52-503: The birr ( Amharic : ብር ) is the primary unit of currency in Ethiopia . It is subdivided into 100 santims . In 1931, Emperor Haile Selassie formally requested that the international community use the name Ethiopia (as it had already been known internally for at least 1,600 years) instead of the exonym Abyssinia , and the issuing Bank of Abyssinia also became the Bank of Ethiopia . Thus,
104-513: A holy language by the Rastafari religion and is widely used among its followers worldwide. Early Afro-Asiatic populations speaking proto- Semitic , proto- Cushitic and proto- Omotic languages would have diverged by the fourth or fifth millennium BC. Shortly afterwards, the proto-Cushitic and proto-Omotic groups would have settled in the Ethiopian highlands, with the proto-Semitic speakers crossing
156-513: A pidgin as early as the 4th century AD to enable communication between Aksumite soldiers speaking Semitic, Cushitic, and Omotic languages, but this hypothesis has not garnered widespread acceptance. The preservation in Old Amharic of VSO word order and gutturals typical of Semitic languages, Cushitic influences shared with other Ethio-Semitic languages (especially those of the Southern branch), and
208-512: A new series of coins was introduced consisting of copper 1 and 5 metonnyas, and nickel 10, 20 and 50 metonnyas. In 1944 (EE1936 in the Ethiopian calendar ), coins were reintroduced, with copper 1, 5, 10 and 25 santim and silver 50 santim coins. A second series was issued in 1977 (EE1969). It consisted of aluminium 1 santim, brass 5 and 10 santim, cupro-nickel 25 and 50 santim, and bi-metallic 1 birr coins. The most recent issues are: The dates, like
260-519: A rate of 24 lire per shilling. Maria Theresa thalers were allowed to circulate with a value of 1 shilling and 10 + 1 ⁄ 2 pence (or 45 lire). The East African shilling became the money of account on 1 July 1942; it eventually became the sole legal tender and remained so until 1945. Regular notes of the East African Currency Board were used for circulation in Ethiopia. The birr
312-604: A red overprint were authorized for Italian East Africa on 12 September 1938, and a large quantity was printed. It is not clear, however, when, where, and to what extent these special notes actually circulated. During the East African Campaign of 1941, British forces brought with them Indian, Egyptian, British, and British East African currency, and all were received in official payments. Italian coins and notes of up to 50 lire were allowed to continue in circulation to serve as small change; higher denominations were withdrawn at
364-487: A roaring lion, with a flowing mane. Coins were struck at several mints, including Paris, Berlin, and Addis Ababa . Coins without mint marks were generally struck at Addis Ababa. The coins struck at Paris have either the mintmark "A" with the cornucopia and fasces privy marks , or the cornucopia and torch privy marks without the "A". The Bank of Abyssinia introduced banknotes for 5, 10, 100 and 500 talaris in 1915, and 280,000 talaris worth of notes were printed. The text on
416-730: Is a South Ethio-Semitic language, along with Gurage , Argobba , Harari , and others. Due to the social stratification of the time, the Cushitic Agaw adopted the South Ethio-Semitic language and eventually absorbed the Semitic population. Amharic thus developed with a Cushitic substratum and a Semitic superstratum . The northernmost South Ethio-Semitic speakers, or the proto-Amhara, remained in constant contact with their North Ethio-Semitic neighbors, evidenced by linguistic analysis and oral traditions. A 7th century southward shift of
468-746: Is an Ethiopian Semitic language , which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages . It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas , and also serves as a lingua franca for all other populations residing in major cities and towns in Ethiopia . The language serves as the official working language of the Ethiopian federal government, and is also the official or working language of several of Ethiopia's federal regions . As of 2020, it has over 33,700,000 mother-tongue speakers and more than 25,100,000 second language speakers in 2019, making
520-571: Is an abugida , and the graphemes of the Amharic writing system are called fidäl . It is derived from a modification of the Ge'ez script . Each character represents a consonant+vowel sequence, but the basic shape of each character is determined by the consonant, which is modified for the vowel. Some consonant phonemes are written by more than one series of characters: / ʔ / , / s / , / tsʼ / , and / h / (the last one has four distinct letter forms). This
