Ethiopic as a Writing System for African Languages
By Getachew Molla
June 25, 2020
In the late-1990s (sometime between the years 1997-1999 but before 2000), Mark Powell, a U.S. African American PanAfricanist, started using the Ethiopic alphabet for a number of African languages. Mr. Mark Powell (a.k.a. Òòlògún Ọmọ’Oòrùn, Khnumhotep Djehutimes Gakou: assembles African-centered modern orthographies by using Ethiopic/Ethiopian African letters for numerous African languages such as Yoruba, Luba, Zulu, Zande, Pwani (Swahili), Maasai, Shona, Kikuyu, Dinka, Luganda, Nuer and more.
According to Powell, “We are in modern times in a very technically advanced age in history. Therefore, it is appropriate that we keep as much of our practical African culture as we continue to advance into the future. Thus, in order to do that while maintaining ancient African literacy continuity simultaneously, we need an African writing system that meet those demands as well as being fully developed and well-established
