Abyssinica SIL is a TrueType font with smart font capabilities added using the OpenType font technology. The Ethiopic script does not require much rendering except for some combining marks for gemination and vowel length. However, there are some glyph variations for the Ethiopic script. Some applications let the user control certain features such as Character Variants to turn on the rendering of variant characters. However, at this point, most applications do not make use of those features so another solution is needed to show the variant characters. TypeTuner creates tuned fonts that use the variant glyph in place of the standard glyph. TypeTuner also provides the ability to turn on support for the Sebat Bet Gurage and Gumuz languages variants.

See Using Font Features. Although that page is not targeted at Ethiopic support, it does provide a comprehensive list of applications that make full use of the OpenType font technology.

Advanced typographic capabilities

This font supports various advanced typographic capabilities using the OpenType font technology.

  • Auto placement of diacritics on Ethiopic syllables only (not on Latin characters)
  • Kerning of almost 200 pairs of Ethiopic syllables
  • OpenType Character Variants (alternately-designed glyphs are also provided for a number of characters for use in particular contexts)
  • OpenType support for the Sebat Bet Gurage [sgw] and Gumuz [guk] languages

These capabilities are available in any application that supports OpenType technology, though this requires applications that provide a sufficient level of support for OpenType Character Variant features.

A sample of diacritic placement and kerning is shown below:

Abyssinica SIL Sample - Diacritic placement and Kerning
Abyssinica SIL Sample – Diacritic placement and Kerning

This page uses web fonts (WOFF2) to demonstrate font features and should display correctly in all modern browsers. For a more concise example of how to use Abyssinica SIL as a web font see Abyssinica SIL Webfont Example. For detailed information see Using SIL Fonts on Web Pages.

If this document is not displaying correctly a PDF version is also provided in the documentation/pdf folder of the release package.

Customizing with TypeTuner

For applications that do not make use of the OpenType Character Variant features, you can now download fonts customized with the variant glyphs you choose. Read the Font Features page, visit TypeTuner Web, then to choose the variants and download your font.

Complete feature list

There are some Ethiopic character shape differences in different Ethiopian languages. These can be accessed by using OpenType Character Variants or language support for Sebat Bet Gurage and Gumuz languages. The documents below can be downloaded in order to see all the user-selectable font features that are available in the font. The feature names, feature ids, settings and examples are provided.

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

LanguageSampleFeature setting
defaultቊ ቍ ኘ ኙ ኚ ኛ ኜ ኝ ኞ ኟ ኲ ኵ ዂ ዅ ጒ ጓ ጕ ᎁ ᎅ ᎍ
Sebat Bet Gurage (sgw)ቊ ቍ ኘ ኙ ኚ ኛ ኜ ኝ ኞ ኟ ኲ ኵ ዂ ዅ ጒ ጓ ጕ ᎁ ᎅ ᎍ lang=sgw
Gumuz (guk)ቊ ቍ ኘ ኙ ኚ ኛ ኜ ኝ ኞ ኟ ኲ ኵ ዂ ዅ ጒ ጓ ጕ ᎁ ᎅ ᎍ lang=guk

Character variants

Punctuation

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Ethiopic-style! $ % * + / 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 = ? ¡ © « ² ³ ¹ » × ‘ ’ “ ” ‹ › ⁰ ⁴ ⁵ ⁶ ⁷ ⁸ ⁹ €cv01=0
Latin-style! $ % * + / 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 = ? ¡ © « ² ³ ¹ » × ‘ ’ “ ” ‹ › ⁰ ⁴ ⁵ ⁶ ⁷ ⁸ ⁹ €cv01=1

