Αἰθίοψ

From Proto-Hellenic *aitʰiyokʷs, explained since antiquity as αἴθω (aíthō, “I burn”) +‎ ὤψ (ṓps, “face”), though this is a folk etymology.^[1]

Beekes argues that the first assumed root always has senses related to brightness and never to darkness, that the -ί- as well as -ο- instead of -ώ- are unexplained (the explanation actually is something), and that -οπ- (-οψ) is a typical Pre-Greek substrate suffix observed in ethnonyms like Δόλοψ (Dólops) and Δρύοψ (Drúops). The suffix is shaped differently in Mycenaean Greek 𐁁𐀴𐀍𐀦 (a3-ti-jo-qo).^[1][2]

A connection to this colour however brings closer the native Ethiopian Semitic ዕጣን (ʿəṭan, “incense”) to explain the unsuffixed etymon. Frankincense had the primary characteristic of being white, so also the source of λίβανος (líbanos, “incense”) is a Semitic root related to whiteness. The word might ultimately refer to the incense trade passing from Abyssinia. The folk of Ethiopia was so noted for earning its living by olibanum commerce that the Arabs even derived a term حَبَشَ (ḥabaša, “to earn, to obtain for the household”) from their other ethnonym اَلْحَبَشَة (al-ḥabaša).

Αἰθίοψ • (Aithíops) m (genitive Αἰθίοπος); third declension

1. Ethiopian

• Greek: Αιθίοψ (Aithíops), Αιθίοπας (Aithíopas)
• → Latin: Aethiops
  • → English: Ethiop

• “Αἰθίοψ”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “Αἰθίοψ”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• Bekerie, Ayele (2004) “Ethiopica: Some Historical Reflections on the Origin of the Word Ethiopia”, in International Journal of Ethiopian Studies‎, volume 1, number 2, page 113
• Αἰθίοψ in the Diccionario Griego–Español en línea (2006–2025)
• “Αἰθίοψ”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G128 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible