Taye Gebremariam, Bibliography

(1) Sources

1.1 Publications by Taye Gebremariam

Taye Gebremariam. Mälkǝ’a Iyäsus “mesla mekḥa meʾmanān” [መልክአ ኢየሱስ _ _ _ _, _ _ _]. Asmara 1894.

Taye Gebremariam, ed. Mäṣḥafä säwasəw [መጽሐፈ ሰዋስው]. Mənkullo: Swedish Mission Press, 1896/97 [1889 A.M.].

  • Reprint. [Addis Ababa] 1962. [Mereb Shop]

⸻. En teologisk strid inför Ras Mengescha [A theological dispute before ras Mengesha]. Stockholm: EFS, 1900.

⸻. Mäzmura Krǝstos wä-mälkǝ’a Iyäsus wä-mälkǝ’a mädhane aläm [መዝሙራ ክርስቶስ ። ወመልክአ ኢየሱስ ። ወመልክአ መድኃኔ ዓለም, Psalter of Christ / Image (i.e. appearance??) of Jesus / Image (i.e., appearance?) of the Savior of the world]. Asmara: Swedish Mission Press, 1920/21 [1913 A.M.].

  • This edition might be a reprint of / be the same as “Mazmur Krestos wa-malkeʼ madh̲āné ʻolam”. Asmara 1911. [= 1921?]. [87 p.; copy available at Uppsala Univ. Library]

⸻. Yäʾityop̣ya ḥǝzb tarik [የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ ታሪክ, History of the people of Ethiopia]. Asmara: Swedish Mission Press, 1922 [1914 A.M.]. [Libris catalogue]

  • 4th edition. [Addis Ababa?] 1956 [Mereb Shop].
  • English translation: History of the People of Ethiopia, translated by Grover Hudson and Tekeste Negash, 2nd ed. Uppsala: Centre for Multiethnic Research, 1988.

⸻. Histoire universelle en abrégé [in Amharic]. Addis Ababa: Imprimerie de S.A.I. Teferi Makonnen, 1924. [Libris catalogue]

1.2 Publications based on information/ pieces by Aläqa Taye Gebremariam

(?) Mittwoch, Eugen. “Exzerpte aus dem Koran in amharischer Sprache,” Mittheilungen des Seminars für Orientalische Sprachen zu Berlin 9 (1906): 111‒47.

⸻. “Proben aus amharischem Volksmunde,” Mittheilungen des Seminars für Orientalische Sprachen zu Berlin 10, no. 2 (1907): 185‒241. [Amharic proverbs, puns, riddles, songs, stanzas, tales, anectotes, fables, and parables; view online]

⸻. “Abessinische Kinderspiele,” Mittheilungen des Seminars für Orientalische Sprachen zu Berlin 13 (1910): 107‒40. [Children songs and games]

(?) ⸻. “Ein amharischer Text über Muhammad und die Ausbreitung des Islams in Abessinien,” in Festschrift Eduard Sachau […], edited by Gotthold Weil, p. 444‒51. Berlin: G. Reimer, 1915. [Archive.org]

⸻. Die traditionelle Aussprache des Äthiopischen [The traditional pronounciation of Ge’ez] (Abessinische Studien 1). Berlin and Leipzig: W. de Gruyter, 1926.

  • Based on language sessions with Aläqa Taye Gebremariam and Blatten Geta Hiruy Wolde Sellasie in Berlin. [Google Books]
  • No. 4: Aläqa Taye’s report (pp. 147‒53)
1.3 Published letters and report

Ullendorff, Edward. “Some Early Amharic Letters,” in Studia Aethiopica et Semitica, edited by Edward Ullendorff, p. 91‒134. Stuttgart: F. Steiner, 1987. [Borrow book from Archive.org]

  • No. 10: Aläqa Taye to Dr. Eugen Mittwoch, Istanbul, December 1907 (pp. 116-23)
  • No. 11: E. Mittwoch to Aläqa Taye, Berlin, February 1908 (pp. 126-27)
  • No. 12: Aläqa Taye to E. Mittwoch, Addis Ababa, January 1909 (pp. 128-29)
  • No. 13: Aläqa Taye to E. Mittwoch, Addis Ababa, June 1911 (pp. 130-31)

Aläqa Taye, Report on the conflict with his landlord in Berlin, in Edward Ullendorff, “[…] Documents from the Eugen Mittwoch Nachlass,” BSOAS 43 (1980), pp. 440‒47. [View online]

1.4 Manuscripts
Mekane Yesus Seminary, Addis Ababa

_ _ _ [_ _ _, A theological critique of certain practices of the Orthodox Church]. No date. Ref. Code: MYS 44. [In Amharic; 451 folios]

Are the following manuscripts also located
at Mekane Yesus Seminary (MYS)?

Mäzgäbä qalat [መዝገበ ቃላት, A treasury of words]. No date.

Ṣäwanä näfs [ጸዋነ ነፍስ, Peace (lit. Ge’ez “refuge”) of the soul]. (cf. Aleme, p. 22)

Mäṣəhaf məkər [መጽሐፍ ምክር (?), Book of advice]

Yämängəst həywät [የመንግስት ህይወት, Life of a government]

German ‒ Amharic glossary. Berlin 1906‒07.

