02.Introduction to Classical Ethiopic.pdf

TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface

ix

Abbreviations and Conventions Introduction Phonology

Distributed by Scholars Press PO Box 5207

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INTRODUCTION TO CLASSICAL ETHIOPIC by Thomas O. Lambdin

Copyright © 1978 The President and Fellows of Harvard College

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Lambdin, Thomas Oden. Introduction to Classical Ethiopic (Ge'ez) (Harvard Semitic studies; v. 24 ISSN 0147· 9342) Bibliography: p. 1. Ethiopic language-Grammar. I. Harvard University. Semitic Museum. II. Title. III. Series: Harvard Semitic series; v. 24. PJ9023.L3 492'.8 78-12895 ISBN 0-89130-263-8 Printed in the United Stut('H or Alll('rim

1

2

(l

4

fi

x

1

2

A.

The Vowels

B.

The Consonants

2 3

C.

Stress

D.

Root and Pattern

E.

The Ethiopic Alphabet

F.

Special Phonological Rules

G.

Manuscript Errors and Normalization

5 5 6 7 13

1.1

Absence of Definite and Indefinite Articles

1.2

Prepositions

1.3

Third Person Forms of the Verb

2.1

Noun Plurals

2.2

Syntax (Verb plus Noun Subject)

3.1

Noun Plurals (cont.)

15

15

(Perfect)

15

18 18

21

3.2

Collectives

4.1

The Construct State

5.1

Gender

26

5.2

Number

27

5.3

Some Demonstrative Adjectives

6.1

The Personal Pronouns

6.2

Non-verbal Sentences with a Nominal Predicate

6.3

The Plural Demonstratives

7.1

The Accusative Case

7.2

Word Order in a Verbal Clause

21 23

27

(Independent Form)

29

30

33 33

7.3

The Accusative of Goal

7.4

The Accusative Forms of the Demonstratives

8.1

Interrogative Pronouns and Adjectives

8.2

Interrogative Adverbs

8.3

The Particles -nu and -hu

36

8.4

The Remote Demonstratives

37

8.5

Accusative of Time

37

33

36

36

34

29

10.1

Prepositions with Pronominal Suffixes

10.2

The

10 . 3

JteZZ-

11 . 1

Types of Verbs

11.2

The Full Inflection o f the Perfect

12 . 1

The Perfect:

Roots II-Guttural

13.1

The Perfect:

Roots III-Guttural

13 . 2

The Perfect with Object Suffixes

14 . 1

The Perfect: Roots III-W!Y

15.1

The Perfect:

15.2

The Perfect with Object Suffixes (cont.)

waldu la-negus

Construction

49

Roots II-W!Y

qatalo la-negus

16 . 2

Attribut�ve Adjectives

68

17.1

Adjectives: The

Qetul

Pattern

Adjectives as P redi cates

17 . 3

Adv rblal

18 . I

AdJ

11302

Tllu C;OlllplIl'nllv

Ifl.1

Ad)

Predicates

eli v

s:

ltlv

�I:

Vll'.

Pattern

'I'll

Pattern

In

AdJ

I�).I\

Qualification

20.1

64

ctJvos:

72

73

Qatil

76

76

QattaZ

-iilJi and -Ciy

79

79

Miscellaneous Types

79

79

Substantivization

La-

63

73

1'h

ll).�

20.2

56

68

17 . 2

H).S

56

Construction

Adjectives

1

53

63

16.1

l't

50

60

The

AdJ

44

45

15 . 3

11)."

44

80

with Pronominal Suffixes

83

Object suffixes in a Dative or Prepositional Sense

20.3

Partitive Apposition

21 . 1

Medio-passive Verbs: Gt

88

22 . 1

Medio-passive Verbs: Dt,

Lt,

23 . 1

Cardinal Numbers

97

23.2

Ordinal Numbers

23 . 3

Cardinal Adverbs

24 . 1

Associative (Reciprocal)

25.1

Relative Pronouns and Relative Clauses

25 . 2

'Ama

and

85

(1-10) (1-10) (1-10)

Qt

93

97 98 Verbs: G1t

xaba 108

26 . 1

Causative Verbs: CG, CD,

CL, CQ

26.2

The Meaning of CG Verbs

III

III

101 106

83

27 . 1

Causative Verbs:

