Geʽez
Geʽez (/ˈɡiːɛz/;[5][6] ግዕዝ, Gəʿəz IPA: [ˈɡɨʕɨz] (listen), and sometimes referred to in scholarly literature as Classical Ethiopic) is an ancient Ethiopian Semitic language. The language originates from what is now northern Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Geʽez | |
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ግዕዝ Gəʿəz | |
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Pronunciation | [ˈɡɨʕɨz] |
Native to | Ethiopia, Eritrea |
Extinct | before 10th century to 14th century[1][2] Remains in use as a liturgical language.[3] |
Afro-Asiatic
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Geʽez script | |
Official status | |
Official language in | Liturgical language of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Eritrean Catholic Church,[3] Ethiopian Catholic Church and Beta Israel[4] |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-2 | gez |
ISO 639-3 | gez |
Glottolog | geez1241 |

Today, Geʽez is used as the main liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Ethiopian Catholic Church and Eritrean Catholic Church, and the Beta Israel Jewish community.
The closest living languages to Geʽez are Tigre and Tigrinya with lexical similarity at 71% and 68%, respectively.[7] Most linguists believe that Geʽez does not constitute a common ancestor of modern Ethio-Semitic languages but became a separate language early on from another hypothetical unattested common language.[8][9][10]