ETHIOPIC WRITING. The language of the Semitic Ethiopians, the lesana Gee:: (see GEsz), was at first written in the same characters that were used bythe and SabTans. The origin of this South Arabian system of writing is still obscure. While some epigraphists regard it as a modification of the Plnenician alphabet, others arc inclined to ascribe to it an independent origin. (See MIN-EANs.) The earliest Ethiopic inscrip tions are written boustrophedon, i.e. as the ox plows, one line running from right to left, the next from left to right. Later the direction from left to right prevailed as in the Greek. Probably in the fourth century the Sabtean alphabet was modified by the introduction of a peculiar method of vowel notation. The various long or short vowel sounds were indicated by a lengthening or shortening of certain strokes or the addition of a stroke, a hook, or a circle. The signs thus be
came designations of syllables, and by 182 char acters it was possible to express clearly the pro nunciation of each word. It has been supposed by some scholars that, this was an imitation of the Syriac vowel system. But the date of the Paippell inscriptions renders it more probable that the changes were suggested by missionaries familiar with the Indian brahnia lipi or karosh thi alphabets. As Buddhist missionaries seem to have visited Abyssinia before the introduction of Christianity, it is possible that this important alteration is due to one of them. But it may also be the work of Frumentius, who is said to have labored in India before coming to Aksum. If so, it is likely that the vowel notation was intro duced between A.D. 340 and 30.