Features demo

Abyssinica SIL is an OpenType and Graphite-enabled font that supports the Ethiopic script. This page demonstrates the use of .woff fonts (using Abyssinica SIL) on a web page. A pdf showing the correct rendering of this text is also shown here.

The Abyssinica SIL font includes a number of optional features that provide alternative rendering that might be preferable for use in some contexts. The sections below enumerates the details of these features. Whether these features are available to users will depend on both the application and the rendering technology (Graphite or OpenType) being used. All features are now available in both Graphite and OpenType.

In Mozilla Firefox, with either Graphite or OpenType rendering, features can be accessed using the appropriate CSS markup. See the instructions on how to enable Graphite in Firefox (the technique described there works for both Graphite and OpenType).

Chrome, Safari and Edge use OpenType rendering and features can be accessed using the appropriate CSS markup.

Test rendering engine choice

Here is a simple test to see if Graphite is working in your browser. If it is, the following will say “RenderingGraphite”. If your browser does not support Graphite it should say “RenderingOpentype”. Firefox is currently the only browser that supports Graphite. See the instructions on how to enable Graphite in Firefox.


Check	RenderingUnknown

Language

Affects: U+124A, U+124D, U+1298..U+129F, U+12B2, U+12B5, U+12C2, U+12C5, U+1312, U+1313, U+1315, U+1381, U+1385, U+138D

Language	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
default	ቊ ቍ ኘ ኙ ኚ ኛ ኜ ኝ ኞ ኟ ኲ ኵ ዂ ዅ ጒ ጓ ጕ ᎁ ᎅ ᎍ	G,O,T
Sebat Bet Gurage (sgw)	ቊ ቍ ኘ ኙ ኚ ኛ ኜ ኝ ኞ ኟ ኲ ኵ ዂ ዅ ጒ ጓ ጕ ᎁ ᎅ ᎍ	G,O,T	lang=sgw
Gumuz (guk)	ቊ ቍ ኘ ኙ ኚ ኛ ኜ ኝ ኞ ኟ ኲ ኵ ዂ ዅ ጒ ጓ ጕ ᎁ ᎅ ᎍ	G,O,T	lang=guk

Punctuation

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Ethiopic-style	! $ % * + / 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 = ? ¡ © « ² ³ ¹ » × ‘ ’ “ ” ‹ › ⁰ ⁴ ⁵ ⁶ ⁷ ⁸ ⁹ €	G,O,T	cv01=0
Latin-style	! $ % * + / 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 = ? ¡ © « ² ³ ¹ » × ‘ ’ “ ” ‹ › ⁰ ⁴ ⁵ ⁶ ⁷ ⁸ ⁹ €	G,O,T	cv01=1

mwa alternates

Affects: U+121F

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ሟ	G,O,T	cv04=0
Alternate-1	ሟ¹	G,O,T	cv04=1
Alternate-2	ሟ²	G,O,T	cv04=2

rwa alternate

Affects: U+122F

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ሯ	G,O,T	cv05=0
Alternate	ሯ²	G,O,T	cv05=1

xoa alternate

Affects: U+1287

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ኇ	G,O,T	cv17=0
Alternate	ኇ	G,O,T	cv17=1

xwa alternates

Affects: U+1288..U+128D

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ኈ ኊ ኋ ኌ ኍ	G,O,T	cv18=0
Handwriting	ኈ ኊ ኋ ኌ ኍ	G,O,T	cv18=1

nwa alternate

Affects: U+1297

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ኗ	G,O,T	cv19=0
Alternate	ኗ¹	G,O,T	cv19=1

nya alternates

Affects: U+1298..U+129E

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ኘ ኙ ኚ ኛ ኜ ኝ ኞ	G,O,T	cv20=0
Disconnected	ኘ ኙ ኚ ኛ ኜ ኝ ኞ³	G,O,T	cv20=1

nywa alternates

Affects: U+129F

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ኟ	G,O,T	cv21=0
Disconnected	ኟ³	G,O,T	cv21=1
Cohen	ኟ²	G,O,T	cv21=2

kxwaa alternate

Affects: U+12C3

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ዃ	G,O,T	cv26=0
Alternate	ዃ²	G,O,T	cv26=1

zha alternates

Affects: U+12E0..U+12E6

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ዠ ዡ ዢ ዣ ዤ ዥ ዦ	G,O,T	cv31=0
Cohen	ዠ ዡ ዢ ዣ ዤ ዥ ዦ⁴	G,O,T	cv31=1
Chaine	ዠ ዡ ዢ ዣ ዤ ዥ ዦ⁵	G,O,T	cv31=2

dda alternates

Affects: U+12F8..U+12FE

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ዸ ዹ ዺ ዻ ዼ ዽ ዾ	G,O,T	cv32=0
Alternate	ዸ ዹ ዺ ዻ ዼ ዽ ዾ⁶	G,O,T	cv32=1

