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SOUTH SEMITIC ALPHABETS
231 its source. Wellsted (1834), Rædiger (1837) and Bird (1844) have rightly suggested a connection with the Sabæan alphabet, although Bird thought also that there were some Coptic influences.
Nowadays, it is generally accepted that South Arabian colonies established in Abyssinia in the second half of the first millennium B.C. introduced into that territory the South Semitic speech and script. In fact, some South Semitic inscriptions (Fig. 112, I and 2) have been discovered in various sites of Abyssinia.
At the beginning, Sabaan was the literary language and script of Ethiopia. It seems that in the first half of the fourth century A.D., in the period when the strong king of Axum (northern Abyssinia) flourished, the Sabzan speech and script were replaced by the early Ethiopic language and writing. Inscriptions (Fig. 112, 8) belonging to this period have been found, couched in (1) carly Ethiopic language strongly intermixed with South Arabic and in South Semitic alphabet, (2) in early Ethiopic speech and South Semitic alphabet, (3) in early Ethiopic speech and Ethiopic non-vocalized alphabet, (4) in early Ethiopic speech and Ethiopic vocalized script.
The problem is still open as to whether the early Ethiopic alphabet was a gradual transformation of the South Semitic script or was the deliberate work of an individual. Both these opinions have been suggested. It is, however, more probable that while the script as a whole is a gradual development of the South Semitic alphabet, the introduction of the vocalization was effected by a single person, and was probably influenced by the Greek alphabet. The Ethiopie numerals were borrowed from the Greeks. In regard to the external form of the early Ethiopie letters, Meroitic influences have been noticed.
Development of Ethiopic Writing
The Ethiopic script consists of 26 letters (Fig. 113). Of the 28 Sabaan letters, four have been abandoned and the letters pait and pa have been added. The letters became more and more rounded. The direction of writing, originally from right to left, became, probably under Greek influence, from left to right, Originally, a vertical dash was used to separate the words, later two dots were employed.
The names of the letters are in great part different from the names of the letters in the Hebrew, Syriac and Greek alphabets. The order of the letters differs completely (opr. Fig. 113 to Fig, 109, 114, and other illustrations).
An interesting peculiarity of the Ethiopic alphabet is its vocalization. The vowel following each consonant is expressed by adding small appendages to the right or left of the basic character, at the top or at the bottom, by shortening or lengthening one of its main strokes, and by other differentiations. There are thus seven forms of each letter, corresponding
