Abstract
The article presents an old folio kept in the church of Däbrä Śaḥl (Gärˁalta, northern Ethiopia), one of a few other leaves, all originating from a codex dating to a period well before the mid–14thcentury. The codicological and palaeographical features reveal the antiquity of the fragment. The content of the folio is remarkable since it contains chants dedicated to St. Gärima (also known as Yǝsḥaq) which can be identified as the chants for the Saint from the Dǝggwa, the main Ethiopian chant book. In the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwaḥǝdo Church the feast of Gärima is celebrated on the 17th of Säne. By means of the fragment of Däbrä Śaḥl, the composition of the liturgical chants for Gärima can be dated to a time much prior to the mid-14th century. Moreover, both the chants and the 15th-century Acts of Gärima by Bishop Yoḥannǝs refer to a famous miracle worked by the Saint. This fact proves that the miraculous account, in whatever form, was in circulation prior to the mid-14th century.
Introduction
This essay aims at presenting an old manuscript fragment among those discovered in northern Ethiopia (Tǝgray) in recent years.1 I was able to see and to photograph it in the church of ˀAgwäza Däbrä Śaḥl dedicated to the Four Living Creatures, during my visit to Gärˁalta some years years ago.2 The fragment was represented by a number of dispersed, mostly badly damaged parchment folios, the only remnants of a codex which did not survive in its entirety. For the present essay I have selected only one single leaf. Besides being in relatively good condition (see fig. 1), with the writing preserved and still readable, the significance of this specific folio arises from the fact that it contains a text related to the hagiographical tradition of St. Gärima/Yǝsḥaq, a well-known Ethiopian monk and one of the so-called “Nine Saints” (or “Roman Saints”) who are thought to have been active in northern Ethiopia during the Aksumite period (see below). I will provide brief codicological and palaeographical descriptions of the folio,3 as well as a transcription, translation, and brief analysis of the text.4
Fragment of a chant manuscript, chants for St. Gärima; pre-mid 14th century, Däbrä Śaḥl, Gärˁalta, Tǝgray. (Courtesy of the author)
Citation: Scrinium 12, 1 (2016) ; 10.1163/18177565-00121p08
1 Codicological Features
The leaves as I saw them were completely devoid of any remnants of the binding; one can only assume that the codex was sewn on two pairs of sewing stations.
The folio in question5 (hereafter referred to as fol. Ra–b/Va–b [without number]) shows the following codicological characteristics:
The dimensions of the leaf: ca. 25.5 cm (height) x 19 cm (width).
The dimensions of the written area: ca 19.5 cm (height) x ca. 15 cm (width).
The dimensions of the margins: 2 cm (top), 4 cm (bottom), ca. 1 cm (left), 3 cm (right); 1 cm (intercolumn).
The text is written in two columns.
The number of written lines in a column is 25, with some 14–16 signs per line.
The pricking and ruling are partially visible.6 The uppermost text-line is written under the uppermost ruled line; the text on the folio is neatly framed by the ruled lines. Two pairs of so-called vertical pricks,7 visible in the middle of the folio above and below, are placed on the two horizontal (top and bottom) ruled lines. Another visible vertical prick is located in the bottom right corner, somewhat below the right written column; the vertical ruled line continues up to this prick. Text pricks8 are not visible.9
The recto-side is the hair side of the leaf (fol. R); the ruling was impressed on the verso-side (flesh side; fol. V).
The colour of the ink of the text is not deep black but rather light brown, varying from a darker tone to a very light brown. The red ink shows not vivid red but rather a deep red colour.
2 The Text
The most interesting feature of the fragment is that its text reveals numerous peculiar forms with “non-standard” vocalization, which clearly deviates from the orthography of standard Gǝˁǝz (Ethiopic).10 Below, the text is transcribed as it is, without any change or correction, and supplied with a tentative translation:11
3 Palaeographical Features of the Script
A number of palaeographical features attested in the handwriting of the fragment of Däbrä Śaḥl belong to the most ancient period in the history of the Ethiopic script (see figs. 1, 2).12 Here, only a few of them can be indicated, pending study of the rest of the folios.
The hand of the fragment appears professional, but somewhat hasty and careless.13 The script shows a tendency to rectangularity (see below); it is tall, moderately right-sloping (like most of the Ethiopian scripts). The horizontal strokes (“tops”) are inclined to the left, not uniformly; they are extended with “hairlines”14 making the script look “spiky,” irregular and untidy. In fact, the hand of the fragment shows some similarity to that of the fragment of Däbrä Maˁṣo (see above).
Fragment of a chant manuscript, chants for St. Gärima, the beginning; pre-mid 14th century, Däbrä Śaḥl, Gärˁalta, Tǝgray.(Courtesy of the author).
Citation: Scrinium 12, 1 (2016) ; 10.1163/18177565-00121p08
Some of the individual letter shapes are as follows:
the letter መ in various orders has the ancient shape, with both loops having elongating form, with constituent vertical lines nearly parallel15. At a closer look one discovers that the right loop of the letter is frequently not closed and the loops of መ are disjoined (see fig. 2, such words as ገረማ, መምህር, ቀዊምከ, መካነ, ወአመነ, አመውታነ); the loops are “appended” at the horizontal “top” line of the letter
the letter ሠ in various orders is shaped similarly to መ, with the left and right halves disconnected16
the letter ዐ (and ፀ, as attested through ፁ) is of trapezoidal form; the 4th order vowel marker of ዓ (and ዔ, ዒ etc.) is set in the middle of the letter’s body and hardly reaches the ruled line17
the letter ስ has the 6th order marker composed of a vertical stroke and a perpendicular horizontal stroke upon it, slightly curved, directed to the left18
the letter ሎ has the 7th order vowel marker always attached directly to the letter’s body19
the vowel marker of the 4th order (-a) is shaped in the ancient way, not by means of a difference in length of the letter’s legs, but by means of a “kink” in the middle of the right leg (the letters ባ, ካ, ጣ)20
the distinction between ዉ (2nd order) and ው (6th order) is assumed to be of the “ancient type”21
the numeral ፬ (“4”, fol. Ra, line 5) is written without dashes above and below.
In some cases the vowel markers are not clearly distinguishable, esp. the 3rd and 5th orders, like ሂ versus ሄ (hi–he), ሒ and ሔ (ḥi–ḥe), ጺ and ጼ (ṣi–ṣe). Also the 1st order ረ is difficult to distinguish from the 3rd order ሪ (rä–ri). The 1st order ኀ and ከ are poorly distinguishable from the 6th order ኅ, ክ, resp. (ḫä [ḫa] – ḫǝ/ḫ; kä–kǝ/k).22
Another noticeable feature of the script is that some of the vowel markers are executed as crude, shapeless dots, set up close to the letter’s body, with very short or nearly no linking line (ሁ, ም, ሞ, ድ, ቅ, ጽ, esp. ፁ in በፁዕ, fol. Rb, line 17).
The text includes such punctuation signs as the usual word divider (፡), “cross with four rubricated dots” (፠) separating subsections (individual chants, see below) accompanied by the paragraph signs in the margins, and the x-like cross standing at the end of the section. A chain of black and red dots separates the text section in question from the preceding one.
