People, Places, and Terms in the Text

Copyright © 2015, Princeton University Press. No part of this book may be distributed, posted, or reproduced in any form by digital or mechanical means without prior written permission of the publisher. ☙ glossAry: people, plAces, ❧ And terMs in the text Wendy Laura Belcher Substantive notes within the translation are, by necessity, short. Further, explana- tory notes appear only on a term’s first appearance in the translation and never thereafter. Therefore, below is fuller information on the people, places, events, plants, foods, and so on in the Gädlä Wälättä ̣Peṭros. Words are alphabetized according to their simplified spelling in theGädlä Wälättä ̣Peṭros translation, then provided in the original fidäl andEncyclopedia Ae- thiopica transliteration. If the entry headword is not simplified, this means it does not appear in the translation itself but only in the front matter, back matter, or notes. To ensure no confusion about proper names, we italicize all Gəˁəz titles. The Encyclopedia Aethiopica (2003–14), edited by Siegbert Uhlig, was our most frequent source, always cited below when consulted. Common sources for geo- graphical information were Huntingford’s Historical Geography of Ethiopia, Chees- man’s Lake Tana and the Blue Nile, and Lindahl’s Local History in Ethiopia. We have chosen to use the term “Ethiopia” for the region, since this is what the text itself uses. The categories arehistorical person (a person who appears in this text as well as the Ethiopian royal chronicles of the period, usually members of royalty or military leaders), local person (a person whom Walatta Petros knew or who appears in the miracles after her death),modern person (a twentieth- century person with some role related to the text), biblical figure (someone who appears in the Bible, like King David), religious figure (a famous religious leader, including saints), folkloric figure (legendary person or creature); local place (a place in Ethiopia) and biblical place (a place mentioned in the Bible, like Sodom); ethnic term (names of ethnic groups), religious term, temporal term (names of months and times of prayer), and medical term (diseases); religious occasion and cultural practice; and food, plant, animal, text, title (honorifics),unit of measurement, and object (like boats or buildings). Latitude and longitude of places are represented using Google Earth format for coordinates and signaled with “LatLon.” The exact location of a place was not always easy to identify, but the general location could sometimes be estimated. For instance, if Walatta Petros was traveling south from Gondär and went through a now- unknown town on the way to Qʷäraṣa, we know it is located around northern or eastern Lake Ṭana. All places in the glossary appear on the maps at the begin- ning of this volume. 393-486.indd 395 2015-08-12 6:57 AM Copyright © 2015, Princeton University Press. No part of this book may be distributed, posted, or reproduced in any form by digital or mechanical means without prior written permission of the publisher. 396 ■ GLOSSARY 15 Prophets. See Fifteen Prophets. 36 Holy Women. See Thirty- Six Holy Women. 72 Disciples. See Seventy- Two Disciples. 99 Angelic Orders. See Ninety- Nine Angelic Orders. 318 Bishops. Also, 318 Nicene Fathers. Religious Figure. The number of bishops said to have attended the Council of Nicaea in 325, the first ecumenical council of the church. Nicaea’s main achievement was the rejection of the Arian heresy, which denied the presence of a fully divine nature in Christ. In addition, the Council of Nicaea decreed a number of ecclesiastical statutes, and later other apocryphal ones were ascribed to it due to its prestige. 144,000 Children. BiblicAl Figure. The Täwaḥədo Church believes that the number of children Herod killed in Bethlehem in trying to prevent the Christ- child from later becoming the king of the Jews is the number of the innocent discussed in Revelation 7:3 and 14:1–4; namely, 144,000. Abb. 88. See d’Abbadie. Abaala Kristos. አባለ፡ክርስቶስ Abalä Krəstos. “Limb of Christ.” LocAl person. A man of some means who sent much grain from Guna to WP’s community in Afär Färäs. We have not found this person in the historical or encyclopedic sources, except for an “Abala Krestos” discussed in Susənyos’s royal chronicle, as killed and avenged. Abbabeet. አባቢት Abbabit. LocAl plAce. A place on the southwestern side of Lake Ṭana above the Zäge Peninsula, according to locals. WP went there for a few days to escape the wrath of Ras Śəˁəlä Krəstos, traveling to it from Zäge by tankʷa. Later, she escaped a hippopotamus near there. Also, the place appeared in the sixth miracle as a place toward which the wind blows near Zäge. Probably within ten miles of