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Geez ( or ; ግዕዝ , and sometimes referred to in scholarly literature as Classical Ethiopic) is an ancient South Semitic language. The language originates from what is now Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Today, Geez is used as the main liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Ethiopian Catholic Church, the Eritrean Catholic Church, and the Beta Israel Jewish community.
Hawulti Obelisk is an ancient pre-Aksumite obelisk located in Matara, Eritrea. The monument dates to the early Aksumite period and bears an example of the ancient Geez script.
In one study, Tigre language was found to have a 71% lexical similarity to Geʽez, while Tigrinya had a 68% lexical similarity to Geʽez, followed by Amharic at 62%. Most linguists believe that Geez does not constitute a common ancestor of modern Ethio-Semitic languages but became a separate language early on from another hypothetical unattested common language.Amsalu Aklilu, Kuraz Publishing Agency, ጥሩ የአማርኛ ድርሰት እንዴት ያለ ነው! p. 42
| + Geʽez vowels |
Historically, has a basic correspondence with Proto-Semitic short and , with short , the vowels with Proto-Semitic long respectively, and with the Proto-Semitic diphthongs and . In Geʽez there still exist many alternations between and , less so between and , e.g. ተሎኩ taloku ~ ተለውኩ talawku ("I followed").
In the transcription employed by the Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, which is widely employed in academia, the contrast here represented as a/ā is represented as ä/a.
Because Geez is no longer spoken in daily life by large communities, the early pronunciation of some consonants is not completely certain. Gragg writes that "the consonants corresponding to the graphemes (Geez ሠ) and (Geez ፀ) have merged with ሰ and ጸ respectively in the phonological system represented by the traditional pronunciation—and indeed in all modern Ethiopian Semitic. ... There is, however, no evidence either in the tradition or in Ethiopian Semitic for what value these consonants may have had in Geez."
A similar problem is found for the consonant transliterated . Gragg notes that it corresponds in etymology to velar or uvular fricatives in other Semitic languages, but it is pronounced exactly the same as in the traditional pronunciation. Though the use of a different letter shows that it must originally have had some other pronunciation, what that pronunciation was is not certain.
The chart below lists and as possible values for (ሠ) and (ፀ) respectively. It also lists as a possible value for (ኀ). These values are tentative, but based on the reconstructed Proto-Semitic consonants that they are descended from.
| + Geʽez consonants |
Due to the high predictability of stress location in most words, textbooks, dictionaries and grammars generally do not mark it. Minimal pairs do exist, however, such as yənaggərā́ ("he speaks to her", with the pronoun suffix -(h)ā́ "her") vs. yənaggə́rā ("they speak", feminine plural), both written ይነግራ.
There are two numbers, singular and plural. The plural can be constructed either by suffixing ኣት to a word (regardless of gender, but often ኣን if it is a male human noun), or by using an internal plural.
Nouns also have two cases: the nominative, which is not marked, and the accusative, which is marked with final . As in other Semitic languages, there are at least two "states", absolute (unmarked) and construct state (marked with as well).
| + Declension of ሊቅ ("elder, chief") |
As in Arabic language, singular and plural nouns often take the same final inflectional affixes for case and state, as number morphology is achieved via attaching a suffix to the stem and/or an internal change in the stem.
There is some morphological interaction between consonant-final nouns and a pronoun suffix (see the table of suffix pronouns below). For example, when followed by የ ("my"), in both nominative and accusative the resulting form is ሊቅየ (i.e. the accusative is not *ሊቀየ ), but with ከ ("your", masculine singular) there's a distinction between nominative ሊቅከ and accusative ሊቀከ , and similarly with ("his") between nominative ሊቁ (< ) and accusative ሊቆ (< ).
| + Patterns of internal plural for triconsonantal nouns (C=Consonant, V=Vowel) | |||
| ʾaCCāC | ልብስ | 'garment' | አልባስ |
| ፈረስ | 'horse' | አፍራስ | |
| ቤት | 'house' | አብያት | |
| ጾም | 'fast' | አጽዋም | |
| ስም | 'name' | አስማት | |
| ʾaCCuC | ሀገር | 'country' | አህጉር |
| አድግ | 'ass' | አእዱግ | |
| ʾaCCəC(t) | በትር | 'rod' | አብትር |
| ርእስ | 'head' | አርእስት | |
| ገብር | 'servant, slave' | አግብርት | |
| ʾaCāCəC(t) | በግዕ | 'sheep' | አባግዕ |
| ጋንን | 'devil' | አጋንንት | |
| CVCaC | እዝን | 'ear' | እዘን |
| እግር | 'foot' | እገር | |
| CVCaw | እድ | 'hand' | እደው |
| አብ | 'father' | አበው | |
| እኍ/እኅው | 'brother' | አኀው |
Quadriconsonantal and some triconsonantal nouns follow the following pattern. Triconsonantal nouns that take this pattern must have at least one "long" vowel (namely ).
