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Definition of Ethiopic in US English:
Ethiopic
noun
- another term for Ge'ez
- ‘As a teenager and adult he studied Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, Chaldean, Chinese, Coptic, Ethiopic, Sanskrit, Zend, Pahlevi and Persian.’
- ‘The translation of the Bible into Latin marks the beginning of a parting of the ways between Western Latin-speaking Christianity and Eastern Christianity, which spoke Greek, Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic, and other languages.’
- ‘As a boy, he also taught himself to read Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, Chaldean and Chinese, and he would later add Coptic, Ethiopic, Sanskrit, Zend, Pahlevi and Persian.’
- ‘Dedicating himself to the study of various oriental languages - including Persian, Ethiopic, Sanskrit, Zend, Pahlevi and Arabic - Champollion also began work on a dictionary and grammar of the Coptic language.’
- ‘The Ethiopian delegation also circulated elegant 15th-century Psalters written in Ethiopic and used in churches throughout northern and eastern Africa.’
adjective
Of, in, or relating to Ge'ez.
- ‘The Bibles of the Eastern Churches vary considerably: the Ethiopic Orthodox canon includes 81 books and contains many apocalyptic texts, such as were found at Qumran and subsequently excluded from the Jewish canon.’
- ‘Arabic is a Semitic language related to Aramaic, Hebrew, various Ethiopic languages, and others.’
- ‘The complete text was thought to have perished when it was discovered in two Ethiopic manuscripts in Abyssinia, by the traveller Bruce in 1773.’
- ‘It was not until 1773 that two Ethiopic manuscripts were discovered in Abyssinia.’
Origin
Mid 17th century (as an adjective): via Latin from Greek aithiopikos, from Aethiops (see Ethiopia).