Ethiopic digits

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standard፩ ፪፫ ፫፬፭ ፺፻፼፻፼፩፼፩፪cv02=0
Connected፩ ፪፫ ፫፬፭ ፺፻፼፻፼፩፼፩፪cv02=1

mwa alternates

Affects: U+121F

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardሟcv04=0
Alternate-1ሟ¹cv04=1
Alternate-2ሟ²cv04=2

rwa alternate

Affects: U+122F

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardሯcv05=0
Alternateሯ²cv05=1

xoa alternate

Affects: U+1287

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardኇcv17=0
Alternateኇcv17=1

xwa alternates

Affects: U+1288..U+128D

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardኈ ኊ ኋ ኌ ኍcv18=0
Handwritingኈ ኊ ኋ ኌ ኍcv18=1

nwa alternate

Affects: U+1297

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardኗcv19=0
Alternateኗ¹cv19=1

nya alternates

Affects: U+1298..U+129E

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardኘ ኙ ኚ ኛ ኜ ኝ ኞcv20=0
Disconnectedኘ ኙ ኚ ኛ ኜ ኝ ኞ³cv20=1

nywa alternates

Affects: U+129F

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardኟcv21=0
Disconnectedኟ³cv21=1
Cohenኟ²cv21=2

kxwaa alternate

Affects: U+12C3

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardዃcv26=0
Alternateዃ²cv26=1

zha alternates

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

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardዠ ዡ ዢ ዣ ዤ ዥ ዦcv31=0
Cohenዠ ዡ ዢ ዣ ዤ ዥ ዦ⁴cv31=1
Chaineዠ ዡ ዢ ዣ ዤ ዥ ዦ⁵cv31=2

dda alternates

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

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardዸ ዹ ዺ ዻ ዼ ዽ ዾcv32=0
Alternateዸ ዹ ዺ ዻ ዼ ዽ ዾ⁶cv32=1

gwaa alternates

Affects: U+1313

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardጓcv40=0
Sebat Betጓ⁷cv40=1
Alone Stokesጓ⁸cv40=2

gga alternates

Affects: U+1318..U+131E

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardጘ ጙ ጚ ጛ ጜ ጝ ጞcv41=0
Disconnectedጘ ጙ ጚ ጛ ጜ ጝ ጞ⁹cv41=1

ggwaa alternate

Affects: U+131F

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardጟcv42=0
Disconnectedጟ⁹cv42=1

phe alternate

Affects: U+1335

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardጵcv45=0
Alternateጵ¹⁰cv45=1

tswa alternate

Affects: U+133F

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardጿcv46=0
Alternateጿcv46=1

fwa alternates

Affects: U+134F

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardፏcv48=0
Cohen-1ፏ¹cv48=1
Cohen-2ፏ¹cv48=2

rya alternate

Affects: U+1358

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardፘcv49=0
Alternateፘ²cv49=1

mya alternate

Affects: U+1359

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardፙcv50=0
Alternateፙ²cv50=1

mwi alternates

Affects: U+1381

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardᎁcv60=0
Sebat Betᎁ⁷cv60=1
Leslauᎁ¹¹cv60=2

mwe alternates

Affects: U+1383

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardᎃcv61=0
Sebat Betᎃ⁷cv61=1
Leslauᎃ¹¹cv61=2

bwe alternate

Affects: U+1387

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardᎇcv62=0
Alternateᎇ¹¹cv62=1

fwee alternate

Affects: U+138A

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardᎊcv63=0
Alternateᎊ¹¹cv63=1

fwe alternate

Affects: U+138B

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardᎋcv64=0
Alternateᎋ¹¹cv64=1

pwe alternate

Affects: U+138F

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardᎏcv65=0
Alternateᎏ¹¹cv65=1

ggwa alternates

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

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardⶓ ⶔ ⶕ ⶖcv70=0
Disconnectedⶓ ⶔ ⶕ ⶖ⁹cv70=1

3rd form alternates

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

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardቊ ኲ ዂ ጒ ᎅ ᎍcv80=0
Alternateቊ ኲ ዂ ጒ ᎅ ᎍ⁷cv80=1

6th form alternates

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

FeatureSampleFeature setting
Standardቍ ኵ ዅ ጕcv85=0
Alternateቍ ኵ ዅ ጕ⁷cv85=1

Ligatures

gzi ligature

Affects: U+130D U+200D U+12DA

FeatureSampleFeature setting
No JoinerግዚU+130D U+12DA
Using ZWJግ‍ዚU+130D U+200D U+12DA

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