ERJSSH 2(2), December 2015

BOOK REVIEWS

ኢ ጵያ ­ ዐ ዕ Yäityopya tarik (1597–1625).

Yäṣe Susǝnyos zena mäwa‘ǝl [‘History of Ethiopia (1597–1625 AM): The Chron­
icle of King Susǝnyos’]. Translated by Alemu Haile (ዓ ኃ . Addis Ababa:
Sirak Publishing Enterprise, 2005 A.M., 247 pp. Price 45.00 ETB.

The Chronicle of King Susǝnyos appears for the first time is an Amharic trans­
lation thanks to Alemu Haile, who within the last ten years has produced
translations of other classics of Ethiopian royal historiography in Gǝ‫ޏ‬ǝz, such
as the Chronicles of är ä Dǝngǝl (Alemu Haile, 1999 A.M.), and more recently
of Bäkaffa (2006 A.M.), Gälawdewos (2007 A.M.), Zär’a Ya‘ǝqob and Bä’ǝdä
Maryam (both of these printed in one single edition, 2007 A.M.). Like the other
works of Alemu Haile, the Chronicle of King Susǝnyos is an important step
towards providing the Amharic­speaking public in Ethiopia with fundamental
texts on the country’s long and dramatic history. Until recent times, the trans­
lation of classical texts in Ethiopia focused chiefly on theological and religious
books while royal chronicles and other related ‘political’ sources received less
attention. In Europe, by contrast, most of the Ethiopian royal chronicles as
well as theological texts, hagiographies, philosophical books, astrological texts
and diplomatic letters have long been accessible in several languages of the old
continent thanks to the work of scholars such as Cerulli, Conti Rossini, Dill­
mann, Esteves Pereira, Guidi, and Ricci.

The text opens with a long introduction in which Alemu Haile provides general
information on the chronicle, the historical context and his own methodology.
Thus, he emphasizes the importance of texts such as Susǝnyos’s chronicle for
the national identity and because of their contribution to socio­cultural and
economic development; he does not explain though how the latter goal can be
achieved in practical terms. Additionally, Alemu Haile advises, with the sup­
port of statements by renowned linguists, philologists, and historians, on “how
to use this book” (pp. ii, iii, v). Subsequently, he explains why he decided to
change some words from the main text such as the today politically incorrect
Galla for Oromo.

The significance of Alemu Haile’s translation is not in doubt, and the author
should be praised for his effort. Yet, the work also displays a number of flaws
and shortcomings a review needs to address. Firstly, this edition diverges sig­
nificantly from the previous works carried out by the same author, which were
published under the supervision of ARCCH and which abided by academic
standards. The work under review, by contrast, is published by a private com­
mercial company, Sirak Publishing Enterprise, which seems to have given a
free hand to the author to eschew academic conventions and to indulge him­
self in unnecessary excursions. Instances of the latter are a predilection for
emotionally­charged comments and a bias towards the Orthodox faith.

In addition, some interpretations provided by Alemu on important historical

developments appear as misguided or contradictory. Thus, Susǝnyos is praised
for his campaigns to christianize several ethnic groups who were following
their traditional cults, a process in which the Jesuit missionaries played an
important role (see Martínez d’Alòs­Moner, 2015, pp. 107, 128­130, 215). Yet,
 ERJSSH 2(2), December 2015

the rebaptism of the Orthodox Church faithful and the latinization program
carried out by the same Jesuit priests is condemned. Additionally, without
consideration for the historical events or without providing satisfactory rea­
sons for it, the author divides the reign of Susǝnyos into two periods: the first
period encompasses the first fifteen years of his reign and the second the last
nine years. The first period is considered as a period of stability during which
the emphasis allegedly was on evangelization, translation and dissemination of
religious writings, as well as the abolition of the slave trade and modernization.
Conversely, the last nine years are characterized by instability, civil war and
widespread chaos. Whilst Alemu praises Susǝnyos alone for the achievements
during the first period, he blames the mishaps of the second period on the Jes­
uits missionaries, chiefly on Pedro Páez and Alfonso Mendez (pp. xiii­xvii). Yet,
such an interpretation is flawed. On the one hand, the Jesuit missionaries
were as active and influential during the first as during the second period and
indeed a large number of religious writings were carried out under royal pat­
ronage but in the Jesuit residences. On the other hand, the ‘first period’ was
far from peaceful, as already during this time dramatic clashes between Ortho­
dox and Catholic followers occurred, such as in 1617 when abunä Sǝm‘on was
killed in the battle of ädda. Last but not least, Alemu’s statement that
Susǝnyos abolished slavery is not buttressed by any historical reference. The
author also commits very basic mistakes indicating a poor work of edition. At
first he informs us the length of the reign of Susǝnyos was twenty four years
(pp. xiii and xiv) but later on he states it was twenty eight years (p. xvii).

