On zǝyāqon in Dǝggʷā-Type Antiphonaries

Abstract

This note draws attention to the survival of the spelling ዝያቆን፡, zǝyāqon, ‘deacon’ (for Standard Medieval Gǝʿǝz ዲያቆን፡, diyāqon) in Dǝggʷā-type antiphonaries up to modern print editions. The phenomenon is interpreted as an isolated survival of an early linguistic variant, which appears to have established itself as the standard form in a specific phrase in antiphons only by the sixteenth century.