Product Support

Keyboard Support

Developer Support

Contact and Search

Keyman.com Homepage

Header bottom

Keyman.com

On this page

GFF Gurage (Legacy) Keyboard Help

Introduction

This is a Gurage (ጉራጊና, ISO-639-2 sgw-Ethi-XL) language mnemonic input method. It requires a font supporting Ethiopic script under the Unicode 4.1 standard. This keyboard is the immediate successor to the GFF Sebatbeit keyboard (gff-sgw-7.kmn version 7.0).

This Gurage 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.

The keyboard is given the name “Legacy” because it is designed to work withthe Gurage orthography introduced in the 1966 publication Ethiopians Speak: Studies in Cultural Background, Volume 2. Chaha and successor orthographies through the formal adoption by the Unicode 4.1 standard published in 2005. The following fonts are packaged with the keyboard representing different stages of the evolution of the orthography. All fonts have been derived from Abyssinica SIL.

Gurage Fider 1966
The initial orthography devised by Dr. Wolf Leslau and Sahle Selassie Berhane Mariam in 1962 and published in 1966 in the seminal work: Ethiopians Speak: Studies In Cultural Background. Volume 2. Chaha.
Gurage Fider 1977
An orthography developed independently between 1974-1977 by Carolyn Ford and Degefe Gebre Mariam and first used in publishing a selection of the Gospel of Matthew on January 7, 1977 and later used to publish the Gurage New Testament (ገደር ጕርዳ በጕራጊና) in 1983.
Gurage Fider 1998
The successor to the 1977 orthography developed to publish the Gurage Bible and becoming the reference glyphs under Unicode 4.1. The glpyhs have been in use from 1998 until a new orthography was introduced in 2013. The glpyhs may also be generated from the TypeTuner website with the language selection "Sebat Bet Gurage".

A more complete typing manual is provided as a PDF file (English,ጉራጊና) with this distribution.

Note

This keyboard package provides a mobile layout that is no longer actively maintained. The mobile layout was introduced as an interim solution while mobile operating systems are being updated to support the Modern Gurage Orthography under the Unicode 14 standard. The mobile layout will be removed once this transition period is complete.

Typing Letters

Only the letters used in Gurage may be typed with this keyboard. To type additional Ethiopic letters used by other languages, please download a keyboard for the language needed (e.g. Amharic or Tigrinya).

Special Notes:

  • Apostrophe, ' , is a terminator following a ሳድስ (6th form) letter. For example: gebr'iel becomes ገብርኤል, gebriel becomes ገብሬል.
ቤተሰብግዕዝካዕብሣልስራብዕኃምስሳድስሳብዕዘመደ፡ግዕዝዘመደ፡ሣልስዘመደ፡ራብዕዘመደ፡ኃምስዘመደ፡ሳድስ 
Key+[eE]+[uU]+[iI]+[aA]+[iI][eE] +[oO]+[uU][eE]+[uU][iI]+[uU][aA]+[uU][iI][eE]+[uU][uU] 
[hH]ኸኹኺኻኼኽኾዀዂዃዄዅh
[hH][yY]ⷐⷑⷒⷓⷔⷕⷖ     hʸ
[lL]ለሉሊላሌልሎ     l
[mM]መሙሚማሜምሞᎀᎁሟᎂᎃm
[rR]ረሩሪራሬርሮ     r
sሰሱሲሳሴስሶ     s
[xX]ሸሹሺሻሼሽሾ     ʃ
[qQ]ቀቁቂቃቄቅቆቈቊቋቌቍkʼ
[qQ][yY]ⷀⷁⷂⷃⷄⷅⷆ     k'ʸ
[bBvV]በቡቢባቤብቦᎄᎅቧᎆᎇb
tተቱቲታቴትቶ     t
cቸቹቺቻቼችቾ     ʧ
nነኑኒናኔንኖ     n
Nኘኙኚኛኜኝኞ     ɲ
eአ
ee		ኡ
u		ኢ
i		ኣ
a		ኤ
ie		እ
e		ኦ
o		     ʔ
[kK]ከኩኪካኬክኮኰኲኳኴኵk
[kK][yY]ⷐⷑⷒⷓⷔⷕⷖ     kʸ
[wW]ወዉዊዋዌውዎ     w
Eዐ
Ee
 		ዑ
Eu /
U		ዒ
Ei /
I		ዓ
Ea /
A		ዔ
Eie /
Ie		ዕ
E
 		ዖ
Eo /
O		     ʕ
zዘዙዚዛዜዝዞ     z
Zዠዡዢዣዤዥዦ     ʒ
[yY]የዩዪያዬይዮ     y
[dD]ደዱዲዳዴድዶ     d
[jJ]ጀጁጂጃጄጅጆ     ʤ
[gG]ገጉጊጋጌግጎጐጒጓጔጕg
[gG][yY]ⷘⷙⷚⷛⷜⷝⷞ     gʸ
Tጠጡጢጣጤጥጦ     tʼ
Cጨጩጪጫጬጭጮ     ʧʼ
Pጰጱጲጳጴጵጶ     pʼ
Sጸጹጺጻጼጽጾ     sʼ
[fF]ፈፉፊፋፌፍፎᎈᎉፏᎊᎋf
pፐፑፒፓፔፕፖᎌᎍፗᎎᎏp
 +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:

ኣባ CTRL .   ⇒   ኣባ፞ (“abaa”, “a” is stressed)
ኣባ፞ CTRL .   ⇒   ኣባ፟ (“abba”, “b” is stressed)
ኣባ፟ CTRL .   ⇒   ኣባ፝ (“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 #1#2#3#4#5#6#7#8#9
Numeral ፩፪፫፬፭፮፯፰፱
Keystrokes #10#20#30#40#50#60#70#80#90
Numeral ፲፳፴፵፶፷፸፹፺
Keystrokes #100#1000#10000
Numeral ፻፲፻፼

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


License

This keyboard is copyright © Geʾez Frontier Foundation, 2008-2023. 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.

All Documentation Versions

Download this keyboard

Keep me updated