CG

27.2

Causative Verbs:

CD,

(cont.) CL,

117

CQ

118

27.3

General Remarks on the Verbal System

28 . 1

Ba-

with Pronominal Suffixes Indicating Possession

118

122

28 . 2

Ba-

28 . 3

Bo(tu)

Indicating Existence

28 . 4

Bo za-

as the Equivalent of an Indefinite Pronoun

28 . 5

'Albo .. . za'enbala:

29 . 1

Interrogatives with'

29 . 2

Indefinite Pronouns

Only

za-

122 123 123

123

128

128

29.3

'Akko

30.1

The Infinitive: Form

30.2

The Infinitive: Uses

31 . 1

The Perfective Active Participle

32.1

The Imperfect:

32 . 2

Independent Uses of the Imperfect

129 134 134 140

G Verbs from Sound Roots

32 . 3

Dependent Uses of the Imperfect

33 . 1

The Subjunctive:

14 4

144 145

G Verbs from Sound Roots

33 . 2

The Uses o f the Subjunctive

34 . 1

The Imperative:

34.2

The Agent Noun

35 . 1

The Verbal Adjective

149

G Verbs from Sound Roots

qatali

149

154

154

qetuZ

159

35.2

Further Remarks on Complements

36 . 1

The Verbal Noun (G Verbs)

160

164

36 . 2

The Cognate Accusative

37.1

Nouns of Place: The Pattern

37.2

Nouns of the Pattern

38.1

G Verbs from Roots I-Guttural:

39 . 1

G Verbs from Roots II-Guttural: Remaining Forms

39 . 2

The Verb

40.1

G Verbs from Roots III-Guttural: The Remaining Forms

behZa

166

meqtal

maqtaZ(t)

to say

170

170 Remaining Forms

41 . 1

G Verbs from Roots I-W: The Remaining Forms

G Verbs from Roots II-W!Y: The Remaining Forms

43 . 1

G Verbs from Roots III-W!Y: The Remaining Forms

44 . 1

Gt Verbs: Imperfect, Glt Verbs: Imperfect,

44 . 3

HaZZawa

180

181

42 . 1

44.2

174

Subjunctive,

191 195

and Imperative

Subjunctive, and Imperative

with the Subjunctive and Imperfect

206

200 205 205

186

45 . 1

CG Verbs: The Remaining Forms

46 . 1

0 Verbs: Imperfect, Subjunctive, and Imperative

46 . 2

The Names of the Months

46 . 3

The Numbers Above Ten

47 . 1

0 Verbs: Verbal Adjectives

47 . 2

0 Verbs: Agent Nouns

47 . 3

0 Verbs: Verbal Nouns

209

214

The present work was developed during more than a decade of

215

teaching Classical Ethiopic on the elementary and intermediate levels.

218

It is designed to provide a detailed but carefully graded introduc­

218

tion to the grammar and basic vocabulary of the language.

219

0 Verbs: Nouns with P refixed

48 . 1

Ot Verbs: Imperfect, Subjunctive, and Imperative

48 . 2

Ot Verbs: Verbal Nouns

48. 3

CD Verbs

48. 4

Independent Personal Pronouns (Secondary Forms)

220

as Semitists or students of textual criticism, require only a working

2 22

222

knowledge of the language as a tool within a wider discipline .

I

hope too that beginning Ethiopicists will find it an orderly and com­

223

prehensive introduction to their study of the classical language.

49. 1

L, CL, and L t Verbs: The Remaining Forms

49 . 2

CGt, COt, CLt, and CGlt Verbs

223

2 25

Because the grammar is presented entirely in transliteration, the student is urged to familiarize himself with the Ethiopic alpha­

226

bet as soon as possible and to copy out and study at least the

50 . 1

Quadriliteral Verbs: The Remaining Forms

50. 2

Quinquiliteral Verbs

50 . 3

N Verbs

50 . 4

A Special Adjective Type:

228

vocabulary of each lesson in the native script .

229

In this way he will

considerably lessen the difficulty in making the transition to the

229

reading of published texts and manuscripts.

51 . 1

Conditional Sentences

51 . 2

Optative Sentences

Qataltil

2 30

It is a pleasure to acknowledge my gratitude to the many

231

classes which have worked with me through the successive drafts of

232

this grammar.

