Many scholarly researches affirm that Gǝʿǝz is one of the most ancient Semitic languages that had been spoken in Ethiopia for several centuries even before the introduction of Christianity until the third quarter of thirteenth century CE.38 However, it is difficult to trace back to the actual time when it began to be studied in a formal school as well as in the Church as one of the usual ecclesiastical educations as it occurs today.
Indeed, a large number of literary productions whether original local compositions or translations that have been done before and after its replacement by Amharic, the contemporary official court-language around 1270 CE, would testify that a
38“Gǝʿǝz”, EAe, II (2005), 732 (S. Weninger).
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persistent study of the language had been running without interruption. It was also the prominent language of Ethiopian literature until the Amharic literature was well introduced in nineteenth century.
Moreover, the replacement of the language by Amharic is expected to be one of the paramount factors for the growth of Gǝʿǝz study from thirteenth century onward.
On its introduction, Meley Mulugetta stated that Azzaž Sinoda the royal historiographer of eighteenth century is traditionally celebrated as a composer of Sawāsǝw. She has not mentioned which specific part he composed, but affirmed that no manuscript of Sawāsǝew bears his name. She also indicates that the earliest Sawāsǝw manuscripts date from seventeenth to eighteenth century, or even earlier.39 In agreement with this, Alessandro Bausi presumed that Wansleben probably copied one Sawāsǝw in the seventeenth century.40 So, how could the eighteenth century historiographer compose a seventeenth or sixteenth century treatise?
However, according to the historical tradition of the Qǝne schools, the introduction of the existing Gǝʿǝz grammar ʾAggabāb goes back to the fifteenth century scholars. Concerning the introducer, the tradition held by the Gonǧ41 scholars recognizes Tawānāy as the first introducer of both Qǝne and ʾAggabāb during the reign of King ʾƎskəndər (1471-1494 CE) about whom it is said that he learned Qǝne from Tawānay. The tradition states again that Tawānay visited Greece. There, he learnt seven different languages. Then, on his return home, he introduced Qǝne and ʾAggabāb.42
Nevertheless, the widely accepted tradition which is followed by the Wādlā43 scholars gives the credit to the other popular Qǝne scholar of early fifteenth century whose name was Yohannəs of Gablon. He is also known as Yoḥannǝs Gablāwi.
According to the scholars, Yoḥannəs had firstly recognized that the wisdom of Qəne was revealed to Saint Yāred after he examined his hymns that keep the basic structure of Qǝne with the names, ሚ በዝኁ mi-bazḫu, ዋዜማ wazemā, ሥላሴ śəllāse, ዘይእዜ za-yəʾəze, መወድስ mawaddəs, ክብር ይእቲ kəbr yəʾəti and ዕጣነ ሞገር ʽəṭāna mogar which are still used. Then, he spent a week alone to offer supplications toward the
39 “Sawāsǝw”, EAe, IV (2010), 562 (M. Mulugetta).
40 “I manoscritti etiopice di J.M”, RSE 33 (1989), 17 (A. Bausi).
41 It is one of the three houses of Qǝne which follows the philosophy and tradition of the popular Qǝne master Tawānāy. It received the name ‘Gonǧ’ from Gonǧ Dabra Ṭǝbab Tewodros the monastery which is located in western Goǧǧam and was the center of the house. “Gonǧ Tewodros”, EAe, II (2005), 848 (A. Wion).
42 ʾAdmāsu Ǧambare1970, 11.
43 It is the one and perhaps the leading house of Qǝne which follows the tradition of Dǝdq Walda Māryām. The house received its name from its former center which is located in Amḥarā Sāyǝnt of Wallo. There is no more a well-established Qəne school today in the place, but a lot of Qəne schools in different parts of the country would always bear the name as long as they follow the tradition and philosophy of the house.
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Lord in the town of Dabra Tābor44 which is said to have been founded by King Yəkunno ʾAmlāk (1270-1285 CE) between the provinces of Borena and Amhara Sāyǝnt so that the Lord might reveal the wisdom to him. Finally, he was able to compose and recite Qǝne. At the same time, he authored and introduced the grammar. His immediate successor was ʾAbbā Walda Gabrəʼel who was succeeded later by Śamra ʾAb. Śamra ʾAb was also one of the most influential scholars to whom the development of Qǝne is attributed in collaboration with king Baʾda Māryām (1448-1478 CE).
After Śamra ʾAb, his first and second successors Ləhib and ʾElyāb have acquired the responsibility and dignity of the Qǝne master one after the other. After ʾElyāb, his pupils Dədq Walda Māryām and Tawānay have been teaching both subjects jointly. But later when the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia lost power to control the country because of Ahmad Ibn Ibrāhim’s45 Jihad,46 they left their places. Dədq Walda Māryām moved to Yač̣araqā which is located in Dāwənt and continued teaching. But Tawānay entered the island of Daqq ʾƎsṭifā in lake Tānā and stayed there until the time when the persecution ceased as a result of Graň Ahmad’s death in 1537 CE.
When he returned after fifteen years, he only preserved Qǝne while disregarding the grammatical teachings. At that time, his teacher (ʾElyāb) was not alive. He felt inferior to be trained by his fellow. Thus, he could not repair it at all, and simply continued teaching focusing on Qǝne. The scholars would mention this as the main factor why a very short grammar is available in the Qǝne house of Gonǧ which is believed to be founded by Tawānay.
The tradition tells again that the school founded by Dədq Walda Māryām flourished more, and his six successors had received the scholarly title ድድቅ dədq47 to remember him, also to honor their intelligence and efficiency comparing it with that of their master. It affirms again that at the time of the sixth Dədq, there had been introduced about seven diverse ʾAggabāb and Rəbā qəmr due to the expansion of the schools. Nonetheless, every school keeps just one ʾAggabāb as a standardized manual for the grammar lessons. Some differences might occur among the scholars at any time. The
44 It is different from the famous town of Dabra Tābor which is located in Bagemǝdr and is said to have been founded in the first decade of nineteenth century by Ras Gugsa Maršā.“Dabra Tābor”, EAe, II (2005), 50. (R. Pankhurst).
45 Gəraň ʾAhmad.
46 1522-1537 CE.
47 Both Liqa Ṭabbabt ʾAklila Bərhān Walda Qirqos and Malʾāka Bərhan ʾAdmāsu Ǧambare recognized it as a scholarly title in expression of great intelligence, cleverness and shrewdness as to say
‘smart’, ‘clever’, ‘intelligent’ and ‘winner’. Admāsu Ǧambare 1970, 11; ʾAklila Bərhān Walda Qirqos 1950, 18. However, it is not clear that in which language the word means ‘clever’ or ‘intelligent’. To be frank, such a title or a mere word does not exist in modern Amharic. There is in fact the same word in Gəʽəz, but its meaning is totally different from what the scholars claimed. In Gəʽəz ድድቅ dədq is a noun which does have an etymological relation with the verb ተዳደቀ/ ደደቀ tadādaqa/ dadaqa ‘meet’,
‘fight’, ‘endanger’, ‘harm’. In This respect, it means ‘accident’, ‘bad incident’, ‘evil occurrence’ etc.
Kidāna Wald Kǝfle 1955, 341; Leslau 1989, 111. So, if it is a Gəʽəz word, it will be surprising to use it as a scholarly title.
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difference is gradually decreasing; it seems that the schools attempt to narrow the gap between them by exchanging and sharing ideas. Currently, the central difference is mostly concerned with number of elements involved in the lesson and with the categorization of some critical elements in different lexical categorization.