There is a recurring habit in our region: turning resemblance into genealogy, genealogy into historical presence, and historical presence into political entitlement.

A mountain resembles a word in one’s language. A village bears a familiar sequence of syllables. A historical figure carries a name recognizable in the present. The resemblance is noticed, then connected, then gradually burdened with more historical meaning than the evidence can bear. What begins as an intriguing coincidence becomes ancestry; ancestry becomes prior presence; prior presence, if we are not careful, becomes a claim upon geography.

In the recent past, emboldened by the rise of greater Tigray ambition, we heard claims connecting Tigray and Tigris and by way of attribute a role for Tigray in the rise of civilizations like the Middle-East, Persia and even ancient Greece. In a similar sentiment, at the height of Welkait “ownership” wars and words, someone identified a root word ‘ውልቅ’ in the word Welkait. ውልቅ or ናይ ውልቅና in tigrigna meaning ‘it is ours’ was advanced in order to say Welkait belongs to Tigray. Furthermore, to reaffirm mastery of the greater region by Tigray, a Tigrayan professor declared without qualms that Emperor Yohannes named the highest Ethiopian mountain Ras-Dashen after Ras-Dagena, who ruled the Tigray region sometimes in the past. Of course, Ras-Dashen name preceded Yohannes IV and many of the kings before him.

More recently, just two months ago, an interview of the Ethiopian prime minister brought another wave of claims on the land and people of Eritrea. Barentu was said to have been derived from Baraytuma (aka Barentou) tribe division of the Oromo; Borana being the other big division (Huntingford 1955, Hassan 1990). Bahre-Negash Dori of Dbarwa was labelled as an Oromo-king because his name sounds so. So goes for mountains Soira and Debra. Their names were automatically Oromized in a heartbeat. Nothing wrong if these were found to be truly of Oromo origin. But the claims just dropped from the sky at the speed of a dream, without evidence, ancestry, nor historical trajectory. Most importantly, the political significance of such claims at this juncture is hard to miss.

Hearing the words from the horse’s mouth, here goes an English & Amharic excerpts of the PM’s interview with the Oromo Broadcasting Network (OMN):

<< … but in 1520 (AD) the king of the sea, of the now called Eritrea, his name was Dori, he was an Oromo. If you doubt this, there is a big city in Eritrea called Barentu. Its name is Barentu. What do they know about Borena and Barentu? Where did they get the name Barentu from? What is the relationship between Barentu and the place? This history can be studied by scholars. But this name exists. It is not the only one, many places in Eritrea are known by Afan Oromo names. I also know the places called Sora and Debra. Their names are in Afan Oromo and are still called with these names.”

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“…. ነገር ግን በ 1512 ዓ. ም. የባሕር ነጋሽ ንጉስ፡ ኣሁን ኤርትራ የሚባለው፡ ንጉሱ ስሙ ዶሪ ይባላል፡ ኦሮሞ ነው። ይህንን የሚጠራጠሩ ካሉ ኤርትራ ውስጥ ባረንቱ የምትባል ትልቅ ከተማ ኣለች። ስምዋ ባረንቱ ይባላል። ስለ ቦረና እና ባረንቱ ምን ያውቃሉ? ባረንቱ ከየት ኣምጥተው ሰየሙት? ባረንቱ እና ቦታው ያላቸው ግንኙነት ምንድን ነው? ይህን ታሪክ ኣጥኒዎች ማጥናት ይችላሉ። ግን ይህ ስም ኣለ። ይህ ብቻ ኣይደለም፣ ብዙ ስፍራዎች ኤርትራ ውስጥ በኣፋን ኦሮሞ ይጠራሉ። ሶራ እና ደብራ የሚባሉት ቦታዎች እኔም ኣውቃቸዋለሁ። ስማቸው በኣፋን ኦሮሞ ሆነው ኣሁንም ይጠራሉ። >>

No proof, no digging into the very book (Francisco Alvarez 1520s, Hakluyt translation 1881) that documented Bahre-Negash Dori as the Bahre Negasi (sea-king) was apparently attempted. Rather, other unsubstantiated Oromo names of towns and mountains were presented as evidence for the proof-less. Barentu as a proof for Dori being an Oromo sounds like the proverbial “egg or chicken first”, when in fact the thing in question was not even a chicken in the first place.

