Geโez, the ancient language of Ethiopia, is a deep and wonderful language. Learning it should start with learning its history. So where did this language come from, and how has it evolved?
Africa is home to many languages. These languages are grouped into families. Some of the most prevalent language families include Niger-Congo, Afroasiatic, Nilo-Saharan, and Khoisan. Niger-Congo is the largest of all. Swahili, Fula, Igbo, and many other languages belong to this group.
The second one is Nilo-Saharan. It's common in the eastern and north eastern part of the continent.
The third one is Khoisan. It is the oldest of the four, yet has the fewest languages.
The fourth, and the one we want to look at more deeply, is Afroasiatic. The most abundant language family in northern and the horn of Africa including Ethiopia is Afroasiatic. Most Ethiopian languages belong to this family.
The word Ge'ez is read as Gษสฝษz, IPA: [หษกษจสษจz]. In the Ge'ez and Amharic alphabet, there are many letters which sound the same. The โแโ, โแโ and โแโ all are read as โhรคโ. The โแ โ and โแฐโ sounds โsรคโ. The โแธโ and โแโ represents the โแธaโ/tse/ sound. Just like this, we also have two letters to write the word Ge'ez. The first one is โแแฅแโ and the second is โแแแโ. While both words possess the same pronunciation, Ge'ez, their meaning is quite different. The first word โแแฅแโ is derived from the verb โแแ แโ and it means first and is the name of the language. The second one โแแแโ is derived from the word โแแแโ. It represents emotion, anger, sadness or journey.
According to most traditional scholars, the name of the language should be written by the letter โแฅโ. Although some still debate that it should be written with the other letter, the most widely accepted name of the language is โแแฅแโ.
Geโez is today used as the liturgical language in the Ethiopian and Eritrean churches. Many of the ancient manuscripts of Ethiopia are written by this language. It has been in use for centuries. Tracing back to the ancient languages, even the inscriptions of the Axumite Empire were written in Sabaean, Greek, and Ge'ez. But the origin of Ge'ez is still uncertain.
One common and widely accepted argument relates to the tribes that migrated to Ethiopia. Different tribes have migrated to Ethiopia. One of the commonly mentioned tribes were the Habeshat tribes. Their language was Sabaean. The Agazian tribe (which indeed sounds like Ge'ez), arrived after the Habeshat tribes from south Arabia. They were descendants of Shem, from a particular group called โYoktan/แฎแ แฃแ/,โ and their language was Geโez. They were mentioned in the Adulis inscriptions at the time of an unknown emperor of Ethiopia. It is said that they fought the Habeshat tribes and their language became more dominant than the Sabaean. The writing system of Ge'ez borrowed elements from the Sabaean and Greek alphabets.