Libido (also known as Mareqo, Mareko) is an Afroasiatic language of

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 Er ...

, which is spoken in the Mareko district

Gurage Zone Gurage is a zone in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region of Ethiopia. The region is home to the Gurage people. Gurage is bordered on the southeast by Hadiya and Yem special woreda, on the west, north and east by the Oromia ...

of the

Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People's Region The Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (often abbreviated as SNNPR; am, የደቡብ ብሔር ብሔረሰቦችና ሕዝቦች ክልል, Yädäbub Bḥer Bḥeräsäbočna Hzboč Kllə) is a regional state in southwestern ...

, directly south-east of

Butajira Butajira ( am, ቡታጅራ) is a town and separate woreda in central Ethiopia. Located at the base of the Zebidar massif in the Gurage Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region (SNNPR), Butajira has an elevation of 2131 ...

. It has about 64,000 native speakers (2007 census). It is closely related to Hadiyya (a dialect per Blench 2006) within the

Highland East Cushitic languages Highland East Cushitic, or Sidamic, is a branch of the Afroasiatic language family spoken in south-central Ethiopia. They are often grouped with Lowland East Cushitic, Dullay, and Yaaku as ''East Cushitic'', but that group is not well defined a ...

. Its syntax is SOV; its verb has passive, reflexive and causative constructions, as well as a middle voice.

Notes

Further reading