Tom alaha dehhdisi yu ku rufei

out m ay com e see could not. Thehill in it he died

1 This is n o t correctly given , but thesen seis “ They fought over thedeadpriest’s property .

”

2 Whether.

th is m ean s “m arry , o r

“rape is n o t clea r. difad rope.

Thereis onesto ry that Moha m m ed Han if w a s expelled by Sheik Ishbak becauseo f his im m o ra lity.

2 Self, perso n . dugagei gu. I m yself.4 Through, acro ss .

YIBIR-ENGLISH AND MIDGAN -ENGLISH

VOCABULARY .

Thefo llowing is a list of Yibir and Midgan words not used by otherSom al is .

Words,such as Pronouns , Particles, etc., arenot given , being com m on

to al l threedia lects.

Nouns arerecognised by theDefiniteArticlewhich fo llows each noun,separated by a hyphen .

ain-ti eye bula l -ki fire

In theseexam ples, ain equa ls an eye, bul a l equals a fire theeye,

”

thefire,” would be, ainti, bul al ki.

Thesuffixes, -ki, -gi, -hi, arem as culine,-ti, -di, arefem inine.

Abbreviations(Y) Yibir dialect.(M) Midgan dialect.(Y ), (M) com m on to bo th dialects.

v .i. intransitiveverb.

v .t. transitiveverb.

a . adjective.TheArabic letter ain (

C) is represented by ghain is represented

by gh, kh .

5 represents the“ cerebral d,” which at thebeginning o r end Of a wordsounds liked, but in them iddleof a word is m oreliker .

This letter in Yibir is pronounced usua lly likedh.

a-di (pl aO-hi) (Y), fam ily, rer,

po ssessionsabab o-di (M), Plateau Gazelle,

dero ”

Abir-ki (Y), Tom a] (an outcasttribethat work in iron)

adeisfm o-di (M), m ilkaferi-hi (Y ), fourafiagbin-ti (M), m outh

agar-ti (Y), thing, any concreteObject aga rm a ku m idesa whatis there?

aghtul v.t. (M), strike, hita im ei v .t. (Y ), see, find, understand

aim eisi v.t. (Y), shew, teachain-ti (Y), eye; a in ta kn yef; turnyour eye(i.e. look)

ainto li-hi (Y), lie, untruth

VO CABULARY

Aiyifan -ti (Y), Ga laAii—gi (M), So m alia lbakhar-ti (Y ), cow

a léliso~di (M), bird, bustardalkha il -ki, -shi (Y), horsea l m an v.t. (Y), rob , lo ota lm an -hi (Y), arm y, enem ya léw a -hi (M), m an (esp. ref. to

Midgan m an ), notused in referringto a So m a li; a l ow ihi i sofinfinshei,m y father

a ltob-kl (Y), shieldam edo-di (Y ), go atsan aduhr-ki (M), elephantAn as-ki (Y), YibirAna snim eiso v.i.

, co llect the sa

m anyoAnasnfm o -di, the sam anyo paidto Yibirs

anghag-gi (Y), priest, “m ul lah

anghak so v.i. (Y ), prayani-gi (Y), largeness ; a n i ba la

bida,it is large

aniah a . (Y), great

anisan a (Y ), co m plete, correct, newa sahan -ti (M), wom an

‘a ser-ti (Y ), (M), dates ( ‘usero -hi)‘asérah a . (Y), red (som etim es a ser aa

'

h is used)‘a sero-hi (Y ), blo od‘a séw a—hi (M), blood‘a ssi (M), lyn xa suw an -ti (Y) wifeau -

gi (Y ), an cestorAw a sh ona -hi (Y ), God

aw a s-kl (Y), vegetable, grass, tree,bush

,zariba, gras s m at ; a w a shi

a ldibo, the sacred tree of the

Yibirs,used as a charm .

aweilei v .t. (Y), do , m ake,construct

,

causeaweiliso v .t. (Y ). do for yourself,m arry

aw in -ti (M), wom an

bab ato-di (M), cloth, dress

dabo- ‘ad (M), Ha artebeest

dado-(ii (Y), Sheepdag v.t. (M), see, understand

da hir-ki (M), fat, ghidahhb i v .t. (M), buy

201

b aghdan, v .i. (M), talk, tell, say

n asker bad baghd a m esa .9 what

areyou saying ?