Za .. , 'efo

51 . 3

The Syllogistic Construction

51 . 4

The Sentence P articles

51 . 5

The Repeated Prepositions

51 . 6

A Special Use of the Third P erson Singular Pronominal

232

of teaching so many interested and gifted students.

ba-ba-, la-la-, za-za-

234 2 35

The P eriphrastic Passive

Attributive Adjectives in Construct Phrases

Texts in Transliteration with Glosses

235

for the great care and professional skill which she exercised in pre­ Her patience with a tedious manu­

Ma��afa ijeywat.

Lastly, I cannot let go unexpressed my deep appreciation for the genius and diligence of August Oillmann, whose grammatical, tex­

236 236

tual, and lexical work in the last century laid the firmest possible foundation for all subsequent scholarly investigation in the field.

2 76

It is on that foundation that the present work is based.

298

The Gospel of Matthew

Matthew V, 1 - 24, in Ethiopic Script

377 Thomas O . Lambdin

378 Cambridge, Massachusetts

381

P rincipal Part of G Verbs

also wish to express my sincere thanks to Miss Carol Cross

script and author is undoubtedly registered in the

Lives o f the Saints (from the Synaxarion)

A Selected Bibliography

234

paring the copy for publication.

51.7

The Book of Baruch

I have profited greatly from their criticism, ques­

tions, and corrections, but most of all from the practical experience

232

51 . 8

Glossary

The mate­

rial covered in this book should be adequate in itself for those who, m-

47 . 4

Suffixes

PREFACE

214

450

June 1978

Abbreviations and Conventions Introduction

negative

accusative direct

neg.

object

o.

S.

object suffix

a. n.

agent noun (also an.)

O. T.

Old Testament

acc.

accusative

obj.

object

adj.

adjective

part.

particle

adv.

adverb

pass.

passive

c.

common gender

perf.

perfect

material survives from this earliest

main source is the extensive religious literature which was trans.

a. d. o.

Classical Ethiopic, or Ge'ez, is the literary language devel­ oped by missionaries for the translation of the scriptures afte� the Christianization of Ethiopia in the 4th century. (,

\

The new written

language was presumably based on the spoken language of Aksum, the commercial and political center �t the time.

period

Some inscriptional of the language, but our

caus.

causative

pers.

person

colI.

collective

pI.

plural

comp!.

complement

pred.

predicate

coord.

coordinated

prep.

preposition

spoken counterpart in a manner analogous to the survival of Latin in

dat.

dative

pron.

pronoun

demo

demonstrative

q.

Europe.

dir.

direct

reI.

relative

e.g.

for example

subj.

subjunctive, subject

encl.

enclitic

s.

singular

esp.

especially

sing.

singular

ex(x).

example(s)

suff.

suffix(es)

exclam.

exclamation

v. n.

verbal noun (also vn.)

f.

feminine

voc.

vocative

fem.

feminine

w.

with

/

or (used in listing alter­

fig.

figuratively

foIl.

following, followed

Gk.

Greek

i. e.

that is.

imperf.

imperfect

indef.

indefinite

indir.

indirect

inf.

infinitive

interrog.

interrogative

introd.

introductory

lit.

literally

m.

masculine

masc.

ma.scul n

n.

nOLl11

N. 1'.

N w

'I'

� Llunc nl

V.

,

lated into Ge'ez during the ensuing centuries.

guage of the church, the written language survived the demise of its

which see

"has the same meaning(s) as "has the same range of "is completely equivalent to in regard to meanings and constructions"

In tho reading of plurals, suffixes are to a.dded to the preceding item:

I

'11/

t' /.Trl. , x

I,a' CuneI' -at) J

/,(1' arner J

The real ancestral language on Arabian

=

te'mert

te'mert (p 1.

ta' amerat).

the modern South Arabic dialects such as Mehri, Soqotri, and Shahri, when these can be extricated from their North Arabian admixtures. '" Because the Ethiopic script is fully vocalized, the main fea- c..

tures of the grammar are clear from the texts themselves. �rthog � raphy, however, has two defects: ( 1 ) consonantal doubling (gemination) is not indicated, and ( 2 ) the presence of one of the vowels (e in our transliteration) is not clearly indicated.

