Geʽez

File:Aksum, iscrizione di re ezana, in greco, sabeo e ge'ez, 330-350 dc ca. 11.jpg

Ezana stone, written in Geʽez explaining his conquests and accomplishments

GeTemplate:Ayinez (Template:IPAc-en or Template:IPAc-en; Template:Transliteration , and sometimes referred to in scholarly literature as Classical Ethiopic) is an ancient South Semitic language. The language originates from what is now known as Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Today, GeTemplate:Ayinez is used as the main liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Ethiopian Catholic Church, the Eritrean Catholic Church, and the Beta Israel Jewish community.

Hawulti Obelisk is an ancient pre-Aksumite obelisk located in Matara, Eritrea. The monument dates to the early Aksumite period and bears an example of the ancient GeTemplate:Ayinez script.

In one study, Tigre was found to have a 71% lexical similarity to Geʽez, while Tigrinya had a 68% lexical similarity to Geʽez, followed by Amharic at 62%. Most linguists believe that GeTemplate:Ayinez does not constitute a common ancestor of modern Ethio-Semitic languages but became a separate language early on from another hypothetical unattested common language.

Phonology

Vowels

Geʽez vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration	/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration	/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration
Mid	/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration		/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration
Near-open	/Template:IPA link ~ Template:IPA link/Template:Efn Template:Transliteration
Open		/Template:IPA link ~ Template:IPA link/Template:Efn Template:Transliteration

Historically, has a basic correspondence with Proto-Semitic short Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration, with short Template:Transliteration, the vowels with Proto-Semitic long Template:Transliteration respectively, and with the Proto-Semitic diphthongs Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In Geʽez there still exist many alternations between and , less so between and , e.g. taloku ~ talawku ("I followed").Template:Sfn

In the transcription employed by the Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, which is widely employed in academia, the contrast here represented as a/ā is represented as ä/a.

Consonants

Transliteration

GeTemplate:Ayinez is transliterated according to the following system (see the phoneme table below for IPA values):

translit.	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
Geʽez

translit.	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
Geʽez

Because GeTemplate:Ayinez is no longer spoken in daily life by large communities, the early pronunciation of some consonants is not completely certain. Gragg writes that "[t]he consonants corresponding to the graphemes Template:Transliteration (GeTemplate:Ayinez ) and Template:Transliteration (GeTemplate:Ayinez ) have merged with ሰ and ጸ respectively in the phonological system represented by the traditional pronunciation—and indeed in all modern Ethiopian Semitic. ... There is, however, no evidence either in the tradition or in Ethiopian Semitic [for] what value these consonants may have had in GeTemplate:Ayinez."Template:Sfn

a verse from Psalm written in GeTemplate:Ayinez

A verse from the book of Psalms written in GeTemplate:Ayinez

A similar problem is found for the consonant transliterated Template:Transliteration. Gragg notes that it corresponds in etymology to velar or uvular fricatives in other Semitic languages, but it is pronounced exactly the same as Template:Transliteration in the traditional pronunciation. Though the use of a different letter shows that it must originally have had some other pronunciation, what that pronunciation was is not certain.Template:Sfn

The chart below lists and as possible values for Template:Transliteration () and Template:Transliteration () respectively. It also lists as a possible value for Template:Transliteration (). These values are tentative, but based on the reconstructed Proto-Semitic consonants that they are descended from.

Phonemes of Geʽez

The following table presents the consonants of the GeTemplate:Ayinez language. The reconstructed phonetic value of a phoneme is given in IPA transcription, followed by its representation in the GeTemplate:Ayinez script and scholarly transliteration.

Geʽez consonants

		Labial	Alveolar			Palatal	Velar		Pharyngeal	Glottal
			central		lateral		plain	labialized
Nasal		/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration	/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration
Stop/ Affricate	voiceless	/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration	/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration				/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration	/Template:IPA linkʷ/ Template:Transliteration		/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration
	voiced	/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration	/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration				/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration	/Template:IPA linkʷ/ Template:Transliteration
	emphaticTemplate:Efn	/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration	/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration	/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration	/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration		/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration	/kʷ’/ Template:Transliteration
Fricative	voiceless	/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration	/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration		/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration		/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration	/Template:IPA linkʷ/ Template:Transliteration	/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration	/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration
	voiced		/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration						/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration
Approximant			/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration		/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration	/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration		/Template:IPA link/ Template:Transliteration

