From Newsgroup: sci.lang


In Amharic , [qum] means to Stop (for males)


It looks like

+ago Greek, phi (+a) go

Or the 1st char looks like the Kanji for insect
*O2

uya*O2 (pUopeopUipeapUa)



This script (Amharic writing) is related to Greek ?

It looks a bit like Thai.
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From Newsgroup: sci.lang

On 9/10/2025 6:20 a.m., HenHanna@NewsGrouper wrote:

In Amharic , [qum] means to Stop (for males)

Records indicate that I used to have a proper Amharic dictionary; it
probably got lost in the move from office to home.

But the Lonely Planet Ethiopian Amharic Phrasebook will do for now.
It seems to mean "Stop!", like a cop might shout at you, or a sign.
"for males" because Amharic inflects second person subject verbs for gender.

It looks like

+ago Greek, phi (+a) go

The "phi" part is /q/.

Or the 1st char looks like the Kanji for insect
*O2

The little branch to the right in Amharic makes it /qu/.

The "go" part is really "oo" (connected, like a pince-nez) which is /m/.
The down-stroke makes it /m+O/, according to my source.

uya*O2 (pUopeopUipeapUa)

Japanese /konchuu/, Mandarin /k+2nch||ng/ 'insect'.
However, it's the *O2 (chuu, ch||ng) part that seems to have the core
meaning (insect).
The uya (kon,k+2n) might originally have meant 'swarm' or some such.
I conjecture that on the basis of the fact that kanji dictionary says
kon can also mean 'swarm of insects'; and also the presence of other
meanings 'progeny, offspring' in both J and M. Cf. also its use in
/konbu/ 'sea tangle, kelp, devil's apron'.

This script (Amharic writing) is related to Greek ?

Yes.

It looks a bit like Thai.

Probably related to that, too.
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From Newsgroup: sci.lang

Op 10/10/2025 om 23:15 schreef Ross Clark:

On 9/10/2025 6:20 a.m., HenHanna@NewsGrouper wrote:

In-a Amharic ,-a-a [qum]-a-a means-a to Stop-a (for males)

Translate gives ak'um. But first word given for stop is tewe.
be#bie! beabeUbeY! Tewe! Ak'um!

I lived there (Addis Ababa) in '80-'81 but didn't learn much of the
alphabet or language, apart from a basic vocabulary and idiom. A pity. Splendid country, people, landscapes, food, living, time. Before it came
to be known primarily for drought and famine. By now, as so many others,
in the claws of Chinese development, admittedly spectacular in some ways.

Records indicate that I used to have a proper Amharic dictionary; it probably got lost in the move from office to home.

But the Lonely Planet Ethiopian Amharic Phrasebook will do for now.
It seems to mean "Stop!", like a cop might shout at you, or a sign.
"for males" because Amharic inflects second person subject verbs for
gender.

It looks-a like

-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a +ago-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a Greek, phi (+a)-a go

The "phi" part is /q/.

The plosive k'. Though Translate pronounces it as an aspirated kh
("akhum"), unlike in beaben, k'ebe, butter.

(...)

The little branch to the right in Amharic makes it /qu/.

The "go" part is really "oo" (connected, like a pince-nez) which is /m/.

It's like an "m" with closed loops and doubled middle stroke. A
pince-nez, indeed.

The down-stroke makes it /m+O/, according to my source.

Rather, vowelless (in consonant clusters or final consonants) or shwa.
Eg, the raw meat dish kitfo writes k-t-fo AFAIR. (be!be|biA, kitifo says Translate, with first i shwa and second mute).

(...)

-a-a This script (Amharic-a writing) is related to Greek ?

Yes.

< Ge'ez script, which < Ancient South Arabian script (Arabia Felix,
Hadramaut IIRC), which (like also the Phoenician script) < Proto-Sinaitic.

-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a It looks a bit-a like-a Thai.

Probably related to that, too.

< Brahmi script, _possibly_ descended from or influenced by Phoenician (Aramaic) script, though others prefer to link it to the (yet
undeciphered) Indus script.

BTW Amharic is an abugida (a "CV" alphabet), a term taken from Ge'ez,
the parent of Amharic. By P.T. Daniels, a fellow sci.langer at some time
;) On suggestion by a Wolf Leslau, another interesting person, from
reading wiki...
--
guido wugi

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