These problems may be re­

solved in two ways: the first is to examine the evidence of corre­ ' sponding forms in other S;;;W�- i anguages; the second is to consult the reading tradition preserved by scholars in the modern Ethiopic Church.

with or without

-i"I! J

South Arabic as known from Sabaean, Minaean, Qatabanian, and othor soil is irretrievably lost to us, but we do have its descendants in

meanings as the main entry'

(p I.

Ge'ez is linguistically a member of the South-east

Semitic family, but does not seem to be derivable directly from Old inscriptions during this time.

the preceding entry"

b

the result of migrations from South Arabia in the form of co�ncrcjal millennium B.C.

scriptions, or meanings)

etc.

Although evidence is sparse and scholarly opinion is not unani­ mous, the Semitic presence in Ethiopia is most plausibly explain d 0 colonizations beginning possibly as early as the middle of the first

nate constructions, tran­ idem

As the official lan-

Neither of these, if taken alone, is conclusive: Semitic

historical linguistics is itself ambiguous on certain crucial ques­ tions because of insufficient data; the modern reading tradition, as published by various European scholars, contains many contradictions and is heavily influenced by the informants I own modern languages 1

2

(usually Amharic).

3

'

In developing the grammar of Ge ez in the follow­

ing lessons I have followed as closely as possible the traditional pronunciation as studied and published by E. Mittwoch, Die tradi­ tioneZZe Aussprache des Athiopischen (Berlin 1926).

All major devia­

tions from this tradition are noted in the appropriate sections of

e and

\..�""

a [a,a]

to imitate the modern reading pronunciation in every detail, it may The correct pronunciation of e and a is very difficult

for the speaker of English.

Since Ge'ez is no longer a spoken lan­

guage, the following approximations should prove adequate:

Phonology A.

a [re, 11]

0

be ignored.

The interested reader may consult the Bibliography.

��

o [0]

not represented in the script, and unless the student is determined

To

attempt a harmonization of all published material would be far more

�

u [u]

e [e]

are very often preceded by palatal and labial glides respec­ ' Y W tively: for example, beton is pronounced [b et on]. This feature is

Since all deviations involve either consonantal dou­

......-;

e [i]

High-Mid

Low

bling or the presence of an e-vowel, the reader is not likely to be

confusing.

Back

Mid- Low

from an attempt to minimize the influence of Amharic present in the

seriously misled by my interpretation of a particular form.

Central

i [i]

Mid

the lessons; these result either from a choice among variant forms or pronunciation.

Front High

The Vowels

The distinction between long and short vowels, a property of earlier Semitic according to standard reconstruction, probably per­ sisted into the period when Ge'ez was first reduced to written form,

a

as in father, short

i

as in machine, long

e

as in let, short

o

as in boat, long

a

as in father, long

u

as in boot, long.

e

as in bait, long

The length distinction between a and a is not difficult to make.

but because this cannot be proven except by appeal to certain struc­

For

those who have no concept of vowel length, however, a may be pro­

tural features, an argument that not all scholars would accept, and because the modern reading traditions do not recognize vowel length

nounced like the vowel of up, and a like the first vowel of father,

as a significant vowel feature, reference to long and short vowels in

in order to maintain this important distinction.

the following discussion should be regarded as a classification which

B.

the writer finds convenient for the description of the phonology

Most of the Ethiopic consonants have an approximate counterpart

rather than a universally accepted fact about the Ge'ez vowel system. �

�

There are seven vowels: ..!.,,'

short:

a, e" /

r;�

�..

in English and offer no problems in pronunciation: "", i'

l)

I'

ILong: �"

ii, i, u,

e,

0

Only a and � are marked with macrons in our transcription, since no confusion can result from leaving i, u, and

and

0

0

unmarked.

The vowels e

usually result from the contraction of the diphthongs ay and

respectively.

There are many situations where

optionally (e.g. taZoku, taZawku I followed) .

aw

and

0

aw

alternate

Optional alternation

between ay and e is less common but not problematic. The modern reading pronunciation of these vowels is indicated by their position on the following standard chart. _. __ 1..

.... 1,..

The_Consonants

Brackets enclose

b

as in boy

k

as in king

s

like sh in should

d

as in dog

Z

as in leaf

t

as in tea

f

as in foot

n

as in man

W

as in wall

g

as in goat

n

as in no

as in yet

as in hope

s

y

as in so

h

,1"

No distinction is made between are pronounced as s.

