Mereja.Forum

[EthioRedSea]

Geez ia an old Semitic language. Probably it was developed in Yeha, Tigray. Languages are born close to temples or palaces, which are centres of learning in the anceint world.

Ruins of Yeha Temple, Tigray


Ancient stone slabs with Sabaean inscriptions found at Yeha

[EthioRedSea]

Ge'ez is older than Hebrew. The oldest Hebrew writing artifacts date back to about 900 BCE and Ge'ez artifacts date to about 1600 BCE The book of Enoch in Ge'ez. ... There are many who still speak Ge'ez, however.

[EthioRedSea]

Ezana's stone inscription written in Geez

[EthioRedSea]

There are 24 correspondences of Geʻez and the South Arabian alphabet:

Translit. h l ḥ m ś (SA s2) r s (SA s1) ḳ b t ḫ n
Geʻez ሀ ለ ሐ መ ሠ ረ ሰ ቀ በ ተ ኀ ነ
South Arabian 𐩠 𐩡 𐩢 𐩣 𐩦 𐩧 𐩪 𐩤 𐩨 𐩩 𐩭 𐩬
Translit. ʾ k w ʿ z (SA ḏ) y d g ṭ ṣ ḍ f
Geʻez አ ከ ወ ዐ ዘ የ ደ ገ ጠ ጸ ፀ ፈ
South Arabian 𐩱 𐩫 𐩥 𐩲 𐩹 𐩺 𐩵 𐩴 𐩷 𐩮 𐩳 𐩰

[EthioRedSea]

Some say Yemen could have been the birth place of Geez. However, there is no archaeological evidence. In my humble opinion Geez developed from Sumerian or Assyrian/Arcadian languages of ancient Mesopotamia, in today's Iraq some 6000 years ago. Aramaic sounds more or less like Geez/Tigrigna/Amharic.