Apart from the sign ፠ and the chain of dots, the only rubricated elements are the words ዘአባ᎓ገረማ᎓ (fol. Ra, line 4) and ሐግየ᎓ (fol. Ra, line 21).
The aforementioned and some other palaeographical traits are suggestive of a dating well before the mid-14th century, although it is hardly possible to establish the earliest possible dating in a more definitive way.23
4 Orthography
Some of the orthographic features point to the antiquity of the fragment:
the word እግዚአብሔር is always written in two parts (እግዚአ᎓ብሔር).
the preposition and the relative pronoun (ለዘ) are written separately from the following verb form (fol. Ra, lines 18–19).
A peculiar feature of the text’s orthography is that many words are vocalized in a way which may be described as “odd”, “irregular”, “defective”, or just divergent from the orthography of classic or standard medieval Gəˁəz.24 Of course, one should bear in mind that at least a few such cases might be scribal mistakes or have yet another origin, i.e. they might be unrelated to the properties of the writing system and the way it was used.
I found that 56 out of 158 words (ca. 35%) of the text in question show “odd” orthography.25 For the moment, I am abstaining from treating the orthographical variations extensively since the text on other folios must also be analyzed for that purpose.26 The words which I consider as written in “odd” orthography are listed below and followed by the corresponding forms of standard Gǝˁǝz.27
Fol. Ra, lines: 4) ገረማ – ገሪማ; 5) ገረማ – ገሪማ, ፈራሂ – ፈራሄ; 7) በአመነቱ – በእምነቱ; ነግህ – ነግሀ, ይዘርአ – ይዘርእ; 8) ገራሁቱ – ገራህቶ; 10) ቀዊምከ – ቀዊመከ; 11) ዘንቱ – ዝንቱ, መካነ – መካን; 12) አመነ – አምነ28; 13) ከርስቶስ – ክርስቶስ; 14) አመውታነ – እምውታን; 15) ሕመሙ – ሕማሞ, መራቅ – ምራቀ; 16) ወርኩሳነ – ወርኩሳን; 17) ርገዘተ – ርግዘተ; 18) ገበሁ – ገቦሁ, ቀነዋት – ቅንዋተ29; 19) ኢያሐመመ – ኢይሐምም/ኢየሐምም or ኢሐመመ, በአንቲአከ – በእንቲአከ; 20) አገሃደ – አግሃደ; 21) [ጺ]ጉከ – ጸጉከ; 23) ለጠበበ – ለጠበብ, አምከ – እምከ; 24) አነተሰ – አንተሰ, እመንኡሰከ – እምንእስከ; 25) ተለወካሁ – ተለውካሁ, አስራኤል – እስራኤል.
Fol. Rb, lines: 1) ገረማ – ገሪማ, ዘናከ – ዜናከ; 3) በእነቲአነ – በእንቲአነ; 4) ተሰመዓ – ተሰምዓ; 5) በጸሎተከ – በጸሎትከ; 6) መስለ – ምስለ 7) መላአከት – መላእክት; 8) በእመነቱ – በእምነቱ; 9) ሰረከ – ሰርከ, ገራሁቱ – ገራህቶ; 10) ገረማ – ገሪማ; 10–11) በአነቲአነ – እንቲአነ; 13) በጸሎተከ – በጸሎትከ; 14) ቀጠቀጠከ – ቀጥቀጥከ, ኀይል – ኀይለ; 15) መላአከት – መላእክት; 16–17) በአሲ – ብእሲ; 17) ጸድቅ – ጻድቅ; 17–18) በፁዕ – ብፁዕ; 18) ነግህ – ነግሀ, ይዘርአ – ይዘርእ; 19) ሰረክ – ሰርክ, ገራሁቱ – ገራህቶ; 20) በአንት – በእንተ; 21) ይንሥአ – ይንሥእ; 22) አመኃበ – እምኀበ; 23) መንከር – መንክር.
5 The Content of the Fragment
5.1 St. Gärima/Yǝsḥaq: One of the “Nine Saints”
The text contained in the fragment is dedicated to St. Gärima. This Saint, also known as Yǝsḥaq, is one of the central figures among the so-called “Nine Saints” or “Roman Saints”, a group of monks who came to the Aksumite kingdom in the late 5th – early 6th century.30
The hagiographical tradition of Gärima includes a number of works.31 The main text of the Saint’s “hagiographical dossier” is the 15th-century Acts of Gärima written by Yoḥannǝs, Bishop of Aksum, which contains the full life story of Gärima.32 A short Homily on Gärima and Yǝmˀata written by Lulǝyanos, also Bishop of Aksum, is presumably the oldest known source on the Saint.33 The Ethiopic Synaxarion contains a commemorative notice on St. Gärima under 17 Säne. 34 A few hymns (traditional poetic forms mälkǝˀ, sälam) dedicated to Gärima have been attested, as well as portions for Gärima in the chant books of the Ethiopian Orthodox Täwaḥǝdo Church.35
According to the Acts, the Saint was a son of Masfǝyanos, “king of Rom” and Sǝfǝngǝya. He was baptized as Yǝsḥaq. He succeeded his father and reigned for a while; but later he followed the call of the saintly monk Ṗänṭälewon, another one of the “Nine Saints,” left his kingdom and went to Aksum. At the request of a ruler of Aksum, the “Nine Saints” killed a “dragon” which had been terrorizing the country. After that, the pious King Kaleb reigned.36 Later Yǝsḥaq left the city of Aksum, to establish a monastic community at Däbrä Mädara, which is today known mainly as ˀƎnda ˀAbba Gärima.37 “Gärima” was in fact a nickname of Yǝsḥaq given to him by Ṗänṭälewon at one occasion,38 but in the common veneration tradition the saint is known mostly as Gärima.39
Being one of the most ancient Ethiopian monasteries, ˀƎnda ˀAbba Gärima is the place where the oldest known Ethiopic manuscripts has been found and is now preserved, the so-called ˀAbba Gärima Gospels.40 A few more churches dedicated to St. Gärima are scattered in northern Ethiopia, one of them being ˀƎnda ˀAbba Gärima ˁAddi Akawǝḥ where a South Arabian temple has been recently unearthed.41
5.2 The Chants for St. Gärima
The text of the folio is a sequence of chants dedicated to ˀabba Gärima. The text is written without musical notation signs above the text, as is the case with fairly old chant manuscripts; the rubricated words “of ˀabba Gärima” indicate the occasion (the saint’s feast) for which the chants were meant, but there is no date. There are no further indications concerning the melody or tune type to be used.42 A similar section of chants for St. Gärima can be found in some of the copies of the Dǝggwa, the main chant book of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church,43 as well as in the contemporary church edition of the Dǝggwa (DTG) under Gärima’s commemoration day (17 Säne). The facsimile edition DTG (pp. 269b–270b) reproduces the section on St. Gärima from a recent manuscript. Compared to the text of the fragment, it shows significant differences which emerged, for sure, due to the long transmission and more than one attempt at revising, extending and rearranging the chants. In DTG the chants are fully vocalized, and written in small script in such a way as to accommodate the sophisticated musical notation signs above the text lines. Despite the differences, with great probability, in case of the fragment of Däbrä Śaḥl we are dealing with an excerpt from an early version of same composition.44
The presence of the chants for St. Gärima in the collections of Dǝggwa, Mäwaśǝˀǝt and Zǝmmare has been already noticed, but the fragment of Däbrä Śaḥl considerably predates the sample manuscripts which have been referred to.45 In the context of the “hagiographical dossier” of Gärima, the chants in the fragment constitute a witness which must be older than, for instance, MS EMML no. 1763 of Däbrä Ḥayq ˀƎsṭifanos (see above) containing the Homily on Gärima and Yǝmˀata by Lulǝyanos. Another witness of the Homily, MS EMML no. 8509, also predates MS EMML no. 1763 and seems to be paleographically comparable in age with the fragment of Däbrä Śaḥl.46
Despite some uncertainty about the exact dates and circumstances, there is little doubt concerning the historicity of the “Nine” or “Roman Saints,” and specifically Gärima/Yǝsḥaq. The fragment with the chants for St. Gärima is another piece of first-hand evidence (apart from MS 8509) directly attesting the Saint’s liturgical veneration long before 1336/37 AD, spread as far as the area of Gärˁalta. On the basis of this attestation, our knowledge concerning St. Gärima’s veneration and hagiographical tradition can be extended slightly closer to the Aksumite period,47 the time when the “Nine Saints” are believed to have lived (see above) and St. Yared is supposed to have been active.