8

8

as in zoo

and s in the modern tradition; both

b tends to be pronounced as a voiced bilabial

spirant [a], in medial positions when not doubled. �_The five sounds ' gutturals.

(h

�

x will be referred to collectively as

Three of the gutturals (h � x) are pronounced simply as II

4

5

distinction among these three sounds:

does not preserve the doubling of the guttural consonants, but there

h

is ordinary [h], as in hope.

is no reason to suppose that they were an exception in the classical

x

is the voiceless velar fricative [x], as in German Bach

language.

h

is the voiceless pharyngeal continuant [H], an h-sound accom­

(Arabi c

c:).

A sequence of two labialized consonants is realized as a

doubled simple consonant plus labialization and is transcribe accord­

w w

w

ingly: _k k _ ) _kk _.

panied by a tense narrowing between the base of the tongue

C.

and the back of the throat (Arabic r)' Two of the gutturals ( '



cnn:;onant merely means ho Iding it notice-

,hllil

1," " '"f�l"

I i

I1f�

Root and Pattern

In Ethiopic, as in Semitic languages in general, most verbs,

There are two p-sounds, both of which occur only in words of foreign origin.

Words in construct (see Lesson 4)

/I

(·IJllIllerpart.

]

[The reader

The modern pronunciation

nouns, and adj ecti ves may be analyzed into a sequence of three conso­ nants and a vowel pattern, with or without a prefixal or suffixal element.

For example,

negus

king

Consonant Base

Vowel Pattern

ngs

negest

queen

ngs

berhcm

light

brh

manbar

throne

nbr

The consonantal sequence

(CI-C2-C3)

CleC2uC3 Cl eC2eC3CleCi3-CIC2aC3

Additional Elements none suffix -t suffix -an prefix ma-

is called the root of the set of

\,on15 which share that sequence and can usually be assigned a meaning common

to Lile scI:;

compare, for example, negus and negest above with

6

! jI

,

7

negs (rule, reign), nagasi (king), mangest (kingdom), nagsa (he be­

which are given in Table B.

came king), all sharing the common notion of "ruling."

left to right), and a letter, e.g.

Because most of the morphology is devoted to a study of the triliteral root and the patterns (nominal, adjectival, and verbal)

vowel of the third order.

negus, berur, beZuy

are of the pattern

For this Thus,

qetuZ

is spoken of as k with a

We shall not adopt this awkward terminol-

The forms of the letters in the first column (read with the vowel -a) are the basic forms of the borrowed consonants.

These

should be mastered thoroughly before taking up the remaining forms. Each column should then be analyzed separately, since there is a

berhan, res'an, qWerban

qetZan

great deal of consistency in the way particular vowels are indicated.

manbar, manfas, marxo (from *marxaw)

maqtaZ

Note that the signs for the labialized sounds are secondary modifica­

and similarly for all the words in the language that can be associ­ ated with a triliteral root.

The extreme usefulness of this device

will become apparent in the lessons.

When discussing roots or

sequences of more than three consonants, we shall employ C C C C l 2 3 4 (and similarly for more than four), since no other convention exists. The vocalic patterns, together with prefixes and suffixes, form the subject matter of the grammar.

Very few patterns have a com­

pletely predictable meaning, but a large number of them belong to the "almost predictable" category.

For example, qetul is almost always

adjectival in meaning (see Lessons 17 and 35), but the two frequent nouns cited above (negus and berur) are exceptions to this rule. Close attention to the formative patterns and the relationships among them will give the reader a proper feeling for the derivational pro­ cesses at work in the language. E.

tions of the non-labialized counterpart. To express numbers in numeral form the Greek alphabet was em­ ployed, written within a top and bottom frame.

the combinations: 1000

10 hundred; 10,000

=

=

See Table C.

Note

100 hundred.

Several new letters were developed for the writing of Amharic These sometimes

by modifying certain forms of the Ge'ez alphabet.

occur in Ge'ez manuscripts in writing native personal and place names. See Table D. The Old South Arabic monumental script regularly employed a vertical stroke as a word divider.

This too was borrowed and appears

after every single word in an Ethiopic text as : text for examples). a sentence, and

The Ethiopic Alphabet

:I

(see the specimen

The sign I is used as a colon or semicolon within is used as a period.