b aghda n -ki (M), tal k, speech, language

bagh v. (Y), (M), bein fearb aghel v.t. (Y ),b agho v .i. (Y), (M), beafraid ; [cabagho, beafraid of

bakhar-ti (M), cowb akhrei v .i. (Y), m ake a noise

in verted “khabrei

b akhrin -ki (Y), (M), headb alkhal o-hi (M), lesser bustardb aneisin -ki (M), in front, beforebehhen san a. (Y), usefu lbid v .t. (Y), think ; kha ba r m a bi

desa what do you think ?The Pas sive, form ed by “

la ,

is used fo r theverb be

lei bida,I am ; lagu bida , thou

art ; he, she is you, they are

la n a bida,weare

e.g. deriga s ba la bida , that is ;A rias ba lei bic

’

l a,I am a Yibir ;

ha bidin (don’t think) it is n ot. NO

b idbidei v. (Y), go

b idbidsei v .t. (Y), m aketo go , sendaway

, throw awaybikh o -di (M),

“Dik-dik

b ilehh v.t. (Y), cutb i

‘

yuso v .t. (Y), like, bepleasedb oba

‘l m v .t. (M), gulp down

b od6w a—hi (M), cam elhil f-ki (M), donkeybul a l -ki (M), fire, sm oke

,fire-arm

bula lyei, v .t. (M), burn , heat, fo rgebulbul -ki (Y), stickbulbu l-shi (Y), whipbuskulohh-i (Y ), butter

202

da l anga -hi (Y), anim a ldam bm ei v.t. (M), dig, excavatedam om ya -hi (M), insidedangharei v .t. (Y), refuseda m s-ti (Y), behind, tail ; Ica dam s

tegea, fo llow behindd

‘arow a -hi (Y), breas t, udder

darsad (Y), a fterwards, subsequent ;w a ta hhadi da reda

, to -m orrowdarsei v .i. (Y), bebehind, beleft ;ku lhid i lea da rseisa

,afterw ards

dashi v.t. (Y) (M), have, po ssess(a lways used with in him a

kn da shisa .9 how m any have

you

aegayir (M), arrowdegfg-gi (M), donkeyderi -gi, -di (Y), finger ; one

person ; deriga s, that one; deri

ba [cu m idega , thereis one

derigab (Y), loin sdib oder (M), Clarke’s Ga zelledibya lin-ki (M), behind, after, back,tail (of an anim a l) ; dibya lin u

ragha lih, stand back ; dibya l inheigi, behind m e

difad -k l (Y), rope, snaredikln ‘arin-ki (M), hide (of gam e),prayer-m at

diliu-ti (M), Dero

doiyo v .t. (Y), buydub adyo -hi (Y), jugul ar vesselsdugag-gi (Y), person , people, self ;dugaggeigu , I m yself

duhur v .i. (M), travel, goku duhur v.t. (Y), understand ;Ica duha r i m ayo, I don

’t under

stand

duio v.t. (M), leave; ’ss ka dajo, let

be, never m indduk v .t. (M), strike, killdukhan v.i. (M), besick, beafraid ;beem pty

, bebrokendukhum ei v. (M), fearduI-shi (Y), end of backbonedusar-ki (M), elephant

YIBIR AND MIDGAN

dussi (M), leopard

erifogad-kl (M), distance, in tim e

or space,year, country ; higga/r

erifogad, away o ver there erifo

gadkim'

