On the issue of Hiraabe Goyta Tedros; I had previously explained that meaning of Goyta Tedrous and it's similarity to Hiraabe's family name of Rida-Amir in Marehan;
What I did not know at that time was GOYTA was the highest title given by the Amir of Harar, and later by the Kingdom of Adal after they merged.In Ge'ez derived Ethiopian Semetic languages
Goita = Gift of God
Tedros = Master/ Lord
Hiiraabe (and myself) are reer Rida-Amir
In Arabic
Rida = Gift of God
Amir= Master/Lord
In fact, a Goyta was second only to Amiir and it was considerably higher than a Garaad!
Of course the irony here is we all overlooked the title of "Garaad" and just assumed it had Somali origins.
Well no, Garaad was not of Somali origins but a Harari title just like Goyta. The difference is Garaad was a relatively low title and widely applied since every clan had to have a Chief (a Garaad). Because of this wide application where every Somali had a Garaad, Somalis naturally adopted the title.
A Goyta was different. A Goyta was not widely applied and was a very high title; just below Amiir. There is only one Somali clan that was powerful enough to have a Goyta. This is why Somalis did not have time to adopt it, because it was very rarely applied and was very unique and particular to the government under Harar.
Conversely, the Muslim Oromo who invaded and subsequently occupied the lands immediately surrounding Harar did adopt the Goyta and Malaaq titles; the latter which they possibly passed on to the original inhabitants of southern Somalia, the Reewin/Rahanweyn whom the Oromo/Booran neighbored. To this day the highest traditional leaders in many Reewin and southern clans is "Malaaq."
Also, a Goyta was not a political position like a Wasiir (advisor to Amiir), or an administrative position like Malaaq (head of a district) or Garaad (head of a group of tribal villages), but a Goyta was a combination of both of those things in a defensive/military capability. It was actually very similar to the European concept of DUKE (which even today is only below the Royal family and superior to all other titles in Europe). Conversely, a Garaad was essentially just a Baron and Malaaq a Viscount.
Remember that Duke originates from the title of Dux in the Roman Empire. Basically it was a trusted General who was sent to lead a province and take all the Roman legions there under his command. It wasn't a military rank, but above it in that he was both the political and military leader of the province and not just a military commander.
Later, the European monarchies conferred "Duke" on the most powerful and wealthiest landowners with the largest number of banners who were expected to be the greatest source of defense in case of invasion. In many cases, Dukes were descendents of previous Kings as sons who could not become King were given Dukedoms.
Similarly, a Goyta was a supra political-military title conferred by the Amiir for the greatest possible defender of the city of Harar and of the Kingdom of Adal. In many cases, a Goyta in the city of Harar was the son of the Amiir and a number of Amiirs were Goyta before becoming Amiir.
Outside of the city of Harar, the Kingdom of Adal only conferred Goyta on someone who could protect the caravan/trade routes. To be able to do that, you obviously must have the strongest tribe, the most powerful militia, the greatest number of banners. You must be the manifestation of the King in his owm provinces!
Essentially you were what in Game of Thrones they called a "Warden of the East/West/North/South."
Exhibit A: Administration for Harar was organized this way;
At the lowest end was Garaad who was an administrative agent of tribal village or related villages.
That was followed by a Dameen who supervised a Garaad or a group of Garaads.
That was followed by a Malaaq or Malak who managed one of the 5 divisions of Harar.
That was followed by a Goyta who was a Warden/Dux for defense.
Then the Amir capped that off as the Crown.
Exhibit B: Harar had 5 gates for defense. In charge of each Gate's defense was a Goyta who served both as key holder and commander.
Exhibit C; The last Harari dynasty was the Daud Dynasty.
The founder Ali bin Dawud was promoted from Malaaq/Malak to Goyta and then became a civil servant as a Wasiir. He became the next Sultan.
Similarly, one of his grandsons was a Goyta in charge of Harar's walls.
Exhibit D; Harar was an interior city and access to sea trade was an existential issue. As a result, it conferred title of Goyta on those who can GAURANTEE the safety and access of caravan routes from the interior to the coasts.
In words this is modest, but what it really says who is the Harari definition of the Roman Dux!
Translation: "Goyta or Capo Carovana (Head of Trade) was a TITLE used in the Kingdom of Adal for the person who could not only guide but guarantee the smooth function of trade from the interior to the coast."
Who controls the most land? Who has the most banners? Who has control of the routes and access points? Very clearly this is why the traditional leader of the Marehan was a Goyta while all other tribal leaders was simply Garaad.
It is the biggest irony that what they thought was a insult is really simply just another expression of Marehan preeminence amonst the Somalis.
To bring this all together, there are a gazillion number of more examples including even in the Futuh where other Goyta are mentioned and who always function as carrying out the most important orders of the Imam.
Such as when the Imam announces declaration of war, he calls on Ahmed Goyta to raise the banners (first three tribes the Imam directs him to call on were Marehan, Geri, and Yabbare).
Or when the Imam wants the village of a traiter Garaad to be razed, he calls on Ibrahim Goyta to lead that aftack.
As for why it sounds like Amharic or Tigray, that's because the language of Harar was/is HARARI; a Semitic Ge-ez language very close to them.
In all three languages, Goyta is a title essentially meaning "Master/Lord."
Finally, I don't know where Tedros comes from, but just because we haven't yet come across it doesn't mean an explanation doesn't exist. Personally I would wager Goita Tedros goes together and was a singular and unique Harari title for the Marehan leading family. It probably meant "Guardian's of the Realm" implying defenders of God's land as the translation implies.
The fact the family name in Marehan that has stuck since (Rida-Amir) has the exact same translation supports this possible theory.
Or Tedros could have been a simple nickname or even a name without any controversy for Hiraabe's father. After all, even today the Somali president is known by the Western non-Somali name of "Farmaajo" and not even his birth given Muslim name of Mohamed Abdullahi.
The moral is history is not math. In math, if 1 + 1 doesn't equal 2; then it doesn't exist. In history, there are a million different possibilities for why something was recorded one way.
The search goes one, but at least now we all have a better understanding of Harari political structure.