572-658: Is because these fidäl originally represented distinct sounds, but phonological changes merged them. The citation form for each series is the consonant+ ä form, i.e. the first column of the fidäl . The Amharic script is included in Unicode , and glyphs are included in fonts available with major operating systems. As in most other Ethiopian Semitic languages , gemination is contrastive in Amharic. That is, consonant length can distinguish words from one another; for example, alä 'he said', allä 'there is'; yǝmätall 'he hits', yǝmmättall 'he will be hit'. Gemination
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#1732869862347624-493: Is called an abugida ( አቡጊዳ ). The graphemes are called fidäl ( ፊደል ), which means "script", "alphabet", "letter", or "character". There is no universally agreed-upon Romanization of Amharic into Latin script . The Amharic examples in the sections below use one system that is common among linguists specializing in Ethiopian Semitic languages. Amharic has been the official working language of Ethiopia, language of
676-561: Is in Africa.' ልጁ Lǝǧ-u the boy ተኝቷል täññǝtʷall. asleep is ልጁ ተኝቷል Lǝǧ-u täññǝtʷall. {the boy} {asleep is} 'The boy is asleep.' ( -u is a definite article. Lǝǧ is 'boy'. Lǝǧu is 'the boy') አየሩ Ayyäru the weather ደስ däss pleasant East African shilling The East African shilling was the sterling unit of account in British -controlled areas of East Africa from 1921 until 1969. It
728-469: Is mostly heard as the affricate sound [ t͡sʼ ]. The rhotic consonant is realized as a trill when geminated and a tap otherwise. The closed central unrounded vowel ⟨ə⟩ /ɨ/ and mid-central vowel ⟨ä⟩ /ə/ are generally fronted to [ ɪ ] and [ ɛ ], respectively, following palatal consonants , and generally retracted and rounded to [ ʊ ] and [ ɔ ], respectively, following labialized velar consonants . The Amharic script
780-416: Is not indicated in Amharic orthography, but Amharic readers typically do not find this to be a problem. This property of the writing system is analogous to the vowels of Arabic and Hebrew or the tones of many Bantu languages , which are not normally indicated in writing. Ethiopian novelist Haddis Alemayehu , who was an advocate of Amharic orthography reform , indicated gemination in his novel Love to
832-475: Is now Somalia , Ethiopia , and Eritrea when they were under British control. Before 1941, these areas, then known as Italian East Africa , used the Italian East African lira . In 1941, as a result of World War II , Britain regained control and introduced the shilling, at a rate of 1 shilling to 24 Lire. Italian Somaliland was returned to Italy in 1949 as a UN Trusteeship and soon switched to
884-701: The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) is plummeted from 57 birr per US dollar a week ago to the 106 birr per dollar. There have been various proposals for a birr symbol, mostly based on the Geʽ;ez fidel ብ ( bə ). One suggested symbol comprises the bə with two horizontal slashes on the left hand side. Between 1894 and 1897 copper coins were introduced in denominations of 1 ⁄ 100 and 1 ⁄ 32 birr, together with silver 1 ghersh, 1 ⁄ 8 , 1 ⁄ 4 , 1 ⁄ 2 and 1 birr, and gold 1 ⁄ 4 , 1 ⁄ 2 and 1 werk. In 1931,
936-556: The Covid-19 Pandemic and the admission of new member states, including the DRC and Somalia. Krause, Chester L.; Clifford Mishler (2003). 2004 Standard Catalog of World Coins : 1901–Present . Colin R. Bruce II (senior editor) (31st ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 0873495934 . In 1921, notes were issued by the East African Currency Board in denominations of 5/-, 10/-, 20/-, 100/-, 200/-, 1,000/- and 10,000/-, with
988-471: The Sinai Peninsula into Asia . A later return movement of peoples from South Arabia would have introduced the Semitic languages to Ethiopia. Based on archaeological evidence, the presence of Semitic speakers in the territory date to some time before 500 BC. Linguistic analysis suggests the presence of Semitic languages in Ethiopia as early as 2000 BC. Levine indicates that by the end of that millennium,
1040-635: The somalo , which was at par with the shilling. British Somaliland gained independence in 1960, and joined what had been Italian Somaliland to create Somalia. In that year, Somalia began using the Somali shilling (replacing the Somali somalo) at par with the East African shilling. Ethiopia regained independence in 1941, with British support, and began using the East African shilling. Maria Theresa thalers , Indian rupees, and Egyptian pounds were also legal tender at
1092-504: The total number of speakers over 58,800,000. Amharic is the largest, most widely spoken language in Ethiopia, and the second most spoken mother-tongue in Ethiopia (after Oromo ). Amharic is also the second most widely spoken Semitic language in the world (after Arabic ). Amharic is written left-to-right using a system that grew out of the Geʽez script . The segmental writing system in which consonant-vowel sequences are written as units
