Geʽez script
| Geʽez | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Script type | |
Time period | c. 1st century CE to present (abjad until c. 4th century CE) |
| Direction | left-to-right  |
| Languages | Afro-Asiatic languages and Nilo-Saharan languages.
Generally Ethiosemitic languages (e.g. Geʽez, Tigrinya, Amharic, Tigre, Guragigna, Harari, etc.), but also some Cushitic languages and Nilotic languages. Bilen, Meʼen, as one of two scripts in Anuak, are examples, and unofficially used in other languages of Ethiopia and languages of Eritrea. |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
Child systems | Amharic various other alphabets of Ethiopia and Eritrea |
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Ethi, 430 , Ethiopic (Geʻez) |
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Ethiopic |
Unicode range |
|
Geʽez (Geʽez: ግዕዝ, Gəʿəz) is a script used as an abugida (alphasyllabary) for several Afro-Asiatic and Nilo-Saharan languages of Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa. It originated as an abjad (consonant-only alphabet) and was first used to write the Geʽez language, now the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Eritrean Catholic Church, the Ethiopian Catholic Church, and Haymanot Judaism of the Beta Israel Jewish community in Ethiopia. In Amharic and Tigrinya, the script is often called fidäl (ፊደል), meaning “script” or “letter”.
The Geʽez script has been adapted to write other languages, mostly Ethiosemitic, particularly Amharic in Ethiopia, and Tigrinya in both Eritrea and Ethiopia. It has also been used to write Sebat Bet and other Gurage languages and at least 20 other languages of Ethiopia. In Eritrea it has traditionally been used for Tigre and it has also been used for Bilen. The Ge'ez script was also used to write Anuak, and used in limited extent to write some other Nilo-Saharan Nilotic languages, including Majang languages. It was also used in the past to write some Omotic languages, including Wolaytta, Bench, Hamer, Kafa.[citation needed] For the representation of sounds, this article uses a system that is common (though not universal) among linguists who work on Ethiopian Semitic languages. This differs somewhat from the conventions of the International Phonetic Alphabet. See the articles on the individual languages for information on the pronunciation.
History and origins[]
Ge'ez script is derived from the Ancient South Arabian script which originated in the region centred around what is now Yemen. The earliest inscriptions of Semitic languages in Eritrea and Ethiopia date to the 9th century BCE, which is known as Epigraphic South Arabian (ESA), an abjad shared with contemporary kingdoms in South Arabian peninsula.
After the 7th and 6th centuries BCE, variants of the South Arabian script arose, evolving in the direction of the later Geʻez abugida or alphasyllabary. This evolution can be seen most clearly in evidence from inscriptions (mainly graffiti on rocks and caves) in the Tigray Region in northern Ethiopia and in many parts of Eritrea mainly in the former province of Akele Guzay.[4] and the oldest example of Ge'ez script is the Hawulti (monument) in Matara, Eritrea. [5]
By the first centuries CE,[clarification needed] what is called "Old Ethiopic" or the "Old Geʻez alphabet" arose, an abjad written right-to-left[6] (as opposed to boustrophedon like ESA) with letters basically identical to the first-order forms of the modern vocalized alphabet (e.g. "k" in the form of "kä"). There were also minor differences, such as the letter "g" facing to the right instead of to the left as in vocalized Geʻez, and a shorter left leg of "l", as in ESA, instead of equally-long legs in vocalized Geʻez (somewhat resembling the Greek letter lambda).[7] Vocalization of Geʻez occurred in the 4th century, and though the first completely vocalized texts known are inscriptions by Ezana, vocalized letters predate him by some years, as an individual vocalized letter exists in a coin of his predecessor, Wazeba of Axum.[8][9] Linguist Roger Schneider has also pointed out in an unpublished early 1990s paper anomalies in the known inscriptions of Ezana of Axum that imply that he was consciously employing an archaic style during his reign, indicating that vocalization could have occurred much earlier.[10][better source needed]
As a result, some[who?] believe that the vocalization may have been adopted to preserve the pronunciation of Geʻez texts due to the already moribund or extinct status of Geʻez, and that, by that time, the common language of the people were already later the Eritrean and Ethiopian Afro-Asiatic languages. At least one of Wazeba's coins from the late 3rd or early 4th century contains a vocalized letter, some 30 or so years before Ezana.[11] Kobishchanov, Peter T. Daniels, and others have suggested possible influence from the Brahmic scripts in vocalization, as they are also abugidas, and the Kingdom of Aksum was an important part of major trade routes involving India and the Greco-Roman world throughout classical antiquity.[12][13]
According to the beliefs of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the original consonantal form of the Geʻez fidäl was divinely revealed to Enos "as an instrument for codifying the laws", and the present system of vocalisation is attributed to a team of Aksumite scholars led by Frumentius (Abba Selama), the same missionary said to have converted King Ezana to Christianity in the 4th century.[14] It has been argued that the vowel marking pattern of the script reflects a South Asian system such as would have been known by Frumentius.[15] A separate tradition, recorded by Aleqa Taye, holds that the Geʻez consonantal alphabet was first adapted by Zegdur, a legendary king of the Agʻazyan Sabaean dynasty held to have ruled in Abyssinia (Eritrea and Ethiopia) c. 1300 BCE.[16]
Geʻez has 26 consonantal letters. Compared to the inventory of 29 consonants in the South Arabian alphabet, continuants are missing of ġ, ẓ, and South Arabian s3 
(Geʻez Sawt ሠ being derived from South Arabian s2 
), as well as z and ṯ, these last two absences reflecting the collapse of the interdental with the alveolar fricatives. On the other hand, emphatic P̣ait ጰ, a Geʻez innovation, is a modification of Ṣädai ጸ, while Pesa ፐ is based on Tawe ተ.
Thus, there are 24 correspondences of Geʻez and the South Arabian alphabet:
| Translit. | h | l | ḥ | m | ś (SA s2) | r | s (SA s1) | ḳ | b | t | ḫ | n |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Geʻez | ሀ | ለ | ሐ | መ | ሠ | ረ | ሰ | ቀ | በ | ተ | ኀ | ነ |
| South Arabian |
|