This early twentieth-century book on Amharic grammar and vocabulary broke new ground by focusing on the modern, spoken language.

This compilation which is a companion for the popular concise Amharic-English dictionaries aims to serve the needs of advanced Amharic users. It consists of over 6,000 carefully selected main and subordinate entries, and some 2,700 set phrases, idiomatic expressions and contextual usage culled from a wide spectrum of literary and cultural sources. Advanced students, researchers and those with special interest in Amharic literature, in archival sources, or in socio-cultural and artistic discourse of contemporary Ethiopia will find this lexicon an invaluable reference material.