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#17328698623471144-581: The Bank of Abyssinia in 1931 for £235,000 in order to make it a purely Ethiopian institution. It was reorganized as the Bank of Ethiopia . At the same time, the currency was decimalized and token nickel and copper coins were introduced, the birr becoming equal to 100 metonnyas (often written matonas ). The text on the banknotes appeared in Amharic, French, and English. By the mid-1930s circulation consisted chiefly of Maria Theresa thalers and Menelik talaris. Not long after
1196-419: The Bank of Ethiopia in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 50, 100 and 500 birrs. The National Bank of Ethiopia was established by imperial proclamation 207 of 27 July 1963, and began operation on 1 January 1964. The National Bank of Ethiopia took over note production in 1966 and issued all denominations except for the 500 birr. Banknotes have been issued in the following series: On 14 September 2020, Ethiopia announced
1248-463: The Ethiopianist tradition they are often transcribed with a dot below the letter. The notation of central vowels in the Ethiopianist tradition is shown in angled brackets. The voiced bilabial plosive /b/ is phonetically realized as a voiced labial approximant [β̞] medially between sonorants in non- geminated form. The fricative ejective / sʼ / is heard as a fricative ejective [ sʼ ], but
1300-519: The Grave by placing a dot above the characters whose consonants were geminated, but this practice is rare. Punctuation includes the following: One may construct simple Amharic sentences by using a subject and a predicate . Here are a few simple sentences: ኢትዮጵያ ʾItyop̣p̣ya Ethiopia አፍሪካ ʾAfrika Africa ውስጥ wǝsṭ in ናት nat is ኢትዮጵያ አፍሪካ ውስጥ ናት ʾItyop̣p̣ya ʾAfrika wǝsṭ nat {Ethiopia} {Africa} {in} {is} 'Ethiopia
1352-692: The Italian occupation and the attempted transformation of Ethiopia into Italian East Africa , the Italian lira was introduced on 15 July 1936 and Ethiopian banknotes were withdrawn from circulation at 3 lire per talari (birr). In an effort to increase the use of Italian paper money, the exchange rate for silver coins (Maria Theresa thalers) was raised to 4.50 lire, then to 5.00, and eventually, in stages, to 13.50. Still, many people kept their Ethiopian coins and banknotes. Regular Italian coins and banknotes of Banca d'Italia circulated after 15 July 1936. Special notes with
1404-575: The Maria Theresa thaler, was divided into 20 ghersh (also guerche or gersh , from the Ottoman qirsh ) or 40 bessa (a small copper coin). A new Ethiopian coinage appeared about 1903. The new silver birr maintained the same weight and fineness as the talari, but there was now a quarter-birr and a silver ghersh, the latter 1/16 the weight of the birr. The money of account then became 1 birr, equivalent to 16 ghersh or 32 bessa. The Bank of Abyssinia
1456-577: The World Bank, including direct grants, debt extensions, and investment commitments. The Ethiopian Birr experienced a substantial decline, falling 63% against the US dollar within a week of floating. The government's introduction of a floating exchange rate led to a volatile period, with the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and private banks rapidly adjusting their foreign exchange rates. The exchange rate as indicated by
1508-449: The alphabet used for writing the Geʽez language. There are 34 basic characters, each of which has seven forms depending on which vowel is to be pronounced in the syllable. There are also 49 "wa" letters, which form compound sounds involving "w." All together, the alphabet has some 280 letters. Until 2020 Amharic was the sole official language of Ethiopia. The 2007 census reported that Amharic
1560-519: The beginning of this time, and it is unclear exactly when this status ended. Full sovereignty was restored in late 1944, and the Ethiopian dollar was reintroduced in 1945 at a rate of $ 1 = 2 shillings. Eritrea was captured from the Italians in 1941, and began using the East African shilling, as well as the Egyptian pound. The lira was demonetised in 1942. When Eritrea formed a federation with Ethiopia in 1952,
1612-527: The center of gravity of the Kingdom of Aksum and the ensuing integration and Christianization of the proto-Amhara also resulted in a high prevalence of Geʽez sourced lexicon in Amharic. Some time after the 9th century AD, Amharic diverged from its closest relative, Argobba , probably due to religious differences as the Argobba adopted Islam. In 1983, Lionel Bender proposed that Amharic may have been constructed as
Ethiopian birr - Misplaced Pages Continue