,your country ; er if ogadlci

tegédei, last year

fa l éd-di (M), rupeefardaho -hi fingerfaro lahato -hi (M), hand,fed v .t. (Y), wish, want, m ean

m ahhad fedesa .9 what do you

wantfedo v .t. (Y), lo ok forfédo lahato -di (M), breastfidsin-ki (Y ), cam el’s hum pfil—shi (Y), grain ; j: tom al a ah,

jo waree; j: iftin , ricefin, or finfin v .t. (M), givebirth to ,beget

finso v .i. (M), beborn

ga‘a l o v.t. (M), like

gabar ti (M), water-flaskgabis-ki (M), shieldgadlahato -di (M), cam el-skin , shieldga l abf-di (Y), eveninggam agh-i (Y), truth . Yes . All

rightgam agho v.i. (Y), beright, correct,true

ganad-di (Y), (M) handIn counting, ganad

”refers to

thefivefingers and m eans five

lim ihi gan a dod, ten sa ddehhi

gana dod, fifteen aferi gan adod,twentygan addi yafneid, right hand ;

g . ya ha inyahheid, left handgana

‘id v .t. (Y), catch

gararati-gi (M), horsegedgharom éd-ki (M), tree

gerya l -ki (M), Waller’s Gazellegesoder—ki Mgeso lahato-di

Oryx

204 YIBIR AND MIDGAN

ilb ir-ki (M), lim bil b ir-ti (Y ), eweildighdn-ti (Y), b ow

il ow af hi (Y ), ram

im il -ki (Y ), m a lecam elim itirahh-i (M), w ingindého leisi v .t. (M), point out, shewindékh o l -shi (M),eye; indékho lahau ye] ; look

indOkh o lei v .t. (M), lo ok atinhi-di (Y), (M), quantity : inhida s,so m uch inhim a ? how m uch?how m any?

irso v.i. (M), rem ain still

jagafiaho -di (M), Shoe, sandal (plur .

jagajia ho'

in -ki)jagh

‘id v .t. (Y ), givebirth to , beget ;

gor iedki ijagh‘idei

,m y father

jagha -hi (Y ), childja lan -ti (Y), (M), she-cam el (plur.

ja l m o -hi)jankh o -hi (Y ), kid, young goatjehh ar-ki (M), buck-Aouljim ikh—hi (M), caraca l-catjindar-ki (Y), ox, bull

kabar-ti (Y ), house, lo ading -m at,

load Of a cam elka lahed-ki (Y), ha lfk alwein -ti (Y), clo th, clothing ; k.

hum a lcsa n,blanket

ka lw ein a leh -di (Y), town ,Berberah

k atow a -hi (Y), m outh, edge; m a

fer/ca ka tow a“

ku m a da shiyo ,

that knifehas n o edge

kelem ad a . (Y ), otherkhabar v .i. (Y ), ta lk, speakkhabar-hi (Y), Speech

,ta lk

,lan

guage, news ; kha ba rka s ’33 ka

ladishei,stop that ta lk ; kha ba r

kas,likethat ; kha ba r m a dfedesa?

what do you want?khabrei v .i. (Y ), ta lk, speakkub ‘en -ti (Y), tail, ta il-fat.

kul v .t. (M), give

kul -ki (M), halfkulh i-di (Y), tim e; kul hida n , now ;kulhidas

,then ; ku lhim a ?when ?

sa ddehhi kul hiod, threetim es ;ku lhid i horyad, before

ku lun , v .i. (M), beSickkuno li-hi (Y), heartkushan -k l (Y ), ringkush o , v .t. (M), eat, drink

l ab odin -ki (Y), (M), body, bell yl adishei (Y), leave; ’

seka ladishei,

cease, let bela feiti-di (M), bonelafil -shi (Y), breas tbonel agh v .i. (Y ), speak, tell, sayIaghdam -ki (Y ), tongue

l aghow a -hi (M), tongue, thro atlam di (seelim di)l angharom éd -ki (M), ricel aw o -hi (Y), water, ra in , river, year ;la w ihi da rsad, next year

l aw odaur-ki (Y), water-bottle(law o -hi (M), m ilk)l ig-gi (M), buck-Gerenukl im di v .i. (Y ), (M), sleep, liedown ;(infin . lim a

