Ethiopic

Ethiopian Geʻez Script

Unicode

All Ethiopic characters in Unicode4
Unicode Name A U I AA EE E O WA WI WAA WEE WE YA OA GU­RAGE WI GU­RAGE WEE GU­RAGE WE
H ሀ ሁ ሂ ሃ ሄ ህ ሆ ሇ
L ለ ሉ ሊ ላ ሌ ል ሎ ሏc ⶀ
HH ሐ ሑ ሒ ሓ ሔ ሕ ሖ 𞟨a ሗc 𞟩d 𞟪d 𞟫d
M መ ሙ ሚ ማ ሜ ም ሞ ᎀb ᎁ ሟc ᎂ ፙ ⶁ 𞟭 𞟮 ᎃd
SZ ሠ ሡ ሢ ሣ ሤ ሥ ሦ ሧc
R ረ ሩ ሪ ራ ሬ ር ሮ ሯc ፘ ⶂ
S ሰ ሱ ሲ ሳ ሴ ስ ሶ ሷc ⶃ
SH ሸ ሹ ሺ ሻ ሼ ሽ ሾ ሿc ⶄ
Q ቀ ቁ ቂ ቃ ቄ ቅ ቆ ቈ ቊ ቋ ቌ ቍ ቇ 𞟰 𞟱 𞟲
QH ቐ ቑ ቒ ቓ ቔ ቕ ቖ ቘ ቚ ቛ ቜ ቝ
B በ ቡ ቢ ባ ቤ ብ ቦ ᎄb ᎅ ቧc ᎆ ⶅ 𞟳 𞟴 ᎇd
T ተ ቱ ቲ ታ ቴ ት ቶ ቷc ⶆ
C ቸ ቹ ቺ ቻ ቼ ች ቾ ቿc ⶇ
X ኀ ኁ ኂ ኃ ኄ ኅ ኆ ኈ ኊ ኋ ኌ ኍ ኇ
N ነ ኑ ኒ ና ኔ ን ኖ ኗc ⶈ
NY ኘ ኙ ኚ ኛ ኜ ኝ ኞ ኟc ⶉ
GLOTTAL አ ኡ ኢ ኣ ኤ እ ኦ ኧc ⶊ
K ከ ኩ ኪ ካ ኬ ክ ኮ ኰ ኲ ኳ ኴ ኵ ኯ 𞟵 𞟶 𞟷
KX ኸ ኹ ኺ ኻ ኼ ኽ ኾ ዀ ዂ ዃ ዄ ዅ
W ወ ዉ ዊ ዋ ዌ ው ዎ ዏ
PHARYNGEAL ዐ ዑ ዒ ዓ ዔ ዕ ዖ
Z ዘ ዙ ዚ ዛ ዜ ዝ ዞ ዟc ⶋ
ZH ዠ ዡ ዢ ዣ ዤ ዥ ዦ ዧc
Y የ ዩ ዪ ያ ዬ ይ ዮ ዯ
D ደ ዱ ዲ ዳ ዴ ድ ዶ ዷc ⶌ
J ጀ ጁ ጂ ጃ ጄ ጅ ጆ ጇc ⶎ
G ገ ጉ ጊ ጋ ጌ ግ ጎ ጐ ጒ ጓ ጔ ጕ ጏ 𞟸 𞟹 𞟺
TH ጠ ጡ ጢ ጣ ጤ ጥ ጦ ጧc ⶏ
CH ጨ ጩ ጪ ጫ ጬ ጭ ጮ ጯc ⶐ
PH ጰ ጱ ጲ ጳ ጴ ጵ ጶ ጷc ⶑ
TS ጸ ጹ ጺ ጻ ጼ ጽ ጾ ጿc
TZ ፀ ፁ ፂ ፃ ፄ ፅ ፆ ፇ
F ፈ ፉ ፊ ፋ ፌ ፍ ፎ ᎈb ᎉ ፏc ᎊ ፚ 𞟻 𞟼 ᎋd
P ፐ ፑ ፒ ፓ ፔ ፕ ፖ ᎌb ᎍ ፗc ᎎ ⶒ 𞟽 𞟾 ᎏd
V ቨ ቩ ቪ ቫ ቬ ቭ ቮ ቯc
DD ዸ ዹ ዺ ዻ ዼ ዽ ዾ ዿc ⶍ
GG ጘ ጙ ጚ ጛ ጜ ጝ ጞ ⶓ ⶔ ጟ ⶕ ⶖ
SS ⶠ ⶡ ⶢ ⶣ ⶤ ⶥ ⶦ
CC ⶨ ⶩ ⶪ ⶫ ⶬ ⶭ ⶮ
ZZ ⶰ ⶱ ⶲ ⶳ ⶴ ⶵ ⶶ
CCH ⶸ ⶹ ⶺ ⶻ ⶼ ⶽ ⶾ
QY ⷀ ⷁ ⷂ ⷃ ⷄ ⷅ ⷆ
KY ⷈ ⷉ ⷊ ⷋ ⷌ ⷍ ⷎ
XY ⷐ ⷑ ⷒ ⷓ ⷔ ⷕ ⷖ
GY ⷘ ⷙ ⷚ ⷛ ⷜ ⷝ ⷞ
TTH ꬁ ꬂ ꬃ ꬄ ꬅ ꬆ
DDH ꬉ ꬊ ꬋ ꬌ ꬍ ꬎ
DZ ꬑ ꬒ ꬓ ꬔ ꬕ ꬖ
CCHH ꬠ ꬡ ꬢ ꬣ ꬤ ꬥ ꬦ
BB ꬨ ꬩ ꬪ ꬫ ꬬ ꬭ ꬮ
HHY 𞟠 𞟡 𞟢 𞟣 𞟤 𞟥 𞟦

