aspects of tigrinya literature

318 Pages·2017·12.81 MB·English

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*
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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
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B- POLITICAL NOVELS 18^-2 2 0
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CHAPTER V PROSTITUTION- AND APPROBATION AGAINST DISSOLUTE 221-269
LIFE
1- Types of Prostitution
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4- ,9»;y.y, ffucar
CHAPTER VI EDUCATION AND SUCCESS 270-302
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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
C H A P T E R O N E
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 mAf ■'i h 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 cOVih
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*. and 12 (
Littmann, op. cit., p. 166.