Ethiopia
1. Arabic in Ethiopia pian Muslims. As children they learn to read
Since ancient times Arabic has played an impor-
tant role in the social and literary life of
Ethiopia. The geographic proximity between
the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula
has encouraged cultural and linguistic contacts
between the two sides of the Red Sea. As a
result, the Arabic language has had a consider-
able influence on the languages and literature
of Ethiopia. Until now, though, only a limited
amount of the available data has been studied.
Although Ethiopia is generally known as a
Christian country, it is nevertheless host to a
rich Islamic culture with a long history. Con-
sequently, Arabic influence is reflected both on
the literary level and in everyday life, as in
any other Muslim society. The predominantly
Muslim areas of Ethiopia are eastern Ethiopia,
with the old city of Harar as its cultural center,
most parts of the Oromo region in the East and
Southeast as well as in the Southwest around the
city of Jimma, the eastern part of Wällo in the
Northeast, the Somali and Afar regions, parts of
the Gurage-Sël†e region, and the Beni Shangul
region in the Far West, at the Sudanese border.
It has been claimed (Ferguson 1970) that
Arabic functions as a trade language in Ethio-
pia, but sociolinguistic investigations (Cooper
and Carpenter 1976) do not support this claim.
In fact, there exist different spheres of spoken
and written Arabic in Ethiopia. First, there
are Arabic-speaking immigrant communities,
mostly from Yemen, and traders from the Gulf
States, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen who regularly
come for commercial purposes. Another group
are foreign, Arabic-speaking members of da≠wà
groups who travel around the country, teaching
the local Muslim population about the tenets
of their religion. Ethiopians who have worked
in Arab countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Leba-
non, or Yemen, often have some knowledge
of spoken Arabic, depending on the length of
their stay. Many inhabitants of the Beni Shan-
gul region are bi- or multilingual in Sudanese
Arabic and Ethiopian languages.
Furthermore, as in the entire Islamic world,
Arabic is the religious language of the Ethio-
EALL G1_Ethiopia_1-6.indd 1
and pronounce the signs of the Arabic writing
system in Qur±àn schools. Although most do
not really master the language, some continue
their study of Arabic in modern or traditional
centers of advanced Islamic learning.
2. Christian literature
The Axumite Kingdom in northern Ethiopia
became a Christian country in the 4th century
C.E. Its church belonged to Orthodox Chris-
tianity and had close connections to Coptic
Egypt. Although the Ethiopian Church was
theologically independent, its patriarch used to
be an Egyptian, sent by the Coptic patriarch in
Alexandria.
The Classical Ethiopian language Gë≠ëz con-
tinued to survive as the literary and liturgical
language of the Ethiopian Church. After the
rise of the Solomonic dynasty in the 13th cen-
tury, cultural activities increased, contacts with
Egypt were intensified, and many Arab monks,
craftsmen, and merchants came to Ethiopia.
The Arabic language became the medium of
communication of the Ethiopian Christian rul-
ers with their Arab neighbors.
The lasting Arabic linguistic influence on Ethi-
opian languages of that time can be observed in
the literature. The first attested contact between
Arabic and Ethiopian languages falls in that
period. Many theological works of the Ethio-
pian Orthodox Church were translated from
Arabic into Gë≠ëz. In addition to works with
religious content, many historical and hagio-
graphical treatises were translated as well. In
the process of translation, this literary variety
of Gë≠ëz was heavily influenced by Arabic.
Because Classical Arabic and Gë≠ëz have many
structural similarities, word-by-word transla-
tions seemed to be the easiest strategy for the
translators, many of whom were Arabs.
On the lexical level, this resulted in an in-
crease of Arabic loanwords; on the syntactic
level, it led to new morphosyntactic structures
which were not typical for Gë≠ëz and original
Arabic (cf. Kropp 1986). It is not easy to
give examples of Arabic loanwords which were
5/31/2006 4:44:14 AM
 2 ethiopia
incorporated into Gë≠ëz through direct contact,
because the incorporation must have taken
place at a time when the language was still
spoken, i.e. sometime before the 10th century
C.E. In fact, this has to remain speculative,