LatLon: 11.772251, 37.314449. Abba. አባ Abba. From Greek. “Father.” Title. Title used in addressing the clergy of the church, including monks, abbots, bishops, and the supreme head of the church, the patriarch. See Kaplan (2003a). Abbay. አባይ “The GreatO ne.” LocAl plAce. The river that provides the majority of Egypt’s water. Known in the West as the Blue Nile, this river flows out of south- ern Lake Ṭana and curves in a great arc around the region of Goǧǧam. Abbess. እመ፡ማኅበር Ǝmmä maḫbär. “The community’s mother.” Title. Title used in the WP gädl to address the female leader of WP’s religious community. The title usually used in Ethiopia for an abbess is əmmä mənet (mother of the monastery) or əmmahoy (revered mother) and sometimes mämhərt (female teacher). An əmmä mənet had absolute authority over the day- to- day lives of women in a monastery, but the abbot usually presided over large religious matters like re- pentance, death, or theological debates. The terməmmä maḫbär does not appear in any of the standard reference works, so it may be a term used only in WP’s community, which was a different type of monastic community. It seems that the əmmä maḫbär was responsible for leading both men and women. In the additional later texts of MSS I and J, an əmmä mənet and two əmmahoy appear. 393-486.indd 396 2015-08-12 6:57 AM Copyright © 2015, Princeton University Press. No part of this book may be distributed, posted, or reproduced in any form by digital or mechanical means without prior written permission of the publisher. PEOPLE, Places, AND TERMS ■ 397 Abbot. መምህር Mämhər. “Teacher.” Title. Common title for the head of a monastery. Mämhər could also mean teacher, leader, or theologian. In other texts, an abbot is sometimes called abä mənet (father of the monastery), abbahoy (revered father), or mäggabi (steward). In the additional later texts of MSS I and J, an abä mənet appears. See Kaplan (2003a, 2007). Abimelech. አቤሜሌክ Abemelek. From Hebrew. “My father is king.” BiblicAl Fig- ure. The king of the Philistines, of the region Gerar, who tries to take Abraham’s wife Sarah when Abraham claims she is his sister (Genesis 20 and 26). Absaadi. አብሳዲ Absadi. Religious Figure. A monk about whom WP had a vision; also called Absadi of Azäzo (Azäzo was an important town north of Lake Ṭana and about eight miles southwest of Gondär). He was associated with Mägʷəna Monastery, near Gondär and Azäzo. There is aGädlä Absadi, but since it is un- published, scholars do not know much about him or even when he lived. He is better known as the founder of the nearby Zoz Amba Monastery in the district of Sälaša, Bägemdər. He was not the fourteenth- century saint, also named Ab- sadi, who founded Däbrä Maryam, a monastery in Təgray (sometimes called Absadi Monastery), and was the chief disciple of and a leader in the monastic movement following Saint Ewosṭatewos. The Mägʷəna Monastery was of the house of Täklä Haymanot, not Ewosṭatewos, and was Unionist, not Unctionist (Qəbat). He is also not Bishop Abba Absadi of Upper Egypt or the martyred Abba Absadi celebrated on 29 Säne, both of whom appear in the Sənkəssar. See Lusini (2003a, 2003b); Abbadie (1890, 468). Abuna. አቡነ Abunä. “Our father.” Title. A title used in addressing leading members of the clergy. In contrast to abba, which can be used to address any clergy member, abunä is usually reserved for saints, heads of monasteries, and the patriarch. It most often refers to the patriarch, the Egyptian metropolitan assigned as head of the Täwaḥədo Church. Since the patriarch came from another country and did not speak the language, he was often isolated on matters of local church politics and doctrine. See Nosnitsin (2003a). Achan. አካን Akan. From Hebrew. BiblicAl Figure. An Israelite, the son of Carmi, who steals precious objects after Joshua conquers Jericho. God punishes the Is- raelites by allowing them to be defeated; they in turn stone to death Achan and his family. Appears in Joshua 7. Afer Faras. አፈር፡ፈረስ Afär Färäs. “Horse’s soil.” LocAl plAce. A place on the south- eastern shore of Lake Ṭana, extremely close to Rema Island and about seven miles north of Qʷäraṣa. It was the seat of the sixth of the religious communities that WP founded. There WP built a residence, saw a vision, was attacked by theologians, and contemplated becoming a hermit. When Rema became too crowded, WP was given this plot of land on the lakeshore just opposite Rema Island and near a cliff. It was close enough for WP to commute to Rema from Afär Färäs every day and for people in both places to see her boat when a storm whipped up. LatLon: approximately 11.833414, 37.476756. Transcribed elsewhere as Afar Faras, Afer Feres. See Bosc- Tiessé (2008, 69–70).

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