Ge'ez - The Timeless Script of Abyssinians

The Ge'ez language, also known as Ethiopic, is one of the oldest languages in the world and holds great historical and cultural significance, especially in Ethiopia and Eritrea. Its history spans millennia, with its use primarily in religious, historical, and royal inscriptions.

Here’s an overview of its key components:

1. Ge'ez Alphabet

The Ge'ez script is one of the most distinctive writing systems in the world. It is an abugida, where each character represents a consonant-vowel combination. The script consists of 26 basic characters, each modified by diacritical marks to represent seven vowel sounds, making a total of 182 symbols. The Ge'ez script is used not only for Ge'ez but also for modern languages like Amharic and Tigrinya.

Historical Development:

• The Ge'ez alphabet originated from the South Arabian script, likely brought to the Ethiopian region by merchants and settlers from the Sabaean Kingdom (modern Yemen) around the 8th century BCE.
• By around the 4th century CE, Ge'ez had developed into its own script distinct from its South Arabian roots, adapted to better fit the phonetics of the Ge'ez language.
• Ezana of Axum (son of Aba Selama aka Freminatos), the first Christian king of Ethiopia (4th century CE), used Ge'ez script for inscriptions, further solidifying its use in Ethiopia.

Ge'ez Language and Literature

Though no longer a spoken language, Ge'ez remains the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. It has a rich religious literature, including the Bible, hymns, and theological writings, much of which was translated from Greek or Syriac.

Ge'ez Calendar

The Ge'ez or Ethiopian calendar is also unique and used in Ethiopia and Eritrea. It is a solar calendar based on the Coptic calendar but differs slightly in its calculation of leap years and month lengths.

Key Features of the Ge'ez Calendar:

• The Ethiopian calendar is seven to eight years behind the Gregorian calendar, depending on the month.
• It consists of 13 months: 12 months of 30 days each and an extra month called Pagumē of 5 or 6 days (depending on whether it's a leap year).
• The year begins on M?sk?r?m 1, which falls on September 11 (or 12 in a leap year) in the Gregorian calendar.

Months in the Ge'ez Calendar

Here are the names of the months in the Ge'ez calendar:

• M?sk?r?m (?????) – September 11/12 to October 10
• ??q?mt (????) – October 11 to November 9
• ??dar (???) – November 10 to December 9
• Ta??a? (????) – December 10 to January 8
• ??rr (??) – January 9 to February 7
• Y?katit (????) – February 8 to March 9
• M?gabit (????) – March 10 to April 8
• Miyazya (????) – April 9 to May 8
• G?nbot (????) – May 9 to June 7
• S?ne (??) – June 8 to July 7
• ?amle (???) – July 8 to August 6
• N?hase (???) – August 7 to September 5
• Pagumē (???) – September 6 to September 10/11 (5 or 6 days depending on the leap year).

Historical Use

Ge'ez was the official language of the Kingdom of Aksum, a powerful empire in ancient Northeast Africa. Its use extended from everyday communication to religious and royal documentation. With the decline of Aksum, the spoken form of Ge'ez was eventually replaced by Amharic and Tigrinya, though it remains the liturgical language in the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Churches.

In summary, the Ge'ez language and its script form an integral part of Ethiopian and Eritrean heritage. Its alphabet, calendar, and rich religious literature continue to be of immense historical value.