Addis Herald
  • Home
  • History
  • Africa
  • Travel
  • Music
  • Culture
  • Art

Culture

  • Or. 607The Ethiopian Emperor’s Manuscripts
  • 36540E1A-A477-4FDD-A4E7-2DD01514F57DEthiopian Manuscripts and Painting from the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Century
  • 184D8D78-8168-43A0-8F33-95AAC1CE81B2The Top Ten Ethiopia’s Endemic Wild Animals
  • 68B656DE-B1F3-47D4-9F6A-198C6FA6FCA3The New Face of Addis
  • 20-must-read-poems-ethiopian-poets20 Of The Best Poets And Poems of Ethiopia (Qene included)

Business

  • China-Ethiopia-forumEthiopia’s Export to China Grows Amid Booming FDI from Chinese Companies to the Country
  • 32AAAC40-C7CF-4A10-8C4A-D63F30DC6D07As Telebirr Increases it’s Subscribers to 18 mln, It’s Mother company Ethio Telecom launches 5G network
  • 57BD9DF7-CDDD-4722-AD63-F5A0C41A11B1Recovery Period: Inside Ethiopian Airlines’ 4-Pillar Growth Strategy
  • DC89FC8D-FC0B-4547-B6E6-7D8A4540717E12 investment opportunities in Ethiopia’s packaging industry
  • 3D2D6F24-5BB6-4943-AD60-DA8E222749C2Ethiopian Airlines leases two Dash 8-400 aircraft from TrueNoord

Africa

  • 2B04558D-E562-4F0C-B0F8-36082FF2C299As Gas hold the key to Africa’s energy future , it also may Rescue Europe’s energy crisis
  • C1480A4F-9399-4DEC-8DE9-6CD659342646African entrepreneurs need to be taken seriously
  • United-States-of-AfricaUnited States of Africa: A dream that got Gaddafi killed at the hands of a desperate US
  • 3B1B58E3-5D40-4ADA-8835-29B316116181Africa Isn’t an Opinion or an Opiate: An Ode to the Ever Defiant Motherland
  • E0A49956-D481-44EF-9A41-0B34EF9BDFAEAfrica: The Mother of all Civilization
Ancient-Blocks-in-Yeha-Ethiopia-01
December 5, 2018

Language

By Stuart Munro-Hay

The language of the Aksumite kingdom was Ge`ez (Ethiopic), a Semitic tongue assumed (but not proven) to have an ancestry in old South Arabian. Ge`ez, possibly deriving its name from the Agwezat or Agazi tribal group, is now a dead language except for its use in traditional Ethiopian Orthodox church rituals and in some specialized circumstances, such as poetry. It was written in characters descending from the same parentage as the script now called Epigraphic South Arabian, but more cursive in form; the modern Ethiopian alphabet is the only survivor of this script today. Its development required that certain letters employed in dialects of South Arabian were omitted and others added as necessary. A number of early texts and graffiti from Ethiopia are themselves in a cursive form of the old South Arabian script (Drewes 1962). Time and the influence of the Cushitic languages of Ethiopia (Agaw or Central Cushitic being the most important) both helped in the transference from the original language to Ge`ez.

The arguments advanced for the origins of the Ge`ez script would fill a small book (Ullendorff 1955; 1960: 112ff; Drewes 1962: Ch. V; Drewes and Schneider 1976). Some have seen it as a development from the monumental South Arabian script, others as related to the contemporary cursive scripts found in both Arabia and Ethiopia; the mechanics of the change, the experts have suggested, could have been through either intentional or accidental alteration. The script could have been inspired by an early importation, or even by a more recent inspiration subsequent to the period of the earlier inscriptions. A fair number of inscriptions have been found dating from pre-Aksumite times and written in the epigraphic South Arabian script, at such places as Yeha, Kaskase, and Hawelti-Melazo. Some of these employ a form of the language which is apparently more or less pure Sabaic, while others, though contemporary, show linguistic features perhaps indicating that they were carved by Ethiopians (Drewes 1962; Schneider 1976i).