| + Patterns of internal plural for quadriconsonantal nouns (C=Consonant, V=Vowel) | |||
| CaCāCəC(t) | 'virgin' | ድንግል | ደናግል |
| 'prince' | መስፍን | መሳፍንት | |
| 'star' | ኮከብ | ከዋክብት | |
| 'window' | መስኮት | መሳኩት | |
| 'chicken' | ዶርሆ | ደራውህ | |
| 'night' | ሌሊት | ለያልይ | |
| 'earth' | ብሔር | በሓውርት | |
| 'river' | ውሒዝ | ወሓይዝት | |
| 'priest' | ቀሲስ | ቀሳውስት |
| + Personal independent pronouns |
Suffix pronouns attach at the end of a noun, preposition or verb. The accusative/construct is lost when a plural noun with a consonant-final stem has a pronoun suffix attached (generally replaced by the added , as in , "his"), thereby losing the case/state distinction,: "Plural noun. All plural nouns have a suffix -i- added to the stem before the pronominal suffixes. ... There are no distinct accusative forms." but the distinction may be retained in the case of consonant-final singular nouns. Furthermore, suffix pronouns may or may not attract stress to themselves. In the following table, pronouns without a stress mark (an acute) are not stressed, and vowel-initial suffixes have also been given the base በ in the script.
| + Suffix pronouns |
Adjectives and determiners agree with the noun in gender and number:
Relative clauses are introduced by a pronoun which agrees in gender and number with the preceding noun:
As in many Semitic languages, possession by a noun phrase is shown through the construct state. In Geʽez, this is formed by suffixing the construct suffix to the possessed noun, which is followed by the possessor, as in the following examples:
Another common way of indicating possession by a noun phrase combines the pronominal suffix on a noun with the possessor preceded by the preposition /la=/ 'to, for':
Lambdin notes that in comparison to the construct state, this kind of possession is only possible when the possessor is definite and specific. Lambdin also notes that the construct state is the unmarked form of possession in Geʽez.
There are three special prepositions, /ba=/ 'in, with', /la=/ 'to, for', /ʼəm=/ 'from', which always appear as clitics, as in the following examples:
These proclitic prepositions in Geʽez are similar to the Hebrew inseparable prepositions.
Questions with a wh-word ('who', 'what', etc.) show the question word at the beginning of the sentence:
Geʽez is read from left to right.
The Geʽez script has been adapted to write other languages, usually ones that are also Semitic. The most widespread use is for Amharic in Ethiopia and Tigrinya in Eritrea and Ethiopia. It is also used for Sebatbeit, Meʼen, Agew, and most other languages of Ethiopia. In Eritrea it is used for Tigre, and it is often used for Bilen language, a Cushitic language. Some other languages in the Horn of Africa, such as Oromo language, used to be written using Geʽez but have switched to Latin script-based alphabets. It also uses four series of consonant signs for labialized velar consonants, which are variants of the non-labialized velar consonants:
| ገ |
| ጐ |
However, works of history and chronography, ecclesiastical and civil law, philology, medicine, and letters were also written in Geʽez.
Significant collections of Ethiopian manuscripts are found outside of Ethiopia in France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The collection in the British Library comprises some 800 manuscripts dating from the 15th to the 20th centuries, notably including magical and divinatory scrolls, and illuminated manuscripts of the 16th to 17th centuries. It was initiated by a donation of 74 codices by the Church of England Missionary Society in the 1830s and 1840s, and substantially expanded by 349 codices, looted by the British from the Emperor Tewodros II's capital at Amba Mariam in the 1868 Expedition to Abyssinia. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City has at least two illuminated manuscripts in Geʽez.
Inscriptions dating to the mid-1st millennium BCE, written in the Sabaean language in the epigraphic South Arabian script, have been found in the kingdom of Dʿmt, serving at least as a witness to a presence of speakers of Semitic languages in the region. There is some evidence of Semitic languages being spoken in Eritrea since approximately 2000 BC. Unlike previously assumed, the Geʽez language is now not regarded as an offshoot of Sabaean language or any other forms of Old South Arabian.Weninger, Stefan, "Geʽez" in Encyclopaedia Aethiopica: D-Ha, p.732.
Early inscriptions in Geʽez from the Kingdom of Aksum (appearing varyingly in the epigraphic South Arabian script, and unvocalized or vocalized Ethiopic/Geʽez script) have been dated to as early as the 4th century CE. The surviving Geʽez literature properly begins in the same century with the Christianization of the Aksum, during the reign of Ezana of Aksum. The oldest known example of the Geʽez script, unvocalized and containing religiously Paganism references, is found on the Hawulti obelisk in Matara, Eritrea.Edward Ullendorff, "The Obelisk of Matara", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, No. 1/2 (April, 1951), pp. 26–32 There exist about a dozen long inscriptions dating to the 4th and 5th centuries, and over 200 short ones.