GeTemplate:Ayinez consonants in relation to Proto-Semitic

GeTemplate:Ayinez consonants have a triple opposition between voiceless, voiced, and ejective (or emphatic) obstruents. The Proto-Semitic "emphasis" in GeTemplate:Ayinez has been generalized to include emphatic Template:Transliteration . Geʽez has phonologized labiovelars, descending from Proto-Semitic biphonemes. GeTemplate:Ayinez ś Sawt (in Amharic, also called śe-nigūś, i.e. the se letter used for spelling the word nigūś "king") is reconstructed as descended from a Proto-Semitic voiceless lateral fricative . Like Arabic, GeTemplate:Ayinez merged Proto-Semitic š and s in (also called se-isat: the se letter used for spelling the word isāt "fire"). Apart from this, GeTemplate:Ayinez phonology is comparably conservative; the only other Proto-Semitic phonological contrasts lost may be the interdental fricatives and ghayn.

Stress

There is no evidence within the script of stress rules in the ancient period, but stress patterns exist within the liturgical tradition(s). Accounts of these patterns are, however, contradictory. One early 20th-century account may be broadly summarized as follows:

• primary stress only falls on the ultima (the last syllable) or the penult (the second-to-last syllable)
• in finite verbs (including the imperative), stress falls on the penult: qatálat ("she killed"), nə́gər ("speak!", masculine singular), with the important exception of the 2nd-person feminine plural suffix -kə́n
• in nouns and adjectives (in citation form), and most adverbs, stress falls on the ultima: nəgúś ("king"), hagár ("city"), Gə́ʽz ("Geʽez"), ṭabíb ("wise"), həyyá ("there"); an exception among adverbs is zə́ya ("here")
• the suffix -a, marking the construct state or the accusative case (or both), is not stressed: nəgúśa, hagára, Gə́ʽza, ṭabíba
• cardinal numbers are stressed on the ultima, even in the accusative, e.g. śalastú accusative śalastá ("three")
• pronouns have rather unpredictable stress, so stress is learned for each form
• enclitic particles (such as -(ə)ssá) are stressed
• various grammatical words (short prepositions, conjunctions) and short nouns in the construct state are unstressed

As one example of a discrepancy, a different late 19th-century account says the masculine singular imperative is stressed on the ultima (e.g. nəgə́r, "speak!"), and that, in some patterns, words can be stressed on the third-, fourth- or even fifth-to-last syllable (e.g. bárakata).

Due to the high predictability of stress location in most words, textbooks, dictionaries and grammars generally do not mark it. Minimal pairs do exist, however, such as yənaggərā́ ("he speaks to her", with the pronoun suffix -(h)ā́ "her") vs. yənaggə́rā ("they speak", feminine plural), both written .Template:Sfn

Morphology

Nouns

Geʽez distinguishes two genders, masculine and feminine, the latter of which is sometimes marked with the suffix Template:Transliteration, e.g. Template:Transliteration ("sister"). These are less strongly distinguished than in other Semitic languages, as many nouns not denoting humans can be used in either gender: in translated Christian texts there is even a tendency for nouns to follow the gender of the noun with a corresponding meaning in Greek.Template:Sfn

There are two numbers, singular and plural. The plural can be constructed either by suffixing Template:Transliteration to a word (regardless of gender, but often Template:Transliteration if it is a male human noun), or by using an internal plural.Template:Sfn

• Plural using suffix: Template:Transliteration ("year") plural Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration ("wilderness, uninhabited area") plural Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration ("elder, chief") plural Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration ("(arch)bishop") plural Template:Transliteration.
• Internal plural: Template:Transliteration ("house") plural Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration ("eyelid") plural Template:Transliteration.

Nouns also have two cases: the nominative, which is not marked, and the accusative, which is marked with final Template:Transliteration. As in other Semitic languages, there are at least two "states", absolute (unmarked) and construct (marked with Template:Transliteration as well).

Declension of Template:Transliteration ("elder, chief")

	Singular		Plural
	Absolute state	Construct state	Absolute state	Construct state
Nominative	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
Accusative	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration

As in Classical/Standard Arabic, singular and plural nouns often take the same final inflectional affixes for case and state, as number morphology is achieved via attaching a suffix to the stem and/or an internal change in the stem.

