DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.49272#0218
202
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
Gumara rivers; of Rava 1 who found them on the banks of the Tana at the mouth of the
Gumara at Igaso between Bahala Maryam and Zanzalima (north of the mouth of the
Abbay), in the short peninsula beyond Goga, and at Delgi Maryam; in the Amharic
texts collected by Mittwoch,2 and in an unedited Amharic text collected by me from a
native of Dambya.
Reinisch,3 annotating the letter by P. Leon des Avanchers, writes: “The Wata or
Wata are the gipsies and wandering musicians of East Africa. I found them among the
Bogos, the Habab, and the Saho tribes. All over Abyssinia they wander unmolested, as
musicians, and in like manner among the Galla.” If this were true, we ought to find a
northern branch of the Wdttd in Eritrea. However, it seems clear to me that the statement
made by Reinisch is a mistake. In fact, the Wdttd (Way to) are not musicians but hunters;
furthermore, hunting is their characteristic occupation. However, in the Tigrinna and
Tigre languages wata or wdtay means “ wandering musician ” (they play on a kind of
bugle called in the Semitic languages of Abyssinia, matakat) and wata cird in the same
languages means “ minstrel,” “ playing on the violin.” Minstrels in Abyssinia have a
peculiar position because their trade is esteemed ignoble by the Abyssinians. This cir-
cumstance has probably misled Reinisch. But wata, “singer,” “wandering musician”
(the word is used also in the Bilin, Saho and ’Afar languages as a loanword) has no connec-
tion with the Galla word, wdttd. Possibly, but even this seems to me doubtful, it is con-
nected with the Galla weddu, “song” (thence the verb wedd-is “to sing”). The minstrels do
not form a special group of the population with their own peculiar geographical distribu-
tion, but are Abyssinians instructed in the arts of singing and playing; neither are they
subjected to political and social restrictions, except the prohibition of marriage between
them and the noble Abyssinians.
Having thus fixed the location of the three groups of these hunters, I will outline their
ethnology. First, it is interesting to note the different names by which they are known in
the languages of the adjacent peoples. The Galla, as I have already said, call them Wdttd,
or with a variation common in Galla dialects, Wata. They also use the plural form, Wdttd
or Wato. The etymology of this word is not clear; it is, perhaps, the national name by
which these hunters called themselves at the time of their meeting with the Galla. However,
it is also probable that this name comes from the Kushitic root, from which is also derived
the Amharic, wdttata, “ to wander without permanent occupation.” 4
The Amharic name for the hunters of the northern group is Way to. It is difficult to
demonstrate the linguistic connection between W dttd and Way to; nevertheless it is almost
certain. The Kaffa name, according to Massaja5 and Bieber,6 is Mango. However, Reinisch
1 Op. cit., p. 79, 81, 123, 156-157.
2 ‘ Proben aus amarischen Volksmunde,’ (Mitt. d. Sem. f. Orient. Sprachen zu Berlin, vol. 10, pt. 2, p. 214-215).
3 Op. cit.
4 Cf. Guidi, Vocabolario amarico, op. cit., wdttata.
6 Op. cit. 6 ‘Nel caffa,’ op. cit., p. 214.
HARVARD AFRICAN STUDIES
Gumara rivers; of Rava 1 who found them on the banks of the Tana at the mouth of the
Gumara at Igaso between Bahala Maryam and Zanzalima (north of the mouth of the
Abbay), in the short peninsula beyond Goga, and at Delgi Maryam; in the Amharic
texts collected by Mittwoch,2 and in an unedited Amharic text collected by me from a
native of Dambya.
Reinisch,3 annotating the letter by P. Leon des Avanchers, writes: “The Wata or
Wata are the gipsies and wandering musicians of East Africa. I found them among the
Bogos, the Habab, and the Saho tribes. All over Abyssinia they wander unmolested, as
musicians, and in like manner among the Galla.” If this were true, we ought to find a
northern branch of the Wdttd in Eritrea. However, it seems clear to me that the statement
made by Reinisch is a mistake. In fact, the Wdttd (Way to) are not musicians but hunters;
furthermore, hunting is their characteristic occupation. However, in the Tigrinna and
Tigre languages wata or wdtay means “ wandering musician ” (they play on a kind of
bugle called in the Semitic languages of Abyssinia, matakat) and wata cird in the same
languages means “ minstrel,” “ playing on the violin.” Minstrels in Abyssinia have a
peculiar position because their trade is esteemed ignoble by the Abyssinians. This cir-
cumstance has probably misled Reinisch. But wata, “singer,” “wandering musician”
(the word is used also in the Bilin, Saho and ’Afar languages as a loanword) has no connec-
tion with the Galla word, wdttd. Possibly, but even this seems to me doubtful, it is con-
nected with the Galla weddu, “song” (thence the verb wedd-is “to sing”). The minstrels do
not form a special group of the population with their own peculiar geographical distribu-
tion, but are Abyssinians instructed in the arts of singing and playing; neither are they
subjected to political and social restrictions, except the prohibition of marriage between
them and the noble Abyssinians.
Having thus fixed the location of the three groups of these hunters, I will outline their
ethnology. First, it is interesting to note the different names by which they are known in
the languages of the adjacent peoples. The Galla, as I have already said, call them Wdttd,
or with a variation common in Galla dialects, Wata. They also use the plural form, Wdttd
or Wato. The etymology of this word is not clear; it is, perhaps, the national name by
which these hunters called themselves at the time of their meeting with the Galla. However,
it is also probable that this name comes from the Kushitic root, from which is also derived
the Amharic, wdttata, “ to wander without permanent occupation.” 4
The Amharic name for the hunters of the northern group is Way to. It is difficult to
demonstrate the linguistic connection between W dttd and Way to; nevertheless it is almost
certain. The Kaffa name, according to Massaja5 and Bieber,6 is Mango. However, Reinisch
1 Op. cit., p. 79, 81, 123, 156-157.
2 ‘ Proben aus amarischen Volksmunde,’ (Mitt. d. Sem. f. Orient. Sprachen zu Berlin, vol. 10, pt. 2, p. 214-215).
3 Op. cit.
4 Cf. Guidi, Vocabolario amarico, op. cit., wdttata.
6 Op. cit. 6 ‘Nel caffa,’ op. cit., p. 214.