December 19, 2012

The Amhara people are mostly agriculturist, one of the most culturally dominant and a powerful politically connected as well as Afro-Asiatic speaking ethnic group of ancient semitic origins inhabiting the northern and central highlands of Ethiopia, particularly the Amhara Region. The Amhara State shares common borders with the state of Tigray in the north, Afar in the east, Oromiya in the south, Benishangul/Gumuz in the south west, and the Republic of Sudan in the west.

Beautiful Amhara woman from Addis Ababa in her traditional costume dancing

The Amhara people are closely related with the Gurage, and the Tigray-Tigrinya people. The Amhara combined with the Gurage, and the Tigray-Tigrinya people are called the Habesha ( (Ge'ez: ሐበሻ Ḥabaśā, Amharic (H)ābešā, Tigrinya: ? Ḥābešā; Arabic: الحبشة ‎ al-Ḥabašah) people  or Abyssinians.

Amhara girls

The State of Amhara covers an estimated area of 170,752 square kilometres and  consists of 10 administrative zones, one special zone, 105 woredas, and 78 urban centres. The capital city of the State of Amhara is Bahir-Dar. According to recent National Population Census, the Amhara constitute about 23 million people, making up to comprising 30.1% of the country's population. Majority of the Amhara population can be found specifically in the provinces of Begender, Gojjam, Wallo, some parts of Shoa and the mountainous areas of Amhara state.

Amhara women, Amhara culture, Ethiopia

The Amhara who are the second largest ethnolinguistic group after the Oromo people are descendants of ancient Semitic conquerors who migrated southward to mingled with indigenous Cushitic peoples (Oromos)  built the powerful ancient Kingdom of Aksum in Ethiopia.  They claim ancestry through Shem the eldest son of biblical Noah and trace their lineage all the way to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba; aw well as the legendary ancient King Menelik I.  They carried that same ancestral line all the way to 1974 with Emperor Haile Selassie. Also, about 50 % of the Amhara are part of what is known as the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which is an ancient Christian church founded around the 4th century. The Amhara do have their rituals and ceremonies, including the annual Coptic and national holidays and the monthly saints' days. In addition, daily and monthly rites celebrate spirits whose identity lies outside the teachings of the Ethiopian Church.

The Amhara are ardent animal husbandry people, about 40% of the livestock population in Ethiopia are found in their territory. The huge livestock potential of this region gives ample opportunity for meat and milk production, food processing as well as leather and wool production. The Sate of Amhara also has mineral resources such as coal, shell, limestone, lignite, gypsum, gemstone, silica, sulfur and bentonite. Hot springs and mineral water are also found in the region.

Most importantly the Amhara state has great tourism and heritage industry. The 12th century Rock-Hewn churches of Lalibela, and the palaces in Gondar are some of the world known heritages. The traditional mural paintings and hand craft, the preserved corpse of the royalty found in the ancient monasteries in Lake Tana, as well as the Semien mountains national park, which shelters the endemic Walia ibex are spectacular tourist attractions, Three tourist attractions found in the region are registered in the UNESCO list of world heritages. Besides these known heritages, the Blue Nile Falls, the caves and unique stones in northern Showa, and the Merto Le Mariam church are special tourist attractions.

Origin of the Name Amhara

The etymology of the name Amhara has different sources. It is said that the ethnolinguistic name (the language and its speakers) Amhara comes from the medieval province of Amhara, located around Lake Tana at the headwaters of the Blue Nile and including a slightly larger area than Ethiopia's present Amhara Region.

Other people trace it to amari ("pleasing; beautiful; gracious") or mehare ("gracious"). The Ethiopian historian Getachew Mekonnen Hasen traces it to an ethnic name related to the Himyarites of ancient Yemen. Still others say that it derives from Ge'ez ዓም (ʿam, "people") and ሓራ (h.ara, "free" or "soldier"), although this has been dismissed by scholars such as Donald Levine as a folk etymology.

Beautiful Amhara children from Ethiopia

Geography and Climate

The State of Amhara is topographically divided into two main parts, namely the highlands and lowlands. The highlands are above 1500 meters above sea level and comprise the largest part of the northern and eastern parts of the region. The highlands are also characterized by chains of mountains and plateaus. Ras Dejen (4620 m), the highest peak in the country, Guna (4236 m), Choke (4184m) and Abune – Yousef (4190m) are among the mountain peaks that are located in the highland parts of the region.

