Gadabuursi Somali Script

The Gadabuursi script also known as the Borama alphabet (Borama: ),[1] is a writing script for the Somali language. It was devised around 1933 by Sheikh Abdurahman Sh. Nur of the Gadabuursi clan.[2]

Borama
Script type
LanguagesSomali language

History
A qasida in the Borama script.

Though not as widely known as Osmanya, the other major orthography for transcribing Somali, Borama has produced a notable body of literature mainly consisting of qasidas.[3]

The Borama or Gadabuursi script was devised in 1933 by Sheikh Abdurahman Sheikh Nuur, a Qur'anic teacher and son of Borama's qadi (judge), who devised the new orthography for transcribing the Afro-Asiatic Cushitic Somali language. A quite accurate phonetic writing system, this Borama script was principally used by Sheikh Nuur, his circle of associates in the city and some of the merchants in control of trade in Zeila and Borama. Students of Sheikh Nuur were also trained in the use of this script. .The alphabet is also generally known as the Gadabuursi script.[2]

See also

Notes
  1. Somali alphabets, pronunciation and language
  2. David D. Laitin (1 May 1977). Politics, Language, and Thought: The Somali Experience. University of Chicago Press. pp. 98–. ISBN 978-0-226-46791-7. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  3. I.M. Lewis (1958), The Gadabuursi Somali Script, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 21, pp. 134–156.

References
  • I.M. Lewis (1958), The Gadabuursi Somali Script, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 21, pp. 134–156.
  • David D. Laitin, Politics, language, and thought: the Somali experience, (University of Chicago Press: 1977)


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