Textual Analysis of Gadla Yam ata
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Date
2009-07
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Yam'ata is one of the Nine Saints (Roman monks according to tradition) who
carne to Ethiopia in the 5th - 6 th cen turies . This p eriod is known as the Second
Christianization of Ethiopia. All the Nine Sain ts con tributed a great deal to the
spreading of Chris tianity th roughou t the Northern parts of Ethiopia . Each of
the Nine Saints has his own h agiography . At least two of them have been edited
and pu bl ished by Italian sch olars ; for instan ce, Giidlii Ariigawi by Ignazio Guidi
and Giidlii P'iint'iilewon by Conti Rossini. Giidlii Yom'ata is among the unedited
and unpublished h agiographies. Manu scripts of the h agiography of Saint
Yam'ata are found in Gfu'alta and Wiij fuat. The focus of this research is thus
the textual analysis of Giidlii Yam'ata. The researcher collected ten manuscripts
of Giidlii Yom'ata, digitalized and printed them. The obj ective of this study is to
analyze philological and historical featu res of the manuscripts, to show the use
of figu rative language in the manuscripts, to show some linguistic and textual
differences among the manuscripts and to propose a stemma for the
manuscripts. Th is research will deliver a new pnmary source to historians,
linguists and scholars of literature .
The analysis in this paper draws on interrelated fields (philology, history,
lin guist ics and li terature) . Philologically, the paleography, parchment, number
of folios, number of columns, penmanship, family tree, archetype, and subarchetypes
of the manuscripts h ave been analyzed. The research er has also
presented a brief comparative historical analysis of the names of the Nine
SQints, where they came from, and where they li\'ed in Eth iopia. The figurative
language found in Giidlii Yam'ata and some poems attri bu ted to Y~m ' ata have
also been analyzed. Highly expressive and figurative poems about the likeness
of Ym'ata's body (£Tntdl'?: ,e9''''?;:/') are given at the end.
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Textual Analysis