Eritrean literature in the
Tigrinya language
(; also spelled Tigrigna) is an Ethio-Semitic language commonly spoken Eritrea and in northern Ethiopia's Tigray Region by the Tigrinya and Tigrayan peoples. It is also spoken by the global diaspora of these regions.
History and literature ...
dates, as far as is known, from the late 19th century but
Ge'ez writings have been found in the 4th century BC. It was initially encouraged by European missionaries, but suffered from the general repression of
Eritrea
Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...
n culture under
Fascist
Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...
rule in the 1920s and 30s. The earliest published works were primarily translations or collections of traditional poems, fables and folktales, but the renaissance of Eritrean culture promoted by the British administrators after 1942 included the appearance of the first novels in Tigrinya.
Origins
Between the fourth and eleventh centuries AD, the
Ge'ez language was the main language of the
Axumite empire
The Kingdom of Aksum ( gez, መንግሥተ አክሱም, ), also known as the Kingdom of Axum or the Aksumite Empire, was a kingdom centered in Northeast Africa and South Arabia from Classical antiquity to the Middle Ages. Based primarily in wha ...
, and for some time thereafter it remained the language of literature. This literature, shared between Eritrea and
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
, consisted mainly of historical tales about royalty and noblemen; ecclesiastical works, often in translation; and religious poetry. Ge'ez passed down to modern
Tigrinya
(; also spelled Tigrigna) is an Ethio-Semitic language commonly spoken Eritrea and in northern Ethiopia's Tigray Region by the Tigrinya and Tigrayan peoples. It is also spoken by the global diaspora of these regions.
History and literatur ...
the
Ge'ez alphabet and a substantial vocabulary.
The continued dominance of Ge'ez as a literary language after it was supplanted by Tigrinya as a demotic tongue means that very little is known of 'low' literature prior to the arrival of European missionaries in the 19th century. The first work published in Tigrinya was a translation of the
Gospels
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
, written in the 1830s and published in 1866. European missionaries were responsible for a stream of publications from the 1890s onwards, including the first Tigrinya language newspaper in 1909.
First publications
The first literary text in Tigrinya was published in Europe itself: in 1895 Feseha Giyorgis, an Ethiopian, published a pamphlet in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
giving an account of his journey to
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
five years earlier. Giyorgis was a scholar who taught Tigrinya in
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
, as well as studying the Italian and Latin languages. He was very conscious of his trailblazing role as "the father of Tigrinya literature": in his foreword to the work, he wrote that, "our main drive has been... to furnish those who yearn to learn Tigrinya with material for exercise". The content of the pamphlet indicates that his primary audience, however, was the educated elite of his home country, as it focuses on the author's impressions of the exotic country to which he had travelled. Negash praises the artistic quality of the work, arguing that it is, "endowed with special linguistic mastery and artistic, literary craftsmanship".
In the early years of the 20th century, several further works appeared: the first of these was a collection of forty
fable
Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular mo ...
s and folktales by
Ghebre-Medhin Dighnei. This was published in a journal in Rome in 1902. It contains nine fables with animal characters, typically depicting the stronger animals as unjust and untrustworthy, while the weaker animals are virtuous but powerless. The other 31 stories are folktales, including (number 34) "
The Boy Who Cried Wolf
The Boy Who Cried Wolf is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 210 in the Perry Index. From it is derived the English idiom "to cry wolf", defined as "to give a false alarm" in e''Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable'' and glossed by the ''Oxford ...
".
Other publications of this period included three collections of
oral poetry
Oral poetry is a form of poetry that is composed and transmitted without the aid of writing. The complex relationships between written and spoken literature in some societies can make this definition hard to maintain.
Background
Oral poetry is ...
by
Carlo Conti Rossini
Carlo Conti Rossini (1872–1949) was an Italian orientalist.
He was director of the State Treasury from 1917 to 1925, a member of the Accademia dei Lincei in 1921 and Royal Academy of Italy from 1939. He wrote various works on the historical g ...
,
Johannes Kolmodin
Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as "John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, ''Ioannes''), itself derived from the Hebrew name '' Yeh ...
and
Jacques Faïtlovitch. Conti Rossini published his ''Tigrinya Popular Songs'' between 1903 and 1906: this ran to 166 works, with notes and commentary in Italian. It is divided into three parts. Part one contains 73 love poems, mostly by men, while part two consists of lovers' complaints. Part three, called 'Songs of Various Arguments' includes more substantial works, notably: ''
masse'' poems, written for special occasions and combining entertainment, education and praise for tribal leaders; ''
melke'', written for funerals and praising the deceased; and ''
dog'a'', poems of general mourning. Two of the ''masse'' are accounts of the late-19th-century conflict between two chiefs,
Ras Weldamichael of
Hazzega and
Deggiat Hailu of
Tsazzega, an event which has continued to be the subject of folk narratives down to the present day. It is also a substantial presence in Kolmodin's collection, ''Traditions of Tsazzega and Hazzega'', which forms a narrative of the history of Eritrea over the few centuries preceding the Italian colonization. Finally, Faïtlovitch's ''Habasha Poetry'' is a collection of 125 ''dog'a'' poems, assembled from the preceding work of Winqwist and Twolde-Medkhin of the Swedish mission.
One original work from this period was ''How the World Was Set Ablaze because of Two Serpents'', a 270-line poem published anonymously in Rome in 1916. The work is a commentary on the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, which the author sees as a war between the true
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
countries of the
Entente Powers
The Triple Entente (from French '' entente'' meaning "friendship, understanding, agreement") describes the informal understanding between the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as well a ...
and the 'champions of Islam',
Austro-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
and
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. In his preface, he explains that he wrote it because, "I want you to know in time about this terrible darkness which has deeply affected my conscience".
