Ge’ez
Ge’ez, the classical language of Ethiopia, is the only native African script in full usage at a national and everyday level, including as the liturgical language of the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Church.
Ge’ez is the precursor of Ethiopia’s three major Semitic languages: Amharic, the national language of Ethiopia; Tigrinya in both Eritrea and Ethiopia; and Tigre, spoken in western and northern Eritrea.
In the ninth century, there was evidence of Semitic languages in Ethiopia and Eritrea, but it wasn’t until after the seventh and sixth centuries B.C. that the writing systems of Ge’ez were completely formed.