The lowland part covers mainly the western and eastern parts with an altitude between 500-1500 meters above sea level. Areas beyond 2,300 meters above sea level fall within the "Dega" climatic Zone, and areas between the 1,500-2,300 meter above sea level contour fall within the "Woina Dega" climatic zone; and areas below 1,500 contour fall within the "Kolla" or hot climatic zones. The Dega, Woina Dega and Kolla parts of the region constitute 25%, 44% and 31% of the total area of the region, respectively.

The annual mean temperature for most parts of the region lies between 15°C-21°C. The State receives the highest percentage (80%) of the total rainfall in the country. The highest rainfall occurs during the summer season, which starts in mid June and ends in early September.

The State of Amhara is divided mainly by three river basins, namely the Abbay, Tekezze and Awash drainage basins. The Blue Nile (Abbay) river is the largest of all covering approximately 172,254 Km2. Its total length to its junction with the white Nile in Khartoum is 1,450 Km, of which 800 km is within Ethiopia. The drainage-basin of the Tekeze river is about 88,800 km2. In addition, Anghereb, Millie, Kessem and Jema are among the major national rivers, which are found in this region.

Tana, the largest lake in Ethiopia is located at centre of the region. It covers an area of 3,6000 km2. Besides, other crater lakes like Zengeni, Gudena Yetilba, Ardibo (75km2) and Logia (35 km2) are small lakes that are found in the region.

The rivers and lakes of the region have immense potential for hydroelectric power generation, irrigation and fishery development.

Blue Nile

Walia ibex, Semien fox, Gelada-baboon, Grey Duiker, Klipspringer, Hyenas and Corocodile are among the twenty-one species (three endemic) that are found in the region, especially at the Semien mountain national park. Wild fowls, Francolins, Pelicans, Cranes, Ibises, and Stocks are among the birds that are found in the region.

   Amhara plateau

Myths (Creation):

It is said that Eve had thirty children, and one day God asked Eve to show Him her children. Eve became suspicious and apprehensive and hid fifteen of them from the sight of God. God knew her act of disobedience and declared the fifteen children she showed God as His chosen children and cursed the fifteen she hid, declaring that they go henceforth into the world as devils and wretched creatures of the earth. Now some of the children complained and begged God’s mercy. God heard them and, being merciful, made some of them foxes, jackals, rabbits, etc., so that they might exist as Earth’s creatures in a dignified manner. Some of the hidden children he left human, but sent them away with the curse of being agents of the devil. These human counterparts of the devil are the ancestors of the buda people. There occurs a pleat in time and the story takes up its theme again when Christ was baptized at age thirty.

Language

Amhara people speak Aramaic language (/æmˈhærɪk/ or /ɑːmˈhɑrɪk/; Amharic: አማርኛ Amarəñña, IPA: ) which is a Semitic language that belong to the larger Afro-Asiatic language phylum.  It is the second-most spoken Semitic language in the world, after Arabic, and the official working language of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Thus, it has official status and is used nationwide. Amharic is also the official or working language of several of the states within the federal system. It has been the working language of government, the military, and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church throughout medieval and modern times. Outside Ethiopia, Amharic is the language of some 2.7 million emigrants. It is written (left-to-right) using Amharic Fidel, ፊደል, which grew out of the Ge'ez abugida—called, in Ethiopian Semitic languages, ፊደል fidel ("alphabet", "letter", or "character") and አቡጊዳ abugida (from the first four Ethiopic letters, which gave rise to the modern linguistic term abugida).

There is no agreed way of transliterating Amharic into Roman characters. The Amharic examples in the sections below use one system that is common, though not universal, among linguists specializing in Ethiopian Semitic languages.

Writing system

The Amharic script is an abugida, and the graphs of the Amharic writing system are called fidel. Each character represents a consonant+vowel sequence, but the basic shape of each character is determined by the consonant, which is modified for the vowel. Some consonant phonemes are written by more than one series of characters: /ʔ/, /s/, /sʼ/, and /h/ (the last one has four distinct letter forms). This is because these fidel originally represented distinct sounds, but phonological changes merged them. The citation form for each series is the consonant+ä form, i.e. the first column of the fidel. A font that supports Ethiopic, such as GF Zemen Unicode, is needed to see fidel on typical modern computer systems.Alphabet