Most importantly, Alemu does not seem to have fully mastered the historio­
graphical and philological complexity represented by the chronicle of
Susǝnyos. For instance, he indicates the chronicle was written by two authors,
the well­known abba Mǝhǝrka Dǝngǝl and azzaž Täklä Śǝllase ‘ ino’; Mǝhǝrka
Dǝngǝl wrote the first twenty two chapters and Täklä Śǝllase ‘ ino’ the remain­
der. Yet, other scholars (Chernetsov & Red., 2007, p. 42) have already argued
the chronicle’s final chapters were written by a third, anonymous author. Ele­
ments such as the content of the chapters and the point of view of the narrator
(s) seem to substantiate the latter hypothesis.

A further problem in Alemu’s edition are grammatical and spelling errors,

which on occasions become critical mistakes because they change the meaning
of important terms and names. Typical examples are the omission or addition
of names as well as changes in the spelling of terms, a practice for which the
author provides neither explanation nor justification. Thus, the name is
changed into p. 25), ኵ becomes pp. 68­69) and changes to
ኢ p. 133). There are also a few instances of transformation of the meaning of
a word by a change in some letters, such as the word አ , which is written as
ዓ pp. 17), and አ as ዐ p. 201). Since the original language of the text
is Gǝ‫ޏ‬ǝz, changing the spelling of a word can cause the change in the meaning
of the original word. Similarly the place name is changed into p.
86), and is changed into p. 176).

Alemu also leaves unresolved some of the problems presented by the original
Gǝʿǝz text compiled by Esteves Pereira. He remains oblivious to the fact that
the original text contains some errors and omissions, such as the case with
chapter 41, which appears twice in Esteves Pereira’s original text (vol. 1, pp.
 ERJSSH 2(2), December 2015

141 and 147), although the content of the ‘second’ chapter 41 (de facto chapter
42) is different from the ‘first’ chapter 41. Unfortunately, the translated Am­
haric version has repeated the same mistake but additionally changed the se­
quence of the chapters between 42 and 61. So chapter 42 of the translated
version is chapter 43 of the Gǝʿǝz text and so on. In addition, by ignoring the
complex questions of the construction of the original manuscript, Alemu has
added more confusion to the chronicle’s complicated architecture. Thus, whilst
in the original Gǝʿǝz manuscript some chapters were lost (e.g. chapters 57, 63
and 64), the translator has taken the decision to fill these lacunae with a
wrong rearrangement of the existing chapters.

A further example of the lack of critical approach in this edition are the chang­
es suffered by place and personal names in the translation. On several occa­
sions military or honorary titles are omitted in the Amharic translation (e.g.
with in p. 82 where አ is omitted, ፍ also on p. 82
where ጐዣ ነ ሽ disappears, and / [not the same figure as the previous
namesake] on p. 88 where አ again vanishes). Similarly, the author took
the odd decision to use some titles in their abbreviated, modern forms, such as
/ p. 34) instead of ዘ , or ጃ p. 126) instead of ጃ ች. Some names are
transformed by the author without any proper explanation. Thus,
is changed into p. 110). Needless to say, such mistakes introduce
unnecessary confusion into the historical narrative. Moreover, by way of the
author’s ‘free translation’ some place names are even invented whilst others
mysteriously disappear. Thus, the following list of place names from the Gǝʿǝz
text are transformed (see Esteves Pereira, 1892­1900, vol. 1, p. 247, and Ale­
mu Haile, 2005 A.M., p. 180): ቊ አ ‘Qwǝlbi amba’) into
‘Qwǝlbi ’) and ሐ ‘Waḥat’) into አ ሐ ‘Amba Waḥat’). A similar phenome­
non of transformation and omission occurs with the four royal officers called
ቃነ ዘ ኝዕ ዘ ዘ ዘ አ ሣ liqanä mënabǝrt
zägra wäqäñ‫ގ‬ä Zämo, wäzämǝluk, zämälʿak, wäwäldä tǝn aʿe; Esteves Pereira,
1892­1900, vol. 1, p. 288), which in the translation become three officers:
ኝ ቃነ ዘ ዘ አ ሣ yägranna yäqäñ liqanä
mänabǝrt Zämo, mǝluk zämälʿak ǝnna wäldä tǝn aʿe; Alemu Haile, 2005 A.M.,
p. 210).

