Originally called " Maigoga " ( mai, Tigrinya " water ," and guagua, " noisy ") because of the two rocky streams that run through the community, the Jesuit missionaries who were sent to live there by Emperor Menas renamed it after Saint Frumentius, who had converted the Axumite kings to Christianity.

The earliest written example of Tigrinya is a text of local laws found in the district of Logosarda, southern Eritrea, which dates from the 13th century.

Language families which distinguish ejective consonants include all three Caucasian families ( Northwest Caucasian languages, Northeast Caucasian languages and Kartvelian Georgian language ); the Athabaskan, Siouan and Salishan families of North America, along with the many diverse families of the Pacific Northwest from central California to British Columbia ; the Mayan family and Aymara ; the southern varieties of Quechua ( Qusqu-Qullaw ); the Afro-Asiatic family ( notably most of the Cushitic and Omotic languages, Hausa and South Semitic languages like Amharic and Tigrinya ) and a few Nilo-Saharan languages ; Sandawe, Hadza, and the Khoisan families of southern Africa.

Tigrinya (, tigriñā ), also spelled Tigrigna, Tigrnia, Tigrina, Tigriña, less commonly Tigrinian, Tigrinyan, is a Semitic language spoken in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia ( its speakers there are called " Tigrawot, Tegaru ") by the Tigrinya people, where it has official status, and in central Eritrea, where it is one of the two main languages of Eritrea, and among groups of emigrants from these regions, including some of the Beta Israel now living in Israel.

Around 90 % of today's Eritreans speak languages ( Tigrinya and Tigre ) that are closely related to the now-extinct Geez language-as do Tigrinya-speakers in northern Ethiopia and Amharic-speakers of Ethiopia, among others.

Eragrostis tef, known as Xaafii, ( Oromiffa ), teff, taf ( