An ancient Semitic language of Ethiopia, which survives as the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. It is the ancestor of the modern Ethiopian languages such as Amharic.
The service is long, over three hours, delivered in monotonous Amharic and an older ecclesiastical language like Latin, called Ge'ez.
The Ge'ez language used in most modern day church services derives from the Kingdom of Axum.
It has its own script of more than 200 characters, based on the ancient language Ge'ez, used now only in the Orthodox Church.
Christian music is believed to have been established by Saint Yared in the sixth century and is sung in Ge'ez, the liturgical language.
Traditionally, boys learn to read Tigrinya, Ge'ez, and Amharic as Bible students.
Origin
Of Ethiopic origin.
Definition of Ge'ez in US English:
Ge'ez
nounɡēˈez
An ancient Semitic language of Ethiopia, which survives as the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. It is the ancestor of the modern Ethiopian languages such as Amharic.