The Oromo name discovery didn’t stop at Dori, Barentu, Soira and Debra. Few weeks thereafter, a distinguished intellectual and politician came on another Ethiopian media to proclaim a discovery of a village with a name “Oromo” just across the border after crossing Zalambessa from Ethiopia. Indeed, there is a village named Aromo (ኣሮሞ, visible in google map) in that area. The village is identified as Arom (ኣሮም) in the list of Eritrean villages compiled for voting in the Eritrean referendum of 1993 and as Aramo (ኣራሞ) in a detailed official Italian Eritrean map of the early 1900s (Carta topografica della colonia Eritrea 1909). Could the village have been named after the word Oromo and referring to the Oromo people? Possibly. Could it have been mispronounced as Oromo? Very possible. But the heart of the matter is again the jumping into appropriation from just name similitude.

It should be underlined here that the Oromo people have nothing to do in these provocations. Oromos have a history and culture that makes them proud of who they are. Their rich history had caught the interest of their neighbors, many foreign travelers and far residing anthropologists. Ample material has been published about their culture and history and they are continuing to do so by themselves. Unfortunately, leaders and their few gullible intellectuals go for the easy hunt. In this case, the wickedness is in trying to disprove the prevailing south-to-north Oromo migration theory not through convincing evidence, but ironically by just picking resemblance in order to claim eternal presence.

In a rather hilarious riposte to the PM’s hazardous name picking, and proving that names can be turned around to mean something else, an Eritrean YouTuber gave his own version of the origin of an Ethiopian town in Ogaden, Qebri-dehar. Paraphrasing, he said it was during the first Ethio-Somalia war, soldiers stationed in a town asked General Aman Andom (then leading Ethiopian general of Eritrean Descent) to bury their dead in the town in the midst of the war. Not mastering the Amharic language, the General replied to them in tigrigna saying ቀብሪ – ደሓር (transcribed as Qebri-deHar), meaning word by word “burial-later” or leave the burial for later. After that event; the town started to be called Qebri-deHar. Of course, Qebri-deHar exist since long time before that. Its original name based on early maps (Map of Somaliland and environs London E. Stanford 1904), was “Gabridehari” meaning the tomb of Mr. Dehari. Dahari was possibly a respected community leader century back (Wikipedia).

In a very large region like ours, inhabited with variety of people, with different cultures and experiences, strongly attached to our specific regions, rich in tradition and languages, yet related distantly and intertwined by necessity, it is easy to find tempting words, words from outside our areas that sounds like something familiar, historical or ancestral. The beauty of words that ring the bell is when we use them for positive interactions and for serious searches that deepens our knowledge and help us to discover ignored or unknown relationships. The ugly side of it is when we use them for aggression, domination, appropriation and historical dislodgment like in the examples mentioned here.

Let’s visit and get acquainted now with the named places and the man at the heart of the controversy, Bahre-Negash Dori, based on published materials.

Soira

Emba Soira (Soyrat Kooma in Saho language) is the highest mountain in Eritrea. The local people may know the meaning of its name, Soira or Soyrat. However, published materials on the region do not explicitly give meaning of the word. Conti Rossini (1928) says the mountain’s name should be Soria instead of Soira without elaborating. In one of his other publications (1938), he mentions the local name of the flame tree (Erythrina tomentosa), which is abundant in the area, as Sauria or Soira in tigrinya. But, based on dictionaries, scientific papers on Eritrean flora and medicinal plants, the tigrigna name of the flame tree is ZwawE or ዝዋውዕ. Could the name Sauria or Soira be its Saho names? And could the possible abundant growth of the plant be the origin of the name of the mountain? It is highly tempting. Until confirmed, these will remain speculations for now.

Debra 

Emba Debra is the 4th highest mountain in Eritrea. Every mountain in this highly mountainous area has a name. Alberto Pollera (1936) says its name was shortened form of Debre-Mariam monastery that existed on its top long time ago. He adds that the Debremela tribe of the Saho got their name from that mountain.

Barentu

The name of the town of Barentu in Eritrea started to be used after 1890 (Pollera 1913). It did not come from Barentou or Baraytuma tribe division of the Oromo people as implied by the Ethiopian PM in trying to place it as an extension of Oromo geography. The western Eritrean region including the larger region where Barentu is now found was well visited and mapped by foreign travelers. Barentu appears in none of their maps and books printed before 1890. Interestingly enough, there were names that repeatedly appeared on published maps and documents at least since 18th century. A village name that consistently appeared in the place where Barentu is found now, was Batkom also written Betkom, Betcom or Betcoom (several sources, suffice to mention Munzinger 1890). Betcoom for example appeared in James Bruce’s map of Abyssinia in (1790).

