Intertextuality in Ethiopian Gǝ’ǝz Literature:  The Lexical Relationships between the Hagiography and the Chronicle of King Iyasu I

Yonas Yilma Menda

doi:10.25159/2663-6573/10624

Authors

Yonas Yilma Menda Addis Ababa University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25159/2663-6573/10624

Keywords:

Ethiopic/Gǝʿǝz language, hagiography, chronicle, aṣe Iyasu I, lexical parallel

Abstract

This paper demonstrates the intertextual aspects of the hagiography and chronicle of an Ethiopian king, aṣe Iyasu I (r.1682–1706). To achieve this, lexical features of both texts are examined. These texts were written in the late seventeenth century. The chronicle of aṣe Iyasu I was written during the king’s reign by his own three chroniclers (Hawarya Krəstos, Zäwäldä Maryam, and Sinoda), while the hagiography of aṣe Iyasu I was written two years after the king’s death by azaž Sinoda. This study is based on textual methods of analysis, in particular content analysis. This method makes it possible to distinguish the lexical relationships between the two texts. For this purpose, the words and phrases that describe the royal courage and sacred personality of the king are identified. Although both the hagiography and the chronicle of aṣe Iyasu I are composed to the same king and address the subject of the same historical milieu, there is no remarkable lexical parallel between the two texts in the area of words and phrases. Unlike the chronicle of aṣe Iyasu I, the hagiography of aṣe Iyasu I uses carefully selected metaphoric words and phrases to describe the king’s bravery and sacred personality. It is thus reasonable to conclude that each author composed their text in a different literary setting rather than that one influenced the other. In other words, the two texts are interconnected but each developed its own textual features as a response to the method and approach of Ethiopian Gǝʿǝz literature.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

References

d’Abbadie, A. 1859. Catalogue raisonné des manuscrits éthiopiens appartenant à Antoine d’Abbadie. Paris: Imprimerie Impériale.

Berg, B. 2001. Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Berry, L. B. 1976. “The Solomonic Monarchy at Gondär, 1630–1755: An Institutional Analysis of Kingship in the Christian Kingdom of Ethiopia.” PhD diss., Boston University.

Boll, Verena. 2009. “Aṣe Iyasu I (1682–1706) and the Synod of Yebaba.” In Proceedings of the 16th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, edited by E. Svein, A. Harald, Birhanu Teferra, and Shiferaw Bekele, 65–73. Trondheim: NTNU.

Brita, A. 2010. I racconti tradizionali sulla “Seconda Cristianizzazione” dell’Etiopia. Il ciclo agiografico dei Nove Santi. Studi africanistici Serie etiopica 7. Napoli: Istituto Universitario Orientale.

Budge, E. A. W. (Ed. and tr.). 1906. The Life and the Miracles of Takla Haymanot. London: Privately printed for Lady Meux.

Budge, E. A. W. 1932. The Queen of Sheba and Her Only Son Menyelek. London: Oxford University Press.

Conti Rossini, C. 1942. “Iyasu I Re d’Etiopia e Martire.” Rivista degli studi orientali 20: 65–127.

Conti Rossini, C. 1961. Historia regis Sarṣa Dengel (Malak Sagad). Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 20, 21; Scriptores Aethiopici 3, 4. Louvain: Imprimerie Orientaliste L. Durbecq.

Dillmann, A. 1848. Catalogus Codicum manuscriptorum bibliothecae Bodleianae Oxoniensis, Pars VII: Codices Aethiopici. Oxonii: E Typographeo Academico.

Elliot, R. H. 1956. “A Comparative Study of Deutero Isaiah and Job.” PhD diss., Southern Baptism Theological Seminary.

Getatchew Haile. 1981. A Catalogue of Ethiopian Manuscripts Microfilmed for the Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library, Addis Ababa, and for the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library, Collegeville, Volume X: Project Numbers 1501-2000. Collegeville, MN: Hill Monastic Manuscript Library.

Getie Gelaye. 2009. “Amharic Praise Poems Related to Emperors Tewodros II and Yohannes IV.” In Proceedings of the 16th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, edited by E. Svein, A. Harald, Birhanu Teferra, and Shiferaw Bekele, 1349–63. Trondheim, NTNU.

Guidi, I. 1903–1905. Annales Yohannis I, Iyasu I et Bakaffa. Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 22, 23; Scriptores Aethiopici 5, 6. Paris: Lipsiae.

Gumbrecht, U. 2003. The Power of Philology: Dynamics of Textual Scholarships. Urbaba, Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

Hatch, E., and H. Farhady. 1982. Research Design and Statistics for Applied Linguistics. Rowley, MA: Newbury House Publishers.