Before and after Eritrean independence, the drama form got a boost. Three playwrights, in particular, namely, Solomon Dirar, Esaias Tseggai and Mesgun Zerai, brought fresh ideas from England and rejuvenated the Eritrean stage with their emotionally charged one-act plays. ''Three Eritrean Plays'', a landmark text in Eritrean stage history, collected plays from each of these playwrights: 'A Village Dream' by Mesgun Zerai, 'The Snare' by Solomon Dirar, and 'Aster' by Esaias Tseggai.
Fascism
The remainder of the Italian colonial period, particularly after the rise of
Fascism
Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy an ...
in Italy, was a lean time for Eritrean literature. Education became a matter of indoctrination, emphasising the superiority of Italian over native culture. The missionary education efforts which had helped to give birth to an Eritrean literary culture were discouraged by the colonial administration.
The only substantial fruit of this period was a further volume from Conti Rossini: his ''Tigrinya Traditional Proverbs and Songs'' was published in 1942, immediately after the end of Italian rule. This was again a work in three sections: the first, a collection of almost 500 proverbs, with Italian commentary; the second, accounts of Eritrean traditions and lineage; and the third a mix of 86 ''messe'', ''melke'' and ''dog'a'' poems. The effect of the occupation is apparent in a number of poems praising the Italian rulers.
Renaissance
The incoming British administration had a much more enlightened attitude to its subjects than its predecessor.
Edward Ullendorff
Edward Ullendorff (1920–2011) was a British scholar and historian. He was a prominent figure in Ethiopian Studies and also contributed work on the Semitic languages.
Biography
Born on 25 January 1920 in Zurich, Switzerland, Ullendorff was e ...
has said that, "The 30 years from about 1942 until the early 1970s witness the greatest flowering of Tňa writing hitherto encountered". One of the driving forces behind this blossoming was the ''
Eritrean Weekly News''. Supported by the British authorities, this publication went through 520 issues over ten years from 1942, with a circulation of around 5000 copies. It was edited by
Ato Waldeab Waldemariam, another employee of the Swedish mission in
Asmara
Asmara ( ), or Asmera, is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region. It sits at an elevation of , making it the sixth highest capital in the world by altitude and the second highest capital in Africa. The ...
, and published a wide range of fiction and non-fiction as well as news stories. The paper was also associated with the
Tigrinya Language Council
(; also spelled Tigrigna) is an Ethio-Semitic language commonly spoken Eritrea and in northern Ethiopia's Tigray Region by the Tigrinya and Tigrayan peoples. It is also spoken by the global diaspora of these regions.
History and literature ...
, a body established in 1944 to promote a modernised, correct form of the Tigrinya language.
Despite this literary renaissance, no Tigrinya books were published until the late 1940s. This has been attributed to a lack of funds and publishing know-how among the Tigrinya intelligentsia, and to the continuing control by Italians of the country's few printing presses. The breakthrough came in 1949, when Yacob Ghebreyesus published ''Legends, Stories and Proverbs of the Ancestors''. Ghebreyesus was a
Catholic priest
The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...
and teacher, and published his collection of a hundred stories, 3300 proverbs, and various poems in order to provide reading material for his pupils.
The first Tigrinya language novel appeared in 1949-50, although it was originally written in 1927. ''A Story of a Conscript'', by
Ghebreyesus Hailu Ghebreyesus may refer to:
* Fisihasion Ghebreyesus (born 1941), Ethiopian cyclist
*Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus ( ti, ቴዎድሮስ አድሓኖም ገብረኢየሱስ, sometimes spelt ti, ቴድሮስ ኣድሓ ...
, tells the story in 61 pages of a group of Eritreans forced to fight for the Italians in
Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...
. The hero returns to his village after many travails, only to find that his mother has died in his absence. He composes a ''melkes'' poem mourning her death and condemning the rule of the Italians. Dr Harpreet Singh, an associate professor of English in EIT, Mai Nefhi translated ''The Conscript'' from English into Hindi and it was published on January 1, 2019.
Another novel, ''Dawn of Freedom'', published by
Teklai Zeweldi in 1954, has a similar theme, telling the story of several generations of one family opposed to Italian rule. It is written on a more sophisticated technical level than Hailu's work, often interweaving
multiple narrative strands in a single chapter. A third work published around this time, ''Resurrection and Victory'' by
Zegga-Iyesus Iyasu, is an "unambiguously moralistic and religiously didactic" allegory.
[Negash p. 137.] Over the next 20 years, many further volumes appeared in the already-established traditions of didactic fictions, novels, anthologies and translations.
Diasporic Eritreans, such as those living in political exile, continue to publish works. In 2019
Yirgalem Fisseha Mebrahtu published 130 poems written prior to imprisonment and after her release from exile. They first appeared as ''ኣለኹ (I'm alive)'' written in
Tigrinya
(; also spelled Tigrigna) is an Ethio-Semitic language commonly spoken Eritrea and in northern Ethiopia's Tigray Region by the Tigrinya and Tigrayan peoples. It is also spoken by the global diaspora of these regions.
History and literatur ...
; in 2022 the German translation was published.
See also
*
Culture of Eritrea
The culture of Eritrea is the collective cultural heritage of the various populations native to Eritrea. Eritrea has nine recognized ethnic groups. Each group have their own unique traditions and customs but some traditions are shared and appreci ...
References
{{Eritrea topics
Eritrean culture