Osman Yusuf Kenadid ( so, Cusmaan Yuusuf Keenadiid; ar, عثمان يوسف كيناديد; 1889 – 14 August 1972) was a Somali poet, writer, teacher and ruler. Born in Ceel Huur in 1889, he went on to create the

Osmanya alphabet The Osmanya script ( so, Farta Cismaanya 𐒍𐒖𐒇𐒂𐒖 𐒋𐒘𐒈𐒑𐒛𐒒𐒕𐒖), also known as Far Soomaali (𐒍𐒖𐒇 𐒘𐒝𐒈𐒑𐒛𐒘, "Somali writing") and, in Arabic, as ''al-kitābah al-ʿuthmānīyah'' (الكتا ...

for writing Somali. He died on 31 August 1972 in

Mogadishu Mogadishu (, also ; so, Muqdisho or ; ar, مقديشو ; it, Mogadiscio ), locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Oc ...

Biography

Kenadid grew up in the town of

Galkayo Galkayo ( so, Gaalkacyo, ar, جالكعيو Dr Badal Kariye Ba Bsit Ma Mba & Phd, ''The Kaleidoscopic Lover: The Civil War in the Horn of Africa & My Itinerary for a Peaceful Lover'', (AuthorHouse: 2010), p.116.) which in Af-Somali translates to ...

, situated in north-central present-day

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

. He served as a leader in the

Majeerteen The Majeerteen ( so, Majeerteen, ar, ماجرتين; also spelled Majerteen, Macherten, Majertain, or Mijurtin) is a sub-clan. It is one of the major Somali groups, with a vast traditional territory spanning 3 major regions of Somalia: Bari, ...

Sultanate of Hobyo The Sultanate of Hobyo ( so, Saldanadda Hobyo, ar, سلطنة هوبيو), also known as the Sultanate of Obbia,''New International Encyclopedia'', Volume 21, (Dodd, Mead: 1916), p.283. was a 19th-century Somali kingdom in present-day northeaste ...

and was the son of the polity's founder, Sultan

Yusuf Ali Kenadid Yusuf Ali Kenadid ( so, Yuusuf Cali Keenadiid; 1837 - 14 August 1911) was a Somali Sultan. He was the founder of the Sultanate of Hobyo in April 1878. He was succeeded atop the throne by his son Ali Yusuf Kenadid. Family Yusuf Ali Kenadid was bo ...

. He is also the father of Yasin Osman Kenadid. Kenadid hails from the

Osman Mahamuud Osman Mahamuud ( so, Cismaan Maxamuud, ar, عثمان محمود), also known as `Uthman III ibn Mahmud, was a Somali king. He led the Majeerteen Sultanate during the 19th century. Majeerteen Sultanate The Majeerteen Sultanate was established by ...

Darod The Darod ( so, Daarood, ar, دارود) is a Somali clan. The forefather of this clan was Sheikh Abdirahman bin Isma'il al-Jabarti, more commonly known as ''Darood''. The clan primarily settles the apex of the Horn of Africa and its peripheries ...

clan. Also a writer, Kenadid published many works on various subjects related to Somali history and science, including textbooks on the Somali language,

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

and Somali philosophy. He borrowed significantly from the vast ancient Somali cultural repository, working towards a renaissance of this rich past. In the early 20th century many young Somalis felt it was of utmost importance to have a national script but their nationalism was decidedly non-Arab. In order to assert their sovereignty, many felt that the Somali language, unique in the world, ought to have a unique script, thus in response to a national campaign to settle on a standard

orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and ...

for the Somali language (which had long lost its ancient script), Kenadid devised a phonetically sophisticated

alphabet An alphabet is a standardized set of basic written graphemes (called letters) that represent the phonemes of certain spoken languages. Not all writing systems represent language in this way; in a syllabary, each character represents a syllab ...

called

Osmanya The Osmanya script ( so, Farta Cismaanya 𐒍𐒖𐒇𐒂𐒖 𐒋𐒘𐒈𐒑𐒛𐒒𐒕𐒖), also known as Far Soomaali (𐒍𐒖𐒇 𐒘𐒝𐒈𐒑𐒛𐒘, "Somali writing") and, in Arabic, as ''al-kitābah al-ʿuthmānīyah'' (الكتا ...

for representing the sounds of Somali. During this time it has been recorded that while Kenadid was writing letters to his family with the unsuitable Arabic script, he said to himself: ''you are Somali, you speak Somali, why don't you have Somali letters?'' He then developed his own script, which bore no resemblance either to Arabic or to Latin, and began to teach it. Kenadid's Osmanya was subsequently introduced into the local schools in his Sultanate. When the Italian colonial authorities got wind of this, they promptly imprisoned him in

since they feared that the script was a manifestation of nationalism.Irving Kaplan, ''Area handbook for Somalia'', (U.S. Govt. Print. Off.: 1969), p.73 With Kenadid's arrest, all efforts to develop a standard orthography for the Somali language abruptly came to a halt for the next 25 years.Institute of African/American Relations (U.S.), ''Africa special report: bulletin of the Institute of African/American Relations'', Volumes 8–9, (The Institute: 1963), p.17 The rise of nationalist sentiment that followed the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

– and especially the birth of the Somali Youth League political party, of which Kenadid was a founding member – brought about a revival of interest in and use of the Osmanya script. This renaissance would last until the government of then President of Somalia

Mohamed Siad Barre Mohamed Siad Barre ( so, Maxamed Siyaad Barre, Osmanya script: ; ar, محمد سياد بري; c. 1910 – 2 January 1995) was a Somali head of state and general who served as the 3rd president of the Somali Democratic Republic from 1969 to 199 ...

unilaterally elected in 1972 to make the modified

Latin script The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern I ...

devised by

Shire Jama Ahmed ; 1936-1999) was a Somali linguist and a scholar. He is notable for his contribution to the creation of the modern Latin script for transcribing the Somali language. Early years Shire was born in the Dusamareeb region of Somalia to a Marehan famil ...

the nation's official writing system.Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi, ''Culture and Customs of Somalia'', (Greenwood Press: 2001), p.73

Notes

References

* Kaplan, Irving, ''Area Handbook for Somalia'', (University of Virginia: 1977) * Lewis, I.M., ''Saints and Somalis: Popular Islam in a Clan-based Society'', (Red Sea Press: 1998))

External links

Osmanya, Borama, Wadaad's writing and the Somali language

''Afkeenna iyo fartiisa''
– a book in Osmanya
Somali Native Alphabet

''The Gadabuursi Somali Script''
– qasidas in Gadabuursi/Borama

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kenadid, Osman Yusuf Ethnic Somali people Somalian writers Creators of writing systems Somali-language writers 1889 births 1972 deaths

Biography

See also

Notes

References

External links