The Ethiopian alphabet is a writing system for recording the literary and church language of the Geez, along with the Amharic, tiger and tigrinya used in Ethiopia (Abyssinia) and Eritrea. Apparently, descended from the South Semitic Sabei script at the beginning of the IV century. However, the opinions of researchers about when the Ethiopian alphabet was created diverge. It is also unknown whether this writing is the result of gradual evolution or whether it was invented by one person. Today it is generally accepted that letters evolved gradually, and vowels appeared as a result of the work of one author. The inscriptions of the 4th century are preserved. in Geez written in Sabei and Ethiopian scripts.
Abugida consists of 26 letters, all of which are consonants. In this case, the basic character can be converted into a syllable by adding the appropriate vocalizations. 24 of the 28 letters of the Sabei alphabet were borrowed with the addition of graphemes to indicate the sound "p", which was not in the source. The direction of writing, in contrast to the Sabei and other Semitic languages, is from left to right. This is probably the result of Greek influence.
Alternative look
The history of Geez writing is not so easy to trace, as, for example, Latin. Historians refused to see in the inhabitants of Africa the creators of the original culture, which flourished and survived for centuries in its own special. They could not understand this without abandoning their prejudices and without reconsidering their approach. A common topic in the study of the geez system is the so-called. external paradigm. This is the notion that the syllabary should have come from somewhere, mainly from the ancient Arabian Peninsula. This would make the source not “black” Africa, but Asia of the Middle East, thereby confirming the racist beliefs that black people were not able to have literature and culture at a time when the successes of the Phoenicians were just beginning. Even today, this Eurocentric hypothesis positions geez in the category of Semitic rather than African languages. Racism, which pursues studies of the origin of Ethiopian writing, manifests itself even in the recent history of science. For example, Sylvia Pankhurst in Ethiopia: A History of Culture states that South Arab immigrants brought with them knowledge of metal use, tillage, sheep, horses, camels, useful plants, better weapons, such as a large pointed spear tip, and probably the round leather shield that local warriors wore until recently. They also contributed to the construction of stone houses, bringing with them architectural styles and construction methods, the art of writing and the beautiful Ethiopian alphabet. For the progress of Ethiopian civilization, the most important of the arts that the Arab immigrants brought with them was writing.
It is likely that the Geez system finds its origin exclusively in Egyptian hieroglyphs, as well as a well-documented Latin, no matter how far it seems. The assumption that writing in such a geographical proximity to Ancient Egypt was supposed to first go on a long journey east to South Arabia, and then return to Ethiopia in order to develop into its final form, according to opponents of the prevailing theory, seems too far-fetched. Therefore, as they believe, there is no reason to believe that the Egyptian merchants, scribes and, therefore, the system of hieroglyphs did not spread evenly in all directions.
Composition Abugida
The geez alphabet consists of 182 characters. In fairness it should be said that there are only 26 main graphemes, all of which are consonants, and the rest are formed with the help of additional strokes and modifications introduced into the main forms to indicate a vowel sound or to adjust the sound of the main consonant. In geez, lowercase and uppercase letters do not differ, as happened in the Latin alphabet in the 7th century. There are no ligatures or other modifiers (as in G and g), as well as very few punctuation marks. Therefore, for a more accurate comparison, uppercase (a), lowercase (A) and letters with diacritics (à) in the Latin alphabet should be considered separate graphemes, like any letters that may have certain punctuation rules ('s) associated with them. But even in this case, the syllabary geez is much larger.
The versatility of the geez
The Ethiopian alphabet not only serves as a means of visual representation of words and sounds. It has 5 main properties: pictographic, ideographic, astrographic, numerological and syllabographic. Abugida is also useful for rethinking the letter as a whole. Its properties suggest that the modern concept of writing is very narrow and limits its philosophical, theological, linguistic and historical aspects.
Pictograms
The pictographic side of geez suggests that the syllabary comes from images drawn or copied from nature and human interaction with it. The basic model of the pictographic system and the source of the Latin and Ethiopian alphabet are Egyptian hieroglyphs. Geez is an abstract pictographic language. An example of a pictogram is the second letter በ (bä), as in Bèt (house), which is a stylized door. The pictographic element is also visible in the letter ሀ (hä), the first in the word “lion”, in the alphabet and the whole universe.