Also to this early period dates Qerlos, a collection of Christological writings beginning with the treatise of Saint Cyril (known as Hamanot Reteʼet or De Recta Fide). These works are the theological foundation of the Ethiopic Church. In the later 5th century, the Aksumite Collection—an extensive selection of liturgical, theological, synodical and historical materials—was translated into Geʽez from Greek, providing a fundamental set of instructions and laws for the developing Axumite Church. Included in this collection is a translation of the Apostolic Tradition (attributed to Hippolytus of Rome, and lost in the original Greek) for which the Ethiopic version provides much the best surviving witness. Another important religious document is Serʼata Paknemis, a translation of the monastic Rules of Pachomius. Non-religious works translated in this period include Physiologus, a work of natural history also very popular in Europe.
The use of Geʽez is also known from many excavated inscriptions. Six Geʽez inscriptions are known from 6th-century South Arabia, from during the reign of Kaleb of Aksum, the Aksumite king who conquered the Himyarite kingdom. They record his military conquests and contain many religious references, including to biblical figures (such as Jesus, Mary, and David) and scriptural quotations (Isaiah 22:22–23, Psalms 65:16 and 68:2, Matthew 6:33, and with less certainty, Genesis 15:7).
While there is ample evidence that it had been replaced by Amharic in the south and by Tigrinya and Tigre in the north, Geʽez remained in use as the official written language until the 19th century, its status comparable to that of Medieval Latin in Europe.
At this time a lot of works of the Beta Israel had been turned into Hebraized (i.e. written in the Hebrew alphabet) Geʽez, which made the gradual process of Geʽez being the liturgical language of the Beta Israel.
The Ethiopic Alexander Romance was produced in this period, the most important Geʽez-language Alexander legend, translated from an earlier Arabic recension of the Alexander Romance work. Important hagiographies from this period include:
Also at this time the Apostolic Constitutions was retranslated into Geʽez from Arabic. Another translation from this period is Zena ʼAyhud, a translation (probably from an Arabic translation) of Joseph ben Gurion's "History of the Jews" ("Sefer Josippon") written in Hebrew in the 10th century, which covers the period from the Captivity to the capture of Jerusalem by Titus. Apart from theological works, the earliest contemporary Royal Chronicles of Ethiopia are date to the reign of Amda Seyon I (1314–44). With the appearance of the "Victory Songs" of Amda Seyon, this period also marks the beginning of Amharic literature. The 14th century Kebra Nagast or "Glory of the Kings" by the Neburaʼed Yeshaq of Aksum is among the most significant works of Ethiopian literature, combining history, allegory and symbolism in a retelling of the story of the Queen of Sheba (i.e., Saba), King Solomon, and their son Menelik I of Ethiopia. Another work that began to take shape in this period is the Mashafa Aksum or "Book of Axum".
Literature flourished especially during the reign of Emperor Zara Yaqob. Written by the Emperor himself were Matsʼhafe Berhan ("The Book of Light") and Matshafe Milad ("The Book of Nativity"). Numerous homilies were written in this period, notably Retuʼa Haimanot ("True Orthodoxy") ascribed to John Chrysostom. Also of monumental importance was the appearance of the Geʽez translation of the Fetha Negest ("Laws of the Kings"), thought to have been around 1450, and ascribed to one Petros Abda Sayd — that was later to function as the supreme Law for Ethiopia, until it was replaced by a modern Constitution in 1931.
By the beginning of the 16th century, the Islamic invasions put an end to the flourishing of Ethiopian literature. A letter of Abba ʼEnbaqom (or "Habakkuk") to Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, entitled Anqasa Amin ("Gate of the Faith"), giving his reasons for abandoning Islam, although probably first written in Arabic and later rewritten in an expanded Geʽez version around 1532, is considered one of the classics of later Geʽez literature. During this period, Ethiopian writers begin to address differences between the Ethiopian and the Roman Catholic Church in such works as the Confession of Emperor Gelawdewos, Sawana Nafs ("Refuge of the Soul"), Fekkare Malakot ("Exposition of the Godhead") and Haymanote Abaw ("Faith of the Fathers"). Around the year 1600, a number of works were translated from Arabic into Geʽez for the first time, including the Chronicle of John of Nikiu and the Universal History of George Elmacin.
The liturgical rite used by the Christian churches is referred to as the Ethiopic RiteBryan D. Spinks, The Sanctus in the Eucharistic Prayer (Cambridge University Press 2002 ), p. 119Anscar J. Chupungco, Handbook for Liturgical Studies (Liturgical Press 1997 ), p. 13Archdale King, The Rites of Eastern Christendom, vol. 1 (Gorgias Press LLC 2007 ), p. 533 or the Geʽez Rite.Paul B. Henze, Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia (C. Hurst & Co. 2000 ), p. 127Erwin Fahlbusch, Geoffrey William Bromiley (editors), The Encyclopedia of Christianity, vol. 2 (Eerdmans 1999 ), p. 158David H. Shinn, Thomas P. Ofcansky (editors), Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia (Scarecrow Press 2013), p. 93Walter Raunig, Steffen Wenig (editors), Afrikas Horn (Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2005, ), p. 171
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