Ethiopic Abbreviation Styles

Terminal punctuation on abbreviations

Issue: In Ethiopic writing abbreviations formed with full stop will be found both with and without the full stop at the end of abbreviations (e.g. አ.አ.ዩ. vs አ.አ.ዩ). It is uncertain which style is the most appropriate for modern Ethiopian writing. A recommendation would benefit the consistency of Ethiopian documents.

View: Abbreviations in Ethiopic text should always be terminated with “.”.

Recommendation: Abbreviations in Ethiopic documents should apply the first letter of each word and be delimited, and terminated with “.”

Appropriate abbreviation formation

Issue: In Ethiopic writing a number of abbreviation styles can be observed. It is uncertain which style is the most appropriate for modern Ethiopian writing. A recommended abbreviation formation rule would benefit the consistency of Ethiopian documents.

View: Two abbreviation styles are acceptable for Ethiopic writing. The styles are dependent on the word or word phrase and are determined by historic precedence in some cases though a general rule may be applied in other cases.

Recommendation: The formation of an Ethiopic abbreviation will be determined from the following rules:
  In the abbreviation of a multiword phrase:
    A.B.C. –where “A”, “B” and “C” are the first letter of their respective words.
    Examples: አዲስ አበባ ዩኒቨርሲቲ ⇒ አ.አ.ዩ.
  In the abbreviation of a single word:
    A/B –where “A” is the first letter of the word and “B” the last letter.
    Examples: ወይዘሮ ⇒ ወ/ሮ, ወይዘሪት ⇒ ወ/ት
  In the abbreviation of a compound word:
    A/BCD –where “A” is the first letter of the phrase or compound-word and “BCD” is the last word in full.
    Examples: ፍርድቤት ⇒ ፍ/ቤት

Comment: The above rules need to be expanded to accommodate cases like:
  ቤተመንግሥት ⇒ ቤ/መ
  ቤተክርስቲያን ⇒ ቤ/ክ
  ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር ቢሮ ⇒ ጠ/ሚ/ቢሮ