F.

The Ethiopic alphabet was borrowed directly from the Old South Genuine

cursive forms are modern; manuscripts consistently (and happily) employ a more or less hand-printed form, with separation of all the The individuals responsible for the borrowing of the alpha­

bet and its adaptation to their literary purposes showed an ortho­

Other more elaborate de­

was altered into a fully vocalized syllabary by the addition of vari­ ous strokes and modifications to the individual letters.

The result­

The order of the

lettorsis trnliltionlll lind doos not include the labialized consonants,

Special Phonological Rules

These rules are taken up in detail in appropriate lessons of the Grammar; they are summarized here for convenience in reference and need not be studied before beginning the lessons.

The presenta­

tion is purely synchronic, dealing only with forms as they can be paired in the language, without reference to antecedent reconstructed forms.

The treatment of the latter would take us too far afield.

graphic acumen rare in the Semitic world: the consonantal alphabet

ing "alphabetic syllabary" Is given in Table A.

The numerical valu s

are the same as those known from Greek sources.

vices are sometimes used to mark off paragraphs and longer sections.

Arabic monumental script, gradually modified for book use.

letters.

h. (ki)

ogy.

associated with it, it is convenient to have a way of specifying "any triliteral root" in a less clumsy fashion than C -C -C . l 2 3 purpose Semitists generally employ the "dummy" root qtZ.

The columns are sometimes numbered (from

1.

The presence of a guttural consonant (

duces an alteration of a given word pattern.

'

< h h x) often pro­

Many of these are

according to fixed rules:

(a)

*-aU- > -CiG-, where G is any guttural that closes a sy1111-

9

8

Table A: Ca

j

!

IJ Il tit

h 1

h

Cu

U· fr the

m

no

oo-

s

lP

IP-

+ n T

()4! 01:

l fI

r

s q

b t x

n

... �

h

k W

z y

d

h OJ 0 H f

�

g

-,

!

ill

p s d f

�

� 0

�

{.

"1-

�. �

.... OJ. 0It �

�. �

ffil"

-ew

I'.

101\,: lev. ev('):

a nd -cy:

max2itt'IJ

l.IIIIPS

laycdey nights

(eZew perverse

Zal;tey beautiful.

13

12

larly becomes in

>

-ut, as in *

wadaqqu

See Lesson 11 ( end).

9. -aw

>

*xadagka

dewuy or dew(w)ey sick . -aw and -ay is inconsistent .

>

*wadaqku

-at are added.

-ewwe-), e.g .

The b ehavior of final

-k- of the verb a l subject suffixes -ku, -ka, -ki, -kemu, ,

-ken is regularly assimi l ated to a preceding q or g:

qetuZ from roots whose second

mewut or mew(w)et dead

key) and

belit.

w, the sequence -ewu alternates optiona lly with -ewe- (per­

haps to b e read as

S.

>

-awi show a frequent variation between

Nouns and adj ectives ending in

4.

The

8. >

ye��anmaq he w i l l be baptized .

For further e xamples see Lesson 44 .

-eyt results from *-uyt b y rule 2 above: beluy old, worn out

yessammay he will be named

>

*yetpammaq



*yetsammay

-t to adjectives , -ewt re gu­

With the addition of the feminine ending

and

Probably next in order was th e loss of contrast between

a after a guttural consonant, with a becoming a.

a

The spelling

errors produced by thi s change are ub i quitous: any sy l lab l e beg] nn I nft

Ca- may

he

wri tten CCl-, and vice versa .

This error has been COT'T'll

'i-ya'mero

spelled

'i-ya'mero (ignorance).

Almost equally common in all but the best manuscripts is

the confusion among the three h ' s (h � xJ,

although a given manu­

W

in only a few roots (e.g. hg Z)

is there any real

5. and

"

as noted above (p.

).

Perhaps the most recent error is the'confusion between '

an error which is not present in many manuscripts at all,

frequent in others.

Normalization here is not problematic,

earlier and correct spellings are,

for the most part,

but

since the

known.

