Ge'ez
/ɡɛˈʔɛz/noun
An ancient South Semitic language of Ethiopia and Eritrea, still used liturgically in the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Churches.
Did you know?Ge'ez became a liturgical language long after it stopped being spoken daily, which is why it survives today like a preserved spellbook of Ethiopian Christianity.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Semitic
PS
*geʔz
“An ancestral Semitic form reconstructed from later Ethiopian language evidence”
Ancient South Semitic
Semitic
Geʕez / Geʔez
“A language name in the Ethiopian linguistic tradition, associated with the ancient kingdom and its written culture”
Classical Ethiopian
Ge'ez
ግዕዝ
“The language and its literary script used for inscriptions, administration, and sacred texts”
Late Antique / Medieval
Ge'ez
ግዕዝ
“A prestige literary and church language, increasingly preserved in religious use after everyday speech shifted to newer Ethiopian languages”
Modern English
English
Ge'ez
“The scholarly name for the ancient Ethiopian language and script”