Amharic

The Court tongue of Aby in i a for many centuries. Amhara proper is that district lying between the Dender and Tacazze branches of the Nile. It closely resembles the Ethiopic , with alphabets that are nearly identical. The root word is probably identical with “Ham” or “Chem,” the poetical name for Egypt in the Psalms of David. ⁂ A Semitic dialect sprung from the ancient Ethiopic , which has gradually become the dominant language of Aby in i a. Its vocabulary and grammar still closely resemble the Ethiopic, but it has adopted a barbarous pronunciation, and the gutturals, which form so important a part of the Semitic alphabet, are no longer pronounced. The best memoir upon it is that by Gesenius in the Encyclopædia of Ersch and Grüber, under the heading “Amharische Sprache.” Other Aby in i an dialects are the Adari , the Afar , the Somauli , the Saho , the languages of Tigré, Danakil, Adaiel, and of Harar.     R. P. S.   Amour or Amur . Dialects of Tungus , vernacular in E. Asia on the R. Amúr. See Latham, pp. 75, 76.