Somaliland History Notes: Historical and Anthropological Relationships Between the Ancient-Egyptians and The Somalis of the Land of Punt

” According to the Ancient Egyptians themselves , the egyptians came from the Land of Punt, the land of gods,ancestors  and even , Queen Hatshepsout of Egypt (15th century B-C)  said that Hathor The mistress of Punt ,her mother was from the land of Punt ,from “Buun” the ancient name of Somalia  ! To conclude ,”Buun” means in Somali “Horn” and the Land of “Buun” (or Punt in european language) is located in the the Horn of Africa, in the Somali territories. King Barreh  and his Queen Hadiyo in the Land of Punt ,Somalia,in Horn of Africa at the 15th century BC (before Jesus Christ). This is a Fresco of the trade expedition to the Land of Punt sent by Hatshepsout the female Pharaoh.In this Image,the Royal Puntite Couple welcome warmly the Ancient-Egyptians in the Land of God ,Punt ,“TA-Netjer ” considered by the Egyptians as their  Original  Homeland . The King wears the somali traditional loincloth “Gundhate” with the dagger “Qolxad” and the Queen wears the “Garays” the official somali female cultural  dress and the Somali Hairstyle with the white Cloth Headband .

Expedition to the Land of Punt: Two Servants ca. 1490-1470 B.C.

Two Somali Puntites Workers  carrying  frankincence for the Egyptians who came to the Land of Punt. Trade Expedition of the Queen Hatshepsut  in the 15th century B-C . (1490-1470 BC) .The Somalis wear still now  this traditional costume of their Egyptian-Puntites Ancestors .The white royal  loincloth called “Gundhate” “Gunti”  in both Somali and Egyptian languages and the cultural  necklace called ” Xirsi” ,“Qardhaas”.

These Frescoes A) B)  and many others were found  in the temple of the Pharaonic Queen Hatshepsut ;named “ISIR ISIR”.because the Columns of the temple were built with  the shape of the roots of the papyrus. “Isir” means “Papyrus , roots of Papyrus” ” in ancient-egyptian language and “Isir” is currently a somali female name. This word “Isir” in somali refers also to the roots of humans as the “Ancestors.

Ancient-Egyptians Women (to the left of this picture) performing the official Somali Cultural Dance”Dhaanto” (to the right) and also called “Hoydado”dance . The Egyptian  wall painting is  from the tomb of a nobleman named Nebamun. Nebamun’s tomb was built around 1400 B.C. near the town of Thebes. And the somali picture is from the Somali Traditional Dance, “dhaanto” performed by the Somali Youth in the African Night  at the University of Minnesota .
Wall painting from the same tomb of NebAmun  (1400B-C) In this second image  Here ,you have the complete fresco of this represented Ancient-Egyptian Banquet .Someone who watched the Somali Folk Dance and Festival can easily guess the striking similarities between the Main Somali Cultural Dance and the way of moving of these Ancient-Egyptian Dancers ,the gestures of the ones who are  sitting to the left  of this image and to the right of this fresco ,you can observ the big ceremonial Somali Vase “XEEDHO” for the offerings .Here 3 works of art about the pharaonic Somaali cultural heritage 
Here some works of art about the pharaonic Somaali cultural heritage.

This Egyptian Cultural Agriculture is still preserved in the Somali Culture and Folk dance . Every people dance traditionally with their ancestral agro-pastoral way of life.Ancient-Egyptians Princesses (right)  and Somali Girls with traditional clothes (left): Cultural Comparison .