Chart of Amharic fidels

ä

u

i

a

e

ə

, ∅

o

ʷä

ʷi

ʷa

ʷe

ʷə

h

ሀ

ሁ

ሂ

ሃ

ሄ

ህ

ሆ

l

ለ

ሉ

ሊ

ላ

ሌ

ል

ሎ

ሏ

h

ሐ

ሑ

ሒ

ሓ

ሔ

ሕ

ሖ

ሗ

m

መ

ሙ

ሚ

ማ

ሜ

ም

ሞ

ሟ

s

ሠ

ሡ

ሢ

ሣ

ሤ

ሥ

ሦ

ሧ

r

ረ

ሩ

ሪ

ራ

ሬ

ር

ሮ

ሯ

s

ሰ

ሱ

ሲ

ሳ

ሴ

ስ

ሶ

ሷ

ʃ

ሸ

ሹ

ሺ

ሻ

ሼ

ሽ

ሾ

ሿ

q

ቀ

ቁ

ቂ

ቃ

ቄ

ቅ

ቆ

ቈ

ቊ

ቋ

ቌ

ቍ

b

በ

ቡ

ቢ

ባ

ቤ

ብ

ቦ

ቧ

v

ቨ

ቩ

ቪ

ቫ

ቬ

ቭ

ቮ

ቯ

t

ተ

ቱ

ቲ

ታ

ቴ

ት

ቶ

ቷ

tʃ

ቸ

ቹ

ቺ

ቻ

ቼ

ች

ቾ

ቿ

ħ

ኀ

ኁ

ኂ

ኃ

ኄ

ኅ

ኆ

ኈ

ኊ

ኋ

ኌ

ኍ

n

ነ

ኑ

ኒ

ና

ኔ

ን

ኖ

ኗ

ɲ

ኘ

ኙ

ኚ

ኛ

ኜ

ኝ

ኞ

ኟ

ʔ

አ

ኡ

ኢ

ኣ

ኤ

እ

ኦ

ኧ

k

ከ

ኩ

ኪ

ካ

ኬ

ክ

ኮ

ኰ

ኲ

ኳ

ኴ

ኵ

x

ኸ

ኹ

ኺ

ኻ

ኼ

ኽ

ኾ

w

ወ

ዉ

ዊ

ዋ

ዌ

ው

ዎ

ʔ

ዐ

ዑ

ዒ

ዓ

ዔ

ዕ

ዖ

z

ዘ

ዙ

ዚ

ዛ

ዜ

ዝ

ዞ

ዟ

ʒ

ዠ

ዡ

ዢ

ዣ

ዤ

ዥ

ዦ

ዧ

j

የ

ዩ

ዪ

ያ

ዬ

ይ

ዮ

d

ደ

ዱ

ዲ

ዳ

ዴ

ድ

ዶ

ዷ

dʒ

ጀ

ጁ

ጂ

ጃ

ጄ

ጅ

ጆ

ጇ

g

ገ

ጉ

ጊ

ጋ

ጌ

ግ

ጎ

ጐ

ጒ

ጓ

ጔ

ጕ

t'

ጠ

ጡ

ጢ

ጣ

ጤ

ጥ

ጦ

ጧ

tʃ'

ጨ

ጩ

ጪ

ጫ

ጬ

ጭ

ጮ

ጯ

p'

ጰ

ጱ

ጲ

ጳ

ጴ

ጵ

ጶ

ጷ

ts'

ጸ

ጹ

ጺ

ጻ

ጼ

ጽ

ጾ

ጿ

ts'

ፀ

ፁ

ፂ

ፃ

ፄ

ፅ

ፆ

f

ፈ

ፉ

ፊ

ፋ

ፌ

ፍ

ፎ

ፏ

p

ፐ

ፑ

ፒ

ፓ

ፔ

ፕ

ፖ

ፗ

ä

u

i

a

e

ə

, ∅

o

ʷä

ʷi

ʷa

ʷe

ʷə

Gemination

As in most other Ethiopian Semitic languages, gemination is contrastive in Amharic. That is, consonant length can distinguish words from one another; for example, alä 'he said', allä 'there is'; yǝmätall 'he hits', yǝmmättall 'he is hit'. Gemination is not indicated in Amharic orthography, but Amharic readers typically do not find this to be a problem. This property of the writing system is analogous to the vowels of Arabic and Hebrew or the tones of many Bantu languages, which are not normally indicated in writing. The noted Ethiopian novelist Haddis Alemayehu, who was an advocate of Amharic orthography reform, indicated gemination in his novel Fǝqǝr Əskä Mäqabǝr by placing a dot above the characters whose consonants were geminated, but this practice is rare.

Punctuation

Punctuation includes:

፠ section mark

፡ word separator

። full stop (period)

፣ comma

፤ semicolon

፥ colon

፦ Preface colon (introduces speech from a descriptive prefix)

፧ question mark

፨ paragraph separator

Grammar

Simple Amharic sentences

One may construct simple Amharic sentences by using a subject and a predicate. Here are a few simple sentences:

ʾItyop̣p̣ya ʾAfriqa wəsṭ nat

(lit., Ethiopia Africa inside is)

'Ethiopia is in Africa.'

