The Semitic languages are Afro-Asiatic languages that took the name “Semitic” from the Biblical Shem, the son of Noah. The Semitic languages most widely spoken today are Arabic, Amharic, Hebrew, and Tigrinya. Amharic is an official language spoken in Ethiopia, but it is also found in Egypt and Eritrea, as well as in Israel, Sweden, Canada and the United States.
The name Amharic (ኣማርኛ – amarəñña) is taken from the Amhara district (አማራ), in northern Ethiopia, which is believed to be the birthplace of the language.
Some features:
- Writing system: it uses a syllabary called “fidel” or “abugida”. It is a version of the Ge’ez alphabet known as ፊደል (Fidel). For better understanding, in an “abugida” consonants carry an inherent vowel. (We mentioned this also in the case of Japanese)
- There is what is known as the transliteration of the Amharic alphabet, which is the romanization to the Latin alphabet.
- The numbers are loans from the Greek alphabet.
- There is agreement between the verb and its subject, as in Latin languages.
- Like any Semitic language, the verbs in Amharic use combinations of prefixes and suffixes to indicate the subject.
- There are three persons, two numbers (called the first-person pronouns are also honorary) and two genders (the female is also used to express smallness, tenderness and empathy. In addition, Amharic has special terms to show the gender of people and animals.)
- Verbs indicate, through their morphology, the person, number and gender of their subject.
Due to the rapid growth of many Ethiopian communities in Europe, the USA and Canada, orders for translation into this language have increased greatly. If you need a free quote, contact us and a representative will gladly assist you.
(Versión en español: https://www.trustedtranslations.com/donde-se-habla-amharico-2012-04-25.html)
