Language Information

One of the Semitic Languages, Ethiopic is a relative of Arabic and Hebrew,but most closely related to the South Arabian languages and to the modern South Semitic languages of Ethiopia, notably Amharic. Ethiopic is the traditional language of Ethiopian Christian Church.

Ethiopic literature began with translation of Bible and Christian texts of all kinds: early translation were made in Greek, but many later ones came from Arabic versions, and in many cases the intermediate ones do not survive.

As a spoken language Ethiopic gave way to later local standards which developed into modern Tigrinya, Tigre and Amharic.