A Young Somali with the Similar Ancient-Egyptian Hairstyle .The Somalis use also this traditional Egyptian loincloth called “Gundhate” in Somali language and also in Ancient-Egyptian Language.Cultural Show of the Somali Youth dancing the “dhaanto” and to the right .The Ancient-Egyptians performing a Similar Traditional Dance with the same white somali loincloth .”Gundhate”. This Egyptian Fresco is decorated in the tomb of the Egyptian Pharaoh Seti I (-1324 -1279 B-C) the XIXth dynasty .Period of Reign ( -1294  -1279 BC)After my historical discoveries through the egyptological books. I made in 2010 AD  an  Egyptian-Puntite Anthropological Comparison on a Young Somali Ethnic Group  in Djibouti, a region of the ancient Somali Kingdom of Punt. Their  features are similar, not by coincidence but they share ancestral links proved by the History; here,an example, to the right , of this picture,Bileh Iftin, a young Somali, portrait taken in 2010 AD and to the left , the Pharaoh Set I .(-1324 -1279 B-C) the XIXth dynasty .Period of Reign ( -1294  -1279 BC) .
To the right ;Three Ancient-Egyptians princesses  holding a lotus flower and to the left ,the Somali princesses in the Somali Region of  the Horn of Africa ,celebrating the  enthronement of the 19th king of the Issa: Ugaas Robleh in 2010.To the right ;Three Ancient-Egyptians princesses  holding a lotus flower and to the left ,the Somali princesses in the Somali Region of  the Horn of Africa ,celebrating the  enthronement of the 19th king of the Issa :Ugaas Robleh in 2010.

Somali-Egyptian Headrests; to the right the Headrest of Tutankhamun, in the middle the Somali Cultural Headrest and to the left of this picture, we have the  Headrest of  Nefertiti or Nafariithatii,”the good girl” in somali.Cultural Comparison of Ancient-Egyptian-Somali People  : To the left of this picture, Three Egyptian Musicians, Pharaonic Women Artists  and to the right, a Somali Woman Artist Sahra Ilays  with her Traditional Folk Group . They wear a similar Egyptian cultural  dress.The brown fabric  of finery between their legs is called “dhacle” in Somali . You can observ and compare, even, the Egyptian Art was preserved in Somali Traditional Clothes. This preserved culture is called in Somali “Hidde” meaning  the rest of  ancient alive culture.The Ancient Egyptian IMHOTEP (in the middle ) holding the same Somali Cultural Scepter called “HANGOOL” in Somali language and H-N-G-L in Ancient-Egyptian Hieroglyphical writing .The Somalis use still now ,traditionally this pharaonic Specific Scepter called Hangool which means the lion’s ambition (Han (ambition )+Gool (lion) )  .Imhotep  was alive in the 28th century  (Egyptian ii-m-ḥtp *jā-im-ḥatāp meaning “the one who comes in peace, is with peace”/ also the word “Imi” means “he comes” in somali language) was an Egyptian Polymath who served under the Third dynasty  king Djoser  as chancellor to the pharaoh  and high priest of   at Heliopolis . He is considered to be the father of medecine  the first architect and engineer and physician  in early history though two other good physicians, Hesy-Ra  and Merit-Ptah  lived around the same time. The full list of his titles is: Chancellor of the King of Egypt, Doctor, First in line after the King of Upper Egypt, Administrator of the Great Palace, Hereditary nobleman, High Priest of Heliopolis, Builder, Chief Carpenter, Chief Sculptor, and Maker of Vases in Chief.Somali-Ancient-Egyptian Dress and Art .

Somali Egyptian-Puntite History :
“Encyclopædia Britannica describes Punt as follows: “in ancient Egyptian and Greek geography, the southern coast of the Red Sea and adjacent coasts of the Gulf of Aden, corresponding to modern coastal Eritrea, Somalia and Djibouti .”/ In “The Making of Egypt” (1939). Petrie states that the Land of Punt was “sacred to the Egyptians as the source of their race.”

« Again the representations of the early Puntites, or Somali people, on the Egyptian monuments, show striking resemblances to the Egyptians themselves. » By Brian Brown New York: Brentano’s[1923]/ We can understand theses Similarities through their ancestral history.

