Geez

Ge'ez, also spelled Geez, is an ancient South Semitic language of the Horn of Africa. It originated in what is now Ethiopia and Eritrea and is best known today as the liturgical language of the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo churches, as well as the Ethiopian Catholic and Eritrean Catholic Churches. The term Ge'ez is also used for the writing system that bears its name, the Ge'ez script, or Ethiopic script, which is used to write Ge'ez and several modern languages.

Ge'ez emerged in the Ethiopian region by at least the early centuries CE, flourishing under the Aksumite state. It served as a prestige language for administration and religion. By roughly the 11th or 12th century, Ge'ez ceased to be used as a daily spoken language, with Amharic and Tigrinya replacing it as vernaculars. It continued as a liturgical and literary language, taught in religious contexts and preserved in manuscripts.

Ge'ez script is an abugida, derived from the South Arabian script. Each symbol represents a consonant with a particular vowel; different vowel sounds are indicated by modifying the base form. The script is used to write Ge'ez and several modern languages, including Amharic, Tigrinya, and Tigre. It is the standard writing system in Ethiopia and Eritrea for these languages and is supported in Unicode for digital use.

In contemporary use, Ge'ez remains central to religious rites and scholarship. A large corpus of Ge'ez literature survives in manuscripts and printed editions, ranging from biblical translations to hagiographies and theological works. The term "Geez" is sometimes used in English, but "Ge'ez" is the more precise transliteration of the language's name.