since most Gë≠ëz literature was produced after
the language had died out as a spoken language
and is based mainly on Arabic literature (Kropp
1986:315). Leslau (1990:59) supposes that the
language “incorporated into its vocabulary
words of the spoken Arabic dialects”, but he
deals only with the phonetic correspondences
between the Arabic loanwords in Gë≠ëz and
their Arabic etyma. The extensive list of Arabic
loanwords at the end of Leslau’s (1990) article
is structured according to semantic domains
but does not mention the origin of individual
words. In his article he even contradicts himself
by saying that “the Arabic loanwords were
taken over in the literary language of Geez and
were not adopted by the spoken language”
(Leslau 1990:69). Kropp (1986:328) gives
some examples of loanwords from Christian
Arabic literature: ba≠ ‘ba [length measure]’,
™ëßn ‘fortress’, sahël ‘coast’, (ël)-më≠tëzëla
‘secessionist, rebel’.
3. Islamic literature and
Classical Arabic
The first contact between Ethiopia and
Islam dates back to the time of the Prophet
Mu™ammad, when a number of his followers
found refuge at the Axumite court in northern
Ethiopia. However, relatively little is known
about the early propagation of Islam among
Ethiopians. It is assumed that Islam was spread
to the local population by Arabian travelers
who had crossed the Red Sea, mainly mer-
chants but also learned men.
The presence of Islamic statehood in Ethiopia
beginning in the 9th century C.E. indicates
an early use of Arabic in Ethiopia. There are,
however, few written sources from that period.
In Eastern Shoa, the region neighboring the
Christian kingdom to the southeast, Arabic
inscriptions on ruins of a mosque give the
year 171 A.H. as the date of its construction
(Hawwatoota Godina Oromiyaa 2000:16).
The first Muslim state in Ethiopia was the
Sultanate of Shoa, founded in the year 896
C.E. by the Maxzùmì dynasty. An Arabic docu-
ment gives some historical accounts of that
EALL G1_Ethiopia_1-6.indd 2
sultanate (Cerulli 1941). In the following cen-
turies, more Muslim states emerged in the east
and south of Shoa (Braukämper 2004). In
1285 C.E. Yìfàt (or Awfàt), which was ruled
by the Wàlašma≠ (or Wàlasma≠) dynasty (cf.
Wagner 1976), attacked Shoa and ousted its
Maxzùmì ruler. Subsequently, Yìfàt became
the most powerful Islamic state in Ethiopia by
conquering neighboring Islamic principalities.
After years of fierce wars with the Christian
kingdom, Yìfàt was defeated in 1415 C.E.,
and the Wàlašma≠ rulers moved to the east and
made the city of Harar the new capital of their
kingdom, now called Adal. With the exception
of Harar, most of the Islamic principalities
in southern and eastern Ethiopia disappeared
during a devastating war in the 16th century
between the Christian kingdom and Adal and
the subsequent Oromo migration in the 17th
century. As a result, all the Islamic entities
of southern and eastern Ethiopia were extin-
guished or dramatically reduced. With our cur-
rent state of knowledge, it is impossible to draw
any conclusions about the knowledge of Arabic
among the population of these territories prior
to these events.
Harar, however, remained a major center
of Muslim scholarship in Ethiopia. Being the
language of Islam, Arabic was used in religious
teaching, liturgy, and administration. But it
also functioned as a literary language in a wider
sense. The bookbinding tradition, which was
remarkably sophisticated, illustrates the appre-
ciation of literature by Harar’s population.
The Arabic literature found in Ethiopia can
be classified into two types: works originally
composed by Arab authors and works written
by indigenous scholars. The level of compe-
tence in Classical Arabic can be measured by
the various genres of Arabic literature imported
to Harar. This imported Arabic literature com-
prises “a fair number of standard works by
Arab authors as well as some of the classics
of Arabic religious poetry and pious literature,
such as Ibn Màlik’s ±Alfiyya, Ibn £ajar’s Tu™fa,
Bùßìrì’s Burda and Hamziyya and Jazùlì’s
Dalà±il al-xayràt” (Drewes 1976:174).
Most of the known and documented indig-
enous literary Arabic works were written in
Harar. Two authors from the 18th century
were ≠Abd al-≠Azìz ibn ±Amìr Hàšim and £àmid
ibn al-Faqìh Íiddìq al-Hararì al-£imyarì (cf.
Brunschvig 1974). A large number of manu-
5/31/2006 4:44:17 AM
 ethiopia
scripts from Harar were collected and docu-
mented by European scholars (cf. Drewes 1983;
Wagner 1997).
The life of the most important saint of Harar,