There is some morphological interaction between consonant-final nouns and a pronoun suffix (see the table of suffix pronouns below). For example, when followed by Template:Transliteration ("my"), in both nominative and accusative the resulting form is Template:Transliteration (i.e. the accusative is not Template:Transliteration), but with Template:Transliteration ("your", masculine singular) there's a distinction between nominative Template:Transliteration and accusative Template:Transliteration, and similarly with Template:Transliteration ("his") between nominative Template:Transliteration (< Template:Transliteration) and accusative Template:Transliteration (< Template:Transliteration).Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Internal plural

Internal plurals follow certain patterns. Triconsonantal nouns follow one of the following patterns.

Patterns of internal plural for triconsonantal nounsTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn
(C=Consonant, V=Vowel)

Pattern	Singular	Meaning	Plural
ʾaCCāC	Template:Transliteration	'garment'	Template:Transliteration
	Template:Transliteration	'horse'	Template:Transliteration
	Template:Transliteration	'house'	Template:Transliteration
	Template:Transliteration	'fast'	Template:Transliteration
	Template:Transliteration	'name'	Template:Transliteration
ʾaCCuC	Template:Transliteration	'country'	Template:Transliteration
	Template:Transliteration	'ass'	Template:Transliteration
ʾaCCəC(t)	Template:Transliteration	'rod'	Template:Transliteration
	Template:Transliteration	'head'	Template:Transliteration
	Template:Transliteration	'servant, slave'	Template:Transliteration
ʾaCāCəC(t)	Template:Transliteration	'sheep'	Template:Transliteration
	Template:Transliteration	'devil'	Template:Transliteration
CVCaC	Template:Transliteration	'ear'	Template:Transliteration
	Template:Transliteration	'foot'	Template:Transliteration
CVCaw	Template:Transliteration	'hand'	Template:Transliteration
	Template:Transliteration	'father'	Template:Transliteration
	Template:Transliteration	'brother'	Template:Transliteration

Quadriconsonantal and some triconsonantal nouns follow the following pattern. Triconsonantal nouns that take this pattern must have at least one "long" vowel (namely ).Template:Sfn

Patterns of internal plural for quadriconsonantal nounsTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn
(C=Consonant, V=Vowel)

Pattern	Meaning	Singular	Plural
CaCāCəC(t)	'virgin'	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
	'prince'	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
	'star'	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
	'window'	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
	'chicken'	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
	'night'	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
	'earth'	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
	'river'	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
	'priest'	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration

Pronominal morphology

In the independent pronouns, gender is not distinguished in the 1st person, and case is only distinguished in the 3rd person singular.

Personal independent pronounsTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

			Singular	Plural
1st person			Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
2nd person	masculine		Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
	feminine		Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
3rd person	masculine	nominative	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration
		accusative	Template:Transliteration
	feminine	nominative	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration, Template:Transliteration
		accusative	Template:Transliteration

Suffix pronouns attach at the end of a noun, preposition or verb. The accusative/construct Template:Transliteration is lost when a plural noun with a consonant-final stem has a pronoun suffix attached (generally replaced by the added Template:Transliteration, as in Template:Transliteration, "his"), thereby losing the case/state distinction, but the distinction may be retained in the case of consonant-final singular nouns. Furthermore, suffix pronouns may or may not attract stress to themselves. In the following table, pronouns without a stress mark (an acute) are not stressed, and vowel-initial suffixes have also been given the base in the script.

Suffix pronounsTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

			Default		With consonant-final singular nouns		With consonant-final plural nouns
			noun/prep.	verb	nominative	accusative
Singular	1st person		Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration		Template:Transliteration, Template:TransliterationTemplate:Efn
	2nd person	masculine	Template:Transliteration		Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
		feminine	Template:Transliteration		Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration, Template:TransliterationTemplate:Efn
	3rd person	masculine	Template:Transliteration		Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
		feminine	Template:Transliteration		Template:Transliteration		Template:Transliteration
Plural	1st person		Template:Transliteration		Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
	2nd person	masculine	Template:Transliteration		Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
		feminine	Template:Transliteration		Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
	3rd person	masculine	Template:Transliteration		Template:Transliteration		Template:Transliteration
		feminine	Template:Transliteration		Template:Transliteration		Template:Transliteration