Ləǧu täññətʷall.

(lit., boy is.asleep)

'The boy is asleep.'

Ayyäru däss yəlall

(lit., weather good is)

'The weather is good.'

Əssu wädä kätäma mäṭṭa.

(lit., he to city came)

'He came to the city.'

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

In most languages, there is a small number of basic distinctions of person, number, and often gender that play a role within the grammar of the language. We see these distinctions within the basic set of independent personal pronouns, for example, English I, Amharic እኔ ǝne; English she, Amharic እሷ ǝsswa. In Amharic, as in other Semitic languages, the same distinctions appear in three other places within the grammar of the languages.

Subject–verb agreement

All Amharic verbs agree with their subjects; that is, the person, number, and (second- and third-person singular) gender of the subject of the verb are marked by suffixes or prefixes on the verb. Because the affixes that signal subject agreement vary greatly with the particular verb tense/aspect/mood, they are normally not considered to be pronouns and are discussed elsewhere in this article under verb conjugation.

Object pronoun suffixes

Amharic verbs often have additional morphology that indicates the person, number, and (second- and third-person singular) gender of the object of the verb.

አልማዝን አየኋት

almazǝn ayyähʷ-at

Almaz-ACC I-saw-her

'I saw Almaz'

While morphemes such as -at in this example are sometimes described as signaling object agreement, analogous to subject agreement, they are more often thought of as object pronoun suffixes because, unlike the markers of subject agreement, they do not vary significantly with the tense/aspect/mood of the verb. For arguments of the verb other than the subject or the object, there are two separate sets of related suffixes, one with a benefactive meaning (to, for), the other with an adversative or locative meaning (against', to the detriment of, on', at).

ለአልማዝ በሩን ከፈትኩላት

läʾalmaz bärrun käffätku-llat

for-Almaz door-DEF-ACC I-opened-for-her

'I opened the door for Almaz'

በአልማዝ በሩን ዘጋሁባት

bäʾalmaz bärrun zäggahu-bbat

on-Almaz door-DEF-ACC I-closed-on-her

'I closed the door on Almaz (to her detriment)'

Morphemes such as -llat and -bbat in these examples will be referred to in this article as prepositional object pronoun suffixes because they correspond to prepositional phrases such as for her and on her, to distinguish them from the direct object pronoun suffixes such as -at 'her'.

Possessive suffixes

Amharic has a further set of morphemes that are suffixed to nouns, signalling possession: ቤት bet 'house', ቤቴ bete, my house, ቤቷ; betwa, her house.

In each of these four aspects of the grammar, independent pronouns, subject–verb agreement, object pronoun suffixes, and possessive suffixes, Amharic distinguishes eight combinations of person, number, and gender. For first person, there is a two-way distinction between singular (I) and plural (we), whereas for second and third persons, there is a distinction between singular and plural and within the singular a further distinction between masculine and feminine (you m. sg., you f. sg., you pl., he, she, they).

Amharic is a pro-drop language. That is, neutral sentences in which no element is emphasized normally do not have independent pronouns: ኢትዮጵያዊ ነው ʾityop̣p̣yawi näw 'he's Ethiopian', ጋበዝኳት gabbäzkwat 'I invited her'. The Amharic words that translate he, I, and her do not appear in these sentences as independent words. However, in such cases, the person, number, and (second- or third-person singular) gender of the subject and object are marked on the verb. When the subject or object in such sentences is emphasized, an independent pronoun is used: እሱ ኢትዮጵያዊ ነው ǝssu ʾityop̣p̣yawi näw 'he's Ethiopian', እኔ ጋበዝኳት ǝne gabbäzkwat 'I invited her', እሷን ጋበዝኳት ǝsswan gabbäzkwat 'I invited her'.

The table below shows alternatives for many of the forms. The choice depends on what precedes the form in question, usually whether this is a vowel or a consonant, for example, for the 1st person singular possessive suffix, አገሬ agär-e 'my country', ገላዬ gäla-ye 'my body'.

Amharic Personal Pronouns

English

Independent

Object pronoun suffixes

Possessive suffixes

Direct

Prepositional

Benefactive

Locative/Adversative

I

እኔ

ǝne

-(ä/ǝ)ñ

-(ǝ)llǝñ

-(ǝ)bbǝñ

-(y)e

you (m. sg.)

አንተ

antä

-(ǝ)h

-(ǝ)llǝh

-(ǝ)bbǝh

-(ǝ)h

you (f. sg.)

