negus
/ˈniːɡəs/ noun, proper noun
Forms neguses
- noun A drink made of wine, often port, mixed with hot water, oranges or lemons, spices and sugar.
- noun (historical) A ruler of Abyssinia (Ethiopia), or of a province of Ethiopia; specifically, the king of Ethiopia before 1974.
- proper noun An English surname of unknown derivation.
Etymology
Named after Colonel Francis Negus (1670–1732), its creator.
Fitst use appears c. the 1590s, borrowed from Amharic ንጉሥ (nəguś, “king, ruler”), itself a loan from Ge'ez ንጉሥ (nəguś, “king, ruler”), from the verb ነግሠ (nägśä, “rule”).
Webster’s 1913
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “negus”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details