Amharic came to be lingua franca or widely spoken in Ethiopia from 9th century and became instrument of the state language since 14th century.

How did Amharic language start?

The Amharic language possibly originated as result of a pidginization process with a Cushitic substratum and a Semitic superstratum to enable communication between people who spoke a mix of different languages. ... The 2007 census reported that Amharic was spoken by 21.6 million native speakers in Ethiopia.

Is Amharic an ancient language?

Although the oldest extant records in Amharic are songs and poems dating from the 14th century ce, significant literature in any quantity did not begin until the 19th century. Amharic is written in a slightly modified form of the alphabet used for writing the Geʿez language.