Amha'ra

Amha'ra ('the high lands'), the middle and largest of the three divisions of Abyssinia, extending from the Tacazzé to the Blue Nile, and embracing the beautiful Lake Tzana (see ABYSSINIA). Capital, Gondar (q.v.). The Amharic language is spoken, with local variations, throughout Abyssinia, and has, except in Tigré, entirely superseded the Ethiopic, or Geez, to which it is related (see ETHIOPIA, SEMITIC LANGUAGES). Like the latter, it is of Semitic origin, but has been largely corrupted with non-Semitic African admixtures.