Verb conjugation

Person			Perfect Template:Transliteration	Imperfect
				Indicative Template:Transliteration	Jussive Template:Transliteration
1st person		singular	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
		plural	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
2nd person	masculine	singular	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
		plural	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
	feminine	singular	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
		plural	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
3rd person	masculine	singular	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
		plural	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
	feminine	singular	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
		plural	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration

Syntax

Noun phrases

Noun phrases have the following overall order:

(demonstratives) noun (adjective)-(relative clause)

Adjectives and determiners agree with the noun in gender and number:

Relative clauses are introduced by a pronoun which agrees in gender and number with the preceding noun:

As in many Semitic languages, possession by a noun phrase is shown through the construct state. In Geʽez, this is formed by suffixing the construct suffix Template:Transliteration to the possessed noun, which is followed by the possessor, as in the following examples:Template:Sfn

Another common way of indicating possession by a noun phrase combines the pronominal suffix on a noun with the possessor preceded by the preposition /la=/ 'to, for':Template:Sfn

LambdinTemplate:Sfn notes that in comparison to the construct state, this kind of possession is only possible when the possessor is definite and specific. Lambdin also notes that the construct state is the unmarked form of possession in Geʽez.

Prepositional phrases

Geʽez is a prepositional language, as in the following example:Template:Sfn

There are three special prepositions, /ba=/ 'in, with', /la=/ 'to, for', /ʼəm=/ 'from', which always appear as clitics, as in the following examples:

These proclitic prepositions in Geʽez are similar to the Hebrew inseparable prepositions.

Sentences

The normal word order for declarative sentences is VSO. Objects of verbs show accusative case marked with the suffix /-a/:

Questions with a wh-word ('who', 'what', etc.) show the question word at the beginning of the sentence:

Negation

The common way of negation is the prefix ʾi- which descends from ʾəy- (which is attested in Axum inscriptions), from earlier *ʾay, from Proto-Semitic *ʾal by palatalization.Template:Sfn It is prefixed to verbs as follows:

Writing system

File:Ethiopic genesis (ch. 29, v. 11-16), 15th century (The S.S. Teacher's Edition-The Holy Bible - Plate XII, 1).jpg

Genesis 29.11–16 in Geʽez

Geʽez is written with Ethiopic or the Geʽez abugida, a script that was originally developed specifically for this language. In languages that use it, such as Amharic and Tigrinya, the script is called Template:Transliteration, which means script or alphabet.

Geʽez is read from left to right.

The Geʽez script has been adapted to write other languages, usually ones that are also Semitic. The most widespread use is for Amharic in Ethiopia and Tigrinya in Eritrea and Ethiopia. It is also used for Sebatbeit, Meʼen, Agew, and most other languages of Ethiopia. In Eritrea it is used for Tigre, and it is often used for Bilen, a Cushitic language. Some other languages in the Horn of Africa, such as Oromo, used to be written using Geʽez but have switched to Latin-based alphabets. It also uses four series of consonant signs for labialized velar consonants, which are variants of the non-labialized velar consonants:

Basic sign	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
	ቀ	ኀ	ከ	ገ
Labialized variant	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration	Template:Transliteration
	ቈ	ኈ	ኰ	ጐ

History and literature

File:Sample of Ge'ez writing.jpg

Example of Geʽez taken from a 15th-century Ethiopian Coptic prayer book

In addition to the Bible including the Deuterocanonical books, there are many medieval and early modern original texts. Most important works are also the literature of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, which include Christian liturgy (service books, prayers, hymns), hagiographies, and Patristic literature. For example, around 200 texts were written about indigenous Ethiopian saints from the fourteenth through the nineteenth century. Traditional education was the responsibility of priests and monks. "The Church thus constituted the custodian of the nation's culture", says Richard Pankhurst, who describes the traditional education as follows:

Traditional education was largely biblical. It began with the learning of the alphabet, or more properly, syllabary... The student's second grade comprised the memorization of the first chapter of the first Epistle General of St. John in Geez. The study of writing would probably also begin at this time, and particularly in more modern times some arithmetic might be added. In the third stage the Acts of the Apostles were studied, while certain prayers were also learnt, and writing and arithmetic continued. ... The fourth stage began with the study of the Psalms of David and was considered an important landmark in a child's education, being celebrated by the parents with a feast to which the teacher, father confessor, relatives and neighbours were invited. A boy who had reached this stage would moreover usually be able to write, and might act as a letter writer.

