# The Borama (Gadabuursi) script: Sheekh Cabdiraxmaan Sheekh Nuur's alphabet of 1933

> The Borama or Gadabuursi script for Somali: who made it in 1933, how its letters work, the poems written in it, and what Lewis recorded in 1958.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/society/borama-script/
Last checked: 2026-11-13
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## Who made it

The Borama script, also called the Gadabuursi script, was devised in about 1933 by [Sheekh Cabdiraxmaan Sheekh Nuur](/en/people/sheikh-abdurahman-sheikh-nur/) of the Gadabuursi ([Tosco 2010, Somali writings, citing Lewis 1958](https://doi.org/10.18716/ojs/aaeo/2010_3542)). He was the qaadi (Islamic judge) at Borama, near the Ethiopian border. David Laitin also dates it to about 1933 ([Laitin, Politics, Language, and Thought, 1977, p. 98](https://books.google.com/books?id=LR8A4tEYZUAC&pg=PA98)).

Almost everything known about it comes from one article by I. M. Lewis, "The Gadabuursi Somali Script", in the Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies in 1958 ([Lewis 1958, via Scribd](https://www.scribd.com/doc/15957443/The-Gadabursi-Somali-Script); [Tosco 2010](https://doi.org/10.18716/ojs/aaeo/2010_3542)).

## Who used it

Lewis found the script used only in Borama, among "a small circle of the [Sheikh](/en/regions/sheikh/)'s associates". The Sheikh did not "regard his invention as a contribution to the problem of finding a national orthography for Somali" ([Tosco 2010, quoting Lewis 1958, p. 142](https://doi.org/10.18716/ojs/aaeo/2010_3542)). Wikipedia adds that some merchants trading through Zeylac and Borama and students of the Sheikh learned it ([Gadabuursi script, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadabuursi_Somali_Script)).

## How the letters work

The script is written from left to right ([Tosco 2010](https://doi.org/10.18716/ojs/aaeo/2010_3542)). Tosco describes it as elegant, with some letters easy to confuse, such as the sign for a or aa and the sign for d. He compares its look to Georgian, while Osmanya reminds him of Armenian.

Its rules differ from [Osmanya](/en/society/osmanya-script/) in several ways ([Tosco 2010](https://doi.org/10.18716/ojs/aaeo/2010_3542)):

- there is no sign for the glottal stop, as in later Osmanya;
- **ii** and **uu** have their own signs, separate from **y** and **w**;
- short **o** and **u** share one sign;
- vowel length is not marked for **a/aa** or **e/ee**.

The letter order roughly follows the Arabic alphabet, with many exceptions.

## Texts written in it

Lewis published, with transcription, translation and notes, several texts in the script: two **gabay**, a **geeraar**, a **qasida** in praise of the Prophet, and two private letters ([Tosco 2010, citing Lewis 1958](https://doi.org/10.18716/ojs/aaeo/2010_3542)). Wikipedia notes that the script produced a body of literature mainly of qasidas ([Gadabuursi script, Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadabuursi_Somali_Script)).

## In the script debate

The script was among the 11 Somali-invented writing systems that, according to Thomas Labahn, were put before the 1961 language commission. Labahn's comparative table lists it as number 8, with Osmanya as number 2 and Kaddare as number 9 ([Tosco 2010, citing Labahn 1982](https://doi.org/10.18716/ojs/aaeo/2010_3542)). The Latin alphabet was chosen in 1972.

## Read more

- [Somali writing systems](/en/society/somali-writing-systems/)
- [Sheikh Abdurahman Sheikh Nur](/en/people/sheikh-abdurahman-sheikh-nur/)
- [Awdal and Borama](/en/regions/awdal/)

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