አንቺ

anči

-(ǝ)š

-(ǝ)llǝš

-(ǝ)bbǝš

-(ǝ)š

you (polite)

እርስዎ

əswo

-(ə)wo(t)

-(ǝ)llǝwo(t)

-(ǝ)bbǝwo(t)

-wo

he

እሱ

ǝssu

-(ä)w, -t

-(ǝ)llät

-(ǝ)bbät

-(w)u

she

እሷ

ǝsswa

-at

-(ǝ)llat

-(ǝ)bbat

-wa

s/he (polite)

እሳቸው

əssaččäw

-aččäw

-(ǝ)llaččäw

-(ǝ)bbaččäw

-aččäw

we

እኛ

ǝñña

-(ä/ǝ)n

-(ǝ)llǝn

-(ǝ)bbǝn

-aččǝn

you (pl.)

እናንተ

ǝnnantä

-aččǝhu

-(ǝ)llaččǝhu

-(ǝ)bbaččǝhu

-aččǝhu

they

እነሱ

ǝnnässu

-aččäw

-(ǝ)llaččäw

-(ǝ)bbaččäw

-aččäw

Within second- and third-person singular, there are two additional "polite" independent pronouns, for reference to people that the speaker wishes to show respect towards. This usage is an example of the so-called T-V distinction that is made in many languages. The polite pronouns in Amharic are እርስዎ ǝrswo 'you (sg. polite)'. and እሳቸው ǝssaččäw 's/he (polite)'. Although these forms are singular semantically—they refer to one person—they correspond to third-person plural elsewhere in the grammar, as is common in other T-V systems. For the possessive pronouns, however, the polite 2nd person has the special suffix -wo 'your sg. pol.'

For possessive pronouns (mine, yours, etc.), Amharic adds the independent pronouns to the preposition yä- 'of': የኔ yäne 'mine', ያንተ yantä 'yours m. sg.', ያንቺ yanči 'yours f. sg.', የሷ yässwa 'hers', etc.

Reflexive pronouns

For reflexive pronouns ('myself', 'yourself', etc.), Amharic adds the possessive suffixes to the noun ራስ ras 'head': ራሴ rase 'myself', ራሷ raswa 'herself', etc.

Demonstrative pronouns

Like English, Amharic makes a two-way distinction between near ('this, these') and far ('that, those') demonstrative expressions (pronouns, adjectives, adverbs). Besides number, as in English, Amharic also distinguishes masculine and feminine gender in the singular.

Amharic Demonstrative Pronouns

Number, Gender

Near

Far

Singular

Masculine

ይህ yǝh(ǝ)

ያ ya

Feminine

ይቺ yǝčči, ይህች yǝhǝčč

ያቺ

yačči

Plural

እነዚህ ǝnnäzzih

እነዚያ ǝnnäzziya

There are also separate demonstratives for formal reference, comparable to the formal personal pronouns: እኚህ ǝññih 'this, these (formal)' and እኒያ ǝnniya 'that, those (formal)'.

The singular pronouns have combining forms beginning with zz instead of y when they follow a preposition: ስለዚህ sǝläzzih 'because of this; therefore', እንደዚያ ǝndäzziya 'like that'. Note that the plural demonstratives, like the second and third person plural personal pronouns, are formed by adding the plural prefix እነ ǝnnä- to the singular masculine forms.

Nouns

Amharic nouns can be primary or derived. A noun like əgər 'foot, leg' is primary, and a noun like əgr-äñña 'pedestrian' is a derived noun.

Gender

Amharic nouns can have a masculine or feminine gender. There are several ways to express gender. An example is the old suffix -t for femininity. This suffix is no longer productive and is limited to certain patterns and some isolated nouns. Nouns and adjectives ending in -awi usually take the suffix -t to form the feminine form, e.g. ityop̣p̣ya-(a)wi 'Ethiopian (m.)' vs. ityop̣p̣ya-wi-t 'Ethiopian (f.)'; sämay-awi 'heavenly (m.)' vs. sämay-awi-t 'heavenly (f.)'. This suffix also occurs in nouns and adjective based on the pattern qət(t)ul, e.g. nəgus 'king' vs. nəgəs-t 'queen' and qəddus 'holy (m.)' vs. qəddəs-t 'holy (f.)'.

Some nouns and adjectives take a feminine marker -it: ləǧ 'child, boy' vs. ləǧ-it 'girl'; bäg 'sheep, ram' vs. bäg-it 'ewe'; šəmagəlle 'senior, elder (m.)' vs.
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