1664-493: The core inhabitants of Greater Ethiopia would have consisted of dark-skinned agropastoralists speaking Afro-Asiatic languages of the Semitic, Cushitic and Omotic branches. Other scholars such as Messay Kebede and Daniel E. Alemu argue that migration across the Red Sea was defined by reciprocal exchange, if it even occurred at all, and that Ethio-Semitic-speaking ethnic groups should not be characterized as foreign invaders. Amharic
1716-566: The courts, the language of trade and everyday communications and of the military since the late 12th century. The Amhara nobles supported the Zagwe prince Lalibela in his power struggle against his brothers which led him to make Amharic Lessana Negus as well as fill the Amhara nobles in the top positions of his Kingdom. The appellation of "language of the king" ( Ge'ez : ልሳነ ነጋሢ ; "Lǝssanä nägaśi," Amharic : የነጋሢ ቋንቋ "Yä-nägaśi qʷanqʷa") and its use in
1768-444: The current instability in Ethiopia. In just a month, Ethiopian banks took in 14 billion birrs (around $ 500 million) into their system, which is expected to increase towards the end of 2020. The measure, announced by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed , was reported as a preventative measure against hoarding, counterfeiting and other corruption affecting the economy. He also noted that the country spent 3.7 billion birrs ($ 101.2 million) to print
1820-748: The dollar, which was already in use in Ethiopia, was also adopted in Eritrea. It has been rumoured that the East African Shilling will be revived by the East African Community , which consists of Kenya , Tanzania , Uganda , Rwanda , Burundi , South Sudan , the Democratic Republic of the Congo , and Somalia , as part of the community's monetary union . The monetary union's target date has been set to 2031 following delays caused in part due to
1872-454: The florin. From the florin thence came the East African shilling. The currency remained pegged to one shilling sterling and was subdivided into 100 cents . In 1936, Zanzibar joined the currency board, and the Zanzibari rupee was replaced at a rate of 1/ 50 to 1 Zanzibari rupee. It was replaced by local currencies ( Kenyan shilling , Ugandan shilling , and Tanzanian shilling ) following
1924-450: The introduction of new banknotes of 10, 50, 100, and 200 birrs, with the latter being issued as a high denomination note to tackle inflation. Older issues of 10, 50, and 100 birr notes were demonetized in December. The federal government reported that over 113 billion birrs ($ 3.6 billion) remain hidden from the banks. The federal government also believes this money is being used as a catalyst to
1976-560: The liberalization of its foreign exchange market, leading to the floating of the Ethiopian Birr. The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) spearheaded this initiative, receiving $ 13.5 billion from international partners to support the transition. This funding, primarily from multilateral lenders like the IMF and World Bank , aimed to the adoption of a flexible exchange rate system. Concurrently, Ethiopia secured over $ 15 billion in financial support from
2028-512: The new banknotes. Companies and individuals can only cash up to 1.5 million birrs ($ 41,000). The cash withdrawal from banks should also not exceed 100,000 birrs ($ 2,737). The old 5-birr notes, while they will remain legal tender, will be replaced with a coin. Amharic language Amharic ( / æ m ˈ h ær ɪ k / am- HARR -ik or / ɑː m ˈ h ɑːr ɪ k / ahm- HAR -ik ; native name : አማርኛ , romanized : Amarəñña , IPA: [amarɨɲːa] )
2080-480: The notes was in Amharic and French. A 50-talari note was added in 1929, by which time over 1.5 million talaris in notes were circulating. The Bank of Ethiopia issued notes in 1932 in denominations of 5, 10, 50, 100 and 500 talaris. A 2-talari note dated 1 June 1933 was issued in honour of the Imperial couple. By the end of 1934, some 3.3 million talaris in notes were circulating. On 23 July 1945, notes were introduced by
2132-475: The number of geographically distinct Cushitic languages that have influenced Amharic at different points in time (e.g. Oromo influence beginning in the 16th century) support a natural evolution of Amharic from a Proto-Ethio-Semitic language with considerable Cushitic influences (similar to Gurage, Tigrinya, etc.). The Amharic ejective consonants correspond to the Proto-Semitic " emphatic consonants ." In
Ethiopian birr - Misplaced Pages Continue
2184-535: The pound being a superunit mainly used for recording government and business transactions whose totals would be needlessly large if quoted solely in shillings. This anomalous state of affairs arose because the first currency used by the British colonial authorities in British East Africa was the rupee , not sterling. The East African shilling was introduced to Kenya , Tanganyika , and Uganda in 1921, replacing
