Fidel Table

(From Wikipedia:)

Amharic Fidel is an abugida, in that each character represents a consonant+vowel combination, and the characters are organized in groups of similar symbols on the basis of both the consonant and the vowel. Some phonemes can be represented by more than one series of symbols: /'/, /s'/, and /h/ (the last has four distinct letter forms). The citation form for each series is the consonant+/ä/ form, i.e. the first column of fidel. A font that supports Ethiopic, such as GF Zemen Unicode, is needed to display fidel on typical modern computer systems.
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In Ethiopic, where the term abugida originates, the diacritics have been fused to the consonants to the point that they must be considered modifications of the form of the letters. Children learn each modification separately, as in a syllabary; nonetheless, the graphic similarities between syllables with the same consonant is readily apparent, unlike the case in a true syllabary.

Fidel is most often displayed in a table of consonants vs. vowels (orders), such as the one below, copied from Wikipedia as well and displaying Fidel as used for writing Amharic. Here, however, I colored the characters so as to make the irregular combinations stand out, as well as the most regular ones.

The first order (ä, the base form) is always in black. The most common modifications are marked in gray:

• The second order (u) is commonly created by adding a small horizontal line to the (bottom) right of the first, e.g. ኩ

• The third order (i) is commonly created by adding a small horizontal line to the end of bottom right leg of the first order if it has one, as in ኪ, otherwise to the fourth order.

• The fourth order (a) is commonly created by lengthening the right “leg” of the first order, as in ካ, or adding such a leg if there are no “legs”.

  • Characters with exactly one “leg” lengthen it with a backturn to the left, e.g. ተ → ታ. This is marked in blue.

• The fifth order (e) is commonly created by adding a small circle to the end of bottom right leg of the first order if it has one, as in ኬ, otherwise to the fourth order (as in the third order).

• The sixth order (ə) is highly irregular, exhibiting several different patterns:

  • Many characters change one straight line into a zigzag, e.g. ተ → ት. These are marked in green.

  • A few characters add a small horizontal line to the right (higher than the one added for the 3^rd order), e.g. ደ → ድ. These are marked in purple.

• The seventh order (o) is often created by lengthening the left “leg” of the first order, e.g. ኮ

  • Several characters add a small circle at the top or top-right, e.g. ሀ → ሆ, and are marked in pink.

  • A few more add a leg slanting to the left, e.g. ወ → ዎ, and are marked in red.

• The eighth order (wa), where it exists, is most often created by adding a horizontal line at the bottom of the fourth order form, e.g. ከ → ኳ.
  An exception are the one-legged characters which extend it to the left, which use the first order form: ተ → ቷ.

A few forms are nearly regular but exhibit an additional slight change, e.g. ጪ losing its rightmost bottom circle in favor of the small horizontal line of the third order, or ዓ adding a small extension to the right to which the “leg” of the fourth order is attached. Such forms are marked with a light cyan background.

Irregular forms are marked with a yellow background.

Chart of Amharic fidels