Ugaas - Nobiliary Particles

Nobiliary Particles

• Aw: Nobiliary particle meaning "honorable", "venerable", or simply "Sir". Reserved for learned Islamic clerics, and used throughout the Somali territories. During his research in the ancient town of Amud, the historian G.W.B. Huntingford noticed that whenever an old site had the prefix Aw in its name (such as the ruins of Aw Bare and Aw Bube), it denoted the final resting place of a local saint. Surveys by A.T. Curle in 1934 on several of these important ruined cities recovered various artefacts, such as pottery and coins, which point to a medieval period of activity at the tail end of the Adal Sultanate's reign. Northern Somalia in general is home to numerous such archaeological sites, with similar edifices found at Haylaan, Qa’ableh, Qombo'ul, Elaayo, Botiala and Damo, among other areas.