The chants on St. Gärima from the fragment of Däbrä Śaḥl should be taken into consideration for a broader study of the textual tradition of the Dǝggwa. For the moment, with the help of the fragment it is possible to pinpoint at least one important issue concerning the hagiographical tradition of St. Gärima and texts from his “hagiographical dossier.”
Contrary to the 15th-century Acts of Gärima by Yoḥannǝs, the short Homily on Gärima and Yǝmˀata by Lulǝyanos, written in a very peculiar style, is not a narrative source about the life of the Saint. The chants for St. Gärima from the fragment of Däbrä Śaḥl are not a narrative source either. However, the chants embrace a couple of tangible narrative elements which go beyond the recurrent praising topoi and can be identified in the legend of St. Gärima. Now that we know that the liturgical chants for St. Gärima are of very considerable age and predate the presumably 15th-century Homily on Gärima by Yoḥannǝs, we can try to check whether the two sources – the chants as presented in the fragment of Däbrä Śaḥl, and the Homily on Gärima by Yoḥannǝs – share any narrative elements.
In the fragment of Däbrä Śaḥl, the portion for St. Gärima encompasses five chants. In them, the verse ነግሀ᎓ ይዘርእ᎓ ወሰርከ᎓ የአርር᎓ ገራሁቶ᎓48 “(ˀAbba Gärima) sows seeds in the morning and harvests his field in the evening” is repeated three times (in chants i, iv, v). The Acts of Gärima by Yoḥannǝs contain an episode which immediately comes to mind as related to this verse. It is designated “Miracle 3” in the edition;49 it is a famous account of how the Saint, who could rule over nature, sowed seeds in the morning, gathered ripe grain in the evening of the same day and used it for preparing bread for the Eucharist.50 Another miracle which could be mentioned is designated “Miracle 10.”51 This is an account of how Gärima planted a vine which immediately sprouted and bore fruit; the Saint used the grapes for preparing Eucharistic wine. However, this story only elaborates on the same topos as “Miracle 3.” On the contrary, the obvious connection between the verse ነግሀ᎓ይዘርእ᎓ … of the chants and the “Miracle 3,” which share exactly the same narrative element, can hardly be doubted.
In the fragment of Däbrä Śaḥl, the chants do not appear organized metrically or rhythmically; the separation between the chants is graphically indicated with the sign “cross with four rubricated dots” (፠).52 In some later manuscripts of the Dǝggwa (and DTG) the aforementioned refrain-verse appears but with slight changes: ነግሀ᎓ ይዘርእ᎓ ኪነቶ᎓ ወሰርከ᎓ የአርር᎓ ገራህቶ᎓ “(ˀAbba Gärima) artfully sows seeds in the morning and harvests his field in the evening.” In the version of the Gärima-chants in DTG, the verse is repeated four times. The word kinäto 53 was possibly included to enhance the metrical organization of the Dǝggwa-chants by means of the recurrent rhyme kinäto – gärahǝto. 54 The word has no clear correspondent in the edited hagiographical narrative of Gärima and adds little to the sense of the story.
Another element which should be attended to as a possible link between the two sources is, in my opinion, the words in chant iii: ተለውካሁ᎓ ለቅዱስ᎓ እስራኤል55 “You followed the holy Israel”. This verse is missing in the chants for St. Gärima in DTG. I wonder if it might represent an older interpretation of the motive for Gärima’s migration from “Rom” to Aksum, as following the “true Israel” rather than the appeal of the pious monk ˀabba Ṗänṭälewon.56 Such an interpretation, however, is absent in the known sources on Gärima.
For the moment, it is difficult to be conclusive as to what exactly the parallelism between the works shows, the influence of a narrative work or works similar to the Homily of Yoḥannǝs upon the liturgical (Dǝggwa-)chants, or vice versa. Remarkably, the chants (and the Homily by Lulǝyanos) call the saint Gärima, while the Homily by Yoḥannǝs mainly calls him Yǝsḥaq. We can only speculate about the content of the “hagiographical dossier” of St. Gärima at the time when the chants for him were created. However, the composer of the chants definitely knew the account telling how St. Gärima grew and harvested wheat in one day, in whatever version and format, written or oral (or both). The composer summarized it in the refrain which he used as the repeating reference to the Saint’s miraculous feats.
Conclusion
The relationship between hagiographical narrative works and hymnody is an important issue of scholarly hagiography.57 In the tradition of Ethiopian hagiographical studies, hymns like mälkǝˀ and ˁarke are placed along such major hagiographical forms as Acts or Vita (Gädl), Miracles (Täˀammǝr), and the Synaxarion commemorative notice. Sometimes these hymns are edited and translated as a part of a “hagiographical dossier,” but on the whole they are not much attended to, being considered posterior and secondary to the main texts. As to the collections of Ethiopic liturgical chants in the aforementioned chant books, they are usually not treated as hagiography, since only a portion of their material is dedicated to the saints. Most of the liturgical chants dedicated to the saints are also thought to be posterior to their respective main hagiographical works.58 However, the value of the liturgical chants can be different at least for some old traditions like those of some of the “Nine Saints” and possibly some other saintly figures from the time before 14th century,59 where the tradition claims an old origin, but the available (manuscript) witnesses originate only from a much later time. In such cases, the liturgical chants should may provide a link to the older strata of both the hagiographical and the veneration traditions, as we can see from the example of the chants for St. Gärima, or indicate the existence of an unknown source.
A proper critical edition of the Ethiopian chant books seems to be a matter for the remote future; but at least a cursory search for chants dedicated to the Ethiopian saints can be conducted in the oldest known chant manuscripts,60 and, if found, such chants can be checked for parallelism with the edited (or accessible) main hagiographical works. This might help us in establishing the relative chronology of both the cult of the saint and the texts comprised in his hagiographical tradition.
