Negus

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Negus (Ge'ez: ነጉሥ, nəgūś IPA: [nɨguːɬ]; Amharic: nigūs^?; cf. Tigrinya: ነጋሲ^? negus) is a royal title in the Ethiopian Semitic languages. It denotes a monarch, such as the Bahri Negus (Lord of the Seas) of the Medri Bahri in pre-1890 Eritrea, and the Negus in pre-1974 Ethiopia. The title has subsequently been used to translate the words "king" or "emperor" in Biblical and other literature.

Negus is a noun derived from the Ethiopian Semitic root ngś, meaning "to reign." In more recent times, it was used as an honorific title bestowed on governors of the most important provinces (kingdoms): Gojjam, Welega and the seaward kingdom (where the variation Bahr Negasi "King of the Sea", was the ancient title of the ruler of present-day central Eritrea) and later Shewa.

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