Author(s) :

Ephraim Isaac.

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Abstract :

Western commentary on 1 Enoch is almost as old as the arrival in Europe of its first Ge'ez manuscripts. The pioneering works of Dillmann and Charles relied on these few manuscripts as well as the scattered fragments of 1 Enoch in Latin and Greek. With the publication of the recently discovered Qumran Aramaic and Chester Beatty Greek fragments, various scholars have continued to shed more light on the difficult passages of 1 Enoch. However, Ethiopian sources for the study of 1 Enoch still remain largely untapped. Indeed, most studies have been content to resort to the Ge'ez text solely to reconstruct from it the Aramaic original.1 The existence of an extensive Ethiopian commentary tradition and its potential for elucidating 1 Enoch has, for the most part, been sadly overlooked.2 The Andemta3 commentary, which is the oral commentary tradition taught in major Ethiopian exegesis schools, took its current shape around the eighteenth century. This exegetical tradition employs various biblical, patristic and local sources to give verse by verse commentary of the Ge'ez text in the vernacular Amharic. Even though western scholars have long known the existence of Andemta commentary manuscripts on 1 Enoch, this commentary tradition has yet to be published and adequately studied.4 Moreover, earlier traditional Ethiopian commentaries on 1 Enoch have been attested as far back as the fifteenth century. At the present stage of knowledge, it is difficult to assess the full extent of these early Ge'ez commentaries (Tergwame5). In his pioneering synopsis of Ethiopian biblical exegesis, Roger Cowley listed three Tergwame manuscripts on 1 Enoch then known to exist.6 We can now add to the list at least two more Tergwame texts.7 Even with these few manuscripts, we appear to possess early Ge'ez Tergwame commentary for all five books of 1 Enoch8—lending support to the possibility that an extensive Tergwame commentary on Enoch might have once existed. This article presents a Ge'ez Tergwame text on 1 Enoch as found in a seventeenth century manuscript.9 This manuscript contains fragments of four Tergwame commentaries. The first commentary text deals with the Animal Apocalypse (1 Enoch: 85-90),10 whereas the second fragment comments on scattered references to the "Righteous and the Wicked" in the Book of Watchers (1 Enoch: 1-36)11. The third text is a commentary on the Book of Parables (1 Enoch: 37-71),12 and the last text expounds the "Secrets" found scattered in 1 Enoch.13 Only the first Tergwame text on the Animal Apocalypse will be presented in this article.

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10

Author(s) :

Hiruie Ermias.

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Abstract :

Apart from the life history and spiritual combats of saints, hagiographies deal with various historical occurrences that happened during the lifetime of the saints to whom they are dedicated. In some cases, incidents that took place before the rise of the saints are narrated in the hagiographies as standing points of the stories happened during their lifetime. The Hagiography of St. Qawǝsṭos is one of the oldest hagiographical manuscripts which are rich in cultural and historical accounts. It is composed by Abuna Mabāʻa Ṣǝyon who was the disciple of the saint in the 14th century. As a direct witness, the composer wrote the saint’s spiritual struggle and achievements sincerely and unambiguously. He has carefully mentioned the places where the incidents that had relation with the saint took place. The flow of the historical narratives covers the period between 970 BC to 15th CE, from Jerusalem to Kafā and ‘Ǝnsāro of Ethiopia. One of its peculiarities is that some of the historical accounts are not found written in other relevant sources. It also provides extent information with regard the known historical narrations such as the arrival of Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopia. The aim of this narrative article is to concisely demonstrate such historical narratives described in the hagiography. It consists of four sections and eight sub-sections which contain various selected issues. The first section is an introduction which gives an impression of the significance of hagiographies. The second and third sections deal with the tradition of the hagiography and the historical events described in it. The fourth section is a conclusion that delivers a short and kind recommendation.

No. of Downloads :

2

Author(s) :

Zelealem Leyew.

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Abstract :

This paper describes the rapidly changing phonological, morphological and lexical features in Amharic. The qualitative data collected from spoken and written sources suggest that Amharic sounds are being articulated differently. There is a tendency to articulate ejectives as non-ejectives and the flap as approximant. Shortening of syllables is frequent. There is a widespread replacement of /h/ by /k/ particularly in the 2MS agreement marking. In morphology, the locative marker ጋ /ga/ is being replaced with the accompaniment marker ጋር /gar/. The 2nd person respect form is being replaced by the 2nd person plural form. There is a tendency to replace the 1SG marker /-hu/ by /-w/ in verbs. Double case marking has become common. The use of incompatible tenses in written and spoken Amharic has become normal. Quite a large number of words are added into Amharic through derivation, compounding and semantic extension. Loan translation from English has brought a number of new words and expressions into Amharic. The extended greeting system is being reduced to ሰላም /sälam/ 'peace' or ሰላም ነው? /sälam n-äw/ 'Is it peaceful?'. There is a widespread use of ፒስ ነው? /pis näw/ lit. 'Is it peace?' combining English and Amharic. All the changes witnessed are either internally or externally motivated. The ongoing rapid change in the grammar and the lexicon are attributed to language contact, technological innovations and the change of the political landscape of the country since 1991. The young generation of speakers who enjoy ease of articulation and morphological economization in their interest to be viewed modern are the main actors. Quite a significant number of speakers believe that the language is developing, but at the same time worry, that it is suffering from unspeakable linguistic turbulence.

No. of Downloads :

13