National Archives and Library Agency, Addis Ababa [www.nale.gov.et]
  • 133 [Ge’ez] manuscripts brought back from Europe to Ethiopia by aläqa Taye?
  • Gult in his native area as a reward for his accomplishments?
  • Commission by Emperor Menelik II to write the history of Ethiopia?
Archive der Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin

Search for “Taje“

1.5 Other archival material

Letters, etc.

  • Berlin Univ. [cf. Voigt ?]
  • SEM Archives, Uppsala?

(2) Secondary Literature

2.1 Indoeuropean languages

Alemé Esheté. “Alaqa Taye Gabra Mariam (1861‒1924),” Rassegna di Studi Etiopici 25 (1971‒72): 14‒30. [JSTOR]

Arén, Gustav. Envoys of the Gospel in Ethiopia: In the Steps of the Evangelical Pioneers 1898‒1936. Stockholm: EFS förlaget; Addis Ababa: The [Ethiopian] Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, 1999. [See pp. 19–58; view online]

Bahru Zewde. Pioneers of Change in Ethiopia: The Reformist Intellectuals of the Early Twentieth Century. Oxford: James Currey, 2002. [See p. _ _ _]

Ezra Gebremedhin. “Aleqa Tayye: The Missionary Factor in his Scholarly Work,” in The Missionary Factor in Ethiopia: Papers from a Symposium on the Impact of European Missions on Ethiopian Society, Lund University, August 1996, edited by Getatchew Haile, Aasulv Lande, and Samuel Rubenson, pp. 101‒20. Frankfurt, etc.: Peter Lang, 1998. [Archive.org]

⸻. “Tayyä Gäbrä Maryam,” in Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, vol. 4, edited by Siegbert Uhlig in cooperation with Alessandro Bausi, pp. 880‒81. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2010.

Gori, Alessandro. “La poesia di alaqā Tāyya in onore di šah Zakkāryās,” Rassegna di Studi Etiopici 43 (1999 [2000]): 65‒112.

  • Sheikh Zakkariyas was renamed Newaye Kristos after his baptism.

Rodén, Karl Gustaf. _ _ _. Stockholm: EFS, 1936.

  • Not listed in Arén’s bibliography;
    = Abessiniens historia. Stockholm 1930 ?

Simeneh Betreyohannes. “Scholarship on Ethiopian Music: Past, Present and Future Prospects,” African Study Monographs: Supplementary Issue 41 (2010): 19‒34. [View online]

Voigt, Rainer M. “Äthiopistik in Berlin: Das Wirken von Eugen Mittwoch und Aläḳa Tayyä,” in Die äthiopischen Studien im 20. Jahrhundert / Ethiopian Studies in the 20th Century: Akten der internationalen äthiopischen Tagung Berlin, 22. bis 24. Juli 2000, edited by Rainer M. Voigt, pp. 103‒21. Aachen: Shaker, 2003.

2.2 Amharic

Hailu Kebede. የአለቃ ታዬ ገብረማርያም የሕይወት ታሪክ [Biography of aläqa Taye Gebremariam]. Addis Ababa: Haile Sellasie University, 1970/71 [1963 A.M.].

(3) Note regarding the suggestion that blatten geta Hiruy Wolde Selassie used aläqa Taye’s manuscripts without proper referencing

Blatten geta Hiruy Wolde Selassie acquired several of aläqa Taye’s manuscripts after he had passed away. Bahru, Pioneers, p. 150, appears to suggest that blatten geta Hiruy Wolde Selassie might have plagiarized aläqa Taye’s manuscripts in the following writings:

(1) Hiruy Wolde Selassie. Yä’ityopya tarik: känegest Saba eskä tallaqu yä’adwa del [A History of Ethiopia …]. Addis Ababa, 1999 A.M.

  • The galley proofs of the manuscript were printed by Goha Ṣebāḥ Printing Press in 1936. However, the book could not be completed due to the Italian invasion of Addis Ababa and Hiruy’s departure to Europe (Asfaw-Wossen Asserate, Geschichte, p. 18).
  • A bilingual Amharic/German edition of chapters 5‒22 is included in Asfa-Wossen Asserate. Die Geschichte von Šawā (Äthiopien) 1700‒1865 nach dem tārika nagaśt des belāttēn gētā Ḫeruy Walda Śellāsē. (Studien zur Kulturkunde 53). Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1980, pp. 36‒152. [= PhD dissertation, Frankfurt/M., 1978].

(2) ⸻. Ityopyanna Mätämma: Yä’ase Yohannes tarik bacceru [_ _ _; Ethiopia and Metemma: A short history of Emperor Yohannes]. Addis Ababa: Imprimérie Ethiopienne, 1917/18 [1910 A.M.].

(3) ⸻. Wazema: Bamagestu Ya’ityoppan nagastat yatarik ba’al lamakbar [_ _ _; The eve: In honor of the feast of the Ethiopian kings on the following day]. Addis Ababa: Goha Ṣebāḥ Printing Press, 1928/29 [1921 A.M.]

According to Asfa-Wossen Asserate, Geschichte von Šawā, p. 21, the doubts about Hiruy Wolde Selassie’s authorship of the History of Shewa (which were mainly expressed by Taye’s relatives) are not convincing. The styles of aläqa Taye and blatten geta Hiruy Wolde Selassie are very different. In addition, other historians such as Zewde Gabre Sellassie are also certain that Hiruy was the author.

  • Note that Taye’s History of Ethiopia/ Shewa was printed in Asmara in 1921.