User:A12n/Sandbox

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Favicon of Wikipedia Amharic Wikipedia
Type of site
Internet encyclopedia project
Available inAmharic
HeadquartersMiami, Florida
OwnerWikimedia Foundation
URLhttp://am.wikipedia.org/
CommercialNo
RegistrationOptional

The Amharic Wikipedia is the version of Wikipedia, run by the Wikimedia Foundation in Amharic, the official working language of Ethiopia.

The domain was originally established in December 2002, and was reserved for the Armenian Wikipedia, which was later re-assigned the domain hy.wikipedia.org. In January 2004, it was re-dedicated as the site for the Amharic Wikipedia, correctly referring to the ISO 639-1 language code, instead of the Country code top-level domain .am which is Armenia.

Ethiopian software experts involved with the project soon developed an innovative configuration allowing the Ethiopic (African) alphabet, in Ethiopia, Eritria, Ogaden and Yemen (fidel) script used on the site to be visible on most browsers, even including those machines that do not have any Ethiopic fonts installed. It also allows users to input directly in Ethiopic text when editing from any keyboard. This latter feature proved so successful, that the same software experts were then asked to help in developing similar input systems for the Newari Wikipedia and for 18 other editions for Indian languages utilising Devanagari text.

As of November 20, 2008, it had 3,244 articles, making it the 115th largest Wikipedia by article count. It is also the third largest Wikipedia in any Semitic language, following the Arabic Wikipedia and the Hebrew Wikipedia; and it is the only language edition in the South Semitic branch with over 1,000 articles.

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==[edit]

David Whitethorn Arnott
Born(1915-06-23)June 23, 1915
London, UK
DiedMarch 10, 2004(2004-03-10) (aged 88)
Bedale, North Yorkshire, UK
NationalityBritish
EducationPembroke College, Cambridge; London University
Occupation(s)Professor
Linguist

David Whitethorn Arnott was a prominent scholar of West African languages

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/professor-d-w-arnott-730497.html