The Arabic, Hebrew and Amharic roots of the term RASTAFARI: Ras tafari: RAS: The name Ras is derived from the Arabic name "Rais" meaning "leader" and from the Hebrew name "Raz" meaning "secret". TAFARI: In Amharic, Ras (literally "Head", an Ethiopian title equivalent to Duke), and Tafari or "Teferi", which in Amharic means a man who is to be feared, or a hero.
