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GFF Geʾez

Introduction

This is a Geʾez (ግዕዝ, ISO-639-2: gez) language mnemonic input method. It requires a font supporting Ethiopic script under the Unicode 4.1 standard. The Ge’ez keyboard is “mnemonic” and designed for the US English QWERTY keyboard. This means that the keyboard is designed to be intuitive and natural with respect to the sounds available in the English language via the standard English keyboard (known as QWERTY). The keyboard also supports mnemonic mappings from non-English letters found in European keyboards.

A more complete typing manual is provided as a PDF file with this distribution.

Typing Letters

Only the letters used in the Geʾez language may be typed with this keyboard. To type additional Ethiopic letters used by other languages, please download a keyboard for the language needed or the language-neutral keyboard that supports composition of all Ethiopic symbols found in Unicode 4.1

Special Notes:

  • Apostrophe, ' , is a terminator following a ሳድስ (6th form) letter. For example: mel'ak becomes መልአክ , melak becomes መላክ .
  • The keystroke of ‘x’ is added for the ‘ኀ’ family in agreement with classic Geʾez phonology and modern transliteration conventions.
  • The keystroke of ‘D’ is added for the ‘ፀ’ family in agreement with classic Geʾez phonology.
 ቤተሰብካዕብሣልስግዕዝራብዕኃምስሳድስሳብዕዘመደ፡ግዕዝዘመደ፡ካዕብዘመደ፡ሣልስዘመደ፡ራብዕዘመደ፡ኃምስ 
ቤተሰብKey+e+u+i+a+ie +o+ue+uu+ui+ua+uie 
ሆይhሀሁሂሃሄህሆኈኍኊኋኌh
ላዊ[lL]ለሉሊላሌልሎ   ሏ l
ሐውትHሐሑሒሓሔሕሖ   ሗ ħ
ማይ[mM]መሙሚማሜምሞ   ሟ m
ሠውትssሠሡሢሣሤሥሦ   ሧ ɬ
ርእስ[rR]ረሩሪራሬርሮ   ሯ r
ሳትsሰሱሲሳሴስሶ   ሷ s
ቃፍ[qQ]ቀቁቂቃቄቅቆቈቍቊቋቌkʼ
ቤት[bB]በቡቢባቤብቦ   ቧ b
ታውtተቱቲታቴትቶ   ቷ t
ኀርም[xX],hhኀኁኂኃኄኅኆኈኍኊኋኌx
ነሐስ[nN]ነኑኒናኔንኖ   ኗ n
አልፍ አ
a		ኡ
u		ኢ
i		ኣ
aa		ኤ
ie		እ
e		ኦ
o		     ʔ
ካፍ[kK]ከኩኪካኬክኮኰኵኲኳኴk
ወዌ[wW]ወዉዊዋዌውዎ     w
ዐይን ዐ
A		ዑ
Au /
U		ዒ
Ai /
I		ዓ
Aa		ዔ
Aie /
Ie		ዕ
Ae /
E		ዖ
Ao /
O		     ʕ
ዘይ[zZ]ዘዙዚዛዜዝዞ   ዟ z
የመን[yY]የዩዪያዬይዮ     y
ድንትdደዱዲዳዴድዶ   ዷ d
ገምል[gG]ገጉጊጋጌግጎጐጕጒጓጔg
ጠይትTጠጡጢጣጤጥጦ   ጧ tʼ
ጰይትPጰጱጲጳጴጵጶ   ጷ pʼ
ጸደይSጸጹጺጻጼጽጾ   ጿ sʼ
ፀጳD,SSፀፁፂፃፄፅፆ     dʼ
አፍ[fF]ፈፉፊፋፌፍፎ   ፏ f
ፕሳpፐፑፒፓፔፕፖ   ፗ p
  +ə+u+i+a+eɨ/-+o+ʷə+ʷu+ʷi+ʷa+ʷeIPA

Consonant and Vowel Marks

Dots can be added above letters to indicate a stressed vowel or consonant using “CTRL + .”. For example:

አባ CTRL .   ⇒   አባ፞ (“abaa”, “a” is stressed)
አባ፞ CTRL .   ⇒   አባ፟ (“abba”, “b” is stressed)
አባ፟ CTRL .   ⇒   አባ፝ (“abbaa”, “b” and “a” are stressed)

Punctuation

Ethiopic Punctuation

Keystrokes :::,,,;:-:+:#?
Punctuation ፡።፥፣፤፦፠፨፧

Period, ‘.’ may also be used to enter ‘።’. When a number follows ‘፡’, ‘፣’ and ‘።’ they will change back to their Latin form automatically. For example:

123፣456 ⇒ 123,456
12።50 ⇒ 12.50
12፡50 ⇒ 12:50

Keyboard Punctuation

All regular punctuation on your keyboard remains available. Most punctuation can be typed with a single keystroke as usual. Those used to input Ethiopic symbols can be entered by hitting the punctuation key two or more times until it appears.

Typing Numerals

Ethiopic Numerals

Keystrokes 123456789
Numeral ፩፪፫፬፭፮፯፰፱
Keystrokes 102030405060708090
Numeral ፲፳፴፵፶፷፸፹፺
Keystrokes 100100010000
Numeral ፻፲፻፼

Numeral composition will continue as 0s are entered up to ፼፼ (100,000,000).

Latin Digits

Western numbers may be typed with a ‘#’ mark followed by the desired digit 1-9.

Keystrokes #1#2#3#4#5#6#7#8#9
Digit 123456789

Typing Zaima Qirts (የዜማ፡ቅርጽ፡)

  ይዘትኅጺር፡ርክርክርክርክቁርጥደረትድፋትጭረትቅናትሒደትደረት፡ሒደት
Keystrokes _1_2_3_4_5_6_7_8_9_0
Qurts ᎐᎓᎒᎙᎑᎔᎖᎕᎗᎘

When typing ‘_’ the following menu will appear:

[1᎐2᎓3᎒4᎙5᎑6᎔7᎖8᎕9᎗0᎘_፟] Type the number that corresponds to the qirts that you want and it will appear and the menu close.


License

This keyboard is copyright © Geʾez Frontier Foundation, 2009-2023. It is distributed under the MIT free software license:

The MIT License (MIT)

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

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