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Royal title of Ethiopia, equivalent to "king"
Negus
(
Ge'ez
:
???
,
n?gue?
[n?gue?]
; cf.
Amharic
:
???
n?gus
[n?gus]
) is the word for "king" in the
Ethiopian Semitic languages
and a
title
[1]
which was usually bestowed upon a regional ruler by the
Negusa Nagast
, or "king of kings,"
[2]
in pre-1974
Ethiopia
.
History
[
edit
]
Negus
is a noun derived from the
Ethiopian
Semitic root
ng?
, meaning "to reign". The title Negus literally translated to
Basileus
(
Greek
: βασιλε??) in
Ancient Greek
, which was seen many times on
Aksumite currency
. The title has subsequently been used to translate the word "king" or "emperor" in
Biblical
and other literature. In more recent times, it was used as an honorific title bestowed on governors of the most important provinces (kingdoms):
Gojjam
,
Begemder
,
Wello
,
Tigray
and the seaward kingdom, (where the variation
Bahri Negasi
(Sea King), was the title of the ruler of present-day central Eritrea). The military title "Meridazmatch" was initially used by the
rulers of Shewa
until the reign of
Sahle Selassie
, when he and his successors adopted the royal title as well.
[3]
[4]
Etymology
[
edit
]
Sometime during the development of the
Ethio-Semitic
language family
"m-l-k,"
the original
triconsonantal root
for king, was elevated to the generic word for "god" in the form of the
broken plural
"?amlak/?aml?k." During this time period the semitic term for a ruler or lord, n-g-s, began to mean "king." In an ancient
Aramaic
inscription mentioning the god
?A?tar
his name is followed by the title
??????
(
ng?
), corresponding to
Ancient North Arabian
??????
(
ng?
), meaning "the ruler."
[5]
See also
[
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]
References
[
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]