Tigray

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A large administrative region in the north of Ethiopia, bordering Eritrea, with Mekelle as its principal city ; the ethnic group that predominantly inhabits this northern highland region of Ethiopia ; the Semitic language spoken by these people in Eritrea and Ethiopia
2. The northern Ethiopian province that borders Eritrea and is centred on the city of Mekelle ; the people who mainly live in that highland area of northern Ethiopia and Eritrea ; the Afro-Asiatic tongue of the Tigray people in the Horn of Africa
3. A northern Ethiopian territory bordering Eritrea, whose capital is Mekelle ; an ethnic community native to that highland region ; a Semitic language used across parts of Eritrea and Ethiopia

Etymology: Tigray is often confused with Tigris, the river of Iraq and Turkey, but the two names are unrelated. The river's name comes from an old Iranian word meaning "arrow," while the Ethiopian region has no such link. The region and its people take their name from the Tigray-Tigre peoples of northern Ethiopia and Eritrea, whose languages, Tigrinya and Tigre, belong to the Ethiopian Semitic branch. The exact origin of the name itself remains uncertain, and scholars have not settled on a single derivation.