’iyi)lim i-hi (Y), tw o

ludub-ki (M), penis

m adOb iyO-hi (M), liverm adOkushan -ki (Y), anna

m adola -hi (M), to rtoisem aghl‘i f v .t. (Y), lendm akabur a . (M), hardm akabur-ti (M), hill, stone, pebble,m oney

m akabur-ti (Y), to rtorse

m akha lei v.t. (Y), hearm akha leido v .t. (Y ), listenm ak ha li-di (Y), earm akha shin -ti (M), ear

m akhashim ei v .t. (M), hearm ak ha shim eiso v .i. (M), listen

m an ahho-di (Y), foodm arubo-hi (M), plate, dish

VO CABULARY 205

m id v .i. (Y), be, exist, bepresent,rem ain

, be a live; aga rm a kn

m idesa ? what is there?m id (Y ), (M). go ;

’selea m id

, go

away ; so m id,com e; la m id

, go

with, accom panym idsan vi . (M), sit downm idsi v.t. (Y), bringm idso v.i. (Y), rem ain ,

live; ya ‘unki

ku jagh‘idei m a m idsha ,

? is yourfather a live?

m irdo l O-hi (Y ), penism irgin-ki (M), plant, vegetablem oyo -di (M), peoplem ukhtaren -ki (Y), needle, bodkin

n a fél -ki (Y), hun gernafel o V.i. (Y), behungrynani-gi (Y), b ag, satchel carriedby Yibirs

nas-ki (M), thing, place, tim e, selfneghatal a (M), sm a ll

, b ad, few

(thin , near, black, light)nirokh -i (Y ), loin s

om as-ki (M), birdoran-ki (M), guinea-fowlorem i v .t. (M), killoren v .i. (M), die

orensan v .i. (M), be sick ; (Y), bespo ilt

, to rn

raghahh v.i. (M), act, do , catch ;r agha hhi m a yo, I w ill not do it ;’se [ca r aghahh, sit down ; so

r agha hh, com ehere, wait here;ku r agha hh, catch, ho ld ; ga r a rdtiIcu ragha hh, ridea horse

raghahhi v .t. (M), set, place, m ake;gdsad ku r agha hh i, cut (with a

knife) ; ’ss Ica raghahhi, put it

down thereraghahho v .t. (M), takefor yourself, m arry

raghahhsan v .i. (M), be, exist, lie,

live, think ; ku r agha hhsan , have,want

ragh ahh sanei v .t. (M), giveraghahhsan o v .t. (M), lo ok for ; [car agha hsdn o , like

rém i v. t. (M), hit, strikerer-ki (M), feathertibin -ki (M), m eat

rish -ki (M), o strich-featherrob sahan -k i (Y), (M), loinsr6f v .i. (M), die

rOf-ki (M), co rpseril f v .i. (Y), die

n‘

rfi v .t. (Y), (M), killrirfsan v .i. (M), besick, bepo or

saddehh -hi (Y), threesakhsakh v .t. (Y), slay

,cut the

thro atsaneg-gi (Y ), nose

sa lfil ad-ki, -di (M), go at

sa radoshis-ki (Y ), bridegro om ,

weddingsareyagh—i (M), ostrichsarysu-ki (M), bul l-Oryxsedah -hi (M), legs o f o strichseyad-di (Y), (M), oil, ghi

sham ei v .t. (Y ). (M), take, lead ; sosha m ei

,bring

shan v.i. (Y), go so sha n

co m eShani-hi (Y), fiveshansham ei v .t. (M), kindle(a fire)shans o v .t. (Y ), takefo r yourself,keep, put in , carry

shar a . (M), m any,plenty

sharei vt (M), increasesharo v .i. (M) bewellshashin -ki (M ), things, property,b elongings

shim i v .t. (M), take u shim i,

put in

shirfei-di (Y), sm all quantitysiftihh a. (Y ), fat

siftihh-di (Y), fat

206 YIBIR AND MIDGAN

sil sil -ki (M), hair (usu. plur . sil

sim okh-i (Y), legsir go

so‘oto—di (M), fo ot, tra ck

sukhodin-ti (M), b ow

ta bantab v.i. (M), wa lk, pas s,wander

tagi v .t. (Y ), fastenta hab v i . (M), m ove, go ; m ahha d

u so tahablei ? what have you

com efor ?takha lam o-di (Y), songtegé

’

d v .i. (Y), (M), go ; so tegéd,co m e; a lkha il [cu tegéd, ride a

horse; Ica tegéd, crosstegéji v.t. (Y), sendtingir-ki (M), Wa ller’s Gazelletiro -si (Y), livertobani-hi (Y), tentom ala a. (Y), hardtom ala -hi (Y), stone, hill

ukub-ki (M), ram

nlud-di (M), upper arm‘unim adfi (M), cheetah‘unukh-hi (Y), throaturo-di or ur-ti (Y), sto m ach‘urshen a (Y), b ad‘urshen v.i. (M), sm ell‘urshén-ti (M), nose‘il rshéni v.t. (M), sm ell‘ursheni-gi v .t. (M), anything tha tsm ells, dung, etc.

