ENCYCLOPAEDIA

AETHIOPICA

Volume 4
O–X

Edited by
Siegbert Uhlig

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Ewald Wagner, “Selt’i-Verse in arabischer Schrift aus
dem Schlobies-Nachlaß”, in: SegBodLes 363–74.
Lit.: Eeva H.M. Gutt – Hussein Mohammed Mussa,
Silt’e–Amharic–English Dictionary (with Concise Gram-
mar by ERNST-AUGUST GUTT), Addis Ababa 1997; Ernst-
August Gutt, “The Silte Group (East Gurage)”, in:
Robert Hetzron (ed.), The Semitic Languages, London
1997, 509–34; Id., “Studies in the Phonology of Silt’i”,
JES 16, 1983, 37–73; Id., “On the Conjugation of the Silt’i
verb”, ibid. 19, 1986, 91–112; Wolf Leslau, Etymological
Dictionary of Gurage, Wiesbaden 1979, vol. 1, 961–1032;
Id., “Arabic Loanwords in Selti”, Aethiopica 2, 1999,
103–23.
Eeva Gutt
Sélti ethnography
The term S. (Fs1 ) is (1) an older variant of
the modern ethnonym “Sélte” (Fs3 ) which
includes all speakers of the S. language, and it is
(2) the name of a major subgroup, the Summus
Sélti (‘Eight [districts of] S.’) or “S. proper”.
Oral tradition derives the names S. and Sélte
from the alleged Summus Sélti ancestor “gän
Sélti” (gän[za], ‘ruler of a territory’). Today’s
Sélte include the major subgroups of Azärnät,
Bärbäre (÷Énnäqor), Alióóo, Wuriro, Mälga
(÷Wélbaräg) and Summus Sélti. The great ma-
jority of the population is Muslim. Until the
second half of the 20th cent., collective designa-
tions which included all major subgroups were
“Ade(y)a” (from ÷Hadiyya [sultanate]), “Islam”
and “East ÷Gurage”, the last being primarily a
linguistic category also including ÷Wälane and
÷Zay. They were widely considered to be part of
the Gurage. However, after the fall of the Därg
in 1991 a political movement formed, claiming
an independent ethnic identity
of the “Sélte”, as they now called
themselves. Ten years later the
identity discourse resulted in the
administrative secession from the
Gurage zone and the establish-
ment of a “Sélte zone” (for the
earlier administrative division s.
also ÷Hayqoóó-Butagira). The
S. language area reaches from
the edge of the Gurage highlands
up to the lowlands West of Lake
Zway and from the area around
the Har Šäytan crater lake, south
of ÷Butagira, up to the lowlands
of Sankura, bordering to the
country of ÷Allaaba.
The Sélte practice mixed ag- The hadra mosque of the Alkäso zawiya, Sélti; photo 2004, courtesy of the
riculture and cattle breeding. In author
Sélti
the highland areas ÷énsät cultivation is predom-
inant, while in the lower regions cereals have
more importance. ÷Cat and ÷bärbäre are the
most relevant cash crops. Some written sources
(e.g., Cecchi 1888: 123f.) describe the involve-
ment of some S. and Wélbaräg traders in slave
trade. Since the 19th cent. merchants are engaged
in trans-regional trade, especially in ÷coffee, on
the caravan route crossing their territory to con-
nect ÷Sidamo province and ÷Šäwa. During the
20th cent. many people from the area migrated
to Addis Abäba and other towns in southern
Ethiopia. In the capital they, together with the
Gurage, make up one of the most important
migrant groups. They are specifically known as
entrepreneurs in the Märkato (÷Addis Kätäma)
and Arada areas.
The Chronicle of ase ÷ŸAmdä Séyon men-
tions an entity allied to this emperor by the
name of Sältagi/Séltähi, which can be interpreted
as Sélti/e-ge [‘land of S.’] (MarAmdS 100, 213).
Braukämper identifies the “East-Gurage” as the
only people related to the Hadiyya sultanate who
did not adopt a Cushitic language. According to
his reconstruction, in the 17th cent. their home-
land was located in the highland of ÷Cärcär
(BrHad 90, 184). According to oral tradition,
today’s Sélte consider themselves descendants of
warriors of Arab, or even Šarific, descent who
joined ÷Ahmad b. Ibrahim al-Ëazi and his suc-
cessor amir ÷Nur b. Mugahid. In the wake of
the ÷gihad, ancestors, such as, e.g., haggi Aliye
Umär, šayò Nasrallah (÷ŸAbdannasir), šayò
Bärkälle, imam ÷Íidi, Kabir Hamid and Nur
607
Sélti
Yusuf, are said to have migrated with their folks
into the province of ÷Wäg. There, they settled
on the slopes of the highlands and intermingled
with the local population, the so-called Ïära (cp.
Bustorf 2006).
The Oromo migration into and through Wäg
during the 17th cent. and constant conflicts with
the ÷Libido drove the S.-speaking groups far-
ther west into the highlands. In the 19th cent.
scarcity of land and frequent conflicts with the
neighbouring Gurage, especially with the war-
riors of agäz Hamdeno of ÷Geta and damo
Mägänas of ÷Gumär (the latter mentioned in
Cecchi 1888: 111–28), forced them to leave most
