Table Of ContentDOCUMENT. RESUME
FL 005 066
ED 100 127
Leslau, Wolf
AUTHOR
Basic Amharic Dictionary: Amharic-English,
TITLE
English-Amharic. Final Report.
Institute of International Studies (DHEW/OE),
SPONS AGENCY
Washington, D.C.
BUREAU NO
BR-9-7731-FR
PUB DATE
Nov 72
CONTRACT OEC-9-097731-3330
NOTE
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*Amharic; *Dictionaries; English; Etymology; Letters
DESCRIPTORS
(Alphabet); Orthographic Symbols; *Reference Books;
*Semitic Languages; Spelling; Word Lists; Writing
NDEA Title VI
IDENTIFIERS
ABSTRACT
This basic dictionary, ctqLlisting of two sections,
Amharic - English and English-Amharic, is the first such dictionary
written since 1920. Since there is a considerable lack of consistency
in Amharic spelling, the Amharic orthography used here has been
standardized through etymological studies. Whenever necessary,
English expressions are given in parentheses to restrict or clarify
the meaning of an entry. (PMP)
01000.
COQ
SESI
r INAL REPORT
9-7731
Praject No.:
OEC-9-0q7731-33%0
Coin ract No.:
Wol f Leslan
University of California
90024
nia
Los Angeles, Cal i
Pasic Amharic Dictionary:
Amharic-Engli sh, Engl i sh -Amha r i c
OF HEALTH.
U S bEPARTMENT
EDUCATION i WELFARE
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF
EDUCATION
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OR POLICY
EDUCATION POSITION
November 1972
U.S. DEPARTMENT or HEALTH, EMCATION, AND WELEARE
Office of Education
Yi
Institute of International. Studies
0
AVAlain
REST COPY
FINAL REPCRV
9-773I
Project No.:
OEC-9-097731-3330
Contract No.:
Walf Leslau
University of California
90024
Los Angeles, California
Basic Amharic Dictionary:
Amhariz-English, English-Amharic
November 1972
The research reported herein was performed pursuant
to a contract with the OlTice of Educat ion, U.S.
D,partment of Health, Ed4cation, and Welfare.
Contractors undertaking such projects under Covernment
sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their
professional judgment in ihe conduct of the project.
Points of view or opinions stated do not, therefore,
necessarily represent official Office of Education
position or policy.
U.S. DEPAR'IMENT OT
HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELTARE
Office of Education
Institute of International Studies
.
.
oiNtuist.t
tort
a
51$1
PREFACE
Amharic in the national language of Ethiopia.
The international
.
Yet there is no adequate Amharid-English,
language of Ethiopia is English.
The latest dictionaries in Amharic of
nor hn English-Amharic dictionary.
scientific character are the foll(Jaing:
1. Guidi, Vocabolario kmarico-
Italiano, Rome 1 c.:J1 (an Amharic-Italian dictionary); J. Bacteman,
Dictionnaire amarigna-franiais, Dire-DaoLia, 1929 (an Amharic-French dic-
tionary); E. Gankin, An Amharic-Russian dictionary, Moscow 1969.
The only AaaricEnglish dictionary is that of C. H. Armbruster,
This dictionary, however, is
Cambridge, 1920.
Part III.
Initia Amharica.
incomplete; indeed it contains only the first five letters of the a:.phabet.
a French-
The dictionaries from foreign languages into Amharic are:
There is an
Amharic index in the above-mntioned J. Baeteman's dictionary.
Italian-ArhariC dictionary by L. Fusella and A. Girace, Dizionario pratico
A Russian-
e fracario per conversazionu italiano-america, Napoli 1937.
English-Amharic
Amharic dictionary was published by E. Catkin in 1965.
dictionaries are those of C. H. Armbruster, Initia Amharica, Part 11, 1910;
ionary, 1920.
and of C. H. Walker, English-Amharic di
Since these publications (with the exception of the Amharic-Russian
The
and Ruasian-Anharte dictionary), Amharic has developed considerably.
education, the literary
pro ;Tess that Ethtopia has mde in the field of
docuwslts of the )4st 50 years, the technical needs for new expressions,
the contact with the Western world, and the natural development within the
contributed i;rcatly, not only to the enrichment of the
.laruzul;:e itself h...tv
lanr,uar.e, but also to the nurous changes within the existing vocabulary.
A few exmvles taken frcm Armbrunter's dictionary will illustrate the
f
t)
AVAILABLE
Mt COPY
ArmbrUster as
Thus "address" is rendered by
ell:kni.',es in t'''0 expressiuns.
If as against
50 t-i'M agal.is!; the prese:1-day
IC; 6:1; "bank" algD4
;
tflor.
erf141; "ciarette /7 0/..14
i;
(,) tiro 1,....tfia :3 against a
"
"I)
g
0
"ceneral",e.1.11Kos againstM 64); "story of the house"
I
as ag:tinsia 11.1.1b;
t 1 Pr
ansl many more.