nekl a -ki (M), leg

w a fer-ki (M), spear(Y), knife, to oth

w a l ahun -ki (Y), spearWaran -ti (Y), Midganw atahhé-di (Y), day ; w atahhcida n ,

to -day w a tahhddi da rsad, to

m orroww awa

‘li-gi (M), dog

weled-ki (Y), b oy

yab ar-k l (Y), go ods, wea lth, property

yabaro v.i. (Y), m ake your living,earn your living

Yadur-ki (Y), Midgan

yafan or yifan a . (Y), good, righthand

yafn an -ti (Y), goodness, hea lth,Peace

yafneisi v .t. (Y), m akegoodyafneisiso v.t. (Y), arrangefor yourself

yafn o v.i. (Y), begood

yagél-ki (M),‘

fherio , cam el-m at,

hut

yahafnyahh a . (Y ), sm all,b ad

yahan -ti (Y), tw o annas

yahhab-ti (M), herd of Oryxya‘l ' Shi (Y), (M), leg

yal iyifo-hi (Y), shoesya

‘un-ki, -ti (Y ), O ld m an

, wom an ;

ya‘un tijagh

‘idei,m other

yef v .t (Y), (M), turn

yiftim ei v.i. (Y), fightyihan -ki, ti (M), m an

, wom an

yiryiro-hi (M), sheep and go ats

208

dates

tail-fat

feather

COMPARATIVE VO CABULARY

hal -shi

bilehh

tim ir-ti ‘a ser-ti

aweilei

him ar-ki

sabein -ti ilbir-ti

il -shi (pl. indo ) ain -ti

go rad-di

gosad ku raghahh

wawa ‘li-gi

m akhashin -ti

kushO

iftim owihi meghata la

indOkho l-shi

fightfingerfire(and fire-arm )flaskfoodfoo t

frighten

ho use

COMPARATIVE VO CABULARY

Som a li

dab -ki

weiso -di

Galo -hi

sam o

(sam ei m ake)

tim o -hi

ga‘an -ti

akha l -ki

m an abo -di

awelei

iss duk

bul al -ki

dahir-ki

ghansan

b ob a ‘un

silsilo -di

m akabur-ti

yagOl-ki

209

21 0 COMPARATIVE VO CABULARY

how m any im isa inhim a

hot kululhum p (of cam el) kurus-kihunger gajo -di

behungry gajo w a negh

gosad-‘di

kindle(fire) aweilei

language khabar-kl

a lm an

21 2 COMPARATIVE VO CABULARY

langharom ed-ki

hajia -hi

rupee fale'd-di

jagaflahO -di

gashan -ki a ltob -kl

gadlahatO-di

yah ainyahh

hada l baghdan

iftin -ti

tailtaketaketo yourselfthenthere

COMPARATIVE VO CABULARY 21 3

Yibir

derighab -ki

deri-gi (indef. ) nas -ki

agar-ti (con crete)

khabar-ki (abstract)(po ssessions) shashin -ki

iftimow ahaHandud-ki

iftim ow ihi so tegedeya

arab-ti laghow a—hi

wafer-ki

m agalo -di kalweinaleh -di

awas -ki

gom o sim o -di

white

asuw an -ti

habar-ti ya ‘un -ti

lawo -hi erifogad-kl

w atahhadi horyad iftim ow ihi tegedeiAnas -ki Hanan -ki

2 1 4 COMPARATIVE VO CABULARY

NUMBERS.

