Abyssinia

English

Alternative forms

Abissinia (archaic)

Etymology

From New Latin Abissīni,^[1] of Abissīnus (“Abyssinian, Ethiopian”), from Arabic الْحَبَشَة (al-ḥabaša), from حَبَش (ḥabaš, “Abyssinian”).^[2] The humorous use of Abyssinia as a parting phrase is due to its phonetic resemblance to I'll be seeing ya.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌæb.ɪˈsɪn.i.ə/
(US) IPA^(key): /ˌæb.ɪˈsɪn.i.ə/, /ˌæb.əˈsɪn.i.ə/, /ˌæb.əˈsɪn.jə/
Rhymes: -ɪniə
Rhymes: -ɪnjə

Proper noun

Abyssinia

(historical) The Ethiopian Empire, a former empire in East Africa, consisting of modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Translations

historical name of the Ethiopian Empire - Ethiopia and Eritrea

Amharic: አቢሲንያ (ʾäbisinya)
Arabic: الْحَبَشَة (ar) f (al-ḥabaša)
Armenian: Հաբեշստան (Habešstan)
Azerbaijani: Həbəşistan
Bulgarian: Абиси́ния (bg) f (Abisínija)
Catalan: Abissínia
Chinese:
Mandarin: 阿比西尼亞 / 阿比西尼亚 (zh) (Ābǐxīníyà)
Czech: Habeš (cs) f
Danish: Abessinien (da)
Dutch: Abessinië (nl) n
Finnish: Abessinia (fi)
French: Abyssinie (fr) f
Ge'ez: ሐበሠት (ḥäbäśät), ብሔረ ግዕዝ (bəḥerä gəʿz), ብሔረ አግዓዝ (bəḥerä ʾägʿaz)
German: Abessinien (de) n, Habesch m
Greek: Αβησσυνία (el) f (Avissynía)
Hebrew: חבש (he)
Hindi: हबश (hi) m (habaś), हबस (hi) m (habas)
Hungarian: Abesszínia (hu)
Ido: Abisinia (io)
Irish: An Aibisín f
Japanese: アビシニア (Abishinia)
Korean: 아비시니아 (Abisinia)
Malay: Habsyah (ms)
Manx: Yn Abysseen f
Norwegian:
Bokmål: Abessinia (no), Keiserriket Etiopia

Nynorsk: Abessinia
Old South Arabian:
Sabaean: 𐩢𐩨𐩦𐩩 (ḥbs²t), 𐩱𐩢𐩨𐩦 (ʾḥbs²)
Persian: حبشه (fa) (habaše)
Polish: Abisynia (pl) f
Portuguese: Abissínia f
Romanian: Abisinia f
Russian: Абисси́ния (ru) f (Abissínija)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: Абисинија f, Абесинија f

Roman: Abisinija f, Abesinija f
Spanish: Abisinia (es) f
Swedish: Abessinien (sv)
Tagalog: Abisinya
Tajik: Ҳабашистон (Habašiston)
Turkish: Habeşistan (tr)
Ukrainian: Абіссі́нія f (Abissínija)
Urdu: حبش m (habaś)
Uyghur: ھەبەشىستان (hebeshistan)
Uzbek: Habashiston

Adjective

Abyssinia (not comparable)

(dated) Ethiopian; Eritrean; Abyssinian.^[3]

Interjection

Abyssinia

(humorous) Expression of farewell: I’ll be seeing ya. [First attested in the mid 20^th century.]^[4]

References

^ “Abyssin, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
^ William Morris, editor (1969 (1971 printing)), “Abyssinia”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, New York, N.Y.: American Heritage Publishing Co., →OCLC, page 6.
^ Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 [1909], →ISBN), page 9
^ Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “Abyssinia”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 11.

[1] “Abyssin, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.

[AHD-2] William Morris, editor (1969 (1971 printing)), “Abyssinia”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, New York, N.Y.: American Heritage Publishing Co., →OCLC, page 6.

[WI3-3] Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 [1909], →ISBN), page 9

[SOED-4] Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “Abyssinia”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 11.

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