DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0029
THE FOLK-LITERATURE OF THE GALLA
13
MdcSa dialects, but less from the Tulama, so Loransiyos tells me. The songs published in
this article (s. 52-54) concerning the war between the Arussi Galla and Ras Dargie were
chanted by the Arussi. For this reason, I hesitated to publish them; but Galla original
texts are still so scarce, and the three songs concern historical events so little known, that
I have decided to include them, especially because the poetical form, restricted by the
metre, assures, I think, the Arussi text against the variations which would probably be
introduced by a native who was not an Arussi.
The Walid Galla, according to Loransiyos, are probably Borana. Cecchi has stated 1
that, according to Galla tradition, the Wallo are Arussi who emigrated from their native
country. Loransiyos tells me that the dialect of the Wallo resembles the dialect of the
Ittu, but as I have not collected texts in the Wallo dialects, I cannot vouch for this infor-
mation. Loransiyos adds that among the seven Wallo tribes (called by the Amara sdbat
Wallo bzet, “ the seven Wallo houses”), the Warra Himano speak more Amharic than
Galla; the Warra Babbo and the Warra Qallu speak Galla; the others, Amharic mixed
with Galla; and the tribes near Aussa, Galla mixed with Dankali.2
The second large group of Galla dialects is the Southern Galla spoken by the tribes
living on the banks of the Tana River in British East Africa, known as Bararetta and Kofira
Galla. Pratorius3 has noted the Bararetta dialectic peculiarity of the apocope in the sub-
stantives; but from the Gospels of St. John and Matthew translated into Bararetta by the
missionaries of the United Methodist Free Churches,4 from the publications of Fischer,5 and
Miss Alice Werner,6 and from a manuscript dictionary by the Rev. Mr. Howe, there appear
a long series of grammatical and lexicological peculiarities. Southern Galla is closely allied
to Eastern Galla, and has great linguistic importance on account of the interesting glotto-
logical phenomena which occur in it, especially the influence of the accent on the final
vowel. It is therefore desirable that Southern Galla should be studied further, and prefer-
ably in relation to Northern Galla.
I have collected the following Galla texts from four sources:
1. Ligg Hayla Maryam Gugsa Dargie, son of Ras Dargie, the uncle of Negus Menilek
II. He was born in Salahe, a district of Tul4ma Galla. As he came to Europe many years
ago, he remembers few Galla songs, but I obtained from him strophe 79, and some others
not published here.
1 Antonio Cecchi, Da Zeila alle frontiere del Caffa, Roma, 1886, vol. 1, p. 513.
2 Cf. Lincoln De Castro, Nella terra dei negus, Milano, 1915, vol. 2, p. 333. This confirms the statement of
Loransiyos.
3 Franz Pratorius, Zur Grammatik der Galla Sprache, Berlin, 1893.
4 Gura Dansa ak Yohannes barese, afan oromati, printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society for the United
Methodist Free Churches’ East African Mission (without date); Gur Dansa ak Mattayos barese, London, printed
for the British and Foreign Bible Society, 1904.
6 G. A. Fischer, ‘ Die Sprache des sud-Galla Land,’ (Zeitschrift fur Ethnologic, Berlin, 1878, vol. 10, p. 141-144).
6 A. Werner, ‘ The Galla of the East Africa Protectorate,’ (Journal of the British African Society, vol. 12, no.
50, and vol. 13, no. 51; ‘A Galla ritual prayer,’ (Man, vol. 14, p. 129-131). Cf. E. Cerulli, ‘I Galla dell’Africa
Orientale inglese,’ (Rivista Coloniale, Anno 12, November, 1914). This is a review of Miss Werner’s writings.
13
MdcSa dialects, but less from the Tulama, so Loransiyos tells me. The songs published in
this article (s. 52-54) concerning the war between the Arussi Galla and Ras Dargie were
chanted by the Arussi. For this reason, I hesitated to publish them; but Galla original
texts are still so scarce, and the three songs concern historical events so little known, that
I have decided to include them, especially because the poetical form, restricted by the
metre, assures, I think, the Arussi text against the variations which would probably be
introduced by a native who was not an Arussi.
The Walid Galla, according to Loransiyos, are probably Borana. Cecchi has stated 1
that, according to Galla tradition, the Wallo are Arussi who emigrated from their native
country. Loransiyos tells me that the dialect of the Wallo resembles the dialect of the
Ittu, but as I have not collected texts in the Wallo dialects, I cannot vouch for this infor-
mation. Loransiyos adds that among the seven Wallo tribes (called by the Amara sdbat
Wallo bzet, “ the seven Wallo houses”), the Warra Himano speak more Amharic than
Galla; the Warra Babbo and the Warra Qallu speak Galla; the others, Amharic mixed
with Galla; and the tribes near Aussa, Galla mixed with Dankali.2
The second large group of Galla dialects is the Southern Galla spoken by the tribes
living on the banks of the Tana River in British East Africa, known as Bararetta and Kofira
Galla. Pratorius3 has noted the Bararetta dialectic peculiarity of the apocope in the sub-
stantives; but from the Gospels of St. John and Matthew translated into Bararetta by the
missionaries of the United Methodist Free Churches,4 from the publications of Fischer,5 and
Miss Alice Werner,6 and from a manuscript dictionary by the Rev. Mr. Howe, there appear
a long series of grammatical and lexicological peculiarities. Southern Galla is closely allied
to Eastern Galla, and has great linguistic importance on account of the interesting glotto-
logical phenomena which occur in it, especially the influence of the accent on the final
vowel. It is therefore desirable that Southern Galla should be studied further, and prefer-
ably in relation to Northern Galla.
I have collected the following Galla texts from four sources:
1. Ligg Hayla Maryam Gugsa Dargie, son of Ras Dargie, the uncle of Negus Menilek
II. He was born in Salahe, a district of Tul4ma Galla. As he came to Europe many years
ago, he remembers few Galla songs, but I obtained from him strophe 79, and some others
not published here.
1 Antonio Cecchi, Da Zeila alle frontiere del Caffa, Roma, 1886, vol. 1, p. 513.
2 Cf. Lincoln De Castro, Nella terra dei negus, Milano, 1915, vol. 2, p. 333. This confirms the statement of
Loransiyos.
3 Franz Pratorius, Zur Grammatik der Galla Sprache, Berlin, 1893.
4 Gura Dansa ak Yohannes barese, afan oromati, printed by the British and Foreign Bible Society for the United
Methodist Free Churches’ East African Mission (without date); Gur Dansa ak Mattayos barese, London, printed
for the British and Foreign Bible Society, 1904.
6 G. A. Fischer, ‘ Die Sprache des sud-Galla Land,’ (Zeitschrift fur Ethnologic, Berlin, 1878, vol. 10, p. 141-144).
6 A. Werner, ‘ The Galla of the East Africa Protectorate,’ (Journal of the British African Society, vol. 12, no.
50, and vol. 13, no. 51; ‘A Galla ritual prayer,’ (Man, vol. 14, p. 129-131). Cf. E. Cerulli, ‘I Galla dell’Africa
Orientale inglese,’ (Rivista Coloniale, Anno 12, November, 1914). This is a review of Miss Werner’s writings.