161,1:ri as IV
,
need for expres-
Needless to say, at ii,..mbruster's tire there was no
Security Council,
sicas such as "United Nations, Trusteeship Committee,
basketball, elevator,"
control tower, review of books, agenda, airlines,
and so oa.
dictionaries (again with
Likewi.se in the A.mhariclforeign languages
dictionary) one wi13. not find the
the execTi.don of the Amh:tric-Russian
writing or in everyday speech.
Thus,
expressions or idims used in everyday
dictionaries of Baeteman and Guidi,
the root tiL.Pll, is mentioned in the
whi3
rteilciic
speech 1-101rlist, detail,"
the e, erday usa3e in writing or in
Likewise, one would not find in
"minutely, item by item" is not mentioned.
VI lb
expressions of everyday usage such as
the above:-:::,.antioned dictionaries
obab4
"bare";
head of a firm" ;
d),An "arithmetic" ;
"responsible,
rib
1 ble
,
Ti th
view";
(in a textbook)";7111Sri- "opinion, point of
ft
To is given in the die-
"especially, in pe.rtinular," (even though the root
and large, more or less";
Obi I "change in money";
t
ionttrice);7)?).:14A6'by
iiihq
90111117"0.pplication (request) ";GDZ,43 "inaugurate, dedicate";
ispfir`ifinr.eztsion, assembly, conference," and many more.
As
"civi lizat t.:3 ;
dictionaries, the student is
result of the inad,quacy of the exiting
The present dictionary is int'nded to
greatly handicapped in his studies.
I,
there
a basic dictionary,
no
is
Since thi3 is only
rerAy thu s itr
tion.
There is still
only partial.
n..:cd to ::tress the f6, that the rel;;;:dy can
b'
an urgent
dictionary.
itee3 of a emplete Amharic*.zlish
i)
14.
AillABLE
COPY
BEST
0 r
As is well known, the Amharic alphabet has various letters that are,
letters
identical in the prenunciRtion.
This is a case of ;% and
both
being vowel carriers and no longer consonants; V, th. and 4) pronounced h;
As a result of the merging of
and 13.1 km-Ion:Iced s; V, and fl pronounced s.
41.0
these letters, there is considerable lack of consistency in the Amharic
spelling.
The principle adopted in this dictionary. is that of etymologies.
Geez as well as Tigre and Tigrinya and the other
In the case of N and ri
In the
Semitic langvages could be used as source for correct spelling.
(h), only Geez (and Arabic) could be used as a guide
case of U (h) <<h (h),
4)
410,s%
this last sound representing a
since Tigre Ind Tigrinya I:ept only U and eh
,
Likewise for a and (1 as well as for 91 and (3
merger of (II and
Geez
.
"17
alone could serve as source of information, since :.n both Tigre and Tigrinya,
It is on the:.
and fJJ are represented as s, and 91 and 0 have merged into 1.
basis of this principle that I adopted 'spelling such as t1 O)0"know" (Geez
), 12 reten" (G. apt: ), `''5 `1 "sister" (G. kA1/1/ ), 91 el
"three"
9 (I)
"things, package" (
),
Ell "baby" (G. ;:.1
(G. IPA e
),'ASP
Tigrinya )s P1 ),
Less generally accepted spellings are those of timk"donole,"
so on.
and
Imo, "wood," but hare again the spelling with
I) was adopted
ninow "
because these roots have an fl as fir.st radicel in Gees: fl
&a flatt, and
respectively.
r5
ihrin
Etymological zpelling i& also used in Arabic. loanwords.
Thus,
Arabic Xrn;
"bill,"
tt
aim,
.
;Di 719
Arabic t...s tm!..1.1 ; (al/ tyt(10C tor" Arabic
0i7pCrobject, purf;o:to," Arabic dnq 30 on.
throuGh etyrology is not intended to
rhk! stan(la:..UaLion of
Thus, for instance, the verb
disrecPrd the aeLoal pronunieraion of a lexeme.
.1;
AVAILABLE
BEST COPY
\S
and is t.terefore writ.
;t; out" is pronounced wi!..tta, with final
for "1
w
tri), anti not j:0; as it would be if one adhered strictlr to the
ten
origin of the verb, namely Gees
Likewise, the verb "he is" is pro-
.
.
It is therefore written
nounced a t lat with an inifdal a.
and not
1.01
if one we
to consider the origin of the verb, namely Gen tiAja
Or, the
.
adjective "new" is pz'onouheed addis with an initial. vowel
It is there..
fore wsit;.enshiPuti and not /Wilt one had to go back to its origin, namely
Gees dl
Ir. roots for which
here is no corresponding Ethiopic or Semitic
etymology, I adopted
for an initial vowel, 1) for h (except
in tiy.ij "water"),
ti for
2, P.nd c; for s.
definitions
Observations
on the arrangement, and
The letters that have some sound
in present -day Amharic are put
together.
Thust),/h and ')
; UV and
ill
;
.
;
()land
7N.a.nd
The order of the entries is
according to the consonant, and not
consonant.
Whenever the consouants of
according to tha vowel of the fi-st
the entry are the
the
the
according to
traditional
arruni;erient i
10 before JO,
order of the Amharic vocalic system.
