Tigre (ትግረ)

Tigre is a member of the Ethiopic branch of South Semitic languages. It is spoken by about 1 million people mainly in western and northern Eritrea, and also in neighbouring areas of Sudan. It is thought to have descended from Ge'ez, the liturgical language used in the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church.

Tigre is also known as Tigré (ትግሬ) or Tigrayit (ትግራይት). Dialects include Mansa’, Habab, Barka, Semhar, Algeden, Senhit and Dahalik. They are all more or less mutually intelligible, except Dahalik, which is more divergent. Tigre is closely related to Ge'ez and Tigrinya.

Muslim Tigre people tend to write their language with the Arabic script, while Christian Tigres and the Eritrean government use a version of the Ge'ez / Ethiopic alphabet, which was devised for a Tigre translation of the New Testament published in 1902.

The Ge'ez alphabet for Tigre

The Ge'ez alphabet for Tigre

Arabic script for Tigre

Arabic script  for Tigre

Download alphabet charts for Tigre (Excel)

Corrections and improvements provided by Michael Peter Füstumum

Sample text

ክሎም ውላድ ሚንኣደም ምን አምዕል ተውሊደቶም እንዴ አንበተው ሑር ወአክልሕድቶም። አክልሕድ ላቱ ሕቁቅ ወሕሽመት ቦም። ደሚር ወእህትማም ለትሀየበው ኽሉቃም ሰበት ቶም ኖስ-ኖሶም አድሕድ እግል ለሐሽሞ ወልርሐሞ ወጅቦም።

Transliteration

kəlom wəlad minəʼadäm mən ʼäməʻəl täwəlidätom ʼənədē ʼänəbätäw ḥur waʼäkələḥədətom. ʼäkələḥəd latu ḥəquq waḥəšəmät bom. dämir waʼəhətəmam lätəhäyäbäw xəluqam säbät tom nosə-nosom ʼädəḥəd ʼəgəl läḥäšəmo walərəḥämo waǧəbom.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Sample video in Tigre

Information about Tigre | Numbers

Links

Information about the Tigre language and people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigre_language
https://www.speaktigre.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigre_people

Online Tigre lessons
http://www.people.vcu.edu/~gasmerom/Eritrean_languages/tigre/

Semitic languages

Akkadian, Amharic, Arabic (Algerian), Arabic (Bedawi), Arabic (Chadian), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Gulf), Arabic (Hassaniya), Arabic (Hejazi), Arabic (Lebanese), Arabic (Modern Standard), Arabic (Moroccan), Arabic (Najdi), Arabic (Sudanese), Arabic (Syrian), Aramaic, Argobba, Assyrian / Neo-Assyrian, Canaanite, Chaha, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, Ge'ez, Hadhramautic, Harari, Hebrew, Himyaritic, Jewish Neo-Aramaic, Maltese, Mandaic, Nabataean, Neo-Mandaic, Phoenician, Punic, Qatabanic, Sabaean, Sabaic, Silt'e, Syriac, Tigre, Tigrinya, Turoyo, Ugaritic, Western Neo-Aramaic

Languages written with the Ethiopic (Ge'ez) script

Aari, Amharic, Argobba, Awngi, Bench, Blin, Chaha, Dizin, Ge'ez, Gumuz, Hamer(-Banna), Harari, Inor, Sidama, Silt'e, Tigre, Tigrinya, Xamtanga

Page last modified: 15.01.24

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