The Ge’ez writing system emerged during Late Antiquity (circa 3-4th century) in the highlands of modern-day Eritrea and Ethiopia. This African script is unique in being the only alphasyllabary among all Semitic languages. Each letterform or ፊደል (fidal) represents a syllable i.e., the combination of a consonant and vowel. It shares this characteristic with the contemporaneous writing systems of the Indian Subcontinent, such as Brahmi (Northern India) and Kharosthi (Pakistan and Afghanistan). There is evidence of contact between all three scripts in the Red Sea region, especially on the island of Soqotra.
Precursors of the Ge’ez script appear in pre-Aksumite graffiti in the Horn of Africa and monumental inscriptions in Southern Arabia (Yemen). Certain ancient inscriptional forms remain more or less unchanged, such as በ from 𐩨, ነ from 𐩬, and ቀ from 𐩤. Others retain the overall shape but have changed angles or directions, such as ሐ from 𐩢, ሠ from 𐩦, and ተ from 𐩩. Yet others have dropped one stroke from their epigraphic forms, such as ሀ from 𐩠, ዘ from 𐩹, and ጠ from 𐩷. Lastly, there are letter forms that are recognizeably connected, but have undergone more radical transformations, such as ለ from 𐩡, ኀ from 𐩭, and ፈ from 𐩰. The last letters to be added were ፐ and ጰ, which are unattested in early inscriptions and came to be used exclusively for words of Greek origin.
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