2236-468: The pre-1931 currency may be referred to as the Abyssinian birr and the post-1931 currency the Ethiopian birr , although neither the country nor the currency changed beyond the name. 186 billion birr ($ 14.7 billion or €9.97 billion) were in circulation in 2008. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Maria Theresa thalers and blocks of salt called amole tchew ( አሞሌ ) served as currency in Ethiopia. The thaler
2288-467: The rest of the legend, appear in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia. Besides having almost all text in Amharic, there are two features that help to immediately identify an Ethiopian birr. Coins dated before 1977 (EE1969) feature the Conquering Lion of Judah (a crowned rampant lion holding a cross) . This can be seen in the adjacent picture. Coins dated 1977 (EE1969) or later picture the head of
2340-612: The royal court are otherwise traced to the Amhara Emperor Yekuno Amlak . It is one of the official languages of Ethiopia , together with other regions like Oromo , Somali , Afar , and Tigrinya . Amharic is an Afro-Asiatic language of the Southwest Semitic group and is related to Geʽez , or Ethiopic, the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox church; Amharic is written in a slightly modified form of
2392-511: The short-lived East African florin at a rate of 2 shillings to 1 florin. The florin had been introduced because of increasing silver prices after World War I . At that time, the Indian rupee was the currency of the British East African states. The rupee, being a silver coin, rose in value against sterling. When it reached the value of two shillings, the authorities decided to replace it with
2444-769: The territories' independence. In 1951, the East African shilling replaced the Indian rupee in the Aden colony and protectorate, which became the South Arabian Federation in 1963. In 1965, the East African Currency Board was breaking up, and the South Arabian dinar replaced the shilling in the South Arabian Federation at a rate of 20 shillings to 1 dinar. The shilling was also used in parts of what
2496-874: Was established in 1905 by Emperor Menelik and the European banking group behind the National Bank of Egypt ; the bank was officially inaugurated by Menelik on 15 February 1906. The Ethiopian coinage gained acceptance only gradually, and the Bank of Abyssinia imported Maria Theresa thalers. By the time World War I broke out, the bank was still importing about 1,200,000 of these coins annually. The Bank of Abyssinia put banknotes into circulation in 1915. These notes were denominated birr in Amharic and thaler in English. They were used by merchants and foreigners but were not initially accepted generally. However, note circulation increased considerably after 1925. Emperor Haile Selassie bought out
2548-541: Was issued by the East African Currency Board . It is also the proposed name for a common currency that the East African Community plans to introduce. The shilling was divided into 100 cents , and twenty shillings were 1 pound . Unlike elsewhere in the possessions of the British Empire that used the sterling , in British East Africa the shilling instead of the pound was the primary unit of account, with
2600-528: Was known locally as the birr (literally 'silver' in Geʽez and Amharic ) or talari ( ታላሪ ). The Maria Theresa thaler was officially adopted as the standard coin in 1855, although the Indian rupee and the Mexican dollar were also used in foreign trade. The Ethiopian talari became the standard unit on 9 February 1893, and 200,000 were produced at the Paris Mint in 1894 for Menelik II . The talari, equivalent to
2652-544: Was reintroduced on 23 July 1945 at a rate of 1 birr per 2 shillings. It was pegged to the U.S. dollar at a central rate of 1 birr = US$ 0.4025, or 2.48447 birr = US$ 1. On 31 December 1963, this was slightly changed to 2.50 birr = US$ 1. The name Ethiopian dollar was used in the English text on the banknotes. It was divided into 100 santims (derived from the French centime ). Birr became the official name, used in all languages, in 1976. In 2024, Ethiopia undertook reforms, including
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#17328698623472704-467: Was spoken by 21.6 million native speakers in Ethiopia. More recent sources state the number of first-language speakers in 2018 as nearly 32 million, with another 25 million second-language speakers in Ethiopia. Additionally, 3 million emigrants outside of Ethiopia speak the language. Most of the Ethiopian Jewish communities in Ethiopia and Israel speak Amharic. Furthermore, Amharic is considered
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