However, works of history and chronography, ecclesiastical and civil law, philology, medicine, and letters were also written in Geʽez.

Significant collections of Ethiopian manuscripts are found outside of Ethiopia in France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The collection in the British Library comprises some 800 manuscripts dating from the 15th to the 20th centuries, notably including magical and divinatory scrolls, and illuminated manuscripts of the 16th to 17th centuries. It was initiated by a donation of 74 codices by the Church of England Missionary Society in the 1830s and 1840s, and substantially expanded by 349 codices, looted by the British from the Emperor Tewodros II's capital at Magdala in the 1868 Expedition to Abyssinia. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City has at least two illuminated manuscripts in Geʽez.

Origins

File:Aksum, iscrizione di re ezana, in greco, sabeo e ge'ez, 330-350 dc ca. 10.jpg

The Ezana Stone, engraved from AD 330 to 356, is written in ancient Geʽez, Sabaean and Greek.

The Geʽez language is classified as a South Semitic language, though an alternative hypothesis posits that the Semitic languages of Eritrea and Ethiopia may best be considered an independent branch of Semitic, with Geʽez and the closely related Tigrinya and Tigre languages forming a northern branch while Amharic, Argobba, Harari and the Gurage languages form the southern branch.Template:Sfn

Inscriptions dating to the mid-1st millennium BCE, written in the Sabaean language in the epigraphic South Arabian script, have been found in the kingdom of Dʿmt, serving at least as a witness to a presence of speakers of Semitic languages in the region. There is some evidence of Semitic languages being spoken in Eritrea since approximately 2000 BC.Template:Sfn Unlike previously assumed, the Geʽez language is now not regarded as an offshoot of Sabaean or any other forms of Old South Arabian.Template:Sfn

Early inscriptions in Geʽez from the Kingdom of Aksum (appearing varyingly in the epigraphic South Arabian script, and unvocalized or vocalized Ethiopic/Geʽez scriptTemplate:Sfn) have been dated to as early as the 4th century CE. The surviving Geʽez literature properly begins in the same century with the Christianization of the Aksum, during the reign of Ezana of Aksum.Template:Sfn The oldest known example of the Geʽez script, unvocalized and containing religiously pagan references, is found on the Hawulti obelisk in Matara, Eritrea. There exist about a dozen long inscriptions dating to the 4th and 5th centuries, and over 200 short ones.Template:Sfn

5th to 7th centuries

The oldest surviving Geʽez manuscript is thought to be the second of the Garima Gospels, dating to the 5th or 6th century. Almost all transmitted texts from this early "Aksumite" period are religious (Christian) in nature, and translated from Greek. Indeed, the range and scope of the translation enterprise undertaken in the first century of the new Axumite church has few parallels in the early centuries of Christian history. The outcome was an Ethiopic Bible containing 81 Books: 46 of the Old Testament and 35 of the New. A number of these Books are called "deuterocanonical" (or "apocryphal" according to certain Western theologians), such as the Ascension of Isaiah, Jubilees, Enoch, the Paralipomena of Baruch, Noah, Ezra, Nehemiah, Maccabees, and Tobit. The Book of Enoch in particular is notable since its complete text has survived in no other language; and, for the other works listed, the Ethiopic version is highly regarded as a witness to the original text.

Also to this early period dates Qerlos, a collection of Christological writings beginning with the treatise of Saint Cyril (known as Hamanot Reteʼet or De Recta Fide). These works are the theological foundation of the Ethiopic Church. In the later 5th century, the Aksumite Collection—an extensive selection of liturgical, theological, synodical and historical materials—was translated into Geʽez from Greek, providing a fundamental set of instructions and laws for the developing Axumite Church. Included in this collection is a translation of the Apostolic Tradition (attributed to Hippolytus of Rome, and lost in the original Greek) for which the Ethiopic version provides much the best surviving witness. Another important religious document is Serʼata Paknemis, a translation of the monastic Rules of Pachomius. Non-religious works translated in this period include Physiologus, a work of natural history also very popular in Europe.Template:Sfn

The use of Geʽez is also known from many excavated inscriptions. Six Geʽez inscriptions are known from 6th-century South Arabia, from during the reign of Kaleb of Aksum, the Aksumite king who conquered the Himyarite kingdom. They record his military conquests and contain many religious references, including to biblical figures (such as Jesus, Mary, and David) and scriptural quotations (Isaiah 22:22–23, Psalms 65:16 and 68:2, Matthew 6:33, and with less certainty, Genesis 15:7).

