አበሻ

Amharic

Etymology

Borrowed from Ge'ez ሐበሠ (ḥäbäśä, literally “Habesha”), through metathesis of the initial consonant cluster (ḥ- > ʔ-) and vowel shift (e > ä). The term reflects the historical and cultural continuity between Geʽez and Amharic ethnonyms.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʔä.bä.ʃä/

Noun

አበሻ • (ʾäbäša) ?

  1. (colloquial) A member of the Habesha people; variant of ሐበሻ (ḥäbäša).
    Synonym: ሐበሻ (ḥäbäša)
  2. (informal) Ethiopian or Eritrean person, collectively.
    ውስጥ (wəsṭ) አበሻ (ʾäbäša) ሙልት (mult) ብሏል (bəlʷal)
    wəst’ ʾäbäša mult bälla
    Inside, [the bus] was packed with Ethiopians.

Derived terms

  • ሐበሻዊ (ḥäbäšawi)
  • ዘ-ሐበሻ (zä-ḥäbäša)

References

  • Kane, Thomas Leiper (1990), “አበሻ”, in Amharic-English Dictionary (in Amharic and English), Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, →ISBN, page 14
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.