Tigrinya
/ˌtɪɡrɪˈnjɑː/noun
A Semitic language spoken mainly in Eritrea and northern Ethiopia.
Did you know?Tigrinya is named for Tigray, and the name ultimately traces back to the ancient region/people of Tigre-Tigray, showing how languages often preserve old political and ethnic boundaries long after empires fade.
Etymological Timeline
Modern English
English
Tigrinya
“The name of the Tigrinya language.”
19th-20th Century
English
Tigrinya
“Borrowed as the modern ethnolinguistic name for the language of the Tigray highlands and adjacent regions.”
Ge'ez / Ethiopic tradition
Semitic
təgrəñña / tigrəñña
“The language associated with the Tigray region and its speakers.”
Tigray region name
Ethiopic
Tǝgray / Tigray
“The regional and ethnic name associated with northern Ethiopia.”
Earlier Semitic/Local origin
Semitic
Tigrāy / Tigre
“An older regional or ethnonymic base underlying the modern name.”