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 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
 WorldCat |
| Title: | MSS 306 or Ras Täfäri's Fetha Nägäst |
| Author: | Mesfin Haile, Getahun |
| Year: | 2010 |
| Periodical: | Journal of Ethiopian Studies (ISSN 0304-2243) |
| Volume: | 43 |
| Pages: | 75-92 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Ethiopia |
| Subjects: | manuscripts 1900-1949 Ge'ez language Amharic language |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/44326299 |
| Abstract: | In 2005, the Africana Division of the Main Library at Michigan State University acquired an Ethiopian manuscript of 354 folios and associated documents written in Amharic and Ge'ez (or Ethiopic). It was found to be one of the original copies (and perhaps the only extant one) of the first Amharic translation of the Fetha Nägäst (FN), or 'Law of the Kings', in the 20th century. It is probably the largest self-contained volume of an FN translation ever to be written on parchment or vellum. The manuscript was commissioned by Ras Täfäri (the later Haile Sellassie I), presumably on behalf of the Ethiopian government. Before the introduction of modern law in the 1930s, the FN was widely used in Ethiopia as the main source of jurisprudential authority, both secular and religious. Notwithstanding its pervasive influence on culture, philosophy and daily life, the FN has long remained without a translation into the more accessible Amharic. A likely reason for this is that it is in part a religious docuement and the language of Ge'ez remained until recently the preferred language of ecclesiastical discourse and writing. It is suggested that the translation into Amharic was a component of the program of reform and modernization the government embarked upon at the beginning of the 20th century. Bibliogr., notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract] |
