Habesha

English

Alternative forms

• Habeshah

Etymology

From Tigrinya ሓበሻ (ḥabäša) or Amharic ሐበሻ (ḥäbäša) (also attested in many other variants: ሀበሻ (häbäša), ሃበሻ (habäša), ሀቢሻ (häbiša), አበሻ (ʾäbäša)), from Ge'ez ሓበሠት (ḥabäśät), ሓበሥ (ḥabäś), from earlier inscriptional and unvocalized Ge'ez ሐበሠተ (ḤBŚT) as attested in at least one 4th-century inscription from the Kingdom of Aksum.

Noun

Habesha (plural Habesha or Habeshas)

1. a member of a Semitic-speaking ethnic group, of Christian faith, between the Blue Nile and the Red Sea (whether Amhara, Tigrayan or Tigrinya)
   • 1981, American University (Washington, D.C.), Foreign Area Studies; Harold D. Nelson, Irving Kaplan (editors), Ethiopia, a Country Study page 15:

     Portugal, the first power to circumnavigate Africa and enter the Indian Ocean, displayed primary interest in this potential ally of the West and sent a representative to Ethiopia in 1493; the Habesha, in turn, sent an envoy to Portugal in 1509 to request a coordinated attack on the Muslims.

   • 1988, Dennis B. Fradin, Ethiopia page 21:

     Some of these people became known as the Habesha. Abyssinia – an ancient name for Ethiopia that is still sometimes used – is thought to have evolved from the name Habesha.

2. the region of Ethiopia and Eritrea, particularly as inhabited by Semitic-speaking Christians
3. the country of Ethiopia
   • 1998, Negussay Ayele, Wit and Wisdom of Ethiopia page 124:

     Ethiopia ኢትዮጵያ / Habesha አበሻ. The outside world has at times referred to Ethiopia and Ethiopians as Habesha or Abyssinia and Abyssinians.