13th to 14th centuries

After the decline of the Aksumites, a lengthy gap follows; Some writers consider the period beginning from the 14th century an actual "Golden Age" of Geʽez literature—although by this time Geʽez was no longer a living language; in particular in the major enterprise of translating an extensive library of Coptic Arabic religious works into Geʽez.

While there is ample evidence that it had been replaced by Amharic in the south and by Tigrinya and Tigre in the north, Geʽez remained in use as the official written language until the 19th century, its status comparable to that of Medieval Latin in Europe.

At this time a lot of works of the Beta Israel had been turned into Hebraized (i.e. written in the Hebrew alphabet) Geʽez, which made the gradual process of Geʽez being the liturgical language of the Beta Israel.Template:Sfn

The Ethiopic Alexander Romance was produced in this period, the most important Geʽez-language Alexander legend, translated from an earlier Arabic recension of the Alexander Romance work. Important hagiographies from this period include:

• the Gadle Samaʼetat "Acts of the Martyrs"
• the Gadle Hawaryat "Acts of the Apostles"
• the Senkessar or Synaxarium, translated as "The Book of the Saints of the Ethiopian Church"
• Other Lives of Saint Anthony, Saint George, Saint Tekle Haymanot, Saint Gabra Manfas Qeddus

Also at this time the Apostolic Constitutions was retranslated into Geʽez from Arabic. Another translation from this period is Zena ʼAyhud, a translation (probably from an Arabic translation) of Joseph ben Gurion's "History of the Jews" ("Sefer Josippon") written in Hebrew in the 10th century, which covers the period from the Captivity to the capture of Jerusalem by Titus. Apart from theological works, the earliest contemporary Royal Chronicles of Ethiopia are date to the reign of Amda Seyon I (1314–44). With the appearance of the "Victory Songs" of Amda Seyon, this period also marks the beginning of Amharic literature. The 14th century Kebra Nagast or "Glory of the Kings" by the Neburaʼed Yeshaq of Aksum is among the most significant works of Ethiopian literature, combining history, allegory and symbolism in a retelling of the story of the Queen of Sheba (i.e., Saba), King Solomon, and their son Menelik I of Ethiopia. Another work that began to take shape in this period is the Mashafa Aksum or "Book of Axum".Template:Sfn

15th to 16th centuries

The early 15th century Fekkare Iyasus "The Explication of Jesus" contains a prophecy of a king called Tewodros, which rose to importance in 19th century Ethiopia as Tewodros II chose this throne name.

Literature flourished especially during the reign of Emperor Zara Yaqob. Written by the Emperor himself were Matsʼhafe Berhan ("The Book of Light") and Matshafe Milad ("The Book of Nativity"). Numerous homilies were written in this period, notably Retuʼa Haimanot ("True Orthodoxy") ascribed to John Chrysostom. Also of monumental importance was the appearance of the Geʽez translation of the Fetha Negest ("Laws of the Kings"), thought to have been around 1450, and ascribed to one Petros Abda Sayd — that was later to function as the supreme Law for Ethiopia, until it was replaced by a modern Constitution in 1931.

By the beginning of the 16th century, the Islamic invasions put an end to the flourishing of Ethiopian literature. A letter of Abba ʼEnbaqom (or "Habakkuk") to Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, entitled Anqasa Amin ("Gate of the Faith"), giving his reasons for abandoning Islam, although probably first written in Arabic and later rewritten in an expanded Geʽez version around 1532, is considered one of the classics of later Geʽez literature.Template:Sfn During this period, Ethiopian writers begin to address differences between the Ethiopian and the Roman Catholic Church in such works as the Confession of Emperor Gelawdewos, Sawana Nafs ("Refuge of the Soul"), Fekkare Malakot ("Exposition of the Godhead") and Haymanote Abaw ("Faith of the Fathers"). Around the year 1600, a number of works were translated from Arabic into Geʽez for the first time, including the Chronicle of John of Nikiu and the Universal History of George Elmacin.

Current usage in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Israel

Geʽez is the liturgical language of Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo, Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo, Ethiopian Catholic and Eritrean Catholic Christians and the Beta Israel, and is used in prayer and in scheduled public celebrations.

