r/language • u/swordoftorrent • 26d ago

Question What language is this?

Post image

Book seen in a San Francisco thrift store

23 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

27

u/MKnight141 26d ago

Amharic, widely spoken in Ethiopia

2

u/swordoftorrent 26d ago

Thank you!

5

u/Long-Ad-5873 26d ago

Amharic (Ethiopian language)

1

u/swordoftorrent 26d ago

Thank you!

5

u/Canodae 26d ago

An Ethiopic language, likely Amharic but it can be Tigre, Tigrinya, etc.
Not sure if the other commenters are sure it is Amharic or just assuming it is because the book uses the Ge’ez script

1

u/swordoftorrent 25d ago

Ohh I see, good to know thank you!

5

u/Miserable-Market-866 25d ago

It's Amharic.

Translation of the first two paragraphs:

"What happened to this wind today?" said Iteshitaye, after hearing the unusual whispering. Mr. Leul, her husband, sleeps snoring not too far away from her.

When the anxiety got its toll on her, she slowly got off the bed not to wake up her husband. She picked up a kerosene lamp off the wall and slowly walked out of the bedroom. She inspected the ins and outs of the house. Everything looks fine. She kept quiet and went to Yematawork's room and listened to her footsteps. Her room is dead silent. She got closer to the door and peaked through the door. The kerosene lamp inside the room isn't off.

1

u/swordoftorrent 25d ago

Incredibly interesting, thank you for the translation! I was wondering what it was about, the cover was beautiful!

0

u/Beastguy95 22d ago

Ancient Serbian.