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Aspects of Tigrinya Literature ASPECTS OF TIGRINYA LITERATURE (UNTIL 1974) BY HAILTJ HABTU Thesis submitted for the degree of M*Phil® at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London* June* 1981* ProQuest Number: 10673017 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10673017 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 4 8 1 0 6 - 1346 ABSTRACT This dissertation aims to study the origin and deve­ lopment of Tigrinya as a written language-a topic that has so far received little scholarly attention. As time and the easy accessibility of all the relevant material are limiting factors,this investigation is necessarily selective. Chapter One takes stock of all available writing in the Tigrinya language frcm its beginning in the middle of the last century up to 1974. Chapter Two briefly investigates the development of writ­ ten Tigrinya to serve varying functions and ends and the general direction that its development took. Chapter Three provides a glimpse of the breadth and variety of literature incorporated in the Eritrean Weekly News published in Asmara by the British Information Services frcm 1942 to 1952. The E W N represented the sudden birth and development of a secular writing and provided a tradition and a reservoir of lit­ erature on which Tigrinya fiction later drew. Chapters Four, Five and Six deal with Tigrinya fictional lit­ erature on the basis of selected themes v. g. historical and poli­ tical themes (Chapter Four), prostitution and approbation against dissolute life (Chapter Five), and education and success (Chapter Six), AC laiOWLEDGEMEHTS Professor E. Ullendorff, as my supervisor, provided the necessary guidance that the writing of the thesis required. I am especially grateful for his insistence backed up by meticulous corrections that translations of passages into English must be as faithful as possible to the Tigrinya original. Dr. David Appleyard patiently studied the thesis in detail and suggested useful insights and improvements regarding the manner of discussion, the style and the presentation. Needless to add that his correction of the language was invaluable as well. I should like to express my sincere thanks to the staff of the library of the School of Oriental and African Studies, and to the staff of the Oriental Manuscripts section of the British Library for making available copies of the Eritrean Weekly News as well as uncatalogued Tigrinya books. I am finally indebted to the Africa Educational Trust without whose financial grant, covering both tuition and living expenses, I could not have carried out this research. TABLE' OF CONTENTS .EAGE ABSTRACT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABBREVIATIONS NOTE ON TRANSCRIPTION CHAPTER 1 THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF TIGRINYA LITERATURE 1-3 5 1- Linguistic, geographical and cultural context 2“ Tigrinya literature: early beginnings to 1900 3- Tigrinya literature: 1900-194-2 4- Tigrinya literature: 1942-1974 CHAPTER 11 DEVELOPMENT OF TIGRINYA AS A WRITTEN LANGUAGE 36-6 3 1- The milieu and social context of written Tigrinya 2- Ge'ez influence 3- Style in written Tigrinya 4- Increasing orthographic precision 5- Lexical borrowings from Italian, Arabic, English and Amharic in written Tigrinya CHAPTER 111 LITERARY AND OTHER THEMES IN ERITREAN WEEKLY NEWS 64-128 1- Periodical literature in Tigrinya 2- Background of Eritrean Weekly News 3- Format of E W N 4- Literary and other themes in E W N 5- Moralistic-didactic writing 6- Drama 7- Poetry 8- The castigation of certain customs 9- Book reviews 10- Articles on the Tigrinya language PAGE CHAPTER IV HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL LITERATURE 129-220 A- HISTORICAL NOVELS 131-183 .1- M H W 2- 3- (OVu 'fiMTBlr- B- POLITICAL NOVELS 18^-2 2 0 1- w m ! h'h'h PfiohW?*! 2 - ^ ’7( V,f/ £ ? . CHAPTER V PROSTITUTION- AND APPROBATION AGAINST DISSOLUTE 221-269 LIFE 1- Types of Prostitution 2~ / D C f y H and h-hfT 'hfyb______ 3- . 4- ,9»;y.y, f f u c a r CHAPTER VI EDUCATION AND SUCCESS 270-302 !