Abyssinia

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Renaissance Latin Abyssīnī (“the Abyssinians”),[1] from Arabic الْحَبَشَة (al-ḥabaša), from حَبَش (ḥabaš, “Abyssinian”).[2] The humorous use of Abyssinia as a parting phrase is due to its phonetic resemblance to I'll be seeing ya.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌæ.bɪˈsɪ.nɪ.ə/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˌæ.bɪˈsɪ.ni.ə/, /ˌæ.bɪˈsɪn.jə/
  • Rhymes: -ɪniə, -ɪnjə
  • Hyphenation: A‧bys‧si‧ni‧a, A‧bys‧sin‧ia

Proper noun

Abyssinia

  2. (historical) Former name of Ethiopia: a country and former empire in East Africa; used as an exonym until the mid 20th century.

Translations

Further reading

Adjective

Abyssinia (not comparable)

  1. (dated) Ethiopian; Eritrean; Abyssinian.[3]

Interjection

Abyssinia

  1. (humorous, dated) Expression of farewell: I’ll be seeing ya. [First attested in the early 20th century.][4]

References

  1. ^ “Abyssin, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
  2. ^ William Morris, editor (1969 (1971 printing)), “Abyssinia”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, New York, N.Y.: American Heritage Publishing Co., →OCLC, page 6.
  3. ^ Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 [1909], →ISBN), page 9
  4. ^ Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “Abyssinia”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 11.
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