Ge'ez script   ፊደል

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

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

Punctuation

Ethiopic punctuation

Numerals

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

Ethiopic numerals

Source: https://zethio.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/numbers-in-geez.pdf

Download script charts for Ge'ez and other Ethiopic scripts (Excel)

Sample texts 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)

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

ተወልዱ፡ኵሉ፡ሰብእ፡ግዑዛን፡ወዕሩያን፡በማዕረግ፡ወብሕግ።ቦሙ፡ኅሊና፡ወዐቅል፡ወይትጌበሩ፡አሐዱ፡ ምስለ፡አሀዱ፡በመንፈሰ፡እኍና።

Transliteration

tawaldu kwellu sab' ge'uzan wa 'erruyan bamaa'reg wahhegg. bomu hhhellinaa wa 'aql wa yetgebbaru 'ahadu mesla 'ahadu ba manfasa 'hewennaa

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Translated by the Magistri Ge'ez Tutor

Sample videos in and about Ge'ez

Information about Ge'ez and the Ethiopic script | Numbers | Tower of Babel

Links

Information about the Ge'ez language and script
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ge'ez_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ge'ez_abugida

Information about the Amharic language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amharic_language

Dehai Blin Page - online Blin lessons
http://www.people.vcu.edu/~gasmerom/Eritrean_languages/blin/

Amharic-English dictionary
http://www.amharicdictionary.com

Ge'ez Transliteration
https://www.russki-mat.net/transGeez.html

Ge'ez / Ethiopic fonts
http://www.wazu.jp/gallery/Fonts_Ethiopic.html
http://www.ethiopianreview.com/ethiopia/geez_fonts.html

Ge'ez keyboard mapping for Mac OS X, with free unicode font
http://newchelsea.net/papers/tigrinya.zip

Online radio in Amharic, Tigrinya and Afaan Oromo
http://www.ethiozena.net
http://www.ethiopianreporter.com
http://www.voanews.com/horn/amharic_audio.cfm
http://www.dwelle.de/amharic/

Semitic languages

Akkadian, Amharic, Arabic (Algerian), Arabic (Bedawi), Arabic (Chadian), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Gulf), Arabic (Hassaniya), Arabic (Hejazi), Arabic (Lebanese), Arabic (Modern Standard), Arabic (Moroccan), Arabic (Najdi), Arabic (Syrian), Aramaic, Argobba, Assyrian / Neo-Assyrian, Canaanite, Chaha, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, Ge'ez, Hadhramautic, Harari, Hebrew, Himyaritic, Jewish Neo-Aramaic, Maltese, Mandaic, Nabataean, Neo-Mandaic, Phoenician, Punic, Qatabanic, Sabaean, Sabaic, Silt'e, Syriac, Tigre, Tigrinya, Turoyo, Ugaritic, Western Neo-Aramaic

Languages written with the Ethiopic (Ge'ez) script

Aari, Amharic, Argobba, Awngi, Bench, Blin, Chaha, Dizin, Ge'ez, Gumuz, Hamer(-Banna), Harari, Inor, Sidama, Silt'e, Tigre, Tigrinya, Xamtanga

Abugidas / Syllabic alphabets

Ahom, Aima, Arleng, Badagu, Badlit, Basahan, Balinese, Balti-A, Balti-B, Batak, Baybayin, Bengali, Bhaiksuki, Bhujimol, Bilang-bilang, Bima, Blackfoot, Brahmi, Buhid, Burmese, Carrier, Chakma, Cham, Cree, Dehong Dai, Devanagari, Dham Lipi, Dhankari / Sirmauri, Ditema, Dives Akuru, Dogra, Ethiopic, Evēla Akuru, Fox, Fraser, Gond, Goykanadi, Grantha, Gujarati, Gunjala Gondi, Gupta, Gurmukhi, Halbi Lipi, Hanifi, Hanuno'o, Hočąk, Ibalnan, Incung, Inuktitut, Jaunsari Takri, Javanese, Kaithi, Kadamba, Kamarupi, Kannada, Kawi, Kharosthi, Khema, Khe Prih, Khmer, Khojki, Khudabadi, Kirat Rai, Kōchi, Komering, Kulitan, Kurukh Banna, Lampung, Lanna, Lao, Lepcha, Limbu, Lontara/Makasar, Lota Ende, Magar Akkha, Mahajani, Malayalam, Meitei (Modern), Manpuri (Old), Marchen, Meetei Yelhou Mayek, Meroïtic, Masarm Gondi, Modi, Mon, Mongolian Horizontal Square Script, Multani, Nandinagari, Newa, New Tai Lue, Ojibwe, Odia, Ogan, Pahawh Hmong, Pallava, Phags-pa, Purva Licchavi, Qiang / Rma, Ranjana, Rejang (Kaganga), Sasak, Savara, Satera Jontal, Shan, Sharda, Sheek Bakrii Saphaloo, Siddham, Sinhala, Sorang Sompeng, Sourashtra, Soyombo, Sukhothai, Sundanese, Syloti Nagri, Tagbanwa, Takri, Tamil, Tanchangya (Ka-Pat), Tani, Thaana, Telugu, Thai, Tibetan, Tigalari, Tikamuli, Tocharian, Tolong Siki, Vatteluttu, Warang Citi

Other writing systems

Page last modified: 16.03.23

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