The translation work of the author does not fare any better. Often the Amharic
translation is disappointingly wrong or confusing. The Gǝʿǝz word which
literally means eight days is translated as , i.e. “third day” (p. 117). In addi­
tion, some sentences are also translated in a way that is too difficult to under­
stand and a short comparative analysis is here in order (see Table 1).

Yet, in order to finish this review on a more positive note, it bears mention that
the translation has also happy moments. For instance, the ambiguous sentence:

ዘ ሀ ህ አ አሐ ነ ካ ዘ ነ ረ ዘ ሀ ዚአ
‘While he was there a Melchite monk lived in Debre Sina where God
gave commandments to Moses come out from the sea’; Esteves Pereira, 1892­
1900, vol. 1, p. 268) is quite impressively translated as:

ዚያ ዚአ ጠ ረ አ ካ ነ
 ERJSSH 2(2), December 2015

ጣ ‘While he was there a Melchite monk lived in Debre Sina where God
gave commandments to Moses come out from overseas’; p. 195).

Table 1: Comparison of passages from ślemu Haile and Esteves Pereira

Alemu Haile, 2005 A.M. Esteves Pereira, 1892­1900, vol. 1

ጀ ያ ፍ ኛ ፍ አ ነ ረ ዓሠ ዓ አ ነ
ዓ ጠ ፍ ፍ
‘As we previously said in the first part at ‘He stayed ten years, as it is said in the
the 30th chapter, he stayed ten years’ (p. first part [which is] until the 30th chap­
126) ter’ (p. 130).
ሐ አ ኅ ሐ አ ነፍ
‘Gedewon shot the brother of Sebhat
‘And Gedewon stabbed the brother of
Le’ab’ (p. 281)
Sebhat Le’ab’ (p. 205)
ሠነ ሥ ሥ ጣ ዘ ነ ሥ አ ጽ ሐ ዓ ዓ
ኛ ዓ ጠ ሹ ሥ ሠነ ሥ ሥ ጣ
ሥ
‘In the 24th year of the reign of King of ‘... at the dawn of Mesqel, Galla killed
kings Seltan Seged at the dawn of Buko the chief of Damot’ (p. 289)
Mesqel... killed Buko the governor of
Damot’ (p. 211)
ሠነ ሥ ሥ ጣ ህ ዓዘ ዘ ነ ሠነ ሥ
ሹ ሥ ጣ
‘By the time King of kings Seltan Seged ‘By the time King of kings Seltan Seged
heard this quarrel and dispute due to heard this quarrel and dispute...’ (p.
promotion...’ (p. 226) 309)

Considering the scarcity of sources on Ethiopian history in the Amharic lan­

guage Alemu Haile’s ኢ ጵያ ­ ዐ ዕ is an im­
portant work. Like other chronicles translated recently by the same author, the
book is part of a commendable personal project: to provide the Amharic­
speaking public with fundamental historical sources in a modern format. Yet,
this edition in particular suffers from several problems of which both the gen­
eral reader and the scholar ought to be warned. Alemu Haile does not seem to
have acquired the necessary grasp of the historical period which is the subject
matter of the chronicle of Susǝnyos; this is revealed by the bold statements put
forth in the introduction and also by the poor information provided in the criti­
cal apparatus. So, important figures, places and events featured in the chroni­
cle are more often than not left uncommented. Moreover, the inaccuracies in
the translation, the change in the original chronological sequence of the chap­
ters, the unjustified omissions, and the corruption of original names render his
book a weak historical source. The scholar should use it as a reference source
only with utmost care and, if possible, by having next to him the original Gǝʿǝz
text edited by Esteves Pereira. There might be light, however, in the shadows;
the book could open the way for other scholars to attempt a philologically ac­
curate and scientific edition of that milestone of Ethiopian historiography that
is the chronicle of Susǝnyos. Both Esteves Pereira’s century­old edition and the
book under review leave too many questions unresolved not to make this a
desideratum in the field of Ethiopian studies.
 ERJSSH 2(2), December 2015

