Etymology

Abyssinia

A·bys·si·ni·a
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Today it means: Ethiopian; Eritrean; Abyssinian. Full definition →

First used First attested in the early 20ᵗʰ century.Renaissance Latin Abyssīnī ← Arabic الْحَبَشَة
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The story

  1. Arabic · derived fromالْحَبَشَة
  2. Renaissance Latin · derived fromAbyssīnī“the Abyssinians”
  3. English todayAbyssinia

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

Words from the same roots

Renaissance LatinAbyssīnī all →

Abyssin

First known use, by meaning

  • First attested in the early 20ᵗʰ century. Expression of farewell: I’ll be seeing ya.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.