Ge'ez script

Origins

The Ge'ez or Ethiopic script possibly developed from the Sabaean/Minean script. The earliest known inscriptions in the Ge'ez script date to the 5th century BC. At first the script represented only consonants. Vowel indication started to appear in 4th century AD during the reign of king Ezana, though might have developed at a earlier date.

Notable Features

Type of writing system: abugida (አቡጊዳ)
Writing direction: left to right in horizontal lines.
Each symbol represents a syllable consisting of a consonant plus a vowel. The basic signs are modified in a number of different ways to indicate the various vowels.
There is no standard way of transliterating the Ge'ez script into the Latin alphabet.

Used to write

Ge'ez (ግዕዝ), the classical language of Ethiopia which is still used as a liturgical language by Ethiopian christians and the Beta Israel Jewish community of Ethiopia.

Amharic (ኣማርኛ), the national language of Ethiopia, has about 27 million speakers. It is spoken mainly in North Central Ethiopia. There are Amharic speakers in a number of other countries, particularly in Egypt, Israel and Sweden.

Also used to write: Argobba, Awngi, Blin, Chaha, Dizin, Harari, Inor, Silt'e, Tigre, Tigrinya and Xamtanga

The Ge'ez script for Ge'ez

The Ge'ez script

The Ge'ez script - variant letters

Punctuation

Ethiopic punctuation

Numerals

These numerals developed from the Greek alphabet, possibly via Coptic.
Ethiopic numerals

Sample text in Ge'ez

ቃለ በረከት ዘሄኖክ ዘከመ ባረከ ኅሩያነ ወጻድቃነ እለ ሀለው ይኩኑበ
ዕለተ ምንዳቤ ለአሰስሎ ኲሉ እኩያን ወረሲዓን። Transliteration
Ḳalä bäräkät zä-Henok zäkämä barräkä ḫəruyanä wäṣadḳanä ʾəlä häläw yəkunu
bä
lätä mändabe läʿäsäslo kwilu əlkuyan wäräsiäan

Translation

Word of blessing of Henok, wherewith he blessed the chosen and righteous who would be alive in the day of tribulation for the removal of all wrongdoers and backsliders.
(The first sentence of the Book of Enoch)

Longer sample text in Amharic (Tower of Babel)

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