Tigray
/ˈtɪɡ.reɪ/noun
A region in northern Ethiopia and, historically, the name of a people and their language.
Did you know?The name Tigray is tied to the long historical identity of the Tigrinya-speaking highlands, and its exact origin is debated rather than securely traced to a single ancient root.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient / premodern
Ethio-Semitic
Tigrāy / Tigray
“A regional and ethnolinguistic name in the northern Ethiopian highlands”
Medieval period
Ge'ez / Ethiopian
Tigrāy
“The northern highland region associated with the Tigray people”
19th Century
European languages
Tigray
“A transliterated name used in travel, missionary, and colonial-era writing”
Modern English
English
Tigray
“The standard English name for the Ethiopian region”