”ayx ±Abàdir ≠Umar ar-Ri∂à, who came to
Harar from the £ijàz in the early 13th century,
is described in a 19th-century manuscript Fat™
madìna Harar al-≠ulyà fì sìrat al-mujtahidìn
al-±awliyà± (Wagner 1978). Furthermore, the
indigenous Arabic literature comprises mainly
genealogies of the Harari rulers from the 13th
century until the late 19th century (Wagner
1973, 1974a, 1974b, 1991) and songs com-
posed in praise of the Prophet as well as local
saints (Wagner 1975).
In the 18th century, centers of Islamic schol-
arship were also established in the eastern part
of Wällo. This region was in direct contact with
neighboring Yìfàt and was probably Islamized
during the same period. In the 18th century, the
Qàdiriyya ßùfì order, having been introduced in
Wällo from Harar, played a crucial role in the
establishment of Islamic centers (cf. Hussein
1988, 2001). These centers of learning were
founded by pious individuals and supported by
local dynasties. Most of them were located in
the narrow lowland area between the highland
in the west and the desert in the east. Impor-
tant locations were Anna in Rayya (north-
ern Wällo), Dana in Yäjju, and Gäddo and
Shonke in Däwwe (in southern Wällo). Some of
the most influential scholars from Wällo were
Muftì Dàwùd (late 18th century) from Gäddo,
”ayx Mu™ammad al-±Annì from Anna and
”ayx ±A™mad b. ±âdam from Dana (both late
19th century), and ”ayx Jawhar ibn £aydar
(early 20th century) from Shonke. They taught
various fields of Islamic learning and played a
crucial role in the revival of Islam in that region
of Ethiopia. Furthermore, the scholarly reputa-
tion of the ≠ulamà± from Wällo was such that
students from other Muslim regions, like Gur-
age in central Ethiopia and Jimma in the south-
west, came to Wällo for higher education.
Many of the Wällo scholars had studied in
the £ijàz and Yemen. When they returned to
Ethiopia, they brought Arabic literature of vari-
ous genres to Ethiopia. As in Harar, they cop-
ied these books for educational purposes. Muftì
Dàwùd from Däwwe, for example, produced
many copies of well-known books, which today
can only be found in private collections. But in
addition to this, Wällo scholars composed a
EALL G1_Ethiopia_1-6.indd 3
3
large number of works in Classical Arabic. This
literature still remains to be studied. It com-
prises mainly songs and poems in praise of the
Prophet, sung during mawlid celebrations.
4. Islamic literature: AJÄM
Though nominally Muslim, the majority of the
population did not know very much about the
basic tenets of their faith. The need to teach
and inform the population in its own language
was an important concern of the local ≠ulamà±.
This was their motivation to compose and
write works in Ethiopian languages. Except
for the case of Harari (cf. Wagner 1983a), this
Islamic literature in Ethiopian languages re-
mains virtually unnoticed. There are works at
least in the languages Amharic (cf. Pankhurst
1994), Argobba, Oromo, and Sël†e (Wagner
1983b). Literature in other Ethiopian languages
may also exist (in Afar, Tigrinya, and others).
This literature is called ajäm in Amharic and
is written in the Arabic writing system. In
Ethiopia, knowledge of this literature and par-
ticularly the application of Arabic script to
Ethiopian languages is almost nonexistent.
Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia, is
usually written with the Ethiopic writing system.
However, this script was always regarded as
a Christian script and therefore unacceptable
to Muslim scholars, whose primary literal
language was Arabic. Arabic was the familiar
writing system for the authors of the ajäm
literary works.
Some phonological similarities between
Ethio-Semitic (Amharic, Harari, Sël†e) and
Cushitic languages (Oromo) on the one hand
and Arabic on the other hand facilitated the
application of the Arabic script to Ethiopian
languages. Ejective stops, characteristic for the
Ethiopian linguistic area, are represented in
Arabic script by etymologically corresponding
signs: q (IPA: k±) by ‫ ق‬and † (IPA: t±) by ‫ط‬. Only
a few consonants do not exist in Arabic and
have had to be represented by modified letters
(Wetter, forthcoming). For Amharic these are
the consonants ∑, ç, ž, g, and ñ, and for Oromo
the implosive ∂.
Table 1 shows the modified Arabic signs used
in Amharic, Argobba, Oromo, and Sël†e ajäm.
The consonants ñ and g have two regional
variations. The fourth column contains a
description of every modified sign.
5/31/2006 4:44:17 AM
 4 ethiopia

