Etymology

Cushite

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Today it means: Pertaining to the ancient people of the Horn of Africa, historically considered the descendants of biblical Cush. Full definition →

English Cush ← Biblical Hebrew כּוּשׁ (kûš) ← Egyptian kꜣšbor.?
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The story

  1. Egyptiankꜣšbor.?
  2. Biblical Hebrewכּוּשׁ (kûš)
  3. EnglishCush
  4. English todayCushite

From Cush + -ite, coined in the 1820s. In the early 19th century, the term referred to the tan to dark-skinned people of the Horn of Africa (synonymous with Herodotus' Ethiopians) in general. The technical linguistic sense is due to Friedrich Müller (1876).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.