Giving thanks in Ethiopia’s Amharic language

Ethiopia gave me much for which to feel grateful, but made it a challenge to express that feeling.

Pilgrims visit the churches of Lalibela ahead of Ethiopian Orthodox Christmas, January 2020

In Ethiopia’s most commonly spoken language, Amharic, the word for thank you seems to me to stretch out to six or even seven syllables.

The number appears to depend on how Amharic, a Semitic language with its own alphabet, is converted in English, which uses a Latin alphabet. The closest translation appears to be ameseginalehu ( ah-mes-ah-gih-na-loo plus a very soft hoo sound). But the English translation more often appears as ameseginalew (ah-mes-ah-gih-na-loo), which may reflect how it is more commonly said.

Either way I mangled the word over and over on a January 2020 visit to Ethiopia. It was a trip my husband and I had wanted to do for many years.

Route of our 2020 trip to Ethiopia. Addis Ababa-Lalibela-Gondar-Bahir Dar-Addis Ababa. Base map courtesy of Ian Macky’s PAT portable atlas site.

I stumbled many times through ameseginalew while thanking people for letting me pass in crowded corridors in the churches of Lalibela.