A Brief Introduction to Qene

What is Qene? It is an Ethiopian style of speech, where one says one thing while
implying a different meaning at the same time and in the same sentence. This may be
difficult to understand for people unfamiliar with the language. Qene can usually be
expressed in a poetic form or in a prose, containing the two parts of ‘sem’ and ‘werk,’
(wax and gold,) all within the same expression. The wax and gold analogy comes from
the craft of the goldsmith during the making of jewelry. The image is first formed in wax,
because wax is soft and pliable to carve. The wax is then covered with clay, plaster, or
porcelain, which hardens. When the molten gold is poured into the plaster or clay, the
wax melts away, leaving the gold, with the desired image. Thus, encrypting a hidden
message in Qene is an ancient art of creating more than one meaning, where the apparent
‘wax’ and the hidden, ‘gold,’ are intertwined in the same sentence.

Qene, in its documented form, was first expounded in the classic works of Saint Yared,
the Axumite cleric and royal minstrel. His two major works: Dgua and Tsome Dgua, date
back over fifteen hundred years, to the Fifth Century AD. According to Ato Alemayehu
Moges, a Qene expert, however, such a flourish of Qene is not likely to have suddenly
appeared in just one man and in a single generation, as it did with Saint Yared. (1) Ato
Moges attributes Qene, at least in its oral form, as having existed in much earlier times,
and to a certain cleric, Tewaney, who lived in the island of Dek-Astifa, in Lake Tana.

A great deal of Amharic and Geez Qene depends on one word having, or of being
‘interpreted,’ in more than one way. This is true also for many other languages, where
one word can often have more than one meaning. But in Amharic and in Geez, it can
also be due to the phonetic system of the Geez alphabet, which lacks a symbol for accent
as stress indicator on words, as is done in various other languages and alphabet systems.
Thus, once a word is written in phonetic Geez, it can be pronounced with slight variations
by putting the stress on different parts of the word to produce different sounds, thereby,
giving more than one meaning to one and the same word.

As an example of the first type, where the same word can have different meanings
without any change in stress, is the word ‘belew.’ This word can mean: ‘tell him,’ or
‘strike him,’ or could just be an expression of surprise. As an example of the second type,
take these two simple words: ‘a-le’ and ‘a-lech.’ These words, depending on where one
puts the stress, can have different meanings. When the ‘le’ is soft: ‘a-le’ and ‘a-lech’
mean: ‘he said,’ and ‘she said,’ respectively. But with a stress on ‘le’ the meaning
changes: ale’ and ale’ch, now become: ‘he is present,’ and ‘she is present,’ respectively.

The best way to illustrate Qene might be to give some examples. Here is the first one:

Yaltaweke kimem kwet’ gebtoal alu

Be-sheeta cheresew tegabazjun hulu. (2) (by GC 1966)

The first line simply states about some ‘Yaltaweke kimem,’ an unknown spice of having
entered the dish. The second line explains how this spice was giving off a ‘strong aroma’
to all the invited guests. This is the ‘sem’ or wax interpretation of the Qene. The ‘werk’
or gold, the hidden meaning, is found by the play on the word: ‘be-sheeta’ which also
means ‘sickness’ when the stress is applied on ‘shee’ and ‘ta,’ making it sharper and
shorter, ‘besh-ee’-ta’. This would then change the meaning to: ‘All the invited guests
were consumed with sickness due to some unknown spice which had entered the dish…’

Here is another example by the same author:

Yeferenjun wut’et bermel ameta’chuhu

Yerasachen eka enesera eyalkuachuhu. (3) (by GC 1966)

In the first line: ‘Yeferenjun… bermel’ tells of bringing a barrel, the work of the ‘ferenj’
or Europeans. In the second line it further clarifies that the writer had asked not for a
barrel, but for ‘our own local clay pot’ or “enesera.” That is the wax part, or apparent
meaning. The gold, however, is in the word play of: “enesera,” which can have two
meanings by just shifting the stress from ‘ene’-se’ra’ or ‘en-ese-ra.’ In the Geez phonetic,
both these words are written in exactly the same way, as there is no symbol for accents to
show where the stress should be. The word ‘ene-se’-ra’ means: ‘let us make,’ which
changes the entire meaning of the Qene as the ‘gold’ now expresses the desire of the
author to make or manufacture ‘our own craft,’ and not borrow from the ‘ferenj.’

