Bench (
Bencnon,
Shenon or
Mernon, formerly called
Gimira ) is a Northern
Omotic language of the "Gimojan" subgroup, spoken by about 174,000 people (in 1998) in the
Bench Maji Zone of the
Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region, in southern
Ethiopia, around the towns of
Mizan Teferi and Shewa Gimira. It has three varieties: Benchnon, Shenon, and Mernon, which Blench (2006) considers to be distinct languages but which Rapold (2006) states are "...mutually intelligible...varieties of one and the same language".