1 For other recent publications on the same issue, see D. Nosnitsin, M. Bulakh, “A Fragment of an Ancient Four Gospels Book (Lk 6:35–7:7): A Short Analysis,” in: Linguistic, Oriental and Ethiopian Studies in Memory of Paolo Marrassini, ed. A. Bausi, A. Gori, and G. Lusini, Wiesbaden, 2014, pp. 551–581 (fragment of an ancient Four Gospels manuscript from the church of Däbrä Maˁṣo, inserted in MS MY-002, with a follow-up M. Bulakh, “Ancient Gǝˁǝz Orthography: Evaluation of the Fragment of Luke (Verses 6:37–6:43) in the Manuscript MY-002 from Däbrä Maˁṣo, Tǝgray,” in: Linguistic, Oriental and Ethiopian Studies in Memory of Paolo Marrassini, ed. A. Bausi, A. Gori, G. Lusini, Wiesbaden, 2014, pp. 177–212), and D. Nosnitsin, I. Rabin, “A Fragment of an Ancient Hymnody Manuscript from Mǝˀǝsar Gwǝḥila (Tǝgray, Ethiopia),” Aethiopica. International Journal of Ethiopian and Eritrean Studies, 17 (2014), pp. 65–77 (fragment of a chant manuscript from the church of Məˀəsar Gwəḥila Mikaˀel).
2 It took place in early 2009. Sometime before that, I visited the church as a member of a group of scholars led by Ewa Balicka-Witakowska and Michael Gervers. The church was recorded long ago (R. Sauter, “Églises rupestres au Tigre,” Annales d’Éthiopie, 10 (1976), pp. 157–175, here 166, no. 1206), but its study has started only recently (see <http: //www.lingfil.uu.se/staff/ewa_balicka-witakowska/?languageId=1>). For a general overview on the church, see EAE, vol. V, pp. 224a–225a “Agwäza” (E. Balicka-Witakowska). On the famous historical area of Gärˁalta and its importance, see EAE, vol. II, pp. 697b–700b “Gärˁalta” (N. Finneran – [Red.], G. Lusini, E. Balicka-Witakowska).
4 A catalogue of the manuscripts ofˀAgwäza Däbrä Śaḥl, in which they will receive a full treatment, will hopefully appear in the future.
6 For the terminology used to describe pricking and ruling, see A. Bausi, D. Nosnitsin, E. Balicka-Witakowska, and C. Bosc-Tiessé, “Ethiopic Codicology,” in: Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies: An Introduction, ed. A. Bausi, P. G. Borbone, F. Briquel-Chatonnet, P. Buzi, J. Gippert, C. Macé, Z. Melissakes, L. E. Parodi, W. Witakowski, and E. Sokolinski, Hamburg, 2015, pp. 154–174, here 161–162.
9 The ruled text lines are of “type J,” i.e. they do not continue into the “gut margin” and run only between the two outer vertical ruled lines delimiting the columns (see D. Muzerelle, “Pour décrire les schémas de réglure: une méthode de notation symbolique,” Quinio, 1 (1999), pp. 123–170, here 132, 138, 147 and the examples; see also a few cases of Ethiopic manuscripts referred to in D. Nosnitsin, “Pricking and Ruling in Ethiopic Manuscripts: An Aid for Dating?,” Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies Bulletin, 1–2 (2015), pp. 94–108, here 101 fn. 17, 104 fn. 24). On the few other folios originating from the same codex, I could observe that the vertical pricks are placed at a close but somewhat varying distance from the outer horizontal ruled lines. The pattern of pricking and ruling appears to correspond to pattern IV (cf. Nosnitsin, “Pricking and Ruling in Ethiopic Manuscripts,” pp. 101–103), though the text pricks cannot be seen on the images. The horizontal (text) ruled lines slightly transgress the vertical bounding ruled lines.
10 By “standard Gǝˁǝz (Ethiopic)” I mean the Gǝˁǝz language as it emerged in the medieval period of Ethiopian history (coinciding, more or less, with the re-establishment of the Solomonic dynasty in 1270). The grammars and lexicons normally follow the orthographic norms of standard Gǝˁǝz (this orthography, notably, also has a number of problems and inconsistencies).
11 On the folio, the text starts with the 4th written line; my transcription of the text keeps the original distribution of the lines. Text in square brackets is my proposed reconstruction. In the translation, the Roman numbers in square brackets mark the beginning of each individual subsection (a chant, see below).
12 The so-called “monumental script” or “period I”, pre-mid-14th century, see S. Uhlig, Äthiopische Paläographie (Aethiopistische Forschungen, 22), Stuttgart, 1988, pp. 73–176.
13 The description of the script draws upon the system applied in D. Nosnitsin, “Deconstructing a manuscript collection: the case of Araˁro Täklä Haymanot (Gulo Mäkäda, East Tǝgray),” in: Essays in Ethiopian Manuscript Studies. Proceedings of the International Conference Manuscripts and Texts, Languages and Contexts: The Transmission of Knowledge in the Horn of Africa. Hamburg, 17–19 July 2014, ed. A. Bausi, A. Gori, D. Nosnitsin (Supplement to Aethiopica, 4), Wiesbaden, 2015, pp. 23–58 and plates (see esp. p. 26, fn. 14).
14 The feature is thus not necessarily an idiosyncrasy, as suggested in Nosnitsin, Bulakh, “A Fragment of an Ancient Four Gospels Book,” p. 561.
15 Cp. a similar shape of the letter in the fragment of Məˀəsar Gwəḥila, Nosnitsin, Bulakh, “A Fragment of an Ancient Four Gospels Book,” p. 560, no. 9; in the fragment of Däbrä Maˁṣo, Nosnitsin, Rabin, “A Fragment of an Ancient Hymnody Manuscript,” p. 71 and fn. 9; in MS 8509, Sergew Hable-Selassie, “An Early Ethiopian Manuscript EMML 8509 (Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library),” Quaderni di Studi Etiopici, 8–9 (1987–1988), pp. 5–27 (= Ostkirchliche Studien, 40 (1991), pp. 64–80), here p. 26.
16 Cp. similar forms of the letter in Nosnitsin, Bulakh, “A Fragment of an Ancient Four Gospels Book,” (not noted separately, see the images of the text), Nosnitsin, Rabin, “A Fragment of an Ancient Hymnody Manuscript,” p. 71 (the similarity is less pronounced), Sergew Hable-Selassie 1987–88: 26; the “halves” of the letter are usually connected.
17 The trapezoidal shape is articulated more strongly than in the fragment of Məˀəsar Gwəḥila (Nosnitsin, Rabin, “A Fragment of an Ancient Hymnody Manuscript,” p. 71) and MS EMML no. 8509 (Sergew Hable-Selassie, “An Early Ethiopian Manuscript EMML 8509,” p. 26); a similar shape is found in the fragment of Däbrä Maˁṣo (Nosnitsin, Bulakh, “A Fragment of an Ancient Four Gospels Book,” p. 558 no. 1 [here the 1st- and 5th-order shapes are noted because of a different feature] and the images of the text).