of the highland areas (except Mugo, Énnäqor
and Alióóo-Wuriro) to the Gurage and to expand
their territory to the pastoralist areas in the east
and south-east. This again brought them into
conflict with the ÷Arsi, Libido, Leemo- and
Šaašoogo-Hadiyya.
Sélteland was subdued by Ménilék’s troops
for the first time in 1879. The earlier marriage of
the daughter of the Summus Sélti chief azma[ó]
Qälbo with néguí ÷Íahlä Íéllase facilitated a
comparatively amicable relation between the
leading families and the new rulers. In the course
of the further Ethiopian conquest, Sélte warri-
ors, such as, e.g., azma Ormora Gona, became
important allies of the Ethiopian empire, notably
in the campaigns against the Libido (e.g., 1879)
and against King ÷Tona of Wälaytta in 1894.
In the 19th cent. the history of the S. speakers
was characterized by Islamic revitalism fuelled
by an intensified contact with Muslim centres,
especially in Wällo, the rise in popularity of the
÷Islamic brotherhoods and opposition towards
the expanding Christian empire. The leaders
of the six major subgroups in 1881 joined the
gihad of ÷Hasän Éngamo of Qabeena against
Ménilék and started to reinforce Islam amongst
their own people. The integration of Sélteland
into Ménilék’s empire after Hasän Éngamo’s de-
feat in 1889 was followed by the settlement of
÷näftäñña families and the foundation of the
first ÷kätäma “S.” (south of today’s Qébät) and
Wélbaräg. The family of ras ÷Kaía Òaylu, who
was related to the leading Qälbo clan, was enti-
tled with huge lands in the western S. area.
During most of their history the Sélte had
no common political or judical body above the
councils (dämbus) of the different major sub-
groups. Supra-tribal integration mainly was con-
ducted by certain Islamic leaders (e.g., in the 19th
608
cent., Haruna gošte and šayò “Wälle”; in the 20th
cent., Alkäso šayò) and by political and military
alliances (÷Gogot) of two or more groups, in-
cluding sometimes not only S. speakers but also,
e.g., ÷Mäsqan and Allaaba. A famous alliance,
active between 1936 and the early 1940s, was the
so-called Sélti/e Gogot. It united all major sub-
groups of the Sélte and, under the leadership of
imam Sugato Zäyni, could dominate neighbour-
ing ethnic groups.
Src.: fieldnotes by the author 2003, 2004, 2005; Antonio
Cecchi, Fünf Jahre in Ostafrika, Leipzig 1888, 123f.;
MarAmdS 100, 213.
Lit.: Abdulfätah Huldar, #Fqzy (#M_1\y &!y
YFs3y Ww-y K<l!y +Ws (Islam bäýityopya énna
yäsélte hézb tarikénna bahél, ‘Ethiopian Islam and the
History and Culture of the Sélte People’), Addis Abäba
2000; Id., YFs3|My -A=_y uKnMc,y &!y n#M_1\_
|My Wsb!!y &;KMy \(:gIMy !FH`p' (Yäséltennät
béherawi mäggäläcawoóó énna läýityopyawinnät héllé-
wénanna édgät yabäräkkätut astäwaìéýo, ‘National
Expression of Sélteness and the Contribution, which
They [the Sélte] Made to the Being and Development of
Ethiopianess’), Addis Abäba 2002; Abraham Hussen –
Habtamu WändÉmmo, (Ts11y <#<y H!N<y Bw-y
Y!r?|My (?(>y i-:HA-y +Ws!y K<l (Bäíéltiñña
qwanqwa tänagari hézb yäýazärnät bärbäre òébrätäsäb
bahélénna tarik, ‘The Society, Culture and History of the
Séltiñña Language-speaking Azärnät-Bärbäre’), Addis
Abäba 1983 A.M. [1990 A.D.]; BrHad 183–94 et passim;
Dirk Bustorf, “Ase Zäýra YaŸéqobs Kinder. Spuren der
Vorbevölkerung von Sélte-Land”, Aethiopica 9, 2006,
23–48; Id., Die Sélte: Geschichte, Geschichtserzählung und
Geschichtsbewusstsein eines muslimischen Volkes im südli-
chen Äthiopien, Ph.D. thesis, Universität Hamburg 2009;
Id., “Imam Sugato Zäyni: a War-lord of the Selt’é Gogot”,
in: PICES 16, 70–81; Nishi Makoto, “Making and Un-
making of the National-State and Ethnicity in Modern
Ethiopia: a Study on the History of the Silte People”,
African Study Monographs, Supplementary Issue 29, 2005,
157–68; DÉnbäru Alämu et al., QQMz YL=Oy -h:A-y
K<ly +Ws!y <#< (Gogot. Yägurage béòeräsäb tarik,
bahélénna qwanqwa, ‘Gogot, the History, Culture and
Language of the Gurage People’), Wälqite 1987 A.M.
[1994/95 A.D.], 48–52; Rahmeto Hussein, The History
of Azernet-Berbere until the Expansion of Shoa during
Menelik II, Senior Essay, Department of History, Addis
Ababa University 1984.
Dirk Bustorf
Šémagällä
Š. (%xKn , also Šémagälle, Wäld Šum, lit. ‘son of
a leader’) is the designation of a sociopolitical
group among ÷Tégre-speakers and the ÷Bilin.
Š. is derived from a term in Ethio-Semitic lan-
guages which means ‘elder’ (÷Šémagélle), but
also connotes a regular leading social role within
gerontocratic structures. Among the Tégre and
sociopolitically related groups such as the Bilin