By Sarah-Claire Jordan
For those of you who don’t know what Amharic is, it is the language of the Amhara people of Ethiopia and the official language of the country of Ethiopia. It is the second-most spoken language of the Semitic languages, with Arabic being the most widely-spoken Semitic language. Besides being the language of the government in Ethiopia, it is also the language of the military and is used in sermons for the dominant religion in Ethiopia, which is a branch of Christianity otherwise known as the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.
As you can see, Amharic plays a huge role in the culture and country of Ethiopia. There is much more to it, however, than just being a very Ethiopian language. Take a look at these three fascinating facts about Amharic:
1. Amharic has a unique writing system
Besides being an alphasyllabary, or abugida, writing system, with sequences of consonants and vowels written together as the same character, the system used to write Amharic has over 200 characters, or “fidels”. The same system is used to write Ge’ez, or “Ethiopic”, which is the immediate ancestor to Amharic and other Semitic languages spoken in Ethiopia and Eritrea. For each language, however, the Ge’ez alphabet has been modified slightly and expanded upon. In the case of Amharic, each character is made up of one consonant and one vowel, with the consonant being the feature that gives the character its particular shape.
2. It plays a huge role in the Rastafari movement
Other than the Amharic-speaking Ethiopian immigrant communities you will find in different parts of the world, the one group you will hear using a bit of Amharic at times will be those who identify as Rastafari. The name of the spiritual movement itself comes from Haile Selassie I’s non-royal name, Ras Täfäri. The whole movement centers around his role as an alternative messiah figure, and learning Amharic can be an extremely important part of being a Rastafari. The use of the language is linked to the concept of Pan-Africanism that is so prevalent in the Rastafari movement and culture. Many famous reggae artists have written songs in Amharic, giving non-Rastafari some exposure to the language through popular culture.
3. There are many works of literature in Amharic
Due to the fact that it is such an ancient language with even more ancient origins, and uses a writing system that has been around for thousands of years, it is easy to see why there are so many works of literature in Amharic. As compared to many other African languages, you will not only find poetry and liturgical works written in Amharic, but also works of non-fiction, fiction, short stories, essays, and more. Basically, any form of literature you can think of probably has been used by writers to express themselves through their amazing and ancient mother language. This is not only a testament to the importance of Amharic to the communities that speak it, but also to what can happen when a language is allowed to grow and prosper.
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