Monday, April 14, 2014

Inspire to be philologist...


Inspire to be philologist...

You have really a lot to enjoy and learn on the historical development of the entire Ethiopian manuscripts (including Holy Scriptures) tradition, if you give a visit to Manuscripts Museums and libraries just to spend your leisure time. Your visit may be at one of the historical monasteries of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, National Archives and Library Agency (NALA) http://www.nala.gov.et/Page /CommonPage.aspx?Id=2 , Addis Ababa University Ethiopia Manuscript section; or HMML, Minnesota, United States of America, Ethiopian Study center.  http://www.hmml.org/ethiopia-study-center.html .

You will be amazed with the countless written heritage retained by our fathers and forefathers who spent their entire lifetime writing, translating, copying, studying and preserving manuscripts of wide varied disciplines. Among others, it includes religious, magical, medicinal, astrological, historical and literary works. Even the Holy Bible version we have at hand today is a result of a centuries old manuscript studies and critical editions. Similarly, an account of Ethiopian political past recorded in our contemporary Historical readings need to be questioned and verified by our written sources from an African perspective; partly because much of our history was recorded by foreign scholars; particularly of colonial powers.
As there may be unintentional contamination or deliberate alteration of the original meaning of the manuscripts over time, you have to make sure that the copy of a religious or historical document you have at hand is a direct or at least close to the original version of the original manuscript. These type of scholarly works are called critical editions, which are published in Ethiopian Study Journals usually available in this museums and libraries.

Surprisingly, much of Ethiopian manuscripts have been studies by non-Ethiopian scholars who are intelligent; but very far from our culture, languages and "resources".The richness of our written heritage demands a huge man power for its exploration and revitalization. Unless independent scholars who are motivated for non-profit research participate, manuscript preservation or study may not continue to exist.
I urge those of you who are keen to Ethiopian study either to join the Department of Philosophy, and become professional philologist; or to pursue your researches in your own respective field based on Ethiopian manuscripts. You can do so either as an independent scholars or being affiliated with other Ethiopian Study or the Ethiopian Orthodox Church Study Institutes locally or abroad.  In this regard, activists, churches, Theological colleges of universities has to think of establishing Foundations supported  either by individual donors or associations in view of funding volunteer manuscript base researchers in Ethiopia.
If you have the interest and a knowledge of at least one classical language (Ge'ez, classical Arabic, Coptic, Syriac, Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek etc) you can really join the world of this rich historical heritages right now. Just, use your leisure time and give a short visit to these manuscript museums/libraries. I can tell you you will be motivated, and make the museum you home soon.  Please follow the link: or  At start, you may need to consult one of Ethiopian Manuscript Catalogs. For instance, professor Getatchew Haile along with Macomber have published ten (the eleven in draft) volumes Catalogs of Ethiopian Manuscripts Microfilmed for the Ethiopian Manuscripts Microfilm Library, Addis Ababa and  the Hill Monastic Microfilm Library (HMML), Collegeville, USA. For your convenience, I recommend to use the HMML electronic (online catalog System)-Oliver Database:  http://www.hmml.org/oliver.html  to find a description or even to get (with conditions) a PDF copy or HTML view of Ethiopian manuscripts.  If you have concerns about the catalogs or other related materials, please fell free to contact me.
Below are my colleagues who are at work on Ethiopic, Coptic, Syriac and general christian Manuscript studies — in Collegeville, MN, United States, where professor Getatchew Haile works.


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