gwaa alternates

Affects: U+1313

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ጓ	G,O,T	cv40=0
Sebat Bet	ጓ⁷	G,O,T	cv40=1
Alone Stokes	ጓ⁸	G,O,T	cv40=2

gga alternates

Affects: U+1318..U+131E

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ጘ ጙ ጚ ጛ ጜ ጝ ጞ	G,O,T	cv41=0
Disconnected	ጘ ጙ ጚ ጛ ጜ ጝ ጞ⁹	G,O,T	cv41=1

ggwaa alternate

Affects: U+131F

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ጟ	G,O,T	cv42=0
Disconnected	ጟ⁹	G,O,T	cv42=1

phe alternate

Affects: U+1335

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ጵ	G,O,T	cv45=0
Alternate	ጵ¹⁰	G,O,T	cv45=1

tswa alternate

Affects: U+133F

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ጿ	G,O,T	cv46=0
Alternate	ጿ	G,O,T	cv46=1

fwa alternates

Affects: U+134F

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ፏ	G,O,T	cv48=0
Cohen-1	ፏ¹	G,O,T	cv48=1
Cohen-2	ፏ¹	G,O,T	cv48=2

rya alternate

Affects: U+1358

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ፘ	G,O,T	cv49=0
Alternate	ፘ²	G,O,T	cv49=1

mya alternate

Affects: U+1359

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ፙ	G,O,T	cv50=0
Alternate	ፙ²	G,O,T	cv50=1

mwi alternates

Affects: U+1381

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ᎁ	G,O,T	cv60=0
Sebat Bet	ᎁ⁷	G,O,T	cv60=1
Leslau	ᎁ¹¹	G,O,T	cv60=2

mwe alternates

Affects: U+1383

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ᎃ	G,O,T	cv61=0
Sebat Bet	ᎃ⁷	G,O,T	cv61=1
Leslau	ᎃ¹¹	G,O,T	cv61=2

bwe alternate

Affects: U+1387

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ᎇ	G,O,T	cv62=0
Alternate	ᎇ¹¹	G,O,T	cv62=1

fwee alternate

Affects: U+138A

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ᎊ	G,O,T	cv63=0
Alternate	ᎊ¹¹	G,O,T	cv63=1

fwe alternate

Affects: U+138B

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ᎋ	G,O,T	cv64=0
Alternate	ᎋ¹¹	G,O,T	cv64=1

pwe alternate

Affects: U+138F

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ᎏ	G,O,T	cv65=0
Alternate	ᎏ¹¹	G,O,T	cv65=1

ggwa alternates

Affects: U+2D93..U+2D96

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ⶓ ⶔ ⶕ ⶖ	G,O,T	cv70=0
Disconnected	ⶓ ⶔ ⶕ ⶖ⁹	G,O,T	cv70=1

3rd form alternates

Affects: U+124A U+12B2 U+12C2 U+1312 U+1385 U+138D

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ቊ ኲ ዂ ጒ ᎅ ᎍ	G,O,T	cv80=0
Alternate	ቊ ኲ ዂ ጒ ᎅ ᎍ⁷	G,O,T	cv80=1

6th form alternates

Affects: U+124D U+12B5 U+12C5 U+1315

Feature	Sample	Rendering*	Feature setting
Standard	ቍ ኵ ዅ ጕ	G,O,T	cv85=0
Alternate	ቍ ኵ ዅ ጕ⁷	G,O,T	cv85=1

*Legend: G=Implemented in Graphite; O=Implemented in OpenType; T=Implemented in TypeTuner (command line version: http://scripts.sil.org/TypeTuner and web-based version: http://scripts.sil.org/ttw).

References

Alone, John Philip Herbert Mackenzie. 1946 (Fourth edition). The Alone-Stokes Short Manual of the Amharic Language (with vocabularies). Macmillan and Co. Limited: London.

Chaîne, Marius. 1907. Grammaire éthiopienne. Imprimerie catholique. Beyrouth.

Cohen, Marcel. 1970 Seconde edition. Traité de langue amharique (Abyssinie). Institut d’ethnologie: Paris.

Leslau, Wolf. 1966. Ethiopians Speak: Studies in Cultural Background. Part 2: Chaha. University of California Publication. Near Eastern Studies, Volume 9. University of California Press: Berkeley

Praetorius, Franz. 1955. Aethiopische Grammatik mit Paradigmen, Litteratur, Chrestomathie und Glossar. Frederick Ungar Publishing Co. New York.

¹Chaîne (p 3), Cohen (table 2)
²Cohen (table 2)
³Gumuz language preference
⁴Alone-Stokes, Chaîne (p 3), Cohen (table 1)
⁵Chaîne (p 3)
⁶Archaic Oromo language preference
⁷Sebat Bet language preference
⁸Alone-Stokes (inside back cover)
⁹Bilen language preference
¹⁰Praetorius (p 6)
¹¹Leslau