Another technique of Qene is where two or more words may be joined to become one, or
a word may be split into two or more parts, to change the meaning. In a famous poem
rendered to Emperor Menelik II, the word ‘Ya lemtam’ is used in this technique. The
obvious meaning or the sem, is in ‘Ya lemtam,’ which literally means ‘that leper,’ while
the gold is: ‘Yalem ta’m’ or ‘the sweetness of the earth.’ Thus the poet gave a wonderful
and hidden praise, while pretending to insult Emperor Menelik II on account of his
leprosy. The poem also addressed Menelik as ‘thou’ in the tone of respect, and stated:

Bimeru’gnem erswo, bigedlu’gnem erswo

Yalemtam Menelik bye lesdebwo

It can, somewhat, be translated into:

Weather you kill me or spare me, it is you, it is you…

Let me say Menelik the leper/sweetness of the earth, and insult you

That was an example of an insult being turned into praise, but more often than not, it is
the other way around. One would seemingly praise while actually insulting the chosen
target. The following Qene will illustrate this:

Eyulet, eyulet ye egziabher chernet

Banderachen tsento arbegna sichawet…

It is attributed to the late, Negadras Tessema Eshete, father of the once famous Ethiopian
soccer captain, Ato Yednekatchew Tessema. It was uttered at some social function,
where a certain ‘arbegna,’ patriot, who apparently had become an important official for
his participation in the liberation struggle, had asked the Negadras for a word of praise.
(It is pretty common for poets and singers to be asked to sing or express the praise of
famous persons in the community during a wedding or some similar social occasions.)

The wax meaning is obvious by a direct reading of the poem:

Can you see! Can you see the kindness of God!

How our flag is steady and a patriot is having fun, or playing…

But the Negadras, clearly, did not think much of this particular “arbegna,” who had
demanded to be praised. The hidden meaning, (the gold) in the Qene can be found from
the word play on arbegna. When the word is split into two parts, it becomes: ar – begna,
ar – shit, begna – on us. The hidden meaning then is: Now, in time of peace, this
patriot/shit is playing on us… (by bothering us and demanding to be praised.)

In the late 60’s, Ian Smith, who had declared the then British colony, Rhodesia, an
independent nation, and made himself prime minister, had hanged many black people
who opposed his regime. That was when a certain Ethiopian cleric took up his Begena to
express the following Amharic Qene in a song, as a form of solidarity with the people:

Ian Smith
Teseyeme alu Kesiss
Be Englizu papass
Ejun zerega le-nechochu…
Meskelun le-tkurochu…

The Qene is hidden in the word “meskel.” It means cross: the cross on which Jesus was
hanged, or the symbol of a cross priests usually carry, and would often use when blessing
the people. But the same word, without any changes in stress, also means: to hang with a
rope. The meaning of the poem then becomes clear:

Ian Smith
Was appointed a priest
By the English Bishop (Ex Prime Minister Harold Wilson)
He stretched out his hand to the whites,
And his cross/his hangings to the blacks…

Besides these few basic forms, there are various other ways of crafting Qene, and we
hope this brief introduction has served as a means of cracking a door into this wide vista
of the Ethiopian lingual heritage to all who may be unfamiliar with it. We also hope that
it would bring them many hours of joy and pleasure in reading and figuring out the
hidden meanings in many ‘simple looking’ expressions.
G. E. Gorfu
Dec. 26, 03
Notes:

(1) Geez and Amahric Study Without Qene is Incomplete p. 99, Alemayehu Moges,
Addis Ababa, 1966
(2) The original Amharic script of this poem can be found on the web at:
http://members.lycos.co.uk/artpage001/index.html under the sub-links poems and Qene)
(3) Ibid.