Romanization

Ethiopic romanization systems
ሀ ለ ሐ መ ሠ ረ ሰ ሸ ቀ ቐ በ ተ ቸ ኀ ነ ኘ አ ከ ኸ ወ ዐ ዘ ዠ የ ደ ጀ ገ ጠ ጨ ጰ ጸ ፀ ፈ ፐ ቨ A U I AA EE E O WA WI WAA WEE WE YA
ALA-LC1.71.8 h l ḥ m ś r s š q q̄ b t č ẖ n ñ ʼ k x w ʻ z ž y d ǧ g ṭ ċ p̣ ṣ ṡ f p v a u i ā é (e) o wa wi wā wé we ya
Aethiopica8 h l ḥ m ś r s š q q̱ b t č ḫ n ñ ʾ k ḵ w ʿ z ž y d ǧ g ṭ č̣ p̣ ṣ ṣ́ f p v ä/a u i a e (ǝ) o ʷä ʷi ʷa ʷe ʷǝ
UNGEGN: Amharic3.12.1 h l h m s r s sh k’ b t ch h n ny e k h w e z zh y d j g t’ ch’ p’ ts’ ts’ f p v e̱/a u i a e (i̱) o we̱ wi wa we wi̱ ya
BGN/PCGN: Amharic (1967)2.3 h l ḥ m š r s sh k’ ḵ’ b t ch ḫ n ny (’) k ẖ w ‘ z zh y d j g t’ ch’ p’ ts’ t͟s’ f p v e/ā u ī a ē (i) o we/o wī wa wē wi ya
BGN/PCGN: Amharic (1951)2.1 h l ḥ m š r s sh k’ b t ch ḫ n nh e k ẖ w ◌̣ z zh y d j g t’ ch’ p’ s’ s̱’ f p a u i ā ē (e) o wa wi wā wē we yā
BGN/PCGN: Tigrinya2.10 h l ḥ m s r s sh k’ kh’ b t ch ḥ n ny (’) k kh w ‘ z zh y d j g t’ ch’ p’ ts’ ts’ f p v e u i a ie (ĭ) o we wi wa wie wĭ

ALA-LC amendments1
ጀ ጰ ጇ ኧ
19721.1 j ṗ jwa ʼa
19821.4 ă
19911.5 ǧ p̣
19971.6 gwa
20111.7 ǧwa

BGN/PCGN Amharic 1967 amendments2
ቐ ኧ ሿ WA WI/WEE/WE/YA ዀ
19672.2 ḵ’ ă chwa we wī/wē/wi/ya
19722.3 e shwa
19762.3 o
20082.5 ẖo
20172.7

Geʽez

Geʽez consonants15
labial alveolar lateral palatal velar pharyngeal glottal
plosive voiceless /p/ ፐ /t/ ተ /k/ ከ /ʔ/ አ
voiced /b/ በ /d/ ደ /g/ ገ
ejective /pʼ/ ጰ /tʼ/ ጠ /kʼ/ ቀ
fricative voiceless /f/ ፈ /s/ ሰ /ɬ/ ሠ /x/ ኀ /ħ/ ሐ /h/ ሀ
voiced /z/ ዘ /ʕ/ ዐ
ejective /tsʼ/ ጸ /tɬʼ/ ፀ
nasal /m/ መ /n/ ነ
approximant /w/ ወ /r/ ረ /l/ ለ /j/ የ