The use of the South Arabian script continued on into Aksumite times (or was revived then?) and as late as the reigns of Kaleb and W`ZB monumental inscriptions were still written in a version of this script, but using the Ge`ez language. In the early fourth century, the purely consonantal script was found inadequate, and a system of vowels was adopted, which greatly facilitated the reading of Ge`ez. The origins and history of the vowels system are uncertain; it might have been influenced by some Indian scripts (Pankhurst 1974: 220-2; Chatterji 1967: 53), and it might, in turn, have influenced Armenian (Olderogge 1974: 195-203). This innovation was employed on the inscriptions, and doubtless, on whatever (not so far discovered) papyrus, parchment or another impermanent medium, the Aksumites kept their records. It was not generally adopted on the coins, whose legends remained unvowelled, except for very rare and partial vowels on the coins of one or two later kings, until the end of the series. However, even without the vowels, the coins provide a very interesting sequence from which the changes in the styles of the letter-forms can be ascertained from the third to the seventh century (Munro-Hay 1984iii).

This information, combined with inscriptional material, is one way of tentatively dating newly-discovered Ge`ez documents. However, such palaeographical work is still in its infancy and lacks sufficient numbers of documents which can be reliably dated to make it an efficient tool at present. Early inscriptions closely resembling South Arabian ones have been dated according to the palaeographical studies of Pirenne (1956), but again there might be a case for readjustment (Schneider 1976i). In a recent (unpublished) paper, Roger Schneider has commented on some fascinating anomalies in Ge`ez writing on Aksumite inscriptions and coins (see also Drewes 1955; Hahn 1987). The existence of one vocalized letter on certain silver coins of Wazeba, a predecessor of Ezana, may well indicate that the process of vocalization was under way before Ezana, though the unvocalized Ge`ez inscription of Ezana (DAE 7) has made it commonly accepted that the development of vocalization occurred during his reign. Littmann (1913, IV: 78), Drewes and Schneider all suggest deliberate archaizing; some of the letters, apart from lacking vowels, are of forms very much more ancient than those current for Ezana’s time.

This is not just over-elaborate academic discussion. For whatever reasons Ezana had this done (and Drewes suggests perhaps a desire to emphasize the links with South Arabia, or perhaps to point to the ancient origins of Aksumite royal power), it is of interest that almost no kings of Aksum in the subsequent centuries introduced vowelling on their coins, or when they did, it was only on a letter or two; and this long after vocalization must have been current on other media. Preceding the common use of Ge`ez, Greek was the chosen official language of the inscriptions and coins. This was evidently largely orientated towards foreign residents and visitors, and can hardly have been understood by more than the smallest section of the ruling class and merchant community. There must also have been a body of more or less learned men who acted as scribes in preparing the drafts of the inscriptions, perhaps priests or a special corps of clerks. Greek remained the language of the coins, particularly the gold, until the end of the coinage, but its quality degenerated quickly.

Coins datable to the fourth and fifth centuries already show errors in their Greek legends. A few inscriptions were drafted in several versions; Greek, and in Ge`ez in two redactions, the first in the Ge`ez script, the second in the South Arabian script. Use of this `pseudo-Sabaean’ seems to have been mere vanity, perhaps trying to equal the tri-lingual inscriptions set up by the Sassanian kings of Persia, since there can hardly have been any real reason for rendering a Ge`ez inscription into the South Arabian monumental script. Presumably, a native speaker of Ge`ez would be able to recognize the gist of the text, the letters, though differently oriented and more rectilinear, being still recognizable; but a Ge`ez version was also supplied. A visiting South Arabian would have understood the script but not the language. The South Arabian script might perhaps have retained something of a sacrosanct aura, as the ancient vehicle for dedicatory inscriptions, so that it was felt that a version in that script fulfilled the requirements of tradition; but that seems a little far-fetched as an explanation by the time of Kaleb and W`ZB. When king Kaleb of Aksum received Greek-speaking ambassadors, he employed an interpreter to translate the letters from the emperor; but this may have been due to the formalities of court protocol rather than of necessity (Malalas, ed. Migne 1860: 670).