According to the historian Richard Pankhurst :”The Egyptians sometimes called Punt land Ta-Netjeru, meaning “Land of the Gods,” and considered it their place of origin .” (Richard Pankhurst, The Ethiopian Borderlands:1997)Map of the Antiquity , Ancient World .

“In addition to the erection and endowments of many temples listed in the Palermo Stone, the Pharaohs of the Fifth Dynasty were active, as the King Sahure (2458-2446 B.C.) from this Egyptian Old Kingdom, Dynasty V (2498-2491 B.C.). Egyptian ships also reached the shores of the land of Punt on the Somali coast to procure highly valued cargoes of myrrh, ebony and animals, among other goods. ” Text Reference: The UNESCO General History of Africa: Ancient Civilization of Africa, Vol, II, General History of Africa, G. Mokhtar, 1990, p 64-68

The greek historian Diodorus of Sicily in his book “Universal history “said that in 6th century before-J-Christ , because of the euro-asiatics invasions in Egypt , more than 200 thousands of Ancient-egyptians migrated in the south of the Nile in the direction of Ethiopia ,East Africa (Now,Sudan ,Ethiopia ,Somalia ,Djibouti..) ./ This last historical fact can explain why the somali language is a survived ancient-egyptian language ,according to the british linguist :”The language of ancient Egypt belonged to the Hamitic group;today, of course, the language of
Egypt is a form of Arabic, but a descendant of the ancient Hamitic language of Egypt, Coptic, survived until about the fifteenth century, and is still used as the liturgical language of the Coptic Church.Surviving Hamitic languages are spoken across a large part of North Africa and include Somali.” (The english language ,A Historical Introduction,” by Charles Barber .)

Even, the recent genetic  research prove that the Somali DNA is exactly appropriate to the Ancient-Egyptian  DNA=> Haplogroup E1b1b1a (V68) :19th century before J-Christ => Place of origin : Egypt and northern Soudan . Extract of the genetic research 🙁 More recently, Tillmar et al. (2009) typed 147 males from Somalia for 12 Y-STR loci, and observed that 77% (113/147) had typical E1b1b1a1b haplotypes. This is currently the highest frequency of E1b1b1a1b found in any single sample population. Similarly, Hassan et al. (2008) in their study observed this to be the most common of the sub-clades of E-M78 found in Sudan, especially among the Beja, Masalit and Fur. The Beja, like Somalis,Sahos,Afars and Oromos, speak an Afro-Asiatic language and live along the “corridor” from Egypt to the Horn of Africa.)The Current Somali Territories after the colonial division in the 19th century A.DComparison of  Egyptian-Somali Vocabulary:

“The language of ancient Egypt belonged to the Hamitic group…Surviving Hamitic languages are spoken across a large part of North Africa and include Somali.” (The english language: A Historical Introduction,” by the british historian and linguist  Charles Barber .)

1) In ancient-egyptian language “Hes” = song,sing with musical instrument / in somali language :” Hees”= song,sing with musical instrument.

2) “AAR” means “Lion” in both languages .

3) “Usha” means “Scepter” in both languages .
4)In Somali-Egyptian” Shub” means a)”pour out , ” b) construction made of concrete .

5) In Somali-Egyptian languages :”Sekedseked”  means ” Redoubling of the building blocks ,Stacked building blocks or something else .

6) In Egyptian-Somali :