Table 1. Modified letters in Arabic script for Ethiopian languages

Ethiopian IPA Ajäm Description
consonant representation representation

∑ t∑ ‫ﺳﭣ‬ 4 points above sìn

ç t∑± ‫ڟ‬ 3 points above or under †à±
ž À ‫ژ‬ 3 points above rà±

g g ‫ چ‬or ‫ڭ‬ 3 points above kàf or under ™à±

ñ õ ‫ ﯨـﻲ‬or ‫ۑ‬ 3 points under yà± or nùn + yà±

implosive d , ‫ڎ‬ 3 points above dàl

Most of the ajäm works in Amharic are com-
posed in various forms of rhyme. The content
of these poems is usually religious (for the
content of ajäm poetry see Pankhurst 1994).
This is also the reason why the texts contain
more Arabic loanwords than does the spoken
language. One of the most important authors
of Amharic ajäm was the scholar ¢al™a Ja≠far
from Argobba in eastern Wällo, whose works
still await scientific documentation (cf. Hussein
1989).
While this literature is more traditional, there
evolved a modern Islamic literature consisting
mostly of theological works translated from
Arabic into Amharic and Oromo. An Arabic
newspaper (al-≠Alam) has been published by
the government since 1942 (Hussein 1994).
After 1991, when the Socialist government fell,
Islamic newspapers and magazines started to
appear.
5. Lexical influences
The most significant influence of Arabic on
Ethiopian languages can be observed on the
lexical level. Many Ethiopian languages have a
considerable percentage of Arabic loanwords.
The incorporation of Arabic loanwords took
place in different periods and from different
sources. There are differences in number and
type of Arabic loanwords according to religious
orientation of the respective speaker commu-
nity. This is the case of Amharic in particular,
with Christian and Muslim speaker groups.
An additional distinction is the way loan-
words found their way into the various Ethio-
pian languages. Some Arabic loanwords may
have been incorporated into Gë≠ëz through
language contact with spoken varieties of Ara-
bic before Gë≠ëz died out as a spoken language
around the 10th century. However, many loan-
words were incorporated during the translation
of Christian Arabic literary works, when Gë≠ëz
was merely a literary language. In many cases,
one Arabic loanword can be found in many
Ethiopian languages, making it difficult to draw
conclusions about the way these specific loan-
words were incorporated into the individual
languages. Some of the loanwords belonging
to the more literary language doubtlessly found
their way subsequently from Gë≠ëz into other
languages of Christian Ethiopia, e.g. Amharic
and Tigrinya.
A higher number of Arabic loanwords can be
observed in languages spoken by Muslim popu-
lations. These languages are Harari, the lan-
guages of Harar, Afar, and Somali, and a num-
ber of Gurage languages like Sël†e, Argobba, and
Oromo, but also regional varieties of Amharic,
which are spoken in the predominantly Muslim
areas of Wällo. As expected, many of the Ara-
bic loanwords in these languages are semanti-
cally connected to a religious context. But there
are also many words derived from Arabic that
belong to daily life.
As examples of Arabic loanwords in the
living languages, the following Argobba words
may be cited:
[∏ãruz] ‘groom’ < Arabic ≠arùz
[dÀîsm] ‘body’ < Arabic jism
[dÀãhil] ‘illiterate’ < Arabic jàhil
[sobbîr] ‘patience’ < Arabic ßabr
[sobiy] ‘small child’ < Arabic ßabiyy