It can hardly be doubted, from the evidence of survivors such as the `proto-Ge`ez’ inscriptions of Matara, Safra, and Anza, and the series of royal inscriptions, that there was a fair body of written material in Ge`ez extant in Aksumite times, though examples found to date cannot in any way compare numerically with the sort of material surviving from most other ancient civilizations. Small inscriptions have been found on vessels of stone and pottery (Littmann 1913: IV; Drewes and Schneider 1967: 96ff; Schneider 1965: 91-2; Anfray 1972: pl. III). One, on a rock on Beta Giyorgis hill overlooking Aksum, seems to be a boundary-marker reading `Boundary between (the land of) SMSMY and SBT’ — either the names of the owners or of the parcels of land. Future archaeological missions will almost undoubtedly reveal more of these minor inscriptions. Abroad, Ge`ez inscriptions are known from Meroë, Socotra (Bent 1898), and South Arabia. A later manifestation in the development of letters in Ethiopia was the translation of various literary works from other languages such as Greek, Arabic, and Syriac into Ge`ez, with concomitant effects on the language itself.

  • Introduction
  • Archaeological Discovery
    • Ancient Aksum
    • The Rediscovery of Aksum
  • The City and the State
    • Origins and Expansion of the Kingdom
    • The Development of Aksum
    • Cities, Towns and Villages
    • The Inhabitants
    • Foreign Relations
  • Aksumite History
    • Early Aksum
    • Gadarat to Endubis
    • Endubis to Ezana
    • Ezana to Kaleb
    • The End of the Coinage
    • The Post-Aksumite Period
  • The Civil Administration
    • Officials of the Government
    • Aksum, the Capital City
    • The Town Plan
    • Portuguese Records of Aksum
    • Domestic Architecture
    • The Funerary Architecture
    • The Stelae
  • The Monarchy
    • The Regalia
    • Dual Kingship
    • Succession
    • The Royal Titles
    • The Coronation
  • The Economy
    • Agriculture and Animal husbandry
    • Metal Resources
    • Trade
    • Local Industries
    • Food
  • The Coinage
    • Introduction of the Coinage
    • Internal Aspects of the Coinage
    • The Mottoes
    • The End of the Coinage
    • Modern Study of the Coinage
  • Religion
    • The Conversion to Christianity
    • Abreha and Atsbeha
    • Ecclesiastical Development
    • Churches
  • Warfare
    • The Military Structure
    • Weapons
    • The Fleet
    • The Inscriptions
  • Archaeological Records
    • Glassware
    • Stone Bowls
    • Metalwork
    • Aksumite Materials
  • Language
    • Literature
    • The Art
    • Saint Yared
  • Society and Death
    • Funerary Practice
  • The Decline of the Empire
    • The Arrival of Islam in Ethiopia
    • The decline of Aksum
    • External and Internal Troubles
    • The Hatsani Daniel of Aksum
  • Excavations at Aksum

Ethiopian History

  • Lucy
  • The Æthyopians
    • Ethiopia in Biblical Greek “Αιθιοπια”
    • Herodotus’s Ethiopia
    • The Legendary Queen of Sheba
    • The Horn Of Africa
    • Enoch ‘The black prophet’
    • The Ethiopic Book of Enoch
    • ETHIOPIANISM
    • Ethiopia Mystery and antiquity
  • Wonderful Ethiopians
  • Unknown Kings of Ethiopia
    • The Great Pyramids part 1
    • The Construction of the Pyramids part 2
    • Who Built the Giza Pyramids? Part 3
  • Kebra Nagast
  • Aksumite Empire
  • The Zagwe Dynasty
  • The Gadaa System
  • The Battle of Adwa
    • The Victory of Adwa: A Fresh Perspective
    • Mussolini’s atrocity
  • Profiling Africa
  • National Parks
  • Pages
  • Pages
Aksumite Materials Society and Death

Related Posts

An African Civilisation of Late Antiquity

Aksumite Empire

Preface

600px-Pergamon-Museum_-_Wandmalerei_3

Aksumite Empire

Excavations at Aksum

The Hatsani Daniel

Aksumite Empire

The Hatsani Daniel of Aksum

What It’s Like To Be A Billionaire In Ethiopia

https://youtu.be/UsczEq9RtqI
https://youtu.be/oT1LO-6OC-I

Travel

  • Ethiopia has Over 10,000 Megalithic Monuments dating Back to the 1st CenturyEthiopia has Over 10,000 Megalithic Monuments Dating Back to the 1st Century
  • ethiopia_ethiopian_wolf_35Brilliant Ethiopia: The Unique Wonder
  • F6BD7E94-BC77-4B3E-B905-7B140F12F5FDKenya Had an Elephant ‘Baby Boom’ — and Now You Can Adopt One
  • Addis_herald_omo_3910 Main Tourist Attractions Places in Africa
  • Homage to Entoto Park How the Old “Town in the Forest” is turning into a newly flowering tourist hubHomage to Entoto Park How the Old “Town in the Forest” is turning into a newly flowering tourist hub