18 See the same in Nosnitsin, Bulakh, “A Fragment of an Ancient Four Gospels Book,” p. 559 (no. 7), Nosnitsin, Rabin, “A Fragment of an Ancient Hymnody Manuscript,” p. 71, and Sergew Hable-Selassie, “An Early Ethiopian Manuscript EMML 8509,” p. 26.
19 Partly or fully in contrast to the fragment of Məˀəsar Gwəḥila (Nosnitsin, Rabin, “A Fragment of an Ancient Hymnody Manuscript,” p. 71), the fragment of Däbrä Maˁṣo (Nosnitsin, Bulakh, “A Fragment of an Ancient Four Gospels Book,” p. 561), and MS EMML no. 8509 (Sergew Hable-Selassie, “An Early Ethiopian Manuscript EMML 8509,” p. 26).
20 As in the fragment of Məˀəsar Gwəḥila (Nosnitsin, Rabin, “A Fragment of an Ancient Hymnody Manuscript,” p. 71), the fragment of Däbrä Maˁṣo (Nosnitsin, Bulakh, “A Fragment of an Ancient Four Gospels Book,” p. 558, no. 3), and MS EMML no. 8509 (Sergew Hable-Selassie, “An Early Ethiopian Manuscript EMML 8509,” p. 26).
21 Only the letter ው (the 6th order) is attested in the fragment, with the vowel marker set high on the letter’s body. In fact the marker appears to be an extension of the “top” of the letter. Therefore a distinction between ዉ (wu) and ው (wǝ/w) of the “ancient type” may be assumed, i.e. the 2nd-order marker is set up in the middle, and 6th-order marker on the top of the letter’s body (cp. D. M. Davies, “The Dating of the Ethiopic Manuscripts,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 46.4 (1987), pp. 287–307, here 290–291, EAE, vol. IV, p. 102, “Palaeography” [A. Bausi]; in a somewhat different way and only concerning the 6th order Uhlig 1988: 95, 97). This opposition is very clear in the fragment of Däbrä Maˁṣo (Nosnitsin, Bulakh, “A Fragment of an Ancient Four Gospels Book,” p. 558, no. 11); it is indicated but less certain in MS EMML no. 8509 (Sergew Hable-Selassie, “An Early Ethiopian Manuscript EMML 8509,” p. 26, possibly meant vice versa in the table), and still less certain or nearly replaced by the “normal” opposition type (the 2nd-order marker is set up below, and 6th-order marker in the middle of the letter’s body) in the fragment of Məˀəsar Gwəḥila (cp. the images in Nosnitsin, Rabin, “A Fragment of an Ancient Hymnody Manuscript,” p. 71).
22 This led to some decisions which might appear arbitrary, concerning specifically the cases of the opposition of the 1st order ረ against the 3rd order ሪ. E.g., I transcribed the name of the Saint several times as Gärima and several times as Gäräma, following my optical perception. The difference between ረ and ሪ seems to be very tiny and is not articulated clearly enough by the scribe. The name of Christ seems to be written Kärstos and not Krǝstos (fol. Ra, line 10). However, the script of the fragment of Däbrä Śaḥl is somewhat clearer than that of the fragment of Däbrä Maˁṣo (Nosnitsin, Bulakh, “A Fragment of an Ancient Four Gospels Book”) and Mǝˀǝsar Gwǝḥila (Nosnitsin, Rabin, “A Fragment of an Ancient Hymnody Manuscript”) and contains less doubtful readings.
23 If we accept the absence or presence of the linking line for the 7th-order marker of ሎ as one of the decisive features for dating manuscripts (cp. Uhlig’s distinction of archaic vs. “progressive” features which, however, can be mixed within the same manuscript, see Uhlig, Äthiopische Paläographie, pp. 100, 123, 140), the fragment of Däbrä Śaḥl might be tentatively considered older than that of Məˀəsar Gwəḥila (where both the ancient shape of ሎ [without the linking line] and the “progressive” shape [with the linking line] are attested, see Nosnitsin, Rabin, “A Fragment of an Ancient Hymnody Manuscript,” p. 71) and also older than that of Däbrä Maˁṣo (here, only the “progressive” shape of ሎ is attested, see Nosnitsin, Bulakh, “A Fragment of an Ancient Four Gospels Book,” p. 561). Cp. with the distribution of the features referred to in fn. 22, above.
24 This phenomenon is attested to varying degrees in a few ancient manuscripts. Two more ancient fragments featuring such orthography have recently been presented and discussed. See above, fn. 1, further references are in Nosnitsin, Rabin, “A Fragment of an Ancient Hymnody Manuscript,” pp. 71–72 and fn. 15; Nosnitsin, Bulakh, “A Fragment of an Ancient Four Gospels Book,” pp. 573–577, esp. fn. 92–95.
25 This is a higher percentage than in the fragment of Däbrä Maˁṣo (ca. 18.5%, 60 out of 324 words; see Nosnitsin, Bulakh, “A Fragment of an Ancient Four Gospels Book,” p. 576). For the fragment of Mǝˀǝsar Gwǝḥila, the percentage is more difficult to establish because of the poor condition of the text; out of a total of 213 words (readable and reconstructable) around 54 (ca. 25%) reveal “odd” orthography.
26 A cursory look through the other leaves gave the impression that the density of the words with “odd” orthography may differ from one text section to another. If counted in the text of all the leaves, the rate of the orthographical variations can be different.
27 I am aware that the orthography of medieval Gǝˁǝz also exhibits its own range of problems and inconsistencies, which cannot be discussed here.
29 Remarkably, just a few lines above (line 12) the same verb operates with the preposition to express the same meaning (“to believe in”): ወአመነ᎓በ …
30 See A. Brita, I racconti tradizionali sulla “seconda cristianizzazione” dell’Etiopia. Il ciclo agiografico dei nove santi (Studi Africanistici. Serie Etiopica, 7), Napoli, 2010, pp. 20, 221–230 (and the index), EAE II, 704b–706a “Gärima” (D. Nosnitsin), EAE, vol. III, pp. 1188b–1191a “Nine Saints” (A. Brita) and articles devoted to the individual saints.
31 See the overview in Brita, I racconti tradizionali sulla “seconda cristianizzazione” dell’Etiopia, pp. 221–230.
32 The Ethiopic text was published by C. Conti Rossini as early as 1898. Precisely speaking, the author of the Acts, Yoḥannǝs, refers to his work as dǝrsan, i.e. “homily,” and calls the protagonist mainly by the name Yǝsḥaq (see below).
33 Getatchew Haile, “The Homily of Lulǝyanos, Bishop of Axum, on the Holy Fathers,” AB, 103 (1985), pp. 385–391. The homily is preserved in the celebrated MS EMML no. 1763 of Däbrä Ḥayq ˀƎsṭifanos (dated to 1336/37 or 1339/40 AD, see Getatchew Haile, A Catalogue of Ethiopian Manuscripts Microfilmed for the Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library, Addis Ababa and for the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library, Collegeville, vol. V: Project Numbers 1501–2000, Collegeville, Minnesota, 1981, pp. 218–231), and in the 14th-cent. MS Orient. 8192 (Brita, I racconti tradizionali sulla “seconda cristianizzazione” dell’Etiopia, p. 228); another ancient witness of the Homily is MS EMML no. 8509 (not catalogued, see Sergew Hable-Selassie, “An Early Ethiopian Manuscript EMML 8509,” p. 17).
