The Busta dell’Ascari: War propaganda in Oromo in Latin script from 1940

Abstract

This article describes the first (and possibly only) issue of a four-pages newspaper issued by the Italian military command on the eve of the Second World War and designed to spread war propaganda among the Ascari, i.e., the Italian colonial troops. The main point of interest is provided by the use of four languages: Italian, Amharic, Arabic and Oromo, the latter written in Latin script and following the conventions of the Italian orthography. After an historical introduction (section 1.), sections 2. and 3. describe the orthography, language and contents of the Oromo text. Section 4. presents a large portion of the text itself, comparing it with the Italian text (very possibly its source), analyzing it with the help of morphological glosses and attempting a re-transcription in modern Oromo orthography. In the end, section 5. comments on this historical document and the fate of this early attempt at writing down the Oromo language.