Africa

  • 2B04558D-E562-4F0C-B0F8-36082FF2C299As Gas hold the key to Africa’s energy future , it also may Rescue Europe’s energy crisis
  • C1480A4F-9399-4DEC-8DE9-6CD659342646African entrepreneurs need to be taken seriously
  • United-States-of-AfricaUnited States of Africa: A dream that got Gaddafi killed at the hands of a desperate US
  • 3B1B58E3-5D40-4ADA-8835-29B316116181Africa Isn’t an Opinion or an Opiate: An Ode to the Ever Defiant Motherland
  • E0A49956-D481-44EF-9A41-0B34EF9BDFAEAfrica: The Mother of all Civilization

Culture

  • Or. 607The Ethiopian Emperor’s Manuscripts
  • 36540E1A-A477-4FDD-A4E7-2DD01514F57DEthiopian Manuscripts and Painting from the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Century
  • 184D8D78-8168-43A0-8F33-95AAC1CE81B2The Top Ten Ethiopia’s Endemic Wild Animals
  • 68B656DE-B1F3-47D4-9F6A-198C6FA6FCA3The New Face of Addis
  • 20-must-read-poems-ethiopian-poets20 Of The Best Poets And Poems of Ethiopia (Qene included)

Business

  • China-Ethiopia-forumEthiopia’s Export to China Grows Amid Booming FDI from Chinese Companies to the Country
  • 32AAAC40-C7CF-4A10-8C4A-D63F30DC6D07As Telebirr Increases it’s Subscribers to 18 mln, It’s Mother company Ethio Telecom launches 5G network
  • 57BD9DF7-CDDD-4722-AD63-F5A0C41A11B1Recovery Period: Inside Ethiopian Airlines’ 4-Pillar Growth Strategy
  • DC89FC8D-FC0B-4547-B6E6-7D8A4540717E12 investment opportunities in Ethiopia’s packaging industry
  • 3D2D6F24-5BB6-4943-AD60-DA8E222749C2Ethiopian Airlines leases two Dash 8-400 aircraft from TrueNoord

RSS Allfrica.com News feed

  • Africa: Sparking Change for African Women Leaders Through the Power of Data
  • Africa: AFROPAC Promises to Strengthen Public Finance Oversight During Pandemic Recovery
  • Africa: The Russia - Ukraine Conflict and Its Impact On the Infrastructure and Built Environment Industry in Africa
  • Africa: Liberia Hosts AFROPAC Virtual Conference
  • Africa: Ghana Enterprise Agency Partners With Ie University's Africa Center to Promote Women Entrepreneurship
  • West Africa: President Weah Receives Letters of Credence From Ambassadors of South Africa, Gambia, Czech Republic And Ecowas
  • Africa: Guterres in Senegal - 'Triple Crisis' in Africa Aggravated By War in Ukraine
  • Africa: 60 Start-Ups Across Africa to Get $4m Google Fund
  • Africa: Over 11.6 Million Confirmed Cases of Covid-19 Across Continent
  • Africa: ILO - Child Labor Rising Around the World
  • Abijitta-Shalla National Park
  • Alatish Ethiopian National Park
  • Awash National Park
  • Babille Elephant Sanctuary
  • Bahir Dar Blue Nile Millennium Park
  • Bale National Park; Ethiopia’s lesser-known Treasure
  • Bale Mountains National Park
  • Borena-Sayint National Park
  • Chebera Churchura National Park
  • Dati Wolel National park
  • Gambella National Park
  • Gambella National Park 2
  • Kafta-Sheraro National Park
  • Mago National Park
  • Maze National Park
  • Nechisar National Park, Ethiopia
  • Omo National Park 
  • The Semien Mountains
  • Yabello National Park
  • Yangudi Rassa National Park
© Addis Herald 2022
  • Contact us
en English
af Afrikaansam Amharicar Arabiczh-CN Chinese (Simplified)en Englishfr Frenchde Germanel Greekhi Hindiit Italianja Japaneseko Koreanla Latinru Russianes Spanishsu Sudanesesw Swahilisv Swedish