Amharic

Amharic consonants
labial alveolar palatal lateral velar glottal
plosive voiceless /p/ ፐ /t/ ተ /tʃ/ ቸ /k/ ከ /ʔ/ አ, ዐ
voiced /b/ በ /d/ ደ /dʒ/ ጀ /g/ ገ
ejective /pʼ/ ጰ /tʼ/ ጠ /tʃʼ/ ጨ /kʼ/ ቀ
fricative voiceless /f/ ፈ /s/ ሰ, ሠ /ʃ/ ሸ /h/ ሀ, ሐ, ኀ, ኸ
voiced (/v/ ቨ) /z/ ዘ /ʒ/ ዠ
ejective /tsʼ/ ጸ, ፀ
nasal /m/ መ /n/ ነ /ɲ/ ኘ
approximant /w/ ወ /ɾ/ ረ /j/ የ /l/ ለ

Tigrinya

Tigrinya consonants
labial alveolar palatal lateral velar pharyngeal glottal
plosive voiceless /p/ ፐ /t/ ተ /tʃ/ ቸ /k/ ከ /ʔ/ አ
voiced /b/ በ /d/ ደ /dʒ/ ጀ /g/ ገ
ejective /pʼ/ ጰ /tʼ/ ጠ /tʃʼ/ ጨ /kʼ/ ቀ
fricative voiceless /f/ ፈ /s/ ሰ /ʃ/ ሸ /x/ ኸ /ħ/ ሐ /h/ ሀ
voiced (/v/ ቨ) /z/ ዘ /ʒ/ ዠ /ʕ/ ዐ
ejective /tsʼ/ ጸ, ፀ /xʼ/ ቐ
nasal /m/ መ /n/ ነ /ɲ/ ኘ
approximant /w/ ወ /r/ ረ /j/ የ /l/ ለ

Notes

  1. Has GURAGE in name
  2. Has SEBATBEIT in name
  3. Named WA not WAA
  4. Does not have GURAGE in name
  5. Not represented in romanization

