Langenesis

Afro-Asiatic family

Amharic

c. 1300 CE – today Living

Amharic (c. 1300 CE – today) is a living Afro-Asiatic language. Lineage: Proto-Afro-Asiatic → Proto-Semitic → Proto-West Semitic → Proto-Ethio-Semitic → Amharic.

See Amharic on the interactive map
Speakers
35M (35,000,000)
ISO 639-3
amh
Glottocode
amha1245

South Ethio-Semitic; the working language of Ethiopia and the second most spoken Semitic language after Arabic. Earliest texts are 14th-century royal songs; L1 figure, with many more L2 speakers.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Afro-Asiaticc. 10,000 BCE – 7,000 BCE
  2. Proto-Semiticc. 4,000 BCE – 2,500 BCE
  3. Proto-West Semiticc. 3,000 BCE – 2,000 BCE
  4. Proto-Ethio-Semiticc. 1,000 BCE – 0 CE
  5. Amharicc. 1300 CE – today

Sister languages 1

Also descended from Proto-Ethio-Semitic.

Sources