rekordy: Amharic

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Habesha Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populations 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. In 2020 in Ethiopia, it had over 33.7 million mother-tongue speakers of which 31 million are ethnically Amhara, and more than 25.1 million second language speakers in 2019, making the total number of speakers over 58.8 million. Amharic is the largest, mos…

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

Oromo is an Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic branch, primarily spoken by the Oromo people, native to northern Kenya and the Ethiopian state of Oromia. It is used as a lingua franca in Oromia and northeastern Kenya. It is officially written in the Latin script, although traditional scripts are also informally used. With more than 41.7 million speakers making up 33.8% of the total Ethiopian population, Oromo has the largest number of native speakers in Ethiopia, and ranks as the second–most widely spoken language in Ethiopia by total number of speakers (including second-language speakers), following Amharic. Forms of Oromo are spoken as a first language by an additional half-mil…

Evidence: 65 • authority: 72

The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They include Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya, Tigre, Aramaic, Hebrew, Maltese, Modern South Arabian languages and numerous other ancient and modern languages. They are spoken by more than 460 million people across much of West Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Malta, and in large immigrant and expatriate communities in North America, Europe, and Australasia. The terminology was first used in the 1780s by members of the Göttingen school of history, who derived the name from Shem (שם), one of the three sons of Noah in the Book of Genesis. Since the 19th century, alternative names, such as Syro-Arabian languages, have been…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Ethio-Semitic (also Ethiopian Semitic, Ethiosemitic, Ethiopic or Abyssinian) is a family of languages spoken in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan in Northeast Africa and the Horn of Africa. They form the western branch of the South Semitic languages, itself a sub-branch of Semitic, part of the Afroasiatic language family. With 57,500,000 total speakers as of 2019, including around 25,100,000 second language speakers, Amharic is the most widely spoken of the group, the most widely spoken language of Ethiopia and second-most widely spoken Semitic language in the world after Arabic. Tigrinya has 7 million speakers and is the most widely spoken language in Eritrea. Tigre is the second-most spoken lan…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Addis Ababa ( AD-iss AB-ə-bə; Amharic: አዲስ አበባ [adˈdis ˈaβəβa] , lit. 'new flower'; Oromo: Finfinnee, lit. 'fountain of hot mineral water') is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. With an estimated population of 6,287,000 inhabitants as of 2025, it is the tenth largest city in Africa. At an elevation of 2,355 metres (7,726 ft), it is the fourth-highest capital city in the world and the highest capital in Africa. Addis Ababa is a highly developed and important cultural, artistic, financial and administrative center of Ethiopia. The founding history of Addis Ababa dates back to the late 19th century by Menelik II, Negus of Shewa, in 1886 after finding Mount Entoto unpleasant two years pr…

Evidence: — • authority: 72

Amharas (Amharic: አማራ, romanized: Āmara; Ge'ez: ዐምሐራ, romanized: ʾÄməḥära) are a Semitic-speaking predominantly Orthodox Christian ethnic group native to the north and central highlands of Ethiopia. Their ancestral land lies in the historic provinces of Bete Amhara, Gojjam, Gondar (foremely known as Begmder), Simien, Lasta, Wegera, Angot, Dembiya, and the Shewa province. These regions are a part of the Amhara Region under the current government. Their language, Amharic, is the working language of Ethiopia and has been the lingua franca across the Ethiopian Empire for over 700 years. The Amhara and neighboring groups in North and Central Ethiopia and Eritrea, more specifically the diaspora,…