Negus

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Tekle Haymanot, negus of Gojjam

Negus (

Negusa Nagast, or "king of kings,"[2] in pre-1974 Ethiopia
.

History

Negus is a noun derived from the

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

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 "ʾämlak/ʔamlāk." 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 ʿAṯtar his name is followed by the title 𐡍𐡂𐡔 (ngš), corresponding to Ancient North Arabian 𐪌𐪔𐪆 (ngś), meaning "the ruler."[5]

See also

References

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