Thus, for instance,
before 4,4.
and
.
In the verbs, the entry is that of the perfect, 3rd masculine, singu-
lar.
It is translated by the Eaglish
infinitive without "to."
Only tin derived stems
be
whose meaning is not Automatically to
deduced frr.,m the basic zte:n is given in the dictionary.
Thus, for instance,
if its
it.stem is t;ivezi
is that of the par.sive of the basAn tzan-
ro
raeaning
ititive verb.
iiherefor,. no MI is given as a derived stem of MI `'measure,
vinee.the slIC.ent know. that 1.7111
.eans "49 rv.,asured," pannive of the
BEST COPY AVAILABLE
MM. is given since out--
On the other hand,
atranriti7o verb Asil "lasetsure.."
"break" (intransitive).
*side o..0 it. passive meaning "be broken," it also means
ithout the
For the typos, oily type B is =irked by
A veil
(B).
syrabo3. (B) is of Type A.
All the verbal and nominal derivations are given under the entry.
fi , and the nominal
Thus, for iastance, under rJfl the verbal derivation of
111)
,Gbeinsand fill are given.
derviations of h
Wherever a derived form may
not be easily recognizable, it is taken up independently with reference to
n
with the indication
11:drawee is given under
its root.
Thus, (ro
I'll
that its root is
Wherever a derived form has subdivision, it is marked by
Thus,
.
"'
/in
is mentioned independently ar
rj."cbjeGt (in grammar)" given under
vieT.111
Cf 0:trilandirect object" and 71.C*0 :tql ll
ft'l a with the subdivisions of
411
"indirect object."
*
A verb that does not occur in the basic stem
marked by
The
.
is
*tibilni 7V31 ibrthank, to be
root is.then followed by the actual stern.
Thus
grateful" ; *AO, 71 A1.1 "make, do," and so on.
meaning of the
The Eni-,,lish expressions in parentheses restrict the
(in court); /1)11/..rnurse (who takes care of chil-
entry.
Thus ,V111,1-"aret: .
,...
the door )2" ri
iiie. micact (report) 2" (ILlA "blow open
C;1(.: priri
dreg )
"
The expression "of" followed by a noun indicates
"contaminate (a well)."
that the noun is the subject of the verb.
.xiklit,tY01136,,"scent about
Thus,
the subject.
refers
to the dog as
(of dog)" indicates that "scent about"
Paren-
In the Enfl.ish-Amharic
dictionary likewise the expression in
Normally, 4n adjective as main entry
theses (it:Claes closer the main entry.
"able" (eArable)oor (covetently
is explained by another adjective, AS in
"coarse" defined by (cloth),
done); o by a noun to which it refers, as i
.
6
A, transitive verb as main entry is closer defined
(*and).
or (c.me....), or
(the woods);
by the direct (*lent put. In parentheses; see "beat" defined by
One verb is defined by another
"charge. defined by (m,mey), or (battery).
Like in the
(exorable), or (mark with check).
verb; see "chi!ek" defined
Ambric-D:).i:)h dictionary, an intransitive verb followed by "of" with a
the noun is the subject of the intransitive verb; thus,
noun indicates that
It
or "holiday" are sub-
(of tarn), or (of holiday) indicate that "turn
ft
IT
COM!
jects of the verb "come."
List of Abbreviations
. wijective
adj.
sdverb
adv.
. conjunction
conj.
n
= noun.
. prepwition
prep.
. verb
= i -ftnsitive verb
vi.
= transitive verb
vt.
indicates an entry that has subdivisions and is mentioned in the appropri-
ate place.
10
AVAILABLE
core
Dar
(I)
1)
,
,
n---
?) from behind
tri,
em
sound (of
getters)
hind, back (adj.)
Q') ,-v
eVery,. all, everybody
in the long run,
A..
all of them, everything
(W)-510
sooner or later
muf back (adv.)
everybody
1+ 3
-. backward, in the back, on the
VA+3
daily
:1;
U-A.:1)1E
back
everything
latter (adj.), posterior
VA-1K,
always, everytime, perpetu-
elAsh4
ally, all the time
h 41 posterior, latter,
rear (adj.)
eta.:
ti-tr everyone, everybody
retrograde
Li&
halleluiah
bA5t)ciream, fancy (see Nilcro)
halleluiah
Vi
back,
um. two
behind in the
late,
U7/0.4 (suffix pronoun) two
afterwards
--
M
14$)1.
later, behind,
of
both of
U-ht twice
in the back of
htfo both
later on, afterwards; then
11.1/1
eight o'clock
U.hif
(after that), behind
0, 4.
nm
Vill'atis twice
behind, after (place,
0.04
second, another time
time)
(conj.)
11M
:150V CI triNecondary
Vilt4.1 A /.
+ perfect +
after
lm,)
school
behind
yrialltny;.il in
the rear
second (prize)
nhtM
conscience
behind, from behind
41/1.4
ht 1,)
behind, from behind,
1/41A6}5 being (the fact of being)
the back,
It) A p. theory
from
after
backward, backwards, behind II) ,transient, transitory,
tel
.11
