Getatchew Haile

He is Regents Professor Emeritus of Medieval Studies at Saint John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota, and Curator Emeritus of the Ethiopian Study Center at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library, where he began work in 1976.[8][3] At HMML, he prepared catalogues of more than five thousand Ethiopian manuscripts and trained Ethiopic manuscript cataloguers in paleography, dating, and other skills.[9][10][11][12][13]

Previously he was associate professor in the Department of Ethiopian Languages and Literature, Haile Sellasie I University (now Addis Ababa University), from 1962 to 1969, and 1971 to 1974, where he taught Amharic Grammar, Amharic Literature, Ge’ez Grammar, Ge’ez Literature, Arabic Grammar, and Semitic Linguistics.[14]

He is on the advisory board of a number of journals, including Comité de lecture of Analecta Bollandiana (Journal of Christian Hagiography), Ethiopian Journal of Education, Journal of Ethiopian Studies, Northeast African Studies, Ethiopian Register (1994-2001), and Acta Aethiopica (1980–89).

From 1945 to 1951 he attended Trinity School in Addis Ababa. He moved to Cairo tin 1952, and lived there through most of the 1950s, graduating from the Coptic Theological College, Cairo, Egypt with a B.D. in 1957, and from the American University in Cairo, with a B.A. in 1957. He then moved to Germany in 1957, where he received from the Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen a Ph.D. in Semitic Philology in 1962. the title of his dissertation was Das Verbalsystem im Äthiopischen: Ein orphologischer Vergleich mit den orientalischen semitischen Sprachen.[15]

In addition to his writings and translations of a variety of works on Ethiopia and the Orthodox church, he has produced two 2-volume books on the history and beliefs of Abba Estifanos of Gwendagwende, one in 2006 the other in 2011. His first translation, into Amharic, was of Mark Twain’s short story Extracts from Adam’s Diary, in 1965.

The languages in which he works are Amharic, Ge'ez, Arabic, Hebrew, Latin, Greek, German, and Coptic.[15]

Getatchew Haile's work has frequently been described as foundational to the field of Ethiopian studies and he was won many awards.[16][17]

Edward Ullendorff, professor of Semitic studies at the School of Oriental and Asian Studies, described Getatchew Haile's work as "highly significant" due to his "profoundly erudite" knowledge of Ethiopic language and literature.[5][15] On another occasion, Ullendorff wrote that Getatchew Haile's work represented the "most meticulous and original study of Ethiopic literature" ever done, and "on a scale and depth never before attempted."[15] He added, "no other person before Getatchew Haile has ever been able to survey so much of Ethiopic literary creation and thus to gain so sovereign a command of this genre," which made a contribution not only to Ethiopian studies but also the study of Christian oriental writing more generally.[15]

The Ethiopian poet Amha Asfaw wrote a poem in Amharic for him in 1999.[15]

He was born in Shenkora (in the historical Amhara province of Shoa, Ethiopia).[15] As a boy, he attended Ethiopian Orthodox church school, where he learned Ge'ez and "devoted his energies to reading and understanding the texts."[15] Getatchew Haile married Misrak Amare only July 12, 1964, in Sidamo, and they collaborated on books together. They have four children, adopted two more, and have many grandchildren. Among his children is the material science professor Sossina M. Haile and the author Rebecca G. Haile.[18]

In 1974, while a member of the Ethiopian Parliament, Getatchew Haile opposed the Derg government.[15] When government soldiers came to his home to arrest him, he was involved in a several day shootout and eventually shot and captured. However, because of severe damage to his spinal cord, he was allowed to go to London for medical treatment. Since then, he has had paraplegia and uses a wheelchair.[19]

Getatchew Haile gave a video lecture on the Täˀammərä Maryam, the Ethiopian Miracles of Mary stories on May 23, 2020. Alessandro Bausi (Professor, University of Hamburg), Kay Shelemay (Professor, Harvard University), Elias Wondimu (CEO of Tsehai Publishers), and Habtamu Tegegne (Professor, Rutgers University) spoke about Getatchew Haile's contributions.

He has also given a video lecture at the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library in April 2020 and a video lecture at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

He was interviewed in Amharic on Ethiopian television.

