Waaq (also Waq or Waaqa) is the name for the sky God in several Cushitic languages, including the Oromo language and Somali language.[1][2][3]
Waaqa (Oromo pronunciation: [waːkʼa]) still means 'God' in the present Oromo language. Other Cushitic languages where the word is still found include Konso Waaqa; Rendille Wax; Bayso Wah or Waa; Daasanach Waag; Hadiyya Waaʔa; Burji Waacʼi.[4][5]
In the present-day Somali language, the primary name of God is now the Arabic-derived Allaah.[6] The term Waaq survives in proper names and placenames. The Somali clan Jidwaaq (meaning ‘Path of God’) have their name derived from Waaq.[7] Names of towns and villages in Somalia that involve the word Waaq include Ceelwaaq, Caabudwaaq and Barwaaqo.[8]
Some traditions indicate Waaq to be associated with the Harari region.[9] The Sufi mystic Ibn Arabi mentions in his Al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya that Waaq used to be the generic word for Allah, comparing the term with the Turkic people’s tenets of Tengri.[10]
In Oromo and Somali culture, Waaq, Waaqa or Waaqo was the name of God in their pre-Christian and pre-Muslim monotheistic faith believed to have been adhered to by Cushitic groups.[11] It was likely brought to the Horn by speakers of the Proto-Cushitic language who arrived from North Sudan in the Neolithic.[2] In more recent times, the religion has mostly declined since the arrival of Islam and Christianity to the Horn of Africa.[12]