At the arrival of the Italians in the area, two other names were documented referring to what became Barentu town and its river. These were ‘Biya-ara’ used by the Cunama people and ‘Emba-rencu’ by the Barea or Nara people, both meaning white water. The Tigre and Tigrigna speakers of the vicinity call it “Mai Tsaada”, meaning the same thing. Mai Tsaada is now a sector of Barentu city. When Italians consolidated their colony and identified regional centers for their administration, that village was chosen to be the regional capital. The Italians started to use the Barea name of the town, ‘Emba-rencu. With the difficulty in correctly pronouncing, it in the indigenous manner, they ended up pronouncing Emba-rencu as Barentu. The corrupted name Barentu quickly settled on the tongue of everyone and became its name as documented by Alberto Pollera in his book (1913). As for Batcom we don’t know its meaning. Some wrote it as Bat-kom and could possibly mean white water in a local dialect, just a thought.

Dori

The Ethiopian PM mentioned places, in order at the end, to demonstrate that the sea king or Bahre-Negash (ruling the region during the visit of Francisco Alvarez) was an Oromo. In his book narrating his travels to Abyssinia in 1520, Francisco Alvarez identifies the Bahre-Negasi’s name as Dori according to one translation. In another translation the name appears as Dari. Alvarez didn’t say Dori or Dari was an Oromo. Most importantly, there are many elements in the book’s narratives indicating that is not the case. Dori is possibly a corruption of a different name, as Alvarez misspelled almost all names of people and places hitherto unknown to Europeans. For example, he identified Dori’s brother-in-law as Frey Mazqual. The name was supposed to be Gebre-Mesqel as evidenced by the meaning “servant of the cross” Alvarez translated himself. Dori’s brother was named Aaron, a name unlikely to be Oromo. In addition, Alvarez mentions that the brothers are brethren of Empress Naod Mogassa the mother Emperor Libne-Dengel. Conti-Rossini in his cultural collection about Tigrinya speakers (1942) mentions Naod Mogassa being from Adkeme-Melgae or Serae. He also expressed his amusement noticing the region’s people still remembering and claiming her. The first document identifying Naod Mogassa as Tigrinya speaker is Futuh al-Habeshi (the conquest of Abyssinia) as noticed by the orientalist linguist and historian Rene Basset (1897).

Here are more examples of names corrupted in Alvarez’s book: Zagonais for ዛቑናይ or Deacon, Bisam for Bizen, Cascar for Tezkar, Jangaragara for possibly Embatkala (based on location and abundance of fruits), Barra for Mendefera (based on direction and distance from Dbarwa), Aquaxumo for Axum, Abafazem for Aba-Atsfe … among many others.

Acknowledgement

I am indebted to Beyan Negash for reading an earlier version, his valuable suggestions on points of message delivery and snatching away my “Kalashnikov” saying I may overshoot targets.

References:

– Huntingford GWG. The Galla of Ethiopia – The kingdoms of Kaffa and Janjero. London International African Studies 1955.- Mohammed Hassen. The Oromo of Ethiopia: A History 1570-1860. African Studies Series, Cambridge 1990.
– Francisco Alvarez. Narrative of the Portuguese Embassy to Abyssinia. 1520-1527. Hakluyt Society. 1881.
– Carta topografica della colonia Eritrea. Istituto geografico militare 1909
– Carlo Conti Rossini. Storia d’Etiopia. 1928.
– Carlo Conti Rossini. Saggio sulla Toponomastica dell’Eritrea Tigrina. BSGI Vol 8 No 3. 1938.
– Alberto Pollera. Le Popolazioni Indigene Dell’Eritrea. 1936
– Alberto Pollera.  I Baria E I Cunama. 1913.
– James Bruce, Travels to the Source of the Nile
– Werner Munzinger. Studi sull’africa orientale Munzinger. 1890
– Carlo Conti Rossini. Proverbi Tradizioni E Canzoni Tigrine. 1942
– René Basset. Histoire de la conquête de l’Abyssinie (XVI siècle). Translation of FutuH Al-Habashi by Chihab Ed-Din Zh’ed Ben Abd El-Qader. 1897