DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0156
140
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
robi Idfd gal
lafe lafdfudu
gdrsa dinqd fudu
10 gdrti golid fudu
muca ukd fudu
bokkd gamd Wdddzessa
diddibe qalliccd
szerd naggadiccd
15 bokkae'bd garbu
bokken Mr a "ndarbu
robuma robi
1 0 rain! 2 1 . . . Gabbaro! 3 It will make the old cow rise; 4 it will make rich the
poor; 5 it will moisten the pots; 6 it will lengthen the bonds. 7 0 rain, rain down! 8 Rain
down, reach the earth! 9 It will take the bones away from the ground; 10 it will bring out
the old man from the dinqd-, 11 it will bring forth the old woman from the room; 12 it
will take the children from the arms (literally, from the armpits) (of their mothers). 13 The
rain of the other bank of the Waddiessa, 14 let the magician beat the drum (to obtain it).
15.2 . . . the Mussulman. 16 0 rainy blessing of the barley! 17 The rain will not pass
by today (without falling here). 18 0 rain, rain down!
Notes. Verse 2 probably refers to a division of the Galla clans into borand (sing.
boranticca) and gabaro (sing, gabarticca). The sudden departure from Naples of Loransiyos
(see Prose, introduction) prevented my obtaining further particulars as to this interesting
point of the constitution of the Galla tribes. Such a division into gabaro and borand is
apparently adopted by the Galla of all regions. The eastern Galla (the Bbrana in the geo-
graphical sense of the word) are ignorant of it. Among the Lieqa on the other hand, it is
in use. It seems that, as among the Lieqa tribes, those of Billo have a position inferior to
the others (today not as to actual rights, but only in public estimation) on account of
less noble genealogical traditions, so within each tribe there is a distinction made between
the boranticca who boasts of his origin from Babbo, the ancestor of the Lieqa, and the
gabarticcd who cannot prove such an origin by means of genealogies. The gabaro do not
go to A bbd Mudd, but on the other hand they possess among the Lieqa equal rights with the
borand. D’Abbadie,3 speaking of this distinction does not specify the Galla tribes among
whom he has observed these customs, and says that the gabaro claim to be children of
Adam (?) while they say that the borand are children of Satan; the borand on the other
hand say they are the children of Sapiera (the son of Macca). It is probable that the
gabaro are people of servile origin (either Sidama subjugated by the Galla at the epoch
of their recent invasion of Ethiopia or slaves of the Kushite race afterwards liberated),
who by degrees have acquired a legal status almost equal to that of their former masters.
One is led to such an hypothesis by the name gabar-d itself, which seems to be an ancient
plural from the root gabar which probably has the same meaning as the Ethiopian gabara,
1 Loransiyos cannot translate for me the word ’dno.
2 The meaning of the word siera in this verse is not clear to me.
3 Antoine d’Abbadie, ‘ Sur les Oromo, grande nation Africaine,’ (Annales de la Societe Scientifique de Bruxelles,
1880, vol. 4, p. 189).
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
robi Idfd gal
lafe lafdfudu
gdrsa dinqd fudu
10 gdrti golid fudu
muca ukd fudu
bokkd gamd Wdddzessa
diddibe qalliccd
szerd naggadiccd
15 bokkae'bd garbu
bokken Mr a "ndarbu
robuma robi
1 0 rain! 2 1 . . . Gabbaro! 3 It will make the old cow rise; 4 it will make rich the
poor; 5 it will moisten the pots; 6 it will lengthen the bonds. 7 0 rain, rain down! 8 Rain
down, reach the earth! 9 It will take the bones away from the ground; 10 it will bring out
the old man from the dinqd-, 11 it will bring forth the old woman from the room; 12 it
will take the children from the arms (literally, from the armpits) (of their mothers). 13 The
rain of the other bank of the Waddiessa, 14 let the magician beat the drum (to obtain it).
15.2 . . . the Mussulman. 16 0 rainy blessing of the barley! 17 The rain will not pass
by today (without falling here). 18 0 rain, rain down!
Notes. Verse 2 probably refers to a division of the Galla clans into borand (sing.
boranticca) and gabaro (sing, gabarticca). The sudden departure from Naples of Loransiyos
(see Prose, introduction) prevented my obtaining further particulars as to this interesting
point of the constitution of the Galla tribes. Such a division into gabaro and borand is
apparently adopted by the Galla of all regions. The eastern Galla (the Bbrana in the geo-
graphical sense of the word) are ignorant of it. Among the Lieqa on the other hand, it is
in use. It seems that, as among the Lieqa tribes, those of Billo have a position inferior to
the others (today not as to actual rights, but only in public estimation) on account of
less noble genealogical traditions, so within each tribe there is a distinction made between
the boranticca who boasts of his origin from Babbo, the ancestor of the Lieqa, and the
gabarticcd who cannot prove such an origin by means of genealogies. The gabaro do not
go to A bbd Mudd, but on the other hand they possess among the Lieqa equal rights with the
borand. D’Abbadie,3 speaking of this distinction does not specify the Galla tribes among
whom he has observed these customs, and says that the gabaro claim to be children of
Adam (?) while they say that the borand are children of Satan; the borand on the other
hand say they are the children of Sapiera (the son of Macca). It is probable that the
gabaro are people of servile origin (either Sidama subjugated by the Galla at the epoch
of their recent invasion of Ethiopia or slaves of the Kushite race afterwards liberated),
who by degrees have acquired a legal status almost equal to that of their former masters.
One is led to such an hypothesis by the name gabar-d itself, which seems to be an ancient
plural from the root gabar which probably has the same meaning as the Ethiopian gabara,
1 Loransiyos cannot translate for me the word ’dno.
2 The meaning of the word siera in this verse is not clear to me.
3 Antoine d’Abbadie, ‘ Sur les Oromo, grande nation Africaine,’ (Annales de la Societe Scientifique de Bruxelles,
1880, vol. 4, p. 189).