34 Le synaxaire éthiopien. Les mois de Sanê, Hamlê et Nahasê, I: Mois de Sanê, éd., tr. I. Guidi (PO, 1–5), Paris, 1906 (repr. Brepols, 2003), pp. 626–629, for an analysis of the narrative see Brita, I racconti tradizionali sulla “seconda cristianizzazione” dell’Etiopia, p. 42. At least some witnesses of the Ethiopic Synaxarion contain one more very brief entry for Gärima (without narration) under 17 Mäggabit (The Book of the Saints of the Ethiopian Church, ed. E. A. T. W. Budge, 4 vols., Cambridge, 1928 (repr. Hildesheim – New York, 1976), p. 713).
35 See Brita, I racconti tradizionali sulla “seconda cristianizzazione” dell’Etiopia, pp. 229–230, and below.
36 The inclusion into the Acts of the “folklore” story about the dragon (Brita, I racconti tradizionali sulla “seconda cristianizzazione” dell’Etiopia, pp. 64–66) is puzzling since Kaleb (r. ca. 520–540) is known to have succeeded a Christian king, and Aksum was Christianized before the advent of the “Nine Saints.”
37 The land grand promulgated by King Gäbrä Mäsqäl in the Acts of Gärima (“Miracle 9” of the edition, see Conti Rossini 1898: 167–168) has its main source, obviously, in the land donation document inscribed by a 15th-century (?) hand on the verso-side of the first folio in MS Abba Garima I (see W. F. Macomber, Catalogue of Ethiopian Manuscripts from Abbā Garimā, Ašatan (Church of St. Mary), Axum (Church of Zion), Dabra Bizan, Dabra Dāmo … Collegeville, 1979, privately reproduced, p. 3, unspecified “1b: Donations” [the 3rd frame in the microfilm by D. Davies, “Abba Garima Reel 1”]; for a broader context of using land documents in the Acts of some Ethiopian saints, see D. Nosnitsin, “Vita and Miracles of the Ṣadǝqan of ˁAddiqäḥarsi Ṗäraqliṭos: A Preliminary Study,” in: Veneration of Saints in Christian Ethiopia: Proceedings of the International Workshop Saints in Christian Ethiopia: Literary Sources and Veneration, Hamburg, April 28–29, 2012, ed. D. Nosnitsin (Supplement to Aethiopica, 3), Wiesbaden, 2015, pp. 137–160).
38 C. Conti Rossini, “L’omilia di Yohannes, vescovo d’Aksum in onore di Garimâ,” in: Actes du Onzième Congrès des Orientalistes. Paris – 1897. Quatrième section. Hébreu – Phénicien – Aramée – Éthiopien – Assyrien, Paris, 1898, pp. 139–177, here 164–165 (“Miracle 6”), see Brita, I racconti tradizionali sulla “seconda cristianizzazione” dell’Etiopia, pp. 69–70.
39 The figure of Gärima and his Acts have attracted scholarly attention as much as the other “Nine Saints,” see, among recent publications, also H. Brakmann, Τὸ παρὰ τοῖς βαρβάροις ἔργον θεῖον. Die Einwurzelung der Kirche im spätantiken Reich von Aksum, Bonn, 1994, p. 130, Biblioteca sanctorum orientalium. Enciclopedia dei Santi. Le Chiese Orientali, ed. J. N. Cañellas, S. Virgulin, G. Guaita, vols. I–II, Roma, 1998–1999, vol. I, p. 971, “Garima” (O. Raineri), and the main contribution Brita, I racconti tradizionali sulla “seconda cristianizzazione” dell’Etiopia (for indications that the Acts of Gärima can be attested in more than one recension, see ibid., pp. 36, 226). A new critical edition of the text is being prepared by Dr. Antonella Brita (Hamburg). A few other contributions about Gärima and related subjects will appear in the forthcoming proceedings of the conference “Ethiopia and the Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity: The Garima Gospels in Context” (University of Oxford, 2–3 November 2013).
40 See EAE, vol. II, pp. 284a–286b, “Ǝnda Abba Gärima” (A. Bausi), and A. Bausi, “The ‘True Story’ of the Abba Gärima Gospels,” Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies Newsletter, 1 (January 2011), pp. 17–20.
42 The only indication within the text might be the sequence በ፬᎓ (fol. Ra, line 5), literally meaning “at four” or “in four,” referring probably to the number of hallelujahs which should be sung before the chant. It is unlikely that it refers to the chant type ˀarbaˁǝt (K. K. Shelemay, P. Jeffery, I. Monson, “Oral and Written Transmission in Ethiopian Christian Chant,” Early Music History, 12 (1993), pp. 55–117, here 76) as such an indication would be expected at the beginning of the portion. (It must be admitted that there is no certainty in interpretation of the indication በ፬᎓በሃሌሉያ, Nosnitsin, Rabin, “A Fragment of an Ancient Hymnody Manuscript,” p. 73, as it does not stand at the beginning of the portion).
43 On the antiphonary of Dǝggwa see EAE, vol. II, pp. 123a–124b, “Dǝggwa” (Habtemichael Kidane), Habtemichael Kidane, L’ufficio divino della chiesa etiopica. Studio storico-critico con particolare riferimento alle ore cattedrali (OCA, 257), Roma, 1998, pp. 45–92; B. Velat, “Le Mawāše’et et les livres de chant liturgique éthiopien,” in: Mémorial du cinquantenaire: 1914–1964. École des Langues Orientales Anciennes de l’Institut Catholique de Paris, Paris, 1964, pp. 159–170, and the important contributions resulted from the studies of Kay Kaufman Shelemay, such as P. Jeffery, “The Liturgical Year in the Ethiopian Deggwā (Chantbook),” in: Eulogēma: Studies in Honour of Robert Taft, S.J., ed. E. Carr (Studia Anselmiana, 110; Analecta Liturgica, 17), Rome, 1993, pp. 199–234, and Shelemay, Jeffery, Monson, “Oral and Written Transmission.” The Ethiopian Orthodox Church traditionally ascribes the authorship of the Dǝggwa (and the other chant books) to St. Yared, who is believed to have lived in the 6th century (see EAE, vol. V, pp. 26b–28b, “Yared” (A. Brita); on the authorship of Yared as rather hypothetical see the reservations in Habtemichael Kidane, L’ufficio divino della chiesa etiopica, pp. 61, 74–78; cf. also Taddesse Tamrat, “A Short Note on the Ethiopian Church Music,” Annales d’Éthiopie 13 (1985), pp. 137–143, here 141). As to the liturgical use of the book, in contemporary church practice “the Dǝggwa is performed before the Mass on Sundays and holidays throughout the liturgical cycle. These chants form the non-monastic or ‘Cathedral’ Office, the most important occasion for music in the Ethiopian liturgy” (Shelemay, Jeffery, Monson, “Oral and Written Transmission,” p. 64); cp. the slightly different definition: “Il Deggwa fornisce elementi, più o meno completi, per ciascuna domenica e per ciascun giorno feriale dell’anno liturgico” (Habtemichael Kidane, L’ufficio divino della chiesa etiopica, p. 60).
