Geez



         


The Ge'ez language (or Gi'iz language) is an ancient language that developed in the Ethiopian Highlands of the Horn of Africa as the language of the peasantry. It later became the language of the Ethiopian imperial court and of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church.

Today Ge'ez remains the main language used in the worship services of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, though Amharic (the main lingua franca of modern Ethiopia) has also been introduced in a few churches. The Ge'ez writing system, (or 'Fidel' as it is known in Ethiopia), forms the basis for most scripts used for writing the various languages of Ethiopia.

Ge'ez is also still in use by the Beta Israel Jewish community of Ethiopia for their scriptures and liturgy.

The language has been assigned the ISO 639 code gez and the SIL code GEE.

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History

The ge'ez alphabet and the language itself is considered to have evolved under the influence of southern-arabic colonies from first millenium B.C. The first inscriptions in ge'ez are dated to 4th century A.D, although some scientist assume that this language was invented around 1st or 2nd century. It is generally considered a South Semitic language. It has replaced the sabey language and alphabet (although that was still used up to around 8th century A.D). Ge'ez was in turn replaced around 13th century A.D. by the Amharic language in the south and the Tigre language in the north.

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Ge'ez writing system

The word Ge'ez is also applied to the abugida which is used to write the language. The Amharic in Ethiopia and Tigrigna in Eritrea and Ethiopia use modified forms of the Ge'ez abugida. Other languages in the Horn of Africa were also historically written using Ge'ez, such as Oromo and Somali, but these have generally migrated to Latin-based orthographies.

Ge'ez (or "Ethiopic") has been assigned Unicode codepoints U+1200 ? U+137F (decimal 4608?4991):


  0123456789ABCDEF
1200 ሀሁሂሃሄህሆሇለሉሊላሌልሎሏ
1210 ሐሑሒሓሔሕሖሗመሙሚማሜምሞሟ
1220 ሠሡሢሣሤሥሦሧረሩሪራሬርሮሯ
1230 ሰሱሲሳሴስሶሷሸሹሺሻሼሽሾሿ
1240 ቀቁቂቃቄቅቆቇቈ቉ቊቋቌቍ቎቏
1250 ቐቑቒቓቔቕቖ቗ቘ቙ቚቛቜቝ቞቟
1260 በቡቢባቤብቦቧቨቩቪቫቬቭቮቯ
1270 ተቱቲታቴትቶቷቸቹቺቻቼችቾቿ
1280 ኀኁኂኃኄኅኆኇኈ኉ኊኋኌኍ኎኏
1290 ነኑኒናኔንኖኗኘኙኚኛኜኝኞኟ
12A0 አኡኢኣኤእኦኧከኩኪካኬክኮኯ
12B0 ኰ኱ኲኳኴኵ኶኷ኸኹኺኻኼኽኾ኿
12C0 ዀ዁ዂዃዄዅ዆዇ወዉዊዋዌውዎዏ
12D0 ዐዑዒዓዔዕዖ዗ዘዙዚዛዜዝዞዟ
12E0 ዠዡዢዣዤዥዦዧየዩዪያዬይዮዯ
12F0 ደዱዲዳዴድዶዷዸዹዺዻዼዽዾዿ
1300 ጀጁጂጃጄጅጆጇገጉጊጋጌግጎጏ
1310 ጐ጑ጒጓጔጕ጖጗ጘጙጚጛጜጝጞጟ
1320 ጠጡጢጣጤጥጦጧጨጩጪጫጬጭጮጯ
1330 ጰጱጲጳጴጵጶጷጸጹጺጻጼጽጾጿ
1340 ፀፁፂፃፄፅፆፇፈፉፊፋፌፍፎፏ
1350 ፐፑፒፓፔፕፖፗፘፙፚ፛፜፝፞፟
1360 ፠፡።፣፤፥፦፧፨፩፪፫፬፭፮፯
1370 ፰፱፲፳፴፵፶፷፸፹፺፻፼፽፾፿


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Reference

David Diringer, The Alphabet, A Key To The History of Mankind, 1968

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See also

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