Ethiopn.adj.

Etymology: < classical Latin Aethiops (genitive Aethiopis ) (noun) inhabitant of Ethiopia, Ethiopian, black man, (adjective) of or connected with Ethiopia, Ethiopian < ancient Greek Αἰθιοπ- , Αἰθίοψ (noun and adjective) Ethiopian; of uncertain origin. The prevailing view since antiquity was that Αἰθίοψ derived < αἴθειν to light up, kindle (see aethionema n.) + ὄψ face (see -ops comb. form), and meant primarily ‘burnt-face’ (compare ancient Greek αἶθοψ fiery-looking, in Hellenistic Greek also black; < same or cognate elements); the formation is however not clear, and some have supposed the word to be a name of pre-Greek origin, involving a different suffix; compare e.g. Δρύοπες , Δόλοπες , both names of peoples. Compare Old French, Middle French ethiope (mid 13th cent. as adjective, a1400 as noun, both in apparently isolated attestations), Catalan etíop , noun (14th cent.), Spanish etíope (1277 as noun, 1519 as adjective), Portuguese etíope , noun (1537), Italian etiope (1282 as noun, a1333 as adjective). Compare later Ethiopian n., Ethiopian adj.The ‘Ethiopians’ are mentioned by Homer as a people dwelling in the far east and the far west; in later Greek the name was applied chiefly to the inhabitants of Africa south of Egypt, but also to dark-skinned people in other parts of the world. The word is rare in Old English; in form Æthiopes (plural) after the Latin nominative plural; in the late form Ethiopen (plural) apparently a weak noun. Compare also Æthiopian , weak plural (only in the Old English translation of Orosius Hist.; < Aethiopia , the Latin name of Ethiopia: see Ethiopian n.):OE tr. Orosius Hist. (Tiber.) (1980) i. vii. 26 Ða suðmestan Æthiopian hæfdon bryne for ðære hæte. The usual word for ‘Ethiopians’ in Old English is Sigelhearwan (also Sīlhearwan ) ( < sigel sun (cognate with Gothic sugil , probably ultimately < the same Indo-European base as sol n.¹) + a second element of uncertain origin), also in form Sigelware , lit. ‘sun-dwellers’, showing folk-etymological alteration after -ware suffix.