Ideas
Ideography, the second property of geez, means that the letters of the alphabet symbolize different ideas, value systems, philosophical and social orders. Each main character has 7 options, indicating the vowel sound that follows it. Each class is associated with different ideological elements. For example, the sixth grade ረ (rä) has the Re'es nomenclature (leader, leader or boss). Words related to the sixth grade usually refer to secular leadership, as in the case of Re'esa Mange'st (head of state).
The calendar
Astrography, or the display of stars and, therefore, the calendar, is the third aspect of geez. The system, consisting of 26 classes and 7 of their options, as a whole is 182 syllable characters. This is half the number 364, which represents the half-year or number of days between the equinoxes. In the Ethiopian calendar, all months consist of 30 days with the exception of an additional month lasting only five or six days. The half-year begins on April 1 and October 1. Each of the 182 characters represents one day. An extra day in the western calendar can be attributed to inaccuracies between the solar and equinox calculus. 7 variations of each class represent 7 days of the week, starting from geez (Sunday) and ending with Shabbat (Saturday).
Numerology
Each letter of the alphabet corresponds to a numerical value ranging from 1 to 5600. They are codes of the Ethiopian mystical isoteric system. The numerical meanings of the graphemes and words of the Old Testament help its interpretation and provide mnemonic markers for oral retelling. For example, the name Abraham corresponds to a numerical value 60 (40 + 9 + 6 + 1 + 4), which when divided by the number of characters (5) as a result forms the number 12 corresponding to the number of houses in Israel.
Why is the Ethiopian alphabet similar to Armenian?
Although these scripts are linguistically distant, they have obvious outward similarities and even several identical letters. Countries and their languages developed independently of each other, separated by a distance of about 3.5 thousand km of land and sea. Many people think that the writing of geez, called fidel, appeared much earlier than the current Armenian, and there are many theories regarding the relationship between them. One of the most popular theories is based on the long Christian history of these countries: Armenia officially became the very first Christian country in 301 AD. e., and Abyssinia - the second in 316
Around 406, the task of creating a new alphabet for Greater Armenia was set before Saint Mesrop Mashtots . Residents of the country sought to distance themselves from the surrounding states and religions that tried to conquer them. It is believed that Mesrop could meet Ethiopian Christians during a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and received from them one of the religious texts. If he had a Bible in the Geez language, then it is likely that he borrowed some characters to complete his unfinished alphabet. Armenia and Abyssinia were states that faced the same problem - for many years they were the only Christian peoples in their regions and needed the same religious literature.
The University of California library houses a collection of 14th-century Armenian manuscripts, including the Gospel of Gladzor. They contain full-page miniatures, richly decorated calendars, complex ornaments and portraits of saints included in the main text. Many Ethiopian manuscripts are written and decorated with much stronger, thicker lines and show the hand of the artist and scribe who created them. The text is traditionally divided into sections written in red and black ink, decorations are most often done in natural colors. Their charm lies in a certain level of tactility and informality.
Contacts of two cultures
The Armenian and Ethiopian peoples are united by a long history of friendship, although it began much later than their writing was created. Two examples can be distinguished. At the beginning of the XVI century. The Armenian merchant entered the service at the court of the Ethiopian Queen. He became the first ambassador of Abyssinia to Portugal. The situation was complicated by the fact that the Portuguese did not believe that he, the Armenian, really is who he claims to be, and it became even more complicated when he returned. Another case occurred recently, in the early 1920s. After the Armenian Genocide, Crown Prince of Ethiopia Ras Tafari met 40 orphans from Armenia in Jerusalem. He was so fascinated by them that he adopted everyone and took him home with him. He gave them the best musical education, and 40 Armenian children formed this country's first official state orchestra. Together they created the Ethiopian Imperial National Anthem, which remained unchanged until 1974.
Symbol of africa
Ethiopian abugida is the opposite of the alphabetical system in its interaction with the spoken language. Although many characters need to be learned, in a way they make spelling easier. Those who use syllable writing make fewer mistakes, because the sound of a word, like a phonetic letter, dictates its specific spelling and vice versa. In fact, abugida allows you to write any word in any language. African geez is one of the oldest scripts in the world. It remains unchanged for 2000 years, which indicates its adaptability and innovative method of organizing sounds. Writing is not only an element of grammar, but also a way to plunge into the ancient world of Africa, its philosophy, belief system and extremely developed early societies.