abyssinsk

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

abyssinisk (obsolete)
abessinsk (historical)

Etymology

Abessinia +‎ -sk, first part from Medieval Latin Abissini, a form of Abissīnus (“Abyssinian, Ethiopian”), either from Arabic الحَبَشِيّ‎ (al-ḥabašiyy, “Ethiopian”), a form of الْحَبَشَة‎ (al-ḥabaša, “Abyssinia”) (with the suffix ـِيّ‎‎ (-iyy)), from the root ح ب ش‎ (ḥ b š), or from Amharic ሀበሻ (häbäša, “Habesha (The inhabitants of Abyssinia)”). Last part from Old Norse -iskr, -skr, from Proto-Germanic *-iskaz, from Proto-Indo-European *-iskos.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /abʏˈsiːnsk/
Audio (file)
Rhymes: -iːnsk
Hyphenation: ab‧ys‧sinsk

Adjective

abyssinsk (neuter singular abyssinsk, definite singular and plural abyssinske, comparative mer abyssinsk, superlative mest abyssinsk)

(historical, obsolete) Abyssinian (of or pertaining to Ethiopia or its inhabitants)
- 1933, Aksel Sandemose, En flyktning krysser sitt spor, page 112:
  den tenkende hest tenker naturligvis hverken på norsk eller abyssinsk
  the thinking horse naturally thinks neither of Norwegian nor Abyssinian
Synonym: etiopisk

References

“abyssinsk” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).