History:
The Amharic language has gained its origin from Ethiopia, a country in Africa. It is a part of the Semitic languages. Amharic was popularized before the beginning of 14th century among groups of people in highland areas of Ethiopia and court. Around one-third of the population in Ethiopia are used to of speaking this language.
Amazing Facts About The Amharic Language:
Origin: The origin of Amharic language can be traced back to 1000B.C. in the era of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheeba. The Amharic people living in North of Ethiopia have significance attached to this language as Amharic was named after them.
Speaker: There are 21.6 million natives living in Ethiopia who speak Amharic. The other 4 million speak Amharic as a secondary language. There are 3 million emigrants who speak the same language out of Ethiopia. Jews in Ethiopia and some Israeli communities also speak Amharic.
Education: It is the part of school curriculum in most of the primary and secondary schools in Ethiopia. Various universities in America also offer the course of Amharic as a language. Plus, some other developed countries offer it as an elective course.
Dialects: The main dialects of Amharic language are Wollo, Gondar, Goijam and Shewa.
Other Names: It is also known as Amarinya or Kuchumba.
Official Language: After the elimination of the old Ethiopian language which was Ge’ez respectively, Amharic is now the official language of Ethiopia. It is one of the main languages spoken in Ethiopia, including the Oromo language.
Alphabets: The total number of letters used in Amharic is 33.
Writing System: The script of Amharic is an alpha syllabary, and the smallest unit in this writing system is known as Fidel.
Script Direction: This language is written from left to right.
Vowels: The number of vowels used in Amharic language is seven.
Future Tense: The past and the present tenses are available for Amharic language but no future tense is included.
Gender Neutral Language: Amharic language includes both masculine and feminine genders; hence it is not gender neutral. There are different ways to mention genders.
Archaic Forms: The Classical Ethiopic has benefited Amharic in a way that it has provided it with the old plural forms.
Written Amharic: One of the renowned pieces of literature is a novel like Fiqir Iske Meqabr written by Haddis Alemayehu, which has been later translated in English as well and published in 2005, titled Love into Crypt.
Amharic Literature: The Amharic literature has gained its popularity through the years. A few genres in which Amharic literature has gained its recognition include education, religion, novels, poetry, medical concepts, technical knowledge, and dictionaries. Bible has too been translated into Amharic several times. In the start of 19th century, bible was first translated by Abu Rumi in Amharic.
Software: In 2010, Microsoft launched Windows Vista as a system to be operated in Amharic, in order to allow Amharic speakers to make use of their operating system in their own language.
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