Abyssinia(/æbɪˈsɪniə/;[1]also known asAbyssinie,Abissinia,Habessinien,orAl-Habash) was an ancient region in theHorn of Africasituated in the northern highlands of modern-dayEthiopiaandEritrea.[2]The term was widely used as a synonym for Ethiopia until the mid-20th century and primarily designates theAmhara,TigrayanandTigrinya-inhabited highlands of Ethiopia and Eritrea.[3][4]
Abyssinia
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 1887 Italian map of Abyssinia | |
| Country |  Ethiopia Eritrea |
Philology
editThe origin of the term might be found inEgyptian hieroglyphicas the designation of a southern region near theRed Seathat produced incense, known asḫbś.tj.w,"the bearded ones" (i.ePunt). This etymological connection was first pointed out byWilhelm Max MüllerandEduard Glaserin 1893.[3][4]
InSouth Arabian textsthe name ḤBS²T appears in various inscriptions.[3][4]One of the earliest known local uses of the term dates to the second or third centurySabaeaninscription recounting thenəgus( "king" )GDRT,another Sabaean inscription mentionsmlky hhst dtwns wzqrns(kings of HabashatDTWNSandZQRNS) Aksum and ḤBŠT. TheEzana Stonealso namesKing Ezanaas "king of the Ethiopians", which appears in other Sabaean texts asḤBS²TMor "Habessinien".
The Hellenized name of Habessinien,ABACIINappears in an Aksumite coin of c.400 AD, and shortly after the first attestation inlate Latinin the formAbissensis.The 6th-century authorStephanus of Byzantiumused the term "Αβασηνοί" (i.e. Abasēnoi)[5]to refer to "an Arabian people living next to theSabaeanstogether with theḤaḍramites."The region of the Abasēnoi produce[d] myrrh, incense and cotton and they cultivate[d] a plant which yields a purple dye (probablywars,i.e.Fleminga Grahamiana). It lay on a route fromZabīdon the coastal plain to the Ḥimyarite capitalẒafār.[3]Abasēnoi was located byHermann von Wissmannas a region in theJabal ḤubayshmountaininIbb Governorate,[6]perhaps related in etymology with the ḥbšSemitic root.[7]Modern Western European languages, including English, appear to borrow this term from the post-classical formAbissiniin the mid-16th century. (EnglishAbyssinis attested from 1576, andAbissiniaandAbyssiniafrom the 1620s.)[8]
Al-Habash was known inIslamic literatureas a Christian kingdom, guaranteeing its a historicalexonymfor theAksumitesof antiquity. In the modern day, variations of the term are used inTurkey,Iran,and theArab Worldin reference toEthiopiaand as a pan-ethnic word in the west by theAmhara,Tigray,andBiher-TigrinyaofEritreaandEthiopia(see:Habesha peoples). TheTurkscreated theprovince of Habeshwhen theOttoman Empireconquered parts of the coastline of present-dayEritreastarting in 1557. During this,Özdemir Pashatook the port city ofMassawaand the adjacent city ofArqiqo.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^"Abyssinia".Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
- ^Sven Rubenson, The survival of Ethiopian independence, (Tsehai, 2003), p.30.
- ^abcdUhlig, Siegbert, ed.Encyclopaedia Aethiopica:D-Ha. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2005. p. 948.
- ^abcBreyer, Francis (2016)."The Ancient Egyptian Etymology of Ḥabašāt" Abessinia ""(PDF).Ityop̣is.Extra Issue II:8–18.
- ^ Meineke, August,ed. (1849)."STEPHANUS OF BYZANTIUM, ETHNICA".ToposText.§A5.4.
- ^Jabal Ḩubaysh,Geoview.info,retrieved11 January2018
- ^Uhlig, Siegbert, ed.Encyclopaedia Aethiopica;: D-Ha. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2005. pp. 949.
- ^"Abyssin, n. and adj".Oxford English Dictionary.Oxford University Press.Retrieved25 September2020.