--- In qalam@yahoogroups.com, "Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@...>
wrote:

> áÐ3áS•áS¤áˆ* áЫáЕá‰Ýብ wrote:
>
> Who?
>
> > I've tried to follow the Abugida debates in recent years but

find it

> > challenging. In large part because the "Abugida" definitions

seems to

> > be in the eye of the beholder.
>
> There are exactly two beholders, me and Bill Bright, and our

competing

> definitions have been discussed in my WWS footnote and his article

in

> the Urbana journal publishing the King Sejong conference (some day

all

> my cartons will be unpacked), previewed in *Written Language and
> Literacy*.
>
> > As to Ethiopic origins of the term "Abugida", it is a column wise
> > rotation of the Ge'ez (classic ethiopic) syllabary in the Hebrew

order

> > (preserved in the first column):
> >
> > http://ethiopic.org/Collation/Abugida.html
> >
> > The name comes from the sound values of the first 4 syllables of

the

> > first column. The rotated syllabary is simply a learning aid for
> > students who learn the syllabary (in Halehame order) musically,

the

> > rotation helps trip them up when they have to recite the letters
> > (think of how the "alphabet song" breaks down if you mix the

letters

> > up). So in this sense the "Abugida" is a permuted syllabary

table (or

> > if ethiopic is an "abugida" and not a syllabary then the Abugida

is a

> > permuted "abugida" table...).
>
> The ' b g d order is known in traditional Ethiopian circles,

because it

> appears in Psalm 119 (just as it does in the Septuagint). It has
> liturgical uses.

http://spindleworks.com/septuagint/Psalms.htm

Psalm 118 in the Septuagint. Now we can read the whole Septuagint
online. (or any part of it.) Neat!

So this was the connection between the Greek alphabet, alpha, beta,
gamma, delta, and the Ethiopian a bu gi da. Thank you.

Suzanne

> --
> Peter T. Daniels grammatim@...