44 Chant ii of the fragment of Däbrä Śaḥl seems to be dedicated not to Gärima but to Jesus Christ or a martyr, and in DTG it is found, with slight modifications, in the preceding section for 16 Säne. In the fragment of Däbrä Śaḥl, the chants for St. Gärima are followed by the chants for the Apostles Peter and Paul, introduced by the rubric “Of the Apostles” on fol. Va. The corresponding passage is placed in DTG (p. 273b) under 25 Säne (cf. Jeffery, “The Liturgical Year,” p. 231, “Peter and Paul”). The section preceding the St. Gärima chants in the fragment (lines 1–3, fol. Ra) could not be identified in the modern edition DTG, but it might well be the ending of the chants for St. Michael, 12 Säne (DTG, pp. 264a–268b; Jeffery, “The Liturgical Year,” p. 230). The chants for St. Gärima from the Däbrä Śaḥl fragment shows a more obvious link to the corresponding passage in the later Dǝggwa-witnesses as the fragment from Məˀəsar Gwəḥila (Nosnitsin, Rabin, “A Fragment of an Ancient Hymnody Manuscript,” pp. 73–74). As it will be shown below, other Ethiopic chant books also have sections dedicated to Gärima, but for the moment we consider Dǝggwa as the oldest composition and the source for the other chant books (see Velat, “Le Mawāše’et et les livres de chant liturgique éthiopien,” p. 160, cp. EAE, vol. II, p. 124a, “Dǝggwa” [Habtemichael Kidane]).
46 EMML no. 8509 has been dated to the late 11th – beginning of the 12thcentury by Sergew Hable-Selassie, “An Early Ethiopian Manuscript EMML 8509,” p. 27; and, with great reservations, to the first half of the 14thcentury by G. Fiaccadori, “Aethiopica minima,” Quaderni utinensi, 7 [13–14] (1989), pp. 150–151, 161–163 (iv. “EMML 7602”), here p. 150, the latter dating being most probably too recent. However, the manuscript is poorly documented; the microfilm is of inferior quality, and accessible only in Addis Ababa, at the National Archives and Library of Ethiopia (NALE). The script does show ancient features, but if we try to empirically confirm the statement of Sergew Hable-Selassie, “An Early Ethiopian Manuscript EMML 8509,” pp. 11, 13 about the uniqueness of MS EMML no. 8509 in terms of orthography, using the folio reproduced in his article (ibid., p. 12), we will see that at least on the sample folio the number of words with visible orthographic deviations out of the total number (320) is insignificant.
47 As was indicated, for the moment it is not really possible to date the fragment beyond proposing the vague formula “certainly before the mid-14th century,” tacitly considering the 11th/12th century as possible dating. It should be recalled that this dating is still far from the Aksumite period, but not so far from the alternative dates of the life of Yared (the 9th century) as proposed by Getatchew Haile, “A New Look at Some Dates of Early Ethiopian History,” Le Muséon, 95.3–4 (1982), pp. 311–322, here 318–319, on the basis of the chronology treatises contained in MS EMML no. 2063. The fragment of a chant book from Məˀəsar Gwəḥila (see above, fn. 1) should be also considered in the light of that chronology.
50 The miracle has some “puzzling” details, such as St. Gärima threshing the corn with oxen “on the trunk of a tree.” However, this miracle appears in the Acts of Ṗänṭälewon, in the Acts of Liqanos, and is popularized even more through the reference in the widespread Acts of Zä-Mikaˀel ˀArägawi, all saints belonging to the group of the “Nine Saints” (see Brita, I racconti tradizionali sulla “seconda cristianizzazione” dell’Etiopia, pp. 68–69 and 46). The miracle is retold in the commemorative notice of Gärima in the widely circulated Synaxarion (Le synaxaire éthiopiennê, ed. Guidi, pp. 626–629), which contains a similar formula: ወአሐተ᎓ ዕለተ᎓ ዘርአ᎓ ስርናየ᎓ በነግህ᎓ ወአረረ᎓ በሰርክ ፨ (ወእምኔሁ᎓ አዕረጉ᎓ ቍርባነ᎓). But the commemorative notice is not found in the oldest copies of the work (MS “A” of the edition, i.e. MS d’Abbadie 66) and it has not so far been discovered as an independent composition. The miracle is briefly referred to also outside the Nine Saints’ hagiographical cycle (e.g., in the Mäṣḥafä mǝśṭir of Giyorgis of Sägla, see Brita, I racconti tradizionali sulla “seconda cristianizzazione” dell’Etiopia, pp. 44–45; on the work, composed in 1424, see EAE, vol. III, pp. 491b–944a, “Mäṣḥafä mǝśṭir” [A. Bausi]). The miracle captured the imagination of the painters and was depicted as a miniature, or, more precisely, at least as two miniatures/scenes, one showing the Saint “cultivating” and another one “threshing” (see Brita, I racconti tradizionali sulla “seconda cristianizzazione” dell’Etiopia, pp. 68–69, and fig. 14, cf. D. Nosnitsin, Churches and Monasteries of Tǝgray. A Survey of Manuscript Collections (Supplement to Aethiopica, 1), Wiesbaden, 2013, p. 230, fig. 107b; cp. the illustration in EAE, vol. II, p. 705 for the article “Gärima” [D. Nosnitsin]).
52 As in the fragment of Məˀəsar Gwəḥila (Nosnitsin, Rabin, “A Fragment of an Ancient Hymnody Manuscript,” p. 73).
53 Kinäto is the accusative form of the word kinätu “his art, handicraft, workmanship” (W. Leslau, Comparative Dictionary of Geˁez (Classical Ethiopic): Geˁez – English / English – Geˁez with an Index of the Semitic Roots, Wiesbaden, 1987, p. 286).
54 On the originally “non-poetic” form of the work, see L. Ricci, “Letterature dell’Etiopia,” in: Storia delle letterature d’Oriente, ed. O. Botto, vol. 1, Milano, 1969, pp. 801–911, here 809; a more pronounced poetic form was gradually acquired by the chants of the Dǝggwa in the course of its development and enrichment (see Habtemichael Kidane, L’ufficio divino della chiesa etiopica, p. 81); on the gradual development of the Dǝggwa, see also Shelemay, Jeffery, Monson, “Oral and Written Transmission,” esp. pp. 75–98.
56 Conti Rossini, “L’omilia di Yohannes, vescovo d’Aksum,” pp. 150–151; Le synaxaire éthiopiennê, ed. Guidi, p. 627.
57 Cf., e.g., the recent summary for Byzantine hagiography in A. Giannuli, “Byzantine Hagiography and Hymnography: An Interrelationship,” in: The Ashgate Research Companion to Byzantine Hagiography, ed. S. Efthymiadis, vol. II: Genres and Contexts, Farnham, Surrey, 2014, pp. 285–312.