- rnmrn ai'\$- 2- W/p M L y-i% m * i k f > WC-- 3_ ff£(}Ltr f-h tn l LIST OF TIGRINYA FICTIONAL WORKS 303-306 REFERENCES 307-309 OTHER BIBLIOGRAPHY 310 ABBREVIATIONS EO Ethiopia Observer EWN Eritrean Weekly News GSAI Giornale della Societa asiatica italiana JA Journal asiatique JES Journal of Ethiopian Studies RSE Rassengna di studi etiopici RSO Rivista degli studi orientali Tna Tigrinya WZKM Wiener Zeitschrift fur die Kunde des Morgenlandes ZA Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie ZDMG Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenlandischen Gesellschaft. NOTE ON TRANSCRIPTION. The system of transcription followed is that generally used nowadays in works on Ethiopian languages, in particular by E. Ullendorff and W. Leslau. i CHAPTER ONE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF TIGRINYA LITERATURE, I. Linguistic, geographical and cultural context. There are over seventy languagesspoken in Ethiopia. However, 75% of all Ethiopians speak gust four languages viz. 1 Arnhanc, Tigrinya, Oramo and Scmali. Tigrinya ranks next to ' Amharic as the major Semitic language, but comes third in number of speakers. Although an official census has never been taken in Ethiopia, and estimates have varied through the years, the figure of four to five million Tigrinya speakers can be sugges- 2 ted as reasonable. Along with seven other Ethiopian languages, Tigrinya 1. M. L. Bender, ed., The Non-Semitic LanguagesEthiopia, East Lansing, Michigan, 1976, p.l. 2. In Bibliography of African Christian Literature, London, 1923, p. 7, C. F. Rowling and C. E. Wilson gave the number of Tigrinya speakers then as 300,000. This is an impossibly low figure. The figure they gave for Amharic speakers was, on the other hand, 3,000,000 and that appears fairer. E. Ullendorff's estimate of 1,300,000 Tigrinya speakers in 1945 (The Semitic Languages of Ethiopia, London, 1955,p. 21) was probably nearer the mark than any other. Bender, op. cit., p .13 , suggests the figure of 3,560,000, while Bereket Habte Selassie in Conflict and Intervention in the Horn, NewYork, 1980, gives the population of Tigray alone as seme 5 million ancf that of Eritrea as over 3.5 million (pAS ). Tigray is predo­ minantly Tigrinya-speaking and at least half of Eritrea's population also speaks Tigrinya. Bereket's estimates bring up the number of Tigrinya speakers to sane six million. This may be a slight­ ly inflated figure. 3- belongs to the Semitic linguistic family. The name of the lang­ uage itself is related to the geographical name "Tigray", a province found in northernEthiopia. The people call themselves "Tagaru" in the plural, and "Tagraway" in the singular. They also call themselves "Habasha" and their language < H LH : V: ' (the speech of the Habasha)^ E. Littmann suggests that the original name of 5 the language is "Tggray" He also mentions other forms of referring to the language. "Besides this the na­ tives have other names viy 2a.ra.vS. Havasa. and k -K t H . The former means "language of the Habasha" and the latter "language of the^Christians." Although the present name of the language Tig­ rinya is related to the geographical name of the pro­ vince of Tigray, it is spoken further north in a large part of Eritrea, further west in parts of the province of Begemider, and further south in parts of the province 3. The others are Ge*ez, Tigre, Amharic, Harari, Gurage, Gafat^ and Argobba. 4. This manner of referring to the language, parti­ cularly current among the Tigrinya speakers of the Eritrean highlands, is well illustrated in the title of the book m A f ■'ih r t V i A smara, 1938 (A Primer of Habasha and Italian). 5. E. Littmann, A Preliminary Report of the Princeton University Expedition to,Abyssinia", Z A , 16 (1902), p. 165. This view seems well-founded as the first printed Tigrinya book (1866) had the title cO Vih rlU-T ft hlh'tichth’-flMIrP". (Holy Gospel of our Saviour Jesus Christ in Tigray). Ge'ez manuscripts reveal older names for the language. See footnotes 13*. a n d 12 ( Littmann, op. cit., p. 166. ■5'jj J of Wollo. Tigrinya "is spoken in an area largely iden­ tical with that of the old Aksumite Kingdom, and may thus lay claim to being — at least geographically — ■ the direct successor of Gefez. Its territory covers the eponymous Tigrai province, the three highland regions of Eritrea, Hamasien, Serae, and Akkele Guzay, the fringes of the adminstrative divisions of Keren and Massawa........,,T? It also extends "as far south as Lake Ashangi and Wojerat district? it then crosses the Takkaze westwards to the Tsellemti and Wolkayt regions". 8 In mode of occupation, the Tigrinya-speaking people are sedentary agricultutalists and in religion, almost all adhere to the Ethiopian Orthodox faith while small minorities follow Islam or the Catholic and Protestant forms of Christianity. As the Tigrean and Eritrean highlands as well as the Eritrean coast is the area where Axumite civilization arose and prospered, the Tigrinya speakers are particularly its closet heirs. However, they share the legacy of that civilization with the Amharas to the south and west as well as with the Agaws of Lasta and of parts of Gojam and Begemider. The Tigrinya-speaking block of the Tigrean and 7.
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