Ethiopic syllable Ma

It gives sound, not meaning. Amharic fidel (Ethiopic syllabic alphabet) charts spell it mä/mə; Ge’ez charts use me/mē in Latin letters.

South Arabian writing from southern Arabia reached the Horn around the 8th century BCE. The Ethiopic script developed from it by a debated route; clear inscriptions date to the 2nd/3rd century CE, vowel forms to the 4th century CE.

It served royal inscriptions and dedications before Ge’ez manuscripts and church liturgy. Ge’ez is an older language; Amharic, Tigrinya, and Tigre also use the script, so መ alone cannot name the language.