58 Nevertheless they deserve the proper attention. According to the principles of the scholarly hagiography, the sources of this kind fall in the part of the “hagiographical dossier” which comprises liturgical documents as opposed to literary sources (like Acts, Miracles etc.). In specific cases, the liturgical documents may play the most important role for establishing the history of the saint’s cult, defining also the value of the literary sources (H. Delehaye, “Problemi di metodo agiografico: le coordinate agiografiche e le narrazione,” in: Agiografia altomedievale, ed. S. Boesch Gajano, Bologna, 1976, pp. 49–71, here 50, 52).
59 In his article on the Homily on Mäṭaˁ/Libanos by ˀElyas, Bishop of ˀAksum, Getatchew Haile ( “The Homily of Abba Elǝyas, Bishop of Aksum, on Mäṭṭa‘,” AB, 108 (1990), pp. 29–47) considers possible interrelations between the Mäwaśǝˀǝt and Dǝggwa and the chants for Mäṭaˁ, but he used the modern editions and mostly established dissimilarities. It cannot be excluded that chant manuscripts, especially those of Dǝggwa, older than at least MS EMML no. 1763, will turn up one day, containing the chants for Mäṭaˁ/Libanos. As a new practice, cf. Brita, I racconti tradizionali sulla “seconda cristianizzazione” dell’Etiopia, p. 229 providing information not only on the common poetic compositions, but also referring to the respective portions in the Ethiopian books of chants. Herewith, I provide some additional references to one of today’s standard editions of the chant books of the Ethiopian Church, the ˀAmmǝstu ṣäwatǝw zemawočč (1965 Eth.C.). In the book called Zǝmmare there are portions for such saints as Ṗänṭälewon and [Zä-Mikaˀel] ˀArägawi (pp. 413b–414a), Yǝmˀata (p. 422a–b), Yoḥanni (pp. 422c–424b), Mäṭaˁ/Libanos (p. 445bc), the people of Najran (p. 437a–b), Sälama/Frumentius (pp. 441c–442a, 486a–b), Yared (p. 477a–c), Gärima (p. 482a–b, also with the verse ነግሀ᎓ ይዘርዕ᎓ ኪነቶ᎓ ወሰርከ᎓ የአርር᎓ ገራህቶ᎓ “(ˀAbba Gärima) sows seeds in the morning and harvests his field in the evening”, and a few more verses shared with the Dǝggwa-chants). The antiphonary called Mäwaśǝˀǝt contains portions for Yoḥanni (pp. 546c–548a), Libanos (pp. 568c–571c; two portions), Gärima (pp. 585a–587c, also using the refrain, ነግሀ᎓ ይዘርእ᎓ ኪነቶ᎓ ወሰርከ᎓ የአርር᎓ ገራህቶ᎓), and a few more verses shared with the Dǝggwa-chants). The book called Mǝˁǝraf contains a short chant for Gärima (using the refrain ነግሀ᎓ ይዘርእ᎓ ኪነቶ᎓ …, see Meʻerāf. Commun de l’office divin éthiopien pour toute l’année. Texte éthiopien avec variantes, ed. B. Velat (PO, 34.1–2), Paris, 1966, p. 217 text; Études sur le Meʻerāf, commun de l’office divin éthiopien. Introduction, traduction française, commentaire liturgique et musical, tr. B. Velat (PO, 33), Paris, 1966, p. 428 tr. [no. 28], and index), and chants for other saints. The sanctoral chants in the central book, the Dǝggwa, are listed in Jeffery, “The Liturgical Year.”
60 For instance, MS EMML no. 7078 from Betä Giyorgis (Lalibäla), one of the oldest Ethiopic chant manuscripts known, contains short passages on the following saints: ˀabba Sälama (the first bishop of Aksum/Ethiopia; see EAE, vol. IV, “Sälama (Käśate Bǝrhan)”, pp. 484b–488a [G. Fiaccadori]), fols. 10v, 16r; Ṗäntälǝyon (Ṗänṭälewon, one of the “Nine Saints”, see above), fol. 12v; ˀabba Yoḥanni (the founder of the monastery of Däbrä Sina?; see EAE, vol. V, p. 89a–b, “Yoḥanni of Däbrä Sina,” [I. Fridman]), fols. 13r, 19v, 51r. The manuscript is definitely old and the script shows a number of old features, but it is fully vocalized, and the vowel markers are shaped according to the “modern” pattern (lengthening of one of the letter’s “legs”, cp. above). Therefore MS EMML no. 7078 is most probably younger than the fragment of Däbrä Śaḥl (but also than those of Däbrä Maˁṣo and Məˀəsar Gwəḥila).
- 2
It took place in early 2009. Sometime before that, I visited the church as a member of a group of scholars led by Ewa Balicka-Witakowska and Michael Gervers. The church was recorded long ago (R. Sauter, “Églises rupestres au Tigre,” Annales d’Éthiopie, 10 (1976), pp. 157–175, here 166, no. 1206), but its study has started only recently (see <http: //www.lingfil.uu.se/staff/ewa_balicka-witakowska/?languageId=1>). For a general overview on the church, see EAE, vol. V, pp. 224a–225a “Agwäza” (E. Balicka-Witakowska). On the famous historical area of Gärˁalta and its importance, see EAE, vol. II, pp. 697b–700b “Gärˁalta” (N. Finneran – [Red.], G. Lusini, E. Balicka-Witakowska).
- 31
See the overview in Brita, I racconti tradizionali sulla “seconda cristianizzazione” dell’Etiopia, pp. 221–230.
- 33
Getatchew Haile, “The Homily of Lulǝyanos, Bishop of Axum, on the Holy Fathers,” AB, 103 (1985), pp. 385–391. The homily is preserved in the celebrated MS EMML no. 1763 of Däbrä Ḥayq ˀƎsṭifanos (dated to 1336/37 or 1339/40 AD, see Getatchew Haile, A Catalogue of Ethiopian Manuscripts Microfilmed for the Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library, Addis Ababa and for the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library, Collegeville, vol. V: Project Numbers 1501–2000, Collegeville, Minnesota, 1981, pp. 218–231), and in the 14th-cent. MS Orient. 8192 (Brita, I racconti tradizionali sulla “seconda cristianizzazione” dell’Etiopia, p. 228); another ancient witness of the Homily is MS EMML no. 8509 (not catalogued, see Sergew Hable-Selassie, “An Early Ethiopian Manuscript EMML 8509,” p. 17).
- 35
See Brita, I racconti tradizionali sulla “seconda cristianizzazione” dell’Etiopia, pp. 229–230, and below.
- 45
See Brita, I racconti tradizionali sulla “seconda cristianizzazione” dell’Etiopia, p. 229.
- 49
Conti Rossini, “L’omilia di Yohannes, vescovo d’Aksum,” p. 161.
- 51
See Conti Rossini, “L’omilia di Yohannes, vescovo d’Aksum,” p. 168.
- 56
Conti Rossini, “L’omilia di Yohannes, vescovo d’Aksum,” pp. 150–151; Le synaxaire éthiopiennê, ed. Guidi, p. 627.