• Abebe Bikila’s Life Time Achievement Award, 2018[20]
• Honoree of a festschrift volume in 2017: Studies in Ethiopian Languages, Literature, and History Festschrift for Getatchew Haile Presented by his Friends and Colleagues.[21]
• Council of the British Academy, Edward Ullendorff Medal 2014, awarded for scholarly distinction and achievements in the field of Semitic languages or Ethiopian studies.[22]
• Ethiopia Diaspora organizations’ recognition for community service, May 26, 1996; November 9, 1996; May 26, 2001; and August 21, 2004.
• Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy, 1987–present.
• MacArthur Fellows Program, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship, 1988-1993.[3]
• Ethiopian Government Award for academic excellence, 1991 (declined).
• Member, Ethiopian Parliament, representing the province of Shoa, 1974-75.[23]

• The Homily of Zär'a Ya'əqob's Mäshafä Bərhan on the Rite of Baptism and Religious Instruction CSCO, text, vol. 653/114, and trans., Vol. 654/115. Louvain: Peeters, 2013.
• Voices from Däbrä Zämäddo: Acts of Abba Bärtälomewos and Abba Yoḥannǝs 45 Miracles of Mary (Aethiopistische Forschungen 79), Wiesbaden 2013.
• A History of the first Estifanosite Monks. 2 vols. (ed. & tr.) Louvain: Peeters, 2011
• Amdafta Lawgahu (Let Me Entertain You for a Moment: An Amharic Autobiography), Collegeville, (Minnesota), 2008.
• The Ge'ez Acts of Abba Esṭifanos of Gwendagwende, 2 vols. (ed. & tr.). Louvain: Peeters Publishers, 2006, ISBN 978-90-429-1741-5
• Deqiqe Istifanos: Behigg Amlak (Hagiographies of the Estifanosite monks who flourished and were martyred in the fifteenth century, in Amharic), Collegeville (Minnesota), 2004.
• Ya’Abā Bā’rey Dersatoč (The Works of Abba Bā’rey with Other Documents Concerning the Oromo, in Amharic), Collegeville (Minnesota), 2002..
• Bahra Hassab (= Computus). (On the Ethiopian Calendar, with Annals of Ethiopian History, in Amharic), Collegeville (Minnesota), 2000.
• The Mariology of Emperor Zära Ya’qob of Ethiopia (Orientalia Christiana Analecta, no 242), Rome 1992.
• Beauty of the Creation, with Misrak Amare, University of Manchester, 1991.
• The Epistle of Humanity of Emperor Zär’a Ya’qob (Ṭomarä Tsb’t), Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium series, Vol. 522/Aeth. 95, tr. 523/Aeth. 96 (1991).
• The Faith of the Unctionists in the Ethiopian Church (Haymanot Msi’awit), Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium series, Vol. 517/Aeth. 91 (1990).
• A Catalogue of Ethiopian Manuscripts Microfilmed for the Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library, Addis Ababa and for the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library, Collegeville, Vol. IX: Project Numbers 3501-4000, Collegeville, (Minnesota) 1987. ISBN 978-0-940250-55-0
• The Different Collection of Nägś Hymns of the Ethiopic Literature (Oikonomia no. 19), Erlangen (Germany), 1983.
• A Catalogue of Ethiopian Manuscripts Microfilmed for the Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library, Addis Ababa and for the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library, Collegeville, Vol. VIII: Project Numbers 3001-3500, Collegeville, (Minnesota) 1985.
• A Catalogue of Ethiopian Manuscripts Microfilmed for the Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library, Addis Ababa and for the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library, Collegeville, Vol. VII: Project Numbers 2501-3000, (with a checklist by William F. Macomber), Collegeville, (Minnesota) 1983.
• A Catalogue of Ethiopian Manuscripts Microfilmed for the Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library, Addis Ababa and for the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library, Collegeville, Vol. VI: Project Numbers 2001-2500, (with a checklist by William F. Macomber), Collegeville, (Minnesota) 1982.
• A Catalogue of Ethiopian Manuscripts Microfilmed for the Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library, Addis Ababa and for the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library, Collegeville, Vol. V: Project Numbers 1501-2000, (with a checklist by William F. Macomber) Collegeville, (Minnesota) 1981.
• A Catalogue of Ethiopian Manuscripts Microfilmed for the Ethiopian Manuscript Microfilm Library, Addis Ababa and for the Hill Monastic Manuscript Library, Collegeville, Vol. IV: Project Numbers 1101-1500, Collegeville, (Minnesota) 1979.
• Mark Twain's Letters from Earth (adapted into Amharic from the German version, Tagebuch von Adam und Eva), Addis Ababa, 1968.
• Amharic Manual for Adult Learners (in Amharic), Addis Ababa, 1964.
• Amharic Manual for Teachers of Adult Learners (in Amharic), Addis Ababa, 1964.
• Das Verbalsystem im Äthiopischen. Ein morphologischer Vergleich mit den orientalischen semitischen Sprachen. Diss., Tübingen 1962