The cumulative effect of the preceding errors can be quite bewildering unless one has a firm grasp of the forms and lexicon of

genuinely ambiguous);

(unless,

of course,

a word is unknown or

even more reprehensible is the burdening of a

Most prepositions are written as separate

westa hagar

in/into/to the city

diba dabr

on the mountain.

in,

Za-

to, for (dative)

, em-

from (ablative,

with (location,

agent,

mannor)

source),

baxayZ

with strength (xayZJ, Zanegus to the king, 'emhagar from the city. For the sake of clarity we shall always transcribe these with hyphens:

, ba-xay Z,Za-negus, em-hagar.

form of the preposition 'em-,

, emenna hagar

=

There is also an independent (unbound) namely 'emenna:

' em-hagar

from the city,

Ba- and 'em- are freely combined with the other prepositions.

The failure of modern editors of Ethiopic texts to normal­

ize spelling is puzzling

the king.

which are always written a s a unit with the following word:

the older language as it has been recovered by Dillmann and other scholars.

Prepositions.,

the city

ba­

Many texts show a confusion between s and s, . reflecting the

merger of these two sounds in Amharic,

a king

or

The exceptions are

uncertainty about the correct form.

4.

negus 1. 2

Here again we have followed the lexical norm estab­

lished by Dillmann;

a city

words before the noun they govern:

script may show consistency in the spelling (wrong or right) of a particular root.

hagar

Ba-, as in ba-diba and ba-westa, seldom alters the meaning of the sec­ ond preposition.

'Em- has its usual force:

critical apparatus with such trivial and predictable pronunciation

westa from in.

errors.

laries as they are required. 1.3 later,

'em-diba from on, Jem_

These various compounds will be noted in the vocabu­

Although we shall defer full treatment of the verb unti 1

it is necessary here to introduce the 3rd person forms of tho

inflection called the Perfect: Singular 3rd pers.

masc.

3rd pers. fern.

Plural

nabara

he sat

nabaru

they

(Ill. )

nabarat

she sat

nabara

they

(r. )

The four endings, -a, -at,

-u,

-a)

suL

�tlL

are used on all verbs in the 1 U/I

guage Lo lIIark these four forms of the Perfect, regardless of tho

16

17

mot-a he died, re'y-a he saw, 'anbar-a he set , W 'astabq e�a he implored. Note t hat t he pronominal sub ject (he , she ,

xaba or ba-xaba by , wi t h , at , near (person or place); t o , t oward ,

they) is i ncluded in the verb form itself and need not be expressed

ba-

shape of the stem:

The E thiopic Perfect corresponds to the English simple

separat ely . past

unto;

Exercises A.

The basic le xical form o f the E t hiopic verb is the 3rd pers . masc . si ngular of the Perfect .

In the l esson vocabularies and in the

Glossary we shall always give the English meaning in the infinitive

nabara to sit .

form; t hus:

W i t h verbs of motion the goal is expressed by various preposi­ t ions, the most frequent o f which are westa and xaba.

Westa is used

if the goal is a place, as i n He went to t he city .

ijora westa hagar.

Xaba is used with both persons and places: ijora xaba negus.

He went to the k ing.

ljom xaba bet.

H e went to the house .

Whether a preposition like westa means " to," "into , " or "in" depends on t he verb with which it is employed:

nabara westa to dwell in,

bo'a westa t o enter into , �ora westa to go t o . V ocabulary 1 Nouns:

hagar city.

bet house .

negus king.

dabr mountain.

V erbs:

nabara to sit , sit down; to stay, remain, continue; to li ve , dl�ell .

'�' . •

\.1 warada to descend, come down , go down .

. �1

f, -

'\.- )

.,�

to ascend, come up , go up, climb .

�ora to go . Prepo si tions :

, emf' emenna from, out of , alvay from . weota o r l'a-I,}er.i:a ",./,,,

'em-xaba from wi t h , from the presence o f .

into; b y , w i t h ( o f agent) .

(he went , wrote , etc . ) or present perfect (he has gon e , he has

wri t t en, etc . ) .

, " i

in,

'"

wi I I I i I..,

II.

jn,

i !lto, to (a place); 'em-westa from i n , from

/'/'" "'I, "1'''".

11111,,;

','m-diha

from on, from upon .

B.

1.

westa hagar

6.

2.

diba dabr

7.

3.

' emenna bet

'em-negus

8.

4.

'em-westa bet

ba-xaba negus

9.

ba-westa bet

diba negus

5.

' em-diba dabr

10.

