# Negus > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Negus > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Negus.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negus > Source revision: 1357232916 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|Royal title of Ethiopia and Eritrea, equivalent to "king"}} {{other uses}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2018}} [[File:Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam.png|thumb|[Tekle Haymanot](/source/Tekle_Haymanot_of_Gojjam), negus of [Gojjam](/source/Gojjam)]] '''''Negus'''''{{efn|English pronunciation: {{ipac-en|ˈ|n|iː|ɡ|ə|s}} or {{ipac-en|n|ɪ|ˈ|g|uː|s}};{{Cite Merriam-Webster|negus|access-date=2024-11-16}} {{langx|gez|ንጉሥ|nəguś}} {{IPA|gez|nɨguɬ|}}; cf. {{langx|am|ንጉሥ|nəgus}} {{IPA|am|nɨgus|}}}} is the word for "[king](/source/king)" in the [Ethiopian Semitic languages](/source/Ethiopian_Semitic_languages) and a [title](/source/Ethiopian_aristocratic_and_court_titles){{cite book |title=Haile Selassie, Western Education, and Political Revolution in Ethiopia | date=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YbtcTwtUWrwC&q=Haile+Selassie,+western+education,+and+political |publisher=Cambria Press |isbn=9781621969143}} which was usually bestowed upon a regional ruler by the [Negusa Nagast](/source/Ethiopian_Emperor), or "[King of Kings](/source/King_of_Kings),"[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/negus Negus. Amharic nəgus, from Geez nĕgūša nagašt king of kings. First Known Use: 1594] Merriam Webster dictionary in pre-1974 Ethiopia. The negus is referred to as Al-[Najashi](/source/Najashi) (النجاشي) in the [Islam](/source/Islam)ic tradition. ==Etymology== Sometime during the development of the Ethio-Semitic language family ["m-l-k,"](/source/Malik) the original [triconsonantal root](/source/Semitic_root) for king, was elevated to the generic word for "god" in the form of the [broken plural](/source/broken_plural) "ʾämlak, ʔamlāk," as well as the word for angelic or divine when conjugated as ''melekot.'' It is possible the word related to Hebrew [El](/source/El_(deity)) ([Elohim](/source/Elohim)) or [Allah](/source/Allah) (Ilah) was lost due to a [word taboo](/source/word_taboo) much like [YHWH](/source/YHWH). During this time the ancient semitic term for a ruler or lord, n-g-s (from Proto-Semitic √ngɬ 'to push, press for work'), began to mean "king." Along with that term, in the early Ethiopian state of [D'mt](/source/D'mt) the [South Semitic](/source/South_Semitic) term [Mukarrib](/source/Mukarrib) (priest-king), mostly associated with the [Kingdom of Sheba](/source/Kingdom_of_Sheba), was in use and the [Ge'ez](/source/Ge'ez) ''malak'' (መለክ) remained in throne names into the [Gondarine period](/source/Gondarine_period). The universal existence of a [semantic shift](/source/semantic_shift) in n-g-s across the Ethio-Semitic languages is evidence that it doesn't comprise separate branches of the Semitic language family. In an ancient [Aramaic](/source/Aramaic) inscription mentioning the god [ʿAṯtar](/source/%CA%BFA%E1%B9%AFtar) his name is followed by the title {{lang|oar|𐡍𐡂𐡔}} ({{Transliteration|oar|ngš}}), corresponding to [Ancient North Arabian](/source/Ancient_North_Arabian) {{lang|xna|𐪌𐪔𐪆}} ({{Transliteration|xna|ngś}}), meaning "the ruler."{{cite book |last=Lipiński |first=Edward |author-link=Edward Lipiński (orientalist) |date=2000 |title=The Aramaeans: Their Ancient History, Culture, Religion |series=Orientalia Lovaniensia analecta |volume=100 |url= |location=[Leuven](/source/Leuven), [Belgium](/source/Belgium) |publisher=[Peeters Publishers](/source/Peeters_Publishers) |isbn=978-9-042-90859-8}} The vocabularies of various other [East](/source/East_Semitic) and [West Semitic](/source/West_Semitic) languages such as [Akkadian](/source/Akkadian_language) contained cognates to the [Habesha](/source/Habesha_people) term "negus" with definitions ranging from regional lord to tyrant. ==History== {{main|Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles}} ''Negus'' is a noun derived from the [Semitic root](/source/Semitic_root) {{smallcaps|ngś}}, meaning "to reign". The title Negus literally translated to [Basileus](/source/Basileus) ([Greek](/source/Greek_language): βασιλεύς) in [Ancient Greek](/source/Ancient_Greek), which was seen many times on [Aksumite currency](/source/Aksumite_currency). The title has subsequently been used to translate the word "king" or "emperor" in [Biblical](/source/Bible) and other literature. In more recent times, it was used as an honorific title bestowed on governors of the most important provinces (kingdoms): [Gojjam](/source/Gojjam), [Begemder](/source/Begemder), [Wello](/source/Wello), [Tigray](/source/Tigray_Province) and the seaward kingdom, (where the variation [Bahri Negasi](/source/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](/source/List_of_rulers_of_Shewa) until the reign of [Sahle Selassie](/source/Sahle_Selassie), when he and his successors adopted the royal title as well.{{cite book |author=Mussie Tesfagiorgis G. Ph.D. |title=Eritrea |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f0R7iHoaykoC&pg=PA34 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |date=29 October 2010 |pages=34–35 |isbn=978-1-59884-232-6}}{{cite book |author=Alemseged Abbay |title=Identity Jilted, Or, Re-imagining Identity?: The Divergent Paths of the Eritrean and Tigrayan Nationalist Struggles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oQBNnZwLIt4C&pg=PA202 |publisher=The Red Sea Press |year=1998 |page=202 |isbn=978-1-56902-072-2}} It was mistakenly used to refer to the [Atse](/source/Atse) in western sources be they English, Polish, Hungarian or Romanian, and was loaned into [Hindi](/source/Hindi) through Arabic as "नजाशी." ==In popular culture== * In her 1904 book ''Through the Lands of the Serb'', English anthropologist [Mary E. Durham](/source/Edith_Durham) [incorrectly suggested without evidence](/source/Pseudoscientific_language_comparison) that the word ''negus'' is derived from the name of a [Herzegovinian](/source/Herzegovina) village called [Njeguši](/source/Njegu%C5%A1i).[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/41499/41499-h/41499-h.htm Durham, Mary Edith, ''Through the Lands of the Serb'', Ch. 1.] * In the television series (US) "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," the leader of the Ferengi holds the title of Nagus. * [Kendrick Lamar](/source/Kendrick_Lamar)'s 2015 song "[I](/source/I_(Kendrick_Lamar_song))" references the word and draws comparisons to the ethnic slur "[nigger](/source/nigger)". ==See also== * [Emperor of Ethiopia](/source/Emperor_of_Ethiopia) * [Kebra Nagast](/source/Kebra_Nagast) * [Najashi](/source/Najashi) ==Footnotes== {{notelist}} ==References== {{reflist}} Category:Ethiopian nobility Category:Gubernatorial titles Category:Heads of state Category:Noble titles Category:Royal titles Category:Titles of national or ethnic leadership --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Negus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negus) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negus?action=history)). 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