The Abundance of Abomination
I translate Sseyaf Bzayt (ጸያፍ ብዜት), an Amharic concept, as the abundance of abomination.1 Don’t worry, this is not a common phrase. Most likely, you, your parents and even your grandparents have never heard of it. But, once lucidly unpacked, this concept becomes widely accessible and practical. So practical that it will forever change the way you think about Amharic, for worse or for better.
Sseyaf Bzayt happens when an Amharic speaker fails to recognize, or respect, the difference betwixt words in their singular and plural forms. How could this happen? Why is it especially difficult for native speakers to recognize? This failure frequently happens when Gihihz meets Amharic.2 Gihihz is the root language of Amharic – like Latin is to Romanian.
Native speakers have had an onslaught of Sseyaf Bzayt on their eyes and in their ears from writing, music, videos and market exchanges ever since they were young warthogs. Trying to explain Sseyaf Bzayt to a native Amharic speaker, unless they already know what it is, is much like Morpheus convincing Neo that his entire world is a simulation run by robots. Hey, sometimes that works.
How can you spot Sseyaf Bzayt? Once you learn the trend, your ears will be as finely tuned as radar is in the seven seas. The first way to avoid speaking with Sseyaf Bzayt is to know the common plural endings of Gihihz and Amharic. In Gihihz plural words often end in “at” or “an”, and in Amharic they often end in “och”. It is my belief that one example will be enough for some of you, and that others will need more for this issue to become lucid.
Melak (angel), melihkt (message), senbet (sabbath), anbesa (lion), wer (month), amet (year), samnt (week), ssadq (righteous one), etyoppyawi (ethiopian), qal (word) and fidel (letter).
Here we have words that are pluralized in regular and irregular forms in Gihihz. First, we’ll see the Gihihz pluralization, then the Amharic pluralization.
Melak becomes melaihkt. Melihkt becomes melihktat. Senbet becomes senabt. Anbesa becomes anabst. Wer becomes werat. Amet becomes ametat. Samnt becomes samntat. Ssadq becomes ssadqan. Qal becomes qalat. Fidel becomes fidelat. Etyoppyawi becomes etyoppyawiyan. Now, time for Amharic. Melak becomes melakoch. Melihkt becomes melihktoch. Senbet becomes senbetoch. Anbesa becomes anbesoch. Wer becomes weroch. Amet becomes ametoch. Samnt becomes samntoch. Ssadq becomes ssadqoch. Etyoppyawi becomes etyoppyawoch. Qal becomes qaloch. Fidel becomes fideloch.
Where does Sseyaf Bzayt rear its abominable head? Whenever these two plural ending types are combined, we have Sseyaf Bzayt. It is superfluous, unnecessary, useless, extra, excessive, uncalled-for and redundant to end a word with both a Gihihz pluralization and an Amharic pluralization. It is superfluous to say melaiktoch, anabstoch, samntatoch, qalatoch, fidelatoch, ssadqanoch etc. Pluralizing in one language does the job. Now you should never repeat this mistake, and encourage others to immediately stop. Please and thank you.
Post Scriptum:
Special thanks to my brotha Etana Chemada. He is a native Amharic speaker who told me the name of this concept I stumbled upon alone, but had no name for.
1. I write the commonly scribed Gihihz letter “ts” as “ss” because the “ts” can lead an unfamiliar reader to think there is a “t” sound. Keep your eyes peeled for my forthcoming book on this subject called Amharic Transliteration.
2. This ancient language of Ethiopia is commonly spelled Ge’ez, or called Ethiopic. I spell it phonetically, because the Gihihz alphabet is a phonetic one, and any transliteration should respect this.