References

  1. ALA-LC Romanization Tables. American Library Association, Library of Congress, loc.gov.
    1. Cataloging Service. Bulletin 104, May 1972, pp. 14–16, google.com.
    2. Cataloging Service. Bulletin 118, Summer 1976, pp. 13–14, google.com.
    3. Cataloging Service Bulletin. Number 9, Summer 1980, p. 20, loc.gov.
    4. Cataloging Service Bulletin. Number 17, Summer 1982, p. 33, loc.gov.
    5. ALA-LC Romanization Tables: Transliteration Schemes for Non-Roman Scripts. 1991, hathitrust.org.
      1. “Amharic.” pp. 2–3.
      2. “Tigrinya.” pp. 194–195.
    6. ALA-LC Romanization Tables: Transliteration Schemes for Non-Roman Scripts. 1997, hathitrust.org.
      1. “Amharic.” pp. 8–9.
      2. “Tigrinya.” pp. 218–219.
    7. “Amharic.” 2011, loc.gov.
    8. “Tigrinya.” 2011, loc.gov.
  2. BGN/PCGN Romanization Systems. U.S. Board on Geographic Names, U.K. Permanent Committee on Geographical Names, gov.uk.
    1. “Transliteration System for Amharic Geographic Names.” February 1951, google.com.
    2. “Transliteration System for Amharic: BGN/PCGN 1967 System.” Romanization Guide, 1967, pp. 1–4, google.com.
    3. “Transliteration System for Amharic: BGN/PCGN 1967 System (Revised in 1972 and 1976).” Gazetteer of Ethiopia, August 1982, pp. xix–xxii, google.com.
    4. “Romanization System for Amharic: BGN/PCGN 1967 System.” Romanization Systems and Roman-Script Spelling Conventions, 1994, pp. 1–3, archive.org.
    5. “Romanization System for Amharic: BGN/PCGN 1967 System.” 2008, archive.org.
    6. “Romanization System for Tigrinya: BGN/PCGN System 2007.” 2008, archive.org.
    7. “Romanization of Amharic: BGN/PCGN 1967 System.” October 2017, archive.org.
    8. “Romanization of Tigrinya: BGN/PCGN System 2007.” November 2017, archive.org.
    9. “Romanization of Amharic: BGN/PCGN 1967 System.” September 2022, archive.org.
    10. “Romanization of Tigrinya: BGN/PCGN System 2007.” September 2022, archive.org.
  3. United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN): Working Group on Romanization Systems, eki.ee, un.org.
    1. United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names: Geneva, 4-22 September 1967: Vol. 1 Report of the Conference. 1968, p. 14, E/CONF.53/3, un.org.
    2. Comparative Study on the Romanization of the Amharic Alphabet. 1971, E/CONF.61/L.5/Add.7, un.org.
    3. Second United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names: London, 10-31 May 1972: Vol. I. Report of the Conference. 1974, p. 11, E/CONF.61/4, un.org.
    4. Second United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names: London, 10-31 May 1972: Vol. II. Technical papers. 1974, pp. 165–167, E/CONF.61/4/Add.1, un.org.
    5. United Nations Romanization Systems for Geographical Names: Preliminary Report on their Current Status. Version 1.2, November 1999, W.P. 34, un.org.
      1. “Amharic.” pp. 9–11.
      2. “Tigrinya.” p. 64.
    6. United Nations Romanization Systems for Geographical Names: Preliminary Report on their Current Status. Version 1.3, March 2000, eki.ee.
      1. “Amharic.” eki.ee.
      2. “Tigrinya.” eki.ee.
    7. Report on the current status of the United Nations romanization systems for geographical names. [Version 2.1], 18 June 2002, E/CONF.94/CRP.81, un.org.
      1. “Amharic.” pp. 10–12.
      2. “Tigrinya.” pp. 78–80.
    8. Report on the Current Status of United Nations Romanization Systems for Geographical Names. Version 2.2, January 2003, eki.ee.
      1. “Amharic.” eki.ee.
      2. “Tigrinya.” eki.ee.
    9. Technical reference manual for the standardization of geographical names. [Version 2.3], 2007, ST/ESA/STAT/SER.M/87, un.org.
      1. “Amharic.” pp. 7–9.
      2. “Tigrinya.” pp. 78–80.
    10. Report on the Current Status of United Nations Romanization Systems for Geographical Names. Version 3.0, eki.ee.
      1. “Tigrinya.” March 2008, eki.ee.
    11. Report on the Current Status of United Nations Romanization Systems for Geographical Names. Version 4.0.
      1. “Amharic.” 30 March 2016, eki.ee.
      2. “Tigrinya.” 26 February 2013, eki.ee.
  4. Unicode Character Code Charts. unicode.org.
    1. “Ethiopic.” unicode.org.
    2. “Ethiopic Supplement.” unicode.org.
    3. “Ethiopic Extended.” unicode.org.
    4. “Ethiopic Extended-A.” unicode.org.
    5. “Ethiopic Extended-B.” unicode.org.
  5. WG2 Document Registry, Unicode® Technical Committee Document Registry, unicode.org, unicode.org.
    1. Clews, John. Ordering labio-velar characters in Ethiopic. 1999-03-31, N651, L2/99-122, unicode.org.
    2. Proposal to encode Ethiopic Extensions in the BMP of ISO/IEC 10646. 1998-09-11, N1846, unicode.org.
    3. Yacob, Daniel. Revision of the N1846 Proposal to add Extended Ethiopic to the BMP of the UCS. 2004-04-16, N2747, L2/04-143, unicode.org.
    4. Everson, Michael; Yacob, Daniel. Revisions proposed to N2747 (Extended Ethiopic). 2004-06-18, N2814R, L2/04-265R, unicode.org.
    5. Priest, Lorna A. Proposal to Encode Additional Ethiopic Characters. 2009-02-05, N3572, L2/09-050R, unicode.org.
    6. Menuta, Fekede; Yacob, Daniel. Modern Gurage Orthography Additions to Ethiopic Script. 2021-01-11, L2/21-037, unicode.org.
  6. The Unicode® Standard: Version 15.0 – Core Specification. September 2022, unicode.org.
    1. “Ethiopic.” pp. 794–797, unicode.org.
  7. Yacob, Daniel; Menuta, Fekede. Unicode Technical Note #49: A Review of Shifts in Gurage Orthography. 22 September 2022, unicode.org.
  8. Transcription/Transliteration Tables. Aethiopica, uni-hamburg.de.
  9. Noto Ethiopic. Google, github.com.
  10. Abyssinica SIL. SIL International, sil.org, github.com.
  11. Chaîne, Marius. Grammaire Éthiopienne. 1907, openlibrary.org.
  12. Isenberg, Charles William. Dictionary of the Amharic Language: in two parts: Amharic and English, and English and Amharic. London, 1841, archive.org.
  13. Bianchi, Giovan Michele. Dizionario e frasario Eritreo. Milano, 1903, google.com.
  14. U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Amharic Personal Names. 8 January 1965, google.com.
  15. Weninger, Stefan. “Sounds of Gǝʿǝz – How to Study the Phonetics and Phonology of an Ancient Language.” Aethiopica, vol. 13, no. 1, July 2010, pp. 75–88, doi.org.
  16. Ethiopic (Geʻez) [Ethi]. ScriptSource, SIL International, scriptsource.org.