DEFINITION

Geʿez is the ancestor of the modern Tigrinya and Tigré languages of Eritrea and Tgray. The oldest known inscription in the language dates from the 3rd or 4th century and is written in a script that does not indicate vowels. Ge’ez language is an ancient South Semitic language. The language originates from what is now Ethiopia and Eritrea. Geʿez is an ancient pre-Aksumite  dates to the early Aksumite period and bears an example of the ancient Geʽez script  written  on the n  Hawulti Obelisk
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Today, Geʽez is used as the main liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Ethiopian Catholic Church, the Eritrean Catholic Church, and the Beta Israel Jewish community.