© EMML 8400 cols. 2–3
- Language:
- Ge’ez (Classical Ethiopic)
- Place of origin:
- Ethiopia (Daga Estifanos, a small island on Lake Tana)
- Time of origin:
- Around 1400
- Transcription:
- ወናሁ መጽአ በትእልፊተ ቅዱሳን ከመ ይግበር ፍትሐ ላዕሌሆሙ ወያኅጒሎሙ ለረሲዓን ወይትዋቀስ ኲሎ ዘሥጋ በእንተ ኲሉ ዘገብሩ ወረሰዩ ላዕሌሁ ኀጥአን ወረሲዓን።
- Translation:
- And He came with ten thousand holy ones to execute judgement upon them, and to destroy the impious, and to contend with all flesh concerning everything which the sinners and the impious have done and wrought against him. (Michael Knibb)
Additional Information:
The Ge'ez writing system was established in its current form in the fourth century CE during the reign of King Ezana of Aksum. However, much earlier stone inscriptions suggest that Ge'ez originally functioned as an unvocalized script. This early form used only consonants, relying on the reader's capacity to fill in the missing vowels. Extant inscriptions from this pre-vocalic period demonstrate that the script existed long before vowel indicators were added. It is widely accepted that the need to translate Christian Scripture was a primary catalyst for the vocalization of the Ge'ez script. This development led to the creation of a seven-vowel system, transforming the script into a syllabic writing system. Over time, this adapted Ge'ez script was adopted by other major Ethiopian languages, including Amharic, Tigrinya, and the Gurage languages, which required only minor adjustments to accommodate their specific phonetic profiles.