English Yibir

o ne m id deri (=finger)tw o laba lim ihi

three sadehh sadehhi

four a far a ferifive shan ganad (= hand)six lehh gan ad iyo deri

ten toban lim ihi ganadod, o r tob anihi

fifteen shanyO-toban sadehhi gan adod

hundred b ogho l goderow i-gi (= ro sary Of 1 00thousand kun tob an ihi goderowiyod

TheMidgans usetheYibir num bers up to ten .

NAMES OR DESCRIPTIONS o r WILD ANIMALS

jam belharim ad

sagaro d * ya lrainyahha

aw aski ka godisa

Elephant m arodi

Fox da‘wo d . dado

‘ita

Ga zelle, Clarke’s dib otag d. darasti tegeja

Soem m ering’s

‘aul d. darasti

iftim a leh

d. am edo la hegad. la b ilehhoda

d. a m edo ‘ita

d. ja lm o‘ita

d . w a lahum o ku

dashiya

m akabur

represen ts dal anga

godir

dussi

hangaghri ghangesodcr

geso lahato

(buck) saryenyabbab-kihedig

gir

sareyagh

risha m adur

m adOla

an im a l .

21 6 INDEx

N o un s

u sed Adjectiva lly 1 60, 1 70u sed Adverbia lly 29 , 1 52, 1 58

Num era ls 1 0, 46 , 1 63 , 1 68 , 1 70, 1 78

Object 44, 1 36, 1 56o , Co njun ctivePa rticle 1 27 , 1 70, 254,

261

Pa rticles 9 , 1 24, 236w a

,b a , ya 54, 1 38 , 1 71 , 1 85

ha. with Nega tive21 3w a. Perfect Ten se220m a. Nega tive9 1 , 1 45, 230m s. In terroga tive93 , 1 45Adverb ia l 236Prepo s itio n a l 1 25, 236, 241Co njun ctive1 27, 1 44, 253

Pa rtitiveCa se 1 61 , 208Pa ssive1 1 8Place 1 57 , 1 58, seeAdverbsPlura lNo un s 34

Pro n o un s 63

Adjectives 76Gen der a n d Co n co rd o f 1 64 1 68

Po ssessiveCa se45Adjective, seeSuffixes

Prepo sitio n s 1 0, 1 32, seePa rticlesPro n o un s

Perso n a l 1 0, 53 , 1 83Dem on strative63Em pha tic 55, 229Indefin ite67 , 204Interrogative65 , 1 46, 202Po ssessive62, 1 98Reflexive61 , 1 96Relative64, 259

Tim e48 , 1 30, 265

run 201

Sa luta tio n s 1 35S im ilarity 1 77Subject 44, 53 , 1 36, 1 41 , 1 56Subordin a tesen tences 257 wannan etc . 57 , 1 92, 264, 288

CAMBRIDGE : PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY , MA . AT THE UN IVERS ITY PRES S.

Substan tives 1 0, 1 1Suflixes 1 0

,22, 1 97

Co m b in atio n o f 3 1 , 1 98

with n um era ls 47a s Pro n o un s 62 , 63 , 65,-ah

-cd 73

-la 48 , 73

-leh 73 , 1 1 6, 1 60, 203

-m a. 66 , 1 3 1 , 202

-na. 1 27 , 2 10

-se1 27

Superla tive 1 76

Verbs 83,2 1 1

Adjectives 72 , 108 , 1 1 3Attr ibutive1 03 , 1 22 , 1 71Auxilia ry 86, 21 4Ca usa tive 1 23Conjugation s 89, 95Co n tin ua tiveTen ses 5, 86221

, 222 \

In ten sive 1 20Mo o ds a n d Ten ses 21 1

No un s 1 5

Nega tivefo rm 9 1 , 1 1 2 , 231

Person s 88 , 228

Reflexive 1 21ah o 1 1 1 , 1 47

fa di 1 09,1 48

jog 1 48

jir 85, 148 , 21 4, 224

im o 1 06

l ah o 1 1 5, 1 48 , 203 , 21 4

nokh o 1 05, 1 48

060 1 06

ogh o 1 06

on 1 00, 1 48

w ah 1 1 7 , 1 95 , 274 (n o te)Vowels 3 , 6