' em-westa hagar

Nabara westa bet .

6.

Nabarat ba-westa bet .

�ora west a dabr .

7.

!:lora westa bet .

8.

Waradu ' em-diba dabr .

1.

2.

3.

'Argu diba dab r .

4.

'Arga westa hagar .

5.

9.

'Arga xaba bet .

Waradat ' em-diba b1:lt.

10.

Warada 'emenna hagar.

18

19 Vocabulary 2 Nouns : Lesson 2 Noun P lura l s .

2. 1

hagar (pl . ' ahgur) c i t y .

I n genera l , the p lural of a noun i s formed

bet (pl. ' abyat) house.

in one of two ways : a.

P attern repl acement :

b.

Addition o f an ending :

dabr (pl . ' adbCir) mountain .

dcibr -) ' adbar 'amat -) 'Qmatat

P lurals formed by pat t ern repl acement are often referred to as "bro­ ken" p l urals or " i nternal" p lural s ; those with suffixe s , as " external' p l ural s .

Because there is no sure way to predict the form of the

p l ural from that of the s ingu l ar , i t i s neces s ary to l e arn both forms These w i l l be g iven in the lesson vocabu l ar ies.

[rom the out s et.

Some nouns have more than one p lural form , though they may not be of equal frequency. The patterns used for noun p lura l s are for the most p art d i s ­ t i n c t ive and s e l dom occur i n s i ngular noun s .

For reference onl y , the

fo l l owing l i st of p lural noun types includes a l l but the rare forms : e . g . ' egar

qetal

negus ( p l . nagast) king .

the p l ural o f

' egr

foot

gabr (p l . ' agbert) s ervant . be' si (pl . sab' ) man , husband ; the pl. also means peop l e in general . be' s i t (p l . ' anest) woman, wife .

�amar

(pl . ' a�ar) boat , ship ( o f any s i z e) .

Verb s :

ma?' a to come wad . ' a to go/ come forth , emerge ,' Wl' th

'

to I eave , d epart r rOIll ; I ( )

em ',

spring from, originate i n .

bo' a to enter (westa, ba-J . wadqa to fal l , fal l down , co l l ap s e . Adverbs :

, aqtal

' adbCir

dabr

mountain

heyya/ba-heyya ther e , in that p l ace ; ' em-heyya from there , the n ce .

, aqtu l

' ahgur

hagar

c ity

zeyya/ba-zeyya here , in this p l ace ; ' em-zeyya from here , hence .

, aqtel

' cib ter

batr

rod , staff

Conj unction :

' aqteU

' agbert

gcibr

serv ant

qataU

nagast

negus

k ing

C aC aC eC 4 t l 2 3 C aC aC eC l 2 3 4 ' aqatel

mala' ekt

mal'ak

messeng er , ange l

' anCiqel}

' anqal}

gate

' cibage '

bag '

sheep

2.2

Syntax.

immediate ly.

The nominal sub j ect of a verb normal ly fo l l ows i t

The problem of the agreement between verb and sub j ect

wi l l be di s cus sed in Lesson 5 .

I t i s sufficient here to not e that

nouns denoting male human b eings are mas cul ine and those denoting femal e human beings are feminin e .

The verb agrees with the s e nouns

in numb er and gender :

wa- and (written as p art of the fo l lowing word , e. g . be' si wa-be' sit a man and a woman) . Exercises A. l . xaba gabr

6.

2 . ba-xaba b e ' s it 3 . diba � amar

8 . xaba nagast

4 . ' emenna be ' s i

9 . ' emenna ' ahgur

5 . diba ' adbar

1 0 . ba-xaba s ab '

B . l . N abaru ' agbert heyya. 2.

7 . Mas ' a ' an est xaba negus.

Nabarat be' s it b a-heyya .

8 . Wadqa b e ' s i ' em-diba bet .

' Arga be ' s 1 d i ba dabr .

9 . Wadqu sab ' ' em-diba dabr.

ijora negus .

The king went.

ijoru nagast .

The kings went.

3.

ijorat be' sit.

The woman went .

ijorQ. ' anest.

The women went .

4. Waradu sab ' ' em-diba bet .

See the exercises for further ex�np l es .

ba-diba ' a�mar

7 . ' em-wes t a ' abyat

5 . I. loru n