Oromo is the most widely spoken Cushitic language, with over 40 million speakers across Ethiopia, Kenya, and diaspora communities. It is within the larger Afro‑Asiatic family, it shares deep genealogical and areal ties with several neighboring tongues. According to the eLinguistics.net analysis using specific software modules to assess linguistic relationships, the five languages most similar to Oromo are Somali, Sidamo, Hadiyya, Afar, and Amharic.
- Somali (48.6)
Somali is the most commonly spoken language in Somalia. Somali and Oromo both belong to the East Cushitic branch, descending from a common ancestral language spoken millennia ago. Core words relating to pastoral life often show clear cognates. For example, Oromo harree “donkey” vs. Somali haar. - Sidamo (42.4)
Spoken by the Sidama people in Ethiopia, Sidamo has many similarities to the Oromo language. They shares some linguistic features. The similarities are rooted in their common Cushitic heritage, though the differences in lexicon and phonetics make direct communication between Oromo and Sidamo speakers challenging. - Hadiyya (37.1)
Hadiyya is spoken in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region of Ethiopia. Although it is more distantly related to Oromo compared to Somali and Sidamo, it still shares several Cushitic features. There is long-standing interaction between Oromo and Hadiyya communities. They have some shared vocabulary as a result. - Afar (34.1)
Afar is spoken primarily in Ethiopia’s Afar Region, as well as parts of Eritrea and Djibouti. This area is adjacent to Oromia, giving rise to intensive contact that has reinforced mutual similarities. With around 2 million speakers, it belongs to the Saho-Afar group of Lowland East Cushitic languages. - Amharic (23.1)
Amharic is the official working language of Ethiopia and the second most spoken Semitic language in the world after Arabic. It has around 32 million native speakers. Oromo and Amharic have areal influence from centuries of bilingualism and contact. For example, Oromo daabboo “bread” vs. Amharic dabo.
(to be considered for the list, the language must be spoken by at least one million people)
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