Neter/Neder (divine being) Hipo/Hibo (it means “gift” and the sound “p”it is not mainly used in Hamitic languages ):  Heru/Huur (a stork) : Tuf/Tuf (spit) : Habi (the Nile)/ Habi,ᵓAbi (source of water,to drink ,give him drink ) Wabi ( a river) ;  Kab/kab (shoe) brq/biriq (lightning) :”Qbb/Qaboob (cold,cool,fresh ):  ‘ayah/dayah (moon) ; dab/dab (fire) anka/aniga (pronoun “I” ): su,asu/usi (he) ; Ka,Kaah /Ka,Kaah (Him,the man’s appearance, spirit,vital essence,) ; Xi/Ki (a such ) ; Hati,Hat/Haat,Haati (widen wings,flying birds) ;  medu/muud (liquid), Hoo/Hoo (to offer ) , Gundhate ,Gunti/Gundhate ,Gunti (loincloth) ,Maanta/Maanta (today,morning );  Kaua/Kaw (standard number one ,1,first ) ; NefNefi/NefNef,Neef (respiration,breath ),  (Râ,Horakhty /Râh, Horrahthy (the Sun). In Ancient-egyptian “Râ” is the sun-god / in Somali “Qor-Rah” means the “neck of Rah ,sun-god . ( Qor= neck / Rah: sun-god) the letter ” a” is pronounced with the voiceless pharyngeal  fricative

8) In Ancient-egyptian “Hun, Hunnu” = young man ,young girl/ in Somali “Hun, Hunnu,Huunno” = young man , young girl .

9) Two Somali/Egyptian Similar Names of the Pharaonic Enthronement : Sare,Hore/Sare,Hore ( the High and the First )

10)In ancient-egyptian :Ausar =god Osiris ,ancestor of egyptians /.In Somali : Ausar,= Father Sar (AW-father ; Sar), Isir,Ausar = Ancestor , venerated in the Somali Culture in the antiquity according to a Somali Historian and linguist Diriye .

11)  In Somali Language “The pyramids” means “Xabaal-Maguur” =” Stable Graves ”

There are many similar words somali-egyptian ,preserved in Somali language. I just shared with you some examples above but you can find many others if you fond of the Egyptology and History .
References : “Egyptian Hieroglyphic  Dictionary by Budge” ;
“Black Nations and Culture by Cheikh Anta Diop” ; “Learn Somali by Diriye Abdillahi ”
Fiqi’s Somali English Dictionary ” by  A.A Hashi 1985 .etc…Praise to God ! The Ancient-Egyptian Hieroglyphical Writing and Symbols  are  still alive and kicking in 2012 A.D.“ Generally , The Somalis use the “Sumado” ,the hieroglyphic Symbols in their traditional and social way of life . As example ,here ,to the right of the picture of Osiris  ,we have the Hieroglyphical  Symbols of the Issas clans in East Africa . extracted from the book: “The Search for the Ugaas in the Xeer Tradition” by the Dr. Ali Moussa Iye.Chief of Intercultural Dialogue Section in Unesco .(1995-2000).The Somalis use still now culturally these hieroglyphical  for the social regulation like the Ancient-egyptians pharaohs .The  Issa tribe is a branch of the Somali People in the Horn of Africa  .They live mainly in Djibouti , in  Ethiopia,Diridhabe region and the North of Somalia ,in Zayla ,Lughaya and Awdal region . In ancient-Egyptian language “Sumado” means”write the hieroglyphs” and also in somali ,”Sumado” means “the Hieroglyphs” and you can observ these somali current hieroglyphs, to the right of the Pharaoh’s Picture above .

Conclusion: Somalia (of old) is, now, the Ancient land of Punt : Homeland of  the Ancient-Egyptians. After ,the asiatics and europeans invasions in Ancient-Egypt , most of them  came back and migrated to the south of the Nile, in the direction of the current  Horn of  Africa, Land of Punt, Somali Peninsula. The road of frankincence and myrrh from Egypt to the Punt,”Pwenet ” was not forgotten by the Ancient-Egyptians. The Somalis share also this common Ancient-Egyptian Past with their cousins in North-East Africa, the  Tutsis, the Oromos, the Afars, the Saho,the Beja, the Indigenous African Egyptians who live still now in Egypt etc…

Pictorial History in slides:

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Egyptian-Puntite Historical Research made by Abdisalam Mahamoud : Master 2 degree in Philosophy and History of the Civilisations and Religions . 2011-2012.
Email : sajokal5@yahoo.fr .

Source: Somtribune