quote:The Greek term aithiops (aitho- ‘burnt’ + ops- ‘face’) identifies African peoples as darker-skinned than their Greek counterparts. The place name, Aithiopia, can denote the upper Nile region just to the south of Egypt plus the Sahara and areas beyond. (Herodotus reserves the term Aithiopia for sub-Saharan Africa.) In the Iliad and Odyssey, Homer's Ethiopians inhabit the edges of the earth, where they are in close proximity to the sun, which has darkened their skin. In addition, they are notable for their privileged relationship with the gods. Related to the notion of the Ethiopians inhabiting the edges of the earth is the use of Africa in myth to indicate remoteness. Frequently, a visiting the Ethiopians is given as a reason for the absence of unavailability of a god or goddess. The Ethiopians themselves have the reputation of being unusually good providers of sacrifices to the gods. [9]
Rivers of Life,: Or, Sources and Streams of the Faiths of Man in All Lands; Showing the Evolution of Faiths From the Rudest Symbolisms to the Latest Spiritual Developments. Volume 2 of 3 1883 by Major-General James George Roche Forlong
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Tukuler
multidisciplinary Black Scholar
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Aithiops looks like a foreign loan word into Greek language. No other words link with it outside its attempted Greek etymology.
Athiye seems as likely a candidate.
Athiye was a northern division of Alu, the southern area of Kush.
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Athi is a term originally used disparagingly by the Maasai to refer to non-Maasai people.
--Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East By Facts On File, Incorporated
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Homeric Greece had no eyewitness information about the regions south of the First Cataract
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Tukuler
multidisciplinary Black Scholar
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I learned Athiye from Leo Hansberry 1977 Africa and Africans as seen by Classical Writers.
I don't think he ever claimed Aithiop etymology for it.
Greeks named the whole country Egypt because of a temple in Memphis.
So Greeks could've named another country Aithiopia after a popular territory Athiye.
quote:ETHIOPIAN DESIGNATIONS Because of the relatively recent discovery of the more important Ethiopian records that are now available to us, together with the difficulties that still attend the efforts of philologist to make translations of them, history is not yet very familiar with or very certain of the names by which the Ethiopians designated their country or themselves. Notwithstanding these limitations, a considerable degree of progress has been made in this direction. Particularly notable are the works of Dr. A H Sayce and Mr. G L Griffith of Oxford University. Through the studies by these two distinguished scholars, a most valuable inscription discovered in Ethiopia in 1914 made it reasonably certain that the Ethiopians designated their country, or at least a good be part of it, by the land of Qevs (Kesh). The discovery and transliteration of these inscriptions marked a very important advance in the study of Nilotic and Oriental history, for according to the authorities named, the Ethiopian word Qevs (or Kesh) may be identified with the Egyptian word Kush and the Hebrew word Cush, The designations which were generally applied to Ethiopia for thousands of years by the Egyptians and the people of western Asia. In a similar way the appallatioan Kesht or Keshli is thought to be the Ethiopia equivalent of the Egyptian Kashto and the Hebrew Cushite, names which also had a widespread currency in the ancient world.
Tukuler
multidisciplinary Black Scholar
Member # 19944
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It was formerly thought that Kush or Cush and their derivation were of Egyptian or Hebrew origin, but the discovery of their counterparts in an Ethiopian record seem to indicate that the words were indigenous to the country and peoples to which they were generally applied. In addition to the more inclusive term Kesh, there are also available scores of designations by which the Ethiopians distinguish particular districts or sections of their country; but for our present purpose it is sufficient to mention only a few of these. According to E A Budge's translation and interpretation of the inscription on the stele of Nastasen, belonging to a king who lived about the 4th Century BC, the northern part of the country, corresponding roughly to what is known at the present time as Nubia, bore the name of Kenset, while the general region to the south as far as the juncture of the Blue and the White Nile seems to have been designated as the "land of Alu." The great stele of Amonrenas, dating about 400 years later, gives, according to Dr. Sayce's rendering of the text, the designation "land of Athi(ye)" to an important division of the northern country, while the regions to the south are known as the "land of Yesbe." Whether the variations in names recorded on the two steles represent actual changes that had come about in the intervening period or whether they are the results of difficulties attending attempts at transliteration of Ethiopian text is not certain.
H p9
* anachronism noted Homeric Greece v Amonrenas Palmer 1882 Folk Etymology derives Greek Aithiopia from Egyptian Ethaush citing Bib Dict i 588.
Tukuler
multidisciplinary Black Scholar
Member # 19944
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The Ethiopian inscriptions that are now available contain the names of a hundred or more towns and cities which were located within the country and in neighboring regions, but little if any advantage would be gained by listing them at this point. It may be of interest, however, to know that the great and ancient metropolis and chief capital of the country, the celebrated city of Meroe, so often mentioned in the writings of classical authors, was designated by the Ethiopians themselves as Me-rh-e-u; and of equal interest is the discovery that Armi was the Ethiopian name for the great city of Rome. The ancient Ethiopians appear to have had designations which covered wide stretches of land with diverse groups of people, an indication of united consciousness, a prerequisite for nationalism.
Rivers of Life,: Or, Sources and Streams of the Faiths of Man in All Lands; Showing the Evolution of Faiths From the Rudest Symbolisms to the Latest Spiritual Developments. Volume 2 of 3 1883 by Major-General James George Roche Forlong
high at/up sky/sun(burnt) ops: cliff face/aspect red cliffs of Eritrea & Ethiopian highlands (compare to white cliffs of Dover)
Completely unrelated to human skin color IMO. But later perhaps Greeks and Arabs identified the people by these terms.
posted
The purpose for this post was a geopolitical one.
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