“The other cultural sayings His Majesty often repeated were ‘Ke ras belay nefas’ (no one more important than yourself) or ‘Ha le fe semayu new’, which is an example of sem ena work (wax and gold). The denotative (or wax) translation of the saying “Ha le fe semayu new” is that the sky has passed by. The connotative (or gold) translation is that the character Ha ሀ (which appears first on the Ethiopic alphabet chart) is greater in value than the character Fe ፈ (which appears twenty-fifth) because of the order in which each character appears. The Ethiopic alphabet has thirty-three basic characters, each of which has seven forms depending on which vowel is pronounced in the syllable. Therefore, we are to conclude not only that Ha is more important than Fe but also that in life, we should see all things as related and relative. If you are last on the list, you might think that being first is greater. While your position in the alphabet (or life) is obviously relevant, it does not determine everything about you or how important or not important you are—most of life depends on how you perceive something and how much you allow it to impact you in positive or negative terms.”
(Taken from “It was Only Yesterday”, Hannah Mariam
Meherete-Selassie, 2018)
ከራስ ፡ በላይ ፡ ነፋስ ። (litt. “The wind is above the head/self”)
ሀለፈ ፡ ሰማዩ ። (litt. “The heaven has passed away”, but also “Ha is the heaven of Fe”)