EALL G1_Ethiopia_1-6.indd 4 5/31/2006 4:44:18 AM

 ethiopia 5

[tÆ∏ziyã] ‘mourning’ < Arabic ta≠ziya take the Amharic morphological structure
[t±ãhîr] ‘clean’ < Arabic †àhir C1äC2C2äC3- (perfective), -C1äC2C3- (imper-
[xãddÆm] ‘to serve’ < Arabic xadama fective), and their derived forms are like those
[xÆttÆw] ‘to write’ < Arabic xa†† ‘script’ of any other Amharic verb, e.g. täkättäbä ‘to
[zeyyÆr] ‘to pay < Arabic ziyàra ‘visit’ be written’. Sometimes Arabic plural forms are
respect’ interpreted as singular and take an Amharic
plural suffix -o∑∑, e.g. mäla±ik-o∑∑u ‘his angels’
These loanwords occur mostly in such domains (< Arabic malà±ika ‘angels [pl.]’).
as religion, scholarship, social relations, and The case of Amharic in particular shows that
law, among Muslim populations like the speakers of Amharic living in Muslim areas tend
Argobba, Muslim Amharic speakers, Harari, to use Arabic loanwords even when there is an
and Silt±e, but also in Cushitic languages like adequate Amharic term available. Sometimes
Afar, Oromo, and Somali. Leslau (1990:9) entire Arabic phrases are mixed with Amharic
assumes that Arabic loanwords in spoken syntax. This has given rise to a new idiom
Ethiopian languages “were taken from a spoken (Drewes 1976:194), a variety based on religious
language and not from classical Arabic” as in orientation that has some characteristics of a
Gë≠ëz, but some of the loanwords in the Muslim mixed language. The following lines by She
areas must have had their origin in the written Bashir Umar from Dällämäle in Wärrä Babbo
Arabic that Islamic scholars used to read. are an example of Amharic ajäm poetry:
The phonological integration of Arabic
loanwords in Ethiopian languages depends yämmiša yä’iman yäslëmënnan nägär
on the structure of the language concerned. läqärraw täkätbwall bäññaw annägaggär
Some languages or varieties, for example, ‘the one who wants [to know about] the matter
have laryngeal consonants, while some do not, of faith and Islam
e.g. Argobba du≠a and Amharic du±a ‘special for the one who reads it it has been written in
prayer’. Arabic consonants that do not exist in our language’
Ethiopian languages are usually represented by
consonants with similar place of pronunciation Arabic loanwords in this fragment include
and articulation (see also Leslau 1990:9), as in läqärraw (qärra) ‘he read, recited’ < Arabic
the following: qara±a; täkätbwall (täkättäbä) ‘it was written’ <
Arabic kitàb or kataba.
Arabic Amharic
/±/ zero or /±/ Bibliographical references
/≠/ zero or /±/ Braukämper, Ulrich. 2004. Islamic history and
culture in southern Ethiopia. Münster: Lit-Verlag.
/≈/ /z/ Brunschvig, Robert. 1974. “L’Islam enseigné par
/≈/ /d/, /t±/ Hamid b. Siddiq de Harar (XVIIIe siècle)”. IV
/ÿ/ /k±/, /k±w/ Congreso Internazionale di Studi Etiopici, I,
/™/ /h/ 445–454. Rome: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei.
Cerulli, Enrico. 1941. “Il Sultanato dello Scioa del
/x/ /k/, /kw/, but also /x/ among Muslim secolo XIII”. Rassegna di Studi Etiopici 1.5–42.
Amharic speakers Cooper, Robert L. and Susan Carpenter. 1976.
/q/ /k±/, /k±w/ “Language in the market”. Language in Ethiopia,
/ß/ /s/, /sw/ ed. M. Lionel Bender, J. Donald Bowen, R.L.
Cooper, and Charles A. Ferguson, 244–255.
/†/ /t±/ Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Drewes, Abraham Johannes. 1976. Classical Arabic
Arabic loanwords are incorporated into the in central Ethiopia. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
morphological system of the Ethiopian language ——. 1983. “The library of Mu™ammad b. ≠Ali b. ≠Abd
al-Shakùr, sul†àn of Harar, 1272–92/1856–75”.
concerned. In Amharic, many verbs of Arabic Arabian and Islamic studies: Articles presented to
origin seem to be derived from Arabic nouns, R.B. Serjeant, ed. Robin Leonard Bidwell and
e.g. zäyyärä ‘to pay respect’ < Arabic ziyàra Gerald Rex Smith, 68–79. London and New York:
Longman.
‘visit’, rather than from zàra ‘to visit’. In the
Ferguson, Charles A. 1970. “The role of Arabic in
case of other verbs the origin is not so clear, Ethiopia: A sociolinguistic perspective”. Languages
e.g., the verb kättäbä ‘to write’ could have and Linguistics Monograph Series 23.355–368.
either a verbal or a nominal origin. The verbs Hawwatoota Godina Oromoiyaa. 2000 (?). Kemise:

