Belay Mekonnen Seyoum

Philological and Historical Analysis of Tana Qirqos Dggwa Belay Mekonnen Seyoum

Oral tradition tells us that the ?ana Qirqos D?ggwa (?QD) was written by saint Yared who composed the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewah?do Church melody in the first half of the sixth century. However, the works of two church scholars, ???ume Lissan (1981:34) and Lissane Werk (1989:226) indicated that the ?QD was not written by Saint Yared rather it was written by a person called Yohann?s käma. By employing historical and philological methods of analysis this book sheds light on controversies between oral tradition and written materials on the dating of the ?QD. The book also endeavors to compare the contents of ?QD with the present day books of melody and come up with interesting empirical findings.