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Typesetting ge'ez script in latex

The article describes one way of writing Ge'ez script (Amharic, Tigrinya etc) in latex documents for Ubuntu users.
This method uses XeLaTeX engine which handles non-roman scripts and fontspec package for loading the required fonts.

The steps are tested on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial).

Required tools
  • latex
  • Ge'ez script fonts
  • a text editor
Steps
  1. Install latex ( and optionally texmaker latex editor)
  2. Download Abyssinica SIL 1.500 for linux (ZIP files) and install fonts
    • to install fonts, unzip downloaded ZIP folder and double click the AbyssinicaSIL-R.ttf file.
    • A window will pop-up, click install (top right corner); on completion the 'install' button will show 'installed'
  3. Now using any editor such as gedit or texmaker (if installed) compose a latex document and save it, say as filename.tex
    1. You will need to specify \usepackage{fontspec} and include \fontspec{Abyssinica SIL} as follows:    
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{fontspec}

\begin{document}

\fontspec{Abyssinica SIL}

Amharic text:  ሰላም ለእናንተ ይሁን ። \\
Tigrinya text: ሰላም ንኣኻትኩም ይኹን ። \\
Ge'ez text:    ሰላም ለኵልክሙ ። \\
English text:  May peace be with you .

\end{document}


2. open your terminal  and compile filename.tex using xelatex
   
$ xelatex filename.tex

A PDF file with the same file name (filename.pdf) will be generated, open it using your PDF reader and check whether the ge'ez script is correctly rendered. The following screenshot is from texmaker ( a latex editor).

geez script rendered in texmaker


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