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Chapter 2 The Ethiopic Geez Alphabet

The document provides information about the Ge'ez alphabet and script. It discusses how the alphabet originated from South Arabic and was adapted into a syllabary with added vowels. The Ge'ez alphabet contains 26 base consonants and 6 vowel modifications of each consonant. Several tables show the Ge'ez letters paired with their English equivalents and include some additional Amharic letters sometimes seen in manuscripts.

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156 views4 pages

Chapter 2 The Ethiopic Geez Alphabet

The document provides information about the Ge'ez alphabet and script. It discusses how the alphabet originated from South Arabic and was adapted into a syllabary with added vowels. The Ge'ez alphabet contains 26 base consonants and 6 vowel modifications of each consonant. Several tables show the Ge'ez letters paired with their English equivalents and include some additional Amharic letters sometimes seen in manuscripts.

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Ayn Hin
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Chapter 2

The Ethiopic Geʿez Alphabet

The Ethiopic Geʿez alphabet as we know it today was likely borrowed from the Old South

Arabic monumental script possibly as early as the eighth century B.C.E. Early inscriptions in

Geʿez and Geʿez script have been dated as early as the fifth century B.C.E. Geʿez literature

properly begins with the Christianization of Ethiopia in the fourth century C.E. Manuscripts from

this period consistently use what appears as a hand printed form with each letter written

separately and an identifying mark between each word (፡). According to some scholars, those

who began using the alphabet demonstrated an orthographic acumen rare in the Semitic world.

The original South Arabic Script of the consonantal alphabet was altered into a fully vocalized

syllabary (consonant/vowel cluster) with the addition of various strokes and modifications to the

individual consonants (see Table 2.1).

The Geʿez alphabet consists of twenty-six “base” forms of the consonants and an

additional six syllabary forms of each “base” form. The originators of the alphabet maintained

the traditional order of the letters and included no labialized consonants (see Table 2.2). In some

grammars the syllabary columns are numbered – first, second order …, but this may prove to be

more confusing for students and therefore is not facilitated here. As you will see, Table 1

consonants in the first column have the vowel “a” as in “ba”. It is extremely important that you

master this column before going on to memorize the others. Make sure you analyze each column

closely as there are consistent elements in their written forms that will help you memorize and

recognize each form. Geʿez has its own distinct set of signs for numbers (Table 2.3); these are

displayed in Table 3. As with the syllabaries, there are consistent elements in their written forms

5
that will help you recognize each form. In addition, there are special punctuation markings for

the colon (፤), semicolon (፤), and the period (፡) (Table 2.4). Geʿez manuscripts may include some

Amharic additional letters in particular referring to personal or place names (Table 3.5).

Table 2.1 Ethiopic Geʿez Alphabet

Name English hă hu hi (ee) hā hē hə ho hua


Equivalent
Hōi h ሀ ሁ ሂ ሃ ሄ ህ ሆ
Lawe l ለ ሉ ሊ ላ ሌ ል ሎ ሏ
Ḥaut ḥ ሐ ሑ ሒ ሓ ሔ ሕ ሖ ሗ
Māi m መ ሙ ሚ ማ ሜ ም ሞ ሟ
Šaut š ሠ ሡ ሢ ሣ ሤ ሥ ሦ ሧ
Reʾes r ረ ሩ ሪ ራ ሬ ር ሮ ሯ
Sāt s ሰ ሱ ሲ ሳ ሴ ስ ሶ ሷ
Qāf q ቀ ቁ ቂ ቃ ቄ ቅ ቆ ቋ
Bēt b በ ቡ ቢ ባ ቤ ብ ቦ ቧ
Tawe t ተ ቱ ቲ ታ ቴ ት ቶ ቷ
Ḥarm x ኀ ኁ ኂ ኃ ኄ ኅ ኆ ኋ
Nahās n ነ ኑ ኒ ና ኔ ን ኖ ኗ
ʾAlf ʾ vowel አ ኡ ኢ ኣ ኤ እ ኦ
Kāf k ከ ኩ ኪ ካ ኬ ክ ኮ ኳ
Wawē w ወ ዉ ዊ ዋ ዌ ው ዎ
ʿAin ʿ vowel ዐ ዑ ዒ ዓ ዔ ዕ ዖ
Zai z ዘ ዙ ዚ ዛ ዜ ዝ ዞ ዟ
Yaman y የ ዩ ዪ ያ ዬ ይ ዮ
Dent d ደ ዱ ዲ ዳ ዴ ድ ዶ ዷ
Gaml g ገ ጉ ጊ ጋ ጌ ግ ጎ ጓ
Ṭait ṭ ጠ ጡ ጢ ጣ ጤ ጥ ጦ ጧ
6
Pait p
ጰ ጱ ጲ ጳ ጴ ጵ ጶ ጷ
Ṣadāi ṣ ጸ ጹ ጺ ጻ ጼ ጽ ጾ ጿ
Ṣappā ḍ ፀ ፁ ፂ ፃ ፄ ፅ ፆ
ʾAf f ፈ ፉ ፊ ፋ ፌ ፍ ፎ ፏ
Psa ṗ ፐ ፑ ፒ ፓ ፔ ፕ ፖ ፗ

Table 2.2 Labialized Consonants

English qwă qwi qwā qwē qwə


Equivalent
qw ቈ ቊ ቍ ቋ ቌ
ኈ ኊ ኍ ኋ ኌ
w
x
kw ኰ ኲ ኵ ኳ ኴ
gw ጐ ጒ ጕ ጓ ጔ

Table 2.3: Punctuation Markings

English Equivalent Geʿez


Word space
፡
Full stop
።
Comma
፣
Colon
፤
Semi-colon
፥
Preface Colon
፦
Question Mark
፧
End of Paragraph
፨

7
Table 2.4: Numerals

English Geʿez English Geʿez English Geʿez English Geʿez


Equivalent Equivalent Equivalent Equivalent
1
፩ 7
፯ 40
፵ 100
፻
2
፪ 8
፰ 50
፶ 1000
፲፻
3
፫ 9
፱ 60
፷ 10000
፼
4
፬ 10
፲ 70
፸
5
፭ 20
፳ 80
፹
6
፮ 30
፴ 90
፺

Table 2.5: Amharic Symbols in Geʿez Documents (Proper Names and Places)

English Hă Hu Hi Hā Hē Hə Ho Hua
Equivalent
ś ሸ ሹ ሺ ሻ ሼ ሽ ሾ ሿ
v ቨ ቩ ቪ ቫ ቬ ቭ ቮ ቯ
č ቸ ቹ ቺ ቻ ቼ ች ቾ ቿ
ñ ኘ ኙ ኚ ኛ ኜ ኝ ኞ ኟ
k ኸ ኹ ኺ ኻ ኼ ክ ኾ
z ዠ ዡ ዢ ዣ ዤ ዥ ዦ ዧ
j ጀ ጁ ጂ ጃ ጄ ጅ ጆ ጇ
c ጨ ጩ ጪ ጫ ጬ ጭ ጮ ጯ

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