Krippendorff, K. 1980. Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.

Kwon, J. J 2016. Scribal Culture and Intertextuality: Literary and Historical Relationships between Job and Deutero-Isaiah. Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck. https://doi.org/10.1628/978-3-16-154398-2 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1628/978-3-16-154398-2

Leslau, W. 1991. Comparative Dictionary of Ge’ez (Classical Ethiopic): Ge’ez-English/English-Ge’ez; with an Index of the Semitic Roots. 2nd edn. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

Lewis, M. 1997. Implementing the Lexical Approach: Putting Theory Into Practice. London: Language Teaching Publications.

Littmann, E. 1902. The Chronicle of King Theodore of Abyssinia, Edited from the Berlin Manuscript with Translation and Notes by Enno Littmann. Princeton, NJ: University Library.

Lusini, G. 2005. “Philology and the Reconstruction of the Ethiopian Past.” In Afrikas Horn: Akten der Ersten Internationalen Littmann-Konferenz 2. Bis 5. Mai 2002 in München, Meroitica: Schriften zur Altsudanischen Geschichte und Archäologie, 22, edited by W. Rauning and St. Wenig, 91–106. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.

Marrassini, P. 1993. Lo scettro e la croce. La campagna di ʿAmda Ṣeyon I contro l’Ifat (1332). Studi Africanistici, Serie Etiopica, 4. Napoli: Istituto Universitario Orientale. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315250854-21

Marrassini, P. 2009. “Problems in Critical Edition: The State of Ethiopian Philology.” Journal of Ethiopian Studies 42 (1): 26–68.

Marrassini, P. 2012. “A Hagiographic Text: The Royal Chronicle.” In Languages and Cultures of Eastern Christianity: Ethiopian, edited by A. Bausi, 389–98. Farnham: Ashgate. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315250854-21

Mersha Alehegne. 2015. “Regularity and Uniformity in the Ethiopian Hagiographical Tradition: A particular focus on Narrating the Childhood of Saints.” Aethiopica: International Journal of Ethiopian and Eritrean Studies 18: 145–62. https://doi.org/10.15460/aethiopica.18.1.928 DOI: https://doi.org/10.15460/aethiopica.18.1.928

Pankhurst, R. 1987. “Fear God, Honor the King: The Use of Biblical Allusion in Ethiopian Historical Literature, Part II.” Northeast African Studies 9 (1): 25–88.

Samuel W. Yohannes. 1997. “The Gadl as Basis for Constructing the Notion of the Human Person in Ethiopia Philosophy.” In Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, edited by Bahru Zewde, R. Pankhurst, and Taddese Beyene, 211–18. Addis Ababa: Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University.

Sarfraz, M. 2021. “Lexical Variations in Pakistani English: A Case Study of the Novel Twilight in Delhi.” International Journal of Linguistics, Literature, and Translation 4: 252–60. https://doi.org/10.32996/ijllt.2021.4.6.30 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32996/ijllt.2021.4.6.30

Sergew Hable Selassie. 1972. Ancient and Medieval Ethiopian History to 1270. Addis Ababa: United Printers.

Solomon Gebreyes. 2016. “The Chronicle of King Gälawdewos (1540–1559): A Critical Edition with Annotated Translation.” PhD diss., University of Hamburg.

Taddesse Tamrat. 1972. Church and State in Ethiopia 1270–1527. Oxford: Clarendon Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/1594763 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1594763

Täklä Ṣadǝq Mäkuriya. 1960. Yäʾǝtyoṗya tarik käʾaḍe Lǝbnä Dǝngǝl ǝskä Tewodros (A History of Ethiopia from the Reign of Lǝbnä Dǝngǝl to Tewodros II). Addis Ababa.

Uhlig, S. 1990. Introduction to Ethiopian Palaeography. Äthiopistische Forschungen 28. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.

Uhlig, Siegbert, and Alessandro Bausi (EAe). 2003–2014. Encyclopaedia Aethiopica. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

Wright, W. 1877. Catalogue of Ethiopian Manuscripts in the British Museum Acquired Since the Year 1847. London: The British Museum.

Yonas Yilma. 2022. “The Place of the Hagiography of King Iyasu I in the Ethiopic Literary Tradition.” International Journal of Language, Literacy and Translation 5 (1): 30–41. https://doi.org//10.36777/ijollt2022.5.1.051 DOI: https://doi.org/10.36777/ijollt2022.5.1.051