The liturgical rite used by the Christian churches is referred to as the Ethiopic Rite or the Geʽez Rite.

Sample

The first sentence of the Book of Enoch:

See also

• Ethiopian chant
• Languages of Eritrea
• Languages of Ethiopia

Bibliography

External history

• (republished 1970)

Phonology and grammar

• Chaîne, Marius, Grammaire éthiopienne. Beyrouth (Beirut): Imprimerie catholique 1907, 1938 (Nouvelle édition). (electronic version at the Internet Archive)
• (electronic version on the Gallica digital library of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, PDF)
• Dillmann, August; Bezold, Carl, Ethiopic Grammar, 2nd edition translated from German by James Crichton, London 1907. Template:ISBN (2003 reprint). (Published in German: ¹1857, ²1899). (Online version at the Internet Archive)
• Kidanä Wäld Kəfle, Maṣḥafa sawāsəw wagəss wamazgaba ḳālāt ḥaddis ("A new grammar and dictionary"), Dire Dawa: Artistik Matämiya Bet 1955/6 (E.C. 1948).
• Mercer, Samuel Alfred Browne, "Ethiopic grammar: with chrestomathy and glossary" 1920 (Online version at the Internet Archive)
• Praetorius, Franz, Äthiopische Grammatik, Karlsruhe: Reuther 1886.
• Prochazka, Stephan, Altäthiopische Studiengrammatik, Orbis Biblicus Et Orientalis – Subsidia Linguistica (OBO SL) 2, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Verlag 2005. Template:ISBN.
• Tropper, Josef, Altäthiopisch: Grammatik der Geʽez mit Übungstexten und Glossar, Elementa Linguarum Orientis (ELO) 2, Münster: Ugarit-Verlag 2002. Template:ISBN
• Weninger, Stefan, Geʽez grammar, Munich: LINCOM Europa, Template:ISBN (1st edition, 1993), Template:ISBN (2nd revised edition, 1999).
• Weninger, Stefan, Das Verbalsystem des Altäthiopischen: Eine Untersuchung seiner Verwendung und Funktion unter Berücksichtigung des Interferenzproblems, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2001. Template:ISBN.
• Zerezghi Haile, Learn Basic Geez Grammar (2015) for Tigrinya readers available at: https://uwontario.academia.edu/WedGdmhra

Literature

• Adera, Taddesse, Ali Jimale Ahmed (eds.), Silence Is Not Golden: A Critical Anthology of Ethiopian Literature, Red Sea Press (1995), Template:ISBN.
• Bonk, Jon, Annotated and Classified Bibliography of English Literature Pertaining to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Atla Bibliography Series, Scarecrow Pr (1984), Template:ISBN.
• Charles, Robert Henry, The Ethiopic version of the book of Enoch. Oxford 1906. (Online version at the Internet Archive)
• Dillmann, August, Chrestomathia Aethiopica. Leipzig 1866. (Online version at the Internet Archive)
• Dillmann, August, Octateuchus Aethiopicus. Leipzig 1853. (The first eight books of the Bible in Geʽez. Online version)
• Dillmann, August, Anthologia Aethiopica, Herausgegeben und mit einem Nachwort versehen von Ernst Hammerschmidt. Hildesheim: Olms Verlag 1988, Template:ISBN .
• The Royal Chronicles of Zara Yaqob and Baeda Maryam – French translation and edition of the Geʽez text Paris 1893 (electronic version in Gallica digital library of the Bibliothèque nationale de France)
• Ethiopic recension of the Chronicle of John of Nikiû – Paris 1883 (electronic version) in Gallica

Dictionaries

• Dillmann, August, Lexicon linguæ Æthiopicæ cum indice Latino, Lipsiae 1865. (Online version at the Internet Archive; digitized and searchable at the Beta Maṣāḥəft project)

External links

• Fonts for Geʽez script:
  • Noto Sans Ethiopic – (multiple weights and widths)
  • Noto Serif Ethiopic – (multiple weights and widths)
  • Abyssinica SIL (Character set support Template:Webarchive)
• J. M. Harden, An Introduction to Ethiopic Christian Literature (1926)
• Researcher identifies second-oldest Ethiopian manuscript in existence in HMML's archives Template:Webarchive (13 July 2010)
• Library of Ethiopian Texts