Does anyone know this language... [solved, it's old-Amharic]

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tseo2
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Does anyone know this language... [solved, it's old-Amharic]

Post by tseo2 »

hi
can anyone tell me, in what language this page is written?`

Image

some additional information: the booklet is from ~1600-1700 AD, written in ink on parchment, and may be a pocket bible.

btw. i'm even not sure which side is up. so it may be the upper picture is bottom-top and has to be flipped for propper view...

thanks for any help
peter
Last edited by tseo2 on 09 Sep 2003 13:30, edited 1 time in total.
Esenthiel
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Post by Esenthiel »

Do you know where it was made? If no one knows, check out omniglot.com and browse through their alphabets until you find out which it is. I looked through some, but haven't found a good match yet.
Es den dotil.
tseo2
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Post by tseo2 »

hi,
i already checked omniglot.com (its where i got the advice to post here ;),
but i found no match.
the location where it was found is switzerland (but it's of course no swissgerman dialect). it may be from a wandering priest from eastern europe, but that's only a guess...

peter
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helena
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Post by helena »

It could be glagoljica, an old alphabet Craots used for several centuries... http://fly.cc.fer.hr/~zox/glagoljica.html
Helena
Olivier
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Re: Does anyone know this language...

Post by Olivier »

Ethiopic ?
-- Olivier
Se nem kicsi, se nem nagy: Ni trop petit(e), ni trop grand(e):
Éppen hozzám való vagy! Tu es juste fait(e) pour moi!
MaisseArsouye
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AMHARIC

Post by MaisseArsouye »

It's amharic, the most spoken language in Ethiopia.
tseo2
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Post by tseo2 »

"Amharic", that's it!!!

I really thanks you all for your help.

regards
peter

:)
MaisseArsouye
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amharic

Post by MaisseArsouye »

Amharic is a very interesting ( and difficult !! ) language. I tried to learn it when I was proposed a job in Ethiopia... :sun:

There are sites explaining how to read amharic alphabet. Actually, it's not really an "alphabet". It's a "syllabaire" ( don't know the english word, sorry ) where each signs means a couple consonnant-vowel like "ba", "kë" or "Tu"...Like the japanese hiragana and katakana...
tseo2
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Post by tseo2 »

it's even old-Amharic , the liturgical language of the ethiopian church, called Ge'ez (other sources name it Giiz). i found someone who is able to translate amharic and ge'ez. so i'm really wondering what the text is about...
MaisseArsouye
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I got a book

Post by MaisseArsouye »

I still have a book about amharic ( Lonely Planet ), I'll try to get some words, but I don't promise any result...
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bambino
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Post by bambino »

Like Helena said, it's GLAGOLJICA , the old letter of Croats. It served to make cyrillic letter.

I bet it's glagoljica coz in Croatian schools we have to learn that letter and i found some letteres that i know....so it's not amharic or anything else.

By the way, helena, već te jaaaaako dugo želim pitati otkuda si, koliko godina imaš i gdje trenutačno živiš. Pretpostavljam da si sada u Njemačkoj, ali si se rodila u rvatskoj (ako je moguće, bi li mogla reći iz kojeg grada) i tako dalje...tri točkice
Hvala, i ako ti je bed, reci na hrvatskom tako da ne mora cijeli svijet znati...
tseo2
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Post by tseo2 »

hi bambino

check out here:

Glagolitic:
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/glagolitic.htm

Amharic (Ge'ez):
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/ethiopic.htm

and you'll see the differences. indeed, a few character are similar in both languages.

some Ge'ez bibletexts as mine above can be found here:

http://www.nb.no/baser/schoyen/5/5.16/index.html

greetings to hrvatska
peter
Last edited by tseo2 on 08 Sep 2003 22:21, edited 1 time in total.
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