REFERENCES

Alemu Haile. (1999 A.M.). ዐ ሠ ፀ ዕ . Yäṣe ärṣä Dǝngǝl zena

mäwa‘ǝl [‘The Chronicle of King är ä Dǝngǝl’]. Addis Ababa: ARCCH.
Alemu Haile. (2006 A.M.). ዐ ካፋ ነ ሥ ዐ ኛ Yäṣe Bäkaffa tarikä
nägä t: ‘śmarǝññaǝnna Gǝʿǝz [‘The Royal Chronicle of King Bäkaffa: Am­
haric and Gǝʿǝz’]. Addis Ababa: ARCCH.
Alemu Haile. (2007 A.M.). ዐ ዕ . Yäṣe Gälawdewos zena
mäwa‘ǝl [‘The Chronicle of King Gälawdewos’]. Addis Ababa.
Alemu Haile. (2007 A.M.). ዐ ዘ ዓ ያዕ ዐ ያ ዕ ች.
2007 A.M.). Yäṣe Zär’a Ya‘ǝqobǝnna yäṣe Bä’ǝdä Maryam zena mäwa‘ǝloč
[‘The Chronicles of King Zär’a Yaʿǝqob and King Bä’ǝdä Maryam’]. Addis
Ababa: Sirak Publishers.
Chernetsov, S. & Red. (2007). Historiography: Ethiopian historiography. In S.
Uhlig (Ed.), Encyclopaedia śethiopica (Vol. 3, pp. 40­45). Wiesbaden: Har­
rassowitz.
Esteves Pereira, F.M. (Ed.). (1892­1900). Chronica de Susǝnyos, rei de Ethiopia.
Lisboa: Imprensa Nacional.
Martínez d’Alòs­Moner, Andreu. (2015). Envoys of a Human God: The Jesuit
Mission to Christian Ethiopia, 1557–1632. Leiden & Boston: Brill.

Sisay Sahile Beyene

Department of Sociology, University of Gondar

Elias Yemane. (2004). śmharic and Ethiopic Onomastics: ś Classic Ethiopian

Legacy, Concept, and Ingenuity. Lewiston–Queeston–Lampter: The Edwin Mel­
len Press (Studies in Onomastics, Volume 7). Pp. XVII + 301. ISBN: 0–7734–
6308–9.

Compared with other subjects of Ethiopian studies, the theme of onomastics

or naming in Ethiopian languages has not been studied sufficiently. Naming a
child is an important cultural act of Ethiopian families. Thus, in the central
and highland parts of Ethiopia parents take time until they find a fitting name
that fulfills their beliefs, hopes, and aspirations, as well as the economic, reli­
gious, historical and socio­political situations of the country. Although there is
a long history of the system of naming practice and the meaning and relevance
of personal names in Ethiopia is well known, this topic is still largely under­
studied and only a few publications in English are available. An early contribu­
tion is the one by Messing (1974), who analyzed 170 names as significant ex­
pressions of the sociological, psychological and values of the Amhara society.
More recently Pankhurst (2002) classified and analyzed Amharic and Gǝʿǝz
names from various perspectives, while Zelealem (2003) examined Amharic
names from the socio­linguistic and semantic viewpoints based on data ob­
tained from urban and rural settings in Gojjam, Gondar, Shewa and Wollo. In
addition to these studies is a book written in Amharic that compiles over 6,000
personal names along with historical explanations on baptismal names and
titles (Melake Berhan, 2008).

Elias Yemane’s work is thus probably the first comprehensive scholarly study
on the Amharic and Ethiopic (i.e. Gǝʿǝz) naming systems. The author is a na­