EALL G1_Ethiopia_1-6.indd 5 5/31/2006 4:44:18 AM

 6 ethiopia
Bulchiinsa Godina Oromiyaa. (A publication of
the Office for Tourism and Culture of the Oromiya
Zone; in Kamisee.)
Hussein Ahmed. 1988. “Traditional Muslim edu-
cation in Wallo”. Proceedings of the Ninth Inter-
national Conference of Ethiopian Studies, ed.
Anatoly A. Gromyko, II, 94–106. Moscow.
——. 1989. “The life and career of Shaykh Talha
B. Ja≠far (c. 1854–1936)”. Journal of Ethiopian
Studies 22.13–30.
——. 1994. “al-≠Alam: The history of an Ethiopian
Arabic weekly”. Proceedings of the Eleventh
International Conference of Ethiopian Studies,
ed. Bahru Zewde, R. Pankhurst, and Taddese
Beyene, 155–165. Addis Ababa: University of
Addis Ababa.
——. 2001. Islam in nineteenth-century Wallo,
Ethiopia: Revival, reform and reaction. Leiden:
E.J. Brill.
Kane, Thomas L. 1974. “Arabic translations into
Amharic”. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and
African Studies 37.608–627.
Kropp, Manfred. 1986. “Arabisch-äthiopische Über-
setzungstechnik am Beispiel der Zena Ayhud
(Yosippon) und der Tarika Wäldä”. Zeitschrift
der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft
138.315–346.
Leslau, Wolf. 1990. “Arabic loanwords in Ge≠ez”.
In Wolf, Arabic loanwords in Ethiopian Semitic,
58–80. Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz.
Pankhurst, Alula. 1994. “Indigenising Islam in
Wällo: Ajäm, Amharic verse written in Arabic
script”. Proceedings of the Eleventh International
Conference of Ethiopian Studies, ed. Bahru Zewde,
R. Pankhurst, and Taddese Beyene, 257–273.
Addis Ababa: University of Addis Ababa.
Wagner, Ewald. 1973. “Eine Liste der Heiligen von
Harar”. Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländi-
schen Gesellschaft 123.269–292.
——. 1974a. “Genealogien aus Harar”. Der Islam
51.97–117.
——. 1974b. “Three Arabic documents on the
EALL G1_Ethiopia_1-6.indd 6
history of Harar”. Journal of Ethiopian Studies
12.213–224.
——. 1975. “Arabische Heiligenlieder aus Harar”.
Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen
Gesellschaft 125.28–65.
——. 1976. “Die Chronologie der frühen muslimi-
schen Herscher in Äthiopien nach den Harariner
Emirslisten”. Wort und Wirklichkeit: Studien zur
Afrikanistik und Orientalistik Eugen Ludwig Rapp
zum 70. Geburtstag, ed. Otto Böcher and Günter
Mayer, 186–204. Meisenheim am Glan: Hain.
——. 1978. Legende und Geschichte: Der Fat™
Madìnat Harar von Ya™yà Naßrallàh. Wiesbaden:
L. Steiner.
——. 1979. “Neues Material zur ‘Ausa Chronik’”.
Die islamische Welt zwischen Mittelalter und Neu-
zeit: Festschrift für Hans Robert Roemer zum 65.
Geburtstag, ed. Ulrich Haarmann and Peter Bach-
mann, 657-673. Beirut: Orient-Institut.
——. 1983a. Harari-Texte in arabischer Schrift.
Wiesbaden: L. Steiner.
——. 1983b. “Selt±i-Verse in arabischer Schrift aus
dem Schlobies-Nachlass”. Ethiopian Studies, ed.
Stanislav Segert and András J.E. Bodrogligeti.
Wiesbaden: O. Harrassowitz.
——. 1991. “The genealogy of the later Walashma≠
sultan of Adal and Harar”. Zeitschrift der Deut-
schen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 141.376–
386.
——. 1997. Afrikanische Handschriften: Verzeichnis
der orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland,
XXIV/2. Wiesbaden: L. Steiner.
Wetter, Andreas. Forthcoming. “A comparative
description of written Muslim and Christian
Amharic”. Papers of the Symposium Cross and
Crescent: Christian-Muslim Relations in Ethiopia,
Goethe Institut, Addis Ababa, 23–28 September
2002.
Andreas Wetter
(Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz)
5/31/2006 4:44:19 AM