iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Prof. Kay Kaufman Shelemay & Fentahun Tiruneh sharing memories last evening of the late Dr. Marilyn Heldman (at the National African Art Museum, Washington, DC).

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

A proto dereb-serez (፤) or netela-serez (፣ ፥) found in the listing of Adam's descendants in Lucas 3:23 as found in the Abba Garima Gospels 1 (7th Century). Two examples highlighted in red; can you spot the lone ≡ mark? vhmml.org/readingRoom/... (Image 207)

HMML AG00001, Abbā Garimā Gospels 1, Image 207 showing proto dereb serez or netela serez marks.

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Does anyone know where the Ge'ez manuscripts collected by Henry Salt ended up? OR 586 at the @britishlibrary.bsky.social has a passing resemblance to the book of hymns that he collected, as depicted in "Voyage to Abyssinia" (1814), but also significant differences in the cover.

St Yared hymnal manuscript depicted on page 303 of "Voyage to Abyssinia"

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Tinkering with trichromacy. I've been on a multi-year pursuit in search of trichromatic #Ethiopic marks, but have come up empty so far. So I decided to make my own, imagining what trichromatic marks, if found, might appear like.

Tricromatic decorated Ethiopic Full Stop

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

The Center for African Studies at Howard University published Bouctou Issue #3 with a focus on Ge'ez language and writing: cfas.howard.edu/outreach/bou...

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Plus, I'll be there, signing autographs for all who ask. 😀 If you can't make it, but would like to help support independent & woman filmmakers, consider buying a ticket anyway 😀

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

If you're local to Alexandria, VA, here's a rare opportunity to see an Amharic film in a major movie theater. Kidist Bayelign's latest film, Liya, will be presented at the Regal Theater in Kingstowne, Alexandria on Sunday, November 16th. Tickets: www.eventbrite.com/e/liya-ticke...

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

The latest update now finds 198 Ge'ez manuscripts back online! Bravo @britishlibrary.bsky.social !

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

Scenes of Ge'ez calligraphy, animated ... cool! Great job all around! Even more animations in the channel: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxzR...

youtube.com

ከማሃ ሐዘን- an animated short

YouTube video by Milky animates

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

Aleme Tadesse, the Menbere typeface designer, demonstrates Ge'ez calligraphy: youtu.be/sda5RUJM0O0?...

youtu.be

Ge’ez Calligraphy by Aleme Tadesse

YouTube video by Center for African Studies at Howard University

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

I checked with a specialist in the language and am told that 𐩨𐩱𐩯𐩱 is not a word.

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

Josh Johnson sporting a Musnad outfit at the Emmys tonight. A repeating pattern of 𐩨𐩱𐩯𐩱 , would love to know a translation or if it is just a pattern.

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

መልካም አዲስ ዓመት! 🏵️፳፻፲፰🏵️ A new keyboard for a new year! A simple QWERTY-style design modeled on the iPhone & iPad layouts. keyman.com/keyboards/gf... Dedicated in memory of Yohannes Ejigu, a self-taught app developer whose Fyn Ge'ez keyboard set the quality standard - brilliant light sorely missed.

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

The first update in a year and a half adds 28 typefaces to the “Legally Free Geʾez Fonts” collection. In total, a gift of 198 typefaces from just over 30 designers, totally free for you to use and enjoy! #Ethiopic github.com/geezorg/lega... Preview of new additions:

Legally Free Ge'ez Fonts collection to use and enjoy.

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

This Archive.org link lists everything archived under the base, "manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx", URL: web.archive.org/web/*/http:/...

web.archive.org

Wayback Machine

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

The GFF Amharic Keyman Keyboard v3.3 is ready for download (desktop & mobile), keyman.com/keyboards/gf... The desktop keyboard now provides the wonderful Agbalumo and Menbere fonts. The full listing of bundled fonts appears below:

Fonts provided with the GFF Amharic v3.3 keyboard.

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 27/07/2025

By 2021, the @britishlibrary.bsky.social had digitized 300 Ethiopian Manuscripts. Since the October 2023 cyberattack, 36 have been restored. This spreadsheet (docs.google.com/spreadsheets...) lists the manuscripts and maps the old URL to the new. Sources used are in the spreadsheet (2nd tab).

docs.google.com

BL-Ethiopian-Manuscript-Status.xlsx

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

ICYMI, the Agbalumo #Ethiopic font was integrated into Agbalumo proper and became available recently at the Google Fonts site for all to enjoy. Bravo Raphael Alẹ́gbẹ́lẹ́yẹ̀ and all involved! fonts.google.com/specimen/Agb...

An Agbalumo text sample of Ethiopic script in the Ge'ez language.

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

A new, color, scan of the undeciphered scroll in the @transcrireada.bsky.social‬ collection was published online this month. The scans give a boost to a new effort attempting to decipher it: gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/b... ‪

gallica.bnf.fr

Lettre du roi Abba Bagibo au gouverneur du Godjam

Lettre du roi Abba Bagibo au gouverneur du Godjam -- -- manuscrits

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

So this popped up in my youtube feed today, I had missed the original video release. "Wow" to put it mildly. The language change, use of horns, and performance in suits are all delightfully jarring: youtu.be/8kVYdLjoyPE?...

youtu.be

uKanDanZ - WAR PIGS (Official Music Video)

YouTube video by ukandanz

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

Can Bluesky be made to arrange 2 images vertically, instead of horizontally (the default)?

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

The Harege Fidelat and Mesobe Fidelat mobile keyboards received updates last week that polish some CSS stylings. Search for the keyboards by name from your Keyman mobile app to install.

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

A minor update now available. A touch of glow has been added to keys when tapped. iPhone and Android views below.

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Reposted by Daniel Yacob

Aethiopica Journal @aethiopica.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

Publication day! 🤩🥳 We are extremely excited to share the new volume of AETHIOPICA with you! Vol. 27 (2024) is hot off the press, and also available online in open access. journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de/aethiopica/i...

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

ዝክረ ቅዱስ ያሬድ -a sermon in English: www.youtube.com/watch?v=grwC...

youtube.com

ዝክረ ቅዱስ ያሬድ

YouTube video by DSKM EOTC

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

Some new efficiency features are subtle: * downward "flick" to enter the key shown in the hint. * tap to enter the key shown (the most frequently occurring). * double-tap to enter the 1st order (2nd most frequently occurring) * triple-tap to enter the "hint" key in 1st order.

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

The Geʾez Frontier Foundation's Keyman mobile keyboard for Amharic v3.2 arrives. Updates include: hints (top-right corner of keys), flick, and multi-tap entry: keyman.com/keyboards/gf...

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

ኼኽ › ኬክ ? Some kind of hipster cake? Or maybe someone's "k" key got stuck. Nice pastries nonetheless.

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 13/04/2025

An interview with Yemane Russom, of GeezSoft, on the publishing of Woldeab Woldemariam's final book: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ker...

youtube.com

Interviewing Yemane Russom | Publishing Woldeab Woldemariam’s Last Manuscript

YouTube video by Daniel Mulugeta

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Some detail that I should have provided. The left side sequence is probably mixed up, but the languages are: [Left] [Right] Pashto Amharic Dari English Arabic Spanish Where English is on the backside of each card.

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Sign of the times. Free cards for the public at the Alexandria, VA library. Sad that they would be needed, I'm impressed by multilingual translation effort.

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Upon further inspection… the filesystem backup date was 1995/07/23, however, the internal creation date of the PS file (that's "PostScript" kids!) is "Friday, September 10, 1993".

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

This one seems to be a little busier, I suppose covering more. I'm sure it's fully valid, but just the same, don't ask me to explain it today! 😜

Amharic verb derivation algorithm flowchart.

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

With a file date of 1995/07/23, I'm seeing this flowchart (one of a dozen) again after nearly 30 years. Following the extraction from a magneto-optical (MagOp) drive. Deriving all conjugations of Amharic verbs from the infinitive stem. Had lots of these before attempting algorithms #BlastFromThePast

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

No prank about it, today is the start of the "36 Days of Type Ethiopic". An Instagram+Telegram celebration by Ethiopic type designers of the many styles of Ethiopic letter type. From the most formal to the purely whimsical. Follow on Instagram via the host's channel: www.instagram.com/geezfonts/

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 23/03/2025

Thinking about out this more, dropping the wordspace may have been driven by productivity motivations. There will be ~15-20% fewer tiles to typeset. So both labour savings and faster book production benefits.

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

Just noticed how this sample ends with another abbreviation of ዓመተ፡ምሕረት , in style that's a little humorous in a modern interpretation: "ዓመተ፡ምሕ" which reads: "amete meh..." 🫤 , which goes along with the erroneous number 🙂

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

ሐምሌ፡፲፮፡ቀን፡፲፱፻፷፡ዓ፡ም፡ም፡ One more ምሕረት for good measure, I guess. ዓመተ ምሕረት is possibly the phrase that has been abbreviated (in regular use) since the earliest time. Also with the most variation: ዓ፡ም፡ , ዓ፤ም፤ , ዓ.ም. , ዓ.ም , ዓ/ም , & ዓም

ጌታ ማኅተመ ሥላሴ ወልድ መስቀል. እንቅልፍ ለምኔ።. አዲስ አበባ: አርቲስቲክ ማተሚያ ቤት, ሐምሌ ፲፮ ቀን ፲፱፻፷ ዓ/ም.

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

eh... ፲፱፻፲፮ or ፲፱፻፮ makes more sense given the publication date.

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

An excedingly rare site on page 11 is the occurrence, together, of the 3 punctuation marks: ፧ , ፣ , & ፤

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

I think you mean ፲፱፻፳፮ -? A misprint in Rome, from p.4 of "ጥንታውዊ፡ሆሄ፡ዘልሳነ፡ግዕዝ።" by Abba Teklemaryam Semharay Selam (አባ ተክለ ማርያም ሰምሃራይ ሰላም), published in 1930GC. From Keren, Eritrea, he was a scholar, linguist, mathematician, liturgist & prolific writer: www.eparchyofkeren.com/topics/Abba....

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Daniel Yacob @ethiopic.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

I'm curious now when Eritrea got away from using the wordspace? The Swedish publishers producing materials for Asmera were using it at the turn of the century, but this changed later. When? Why? What was the first book published w/o the wordspace there (or anywhere)?

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