الحبشة

اَلْحَبَشَة (name)

Etymology: Ge'ez ሐበሠት (ḥäbäśät), only attested in Aksumite inscriptions, later replaced with e.g. ብሔረ ግዕዝ (bəḥerä gəʿz), ብሔረ አግዓዝ (bəḥerä ʾägʿaz) and the Ancient Greek exonym ኢትዮጵያ (ʾityop̣ya); originally also meaning both sides of the Red Sea (which Aksum colonized). To its dominion then Old South Arabian 𐩢𐩨𐩦𐩩 (ḥbs²t) referred. In Egyptian the inhabitants of Punt were repeatedly called ḫbztyw, ḫbstyw, interpreted as from ḫbs, ḫbz, ḫbzwt (“beard”), however the moniker’s status as an actual demonym instead of just meaning literally “bearded ones” is doubtful, as well as the capability of the Egyptians to impose their term upon Aksum to be her endonym, for it to become the copiously attested Sabaean 𐩢𐩨𐩦𐩩 (ḥbs²t /⁠ḥabaśatu⁠/) and 𐩱𐩢𐩨𐩦 (ʾḥbs² /⁠ʾaḥbūśu⁠/, “Abyssinians”) too. Possibly originally referring to an emigrated Yemenite tribe, reflected in the (now Saudi) toponyms وَادِي حَبُوش (wādī ḥabūš) and جَبَل حُبَيْش (jabal ḥubayš) as well as جَبَل حَبَشِيّ (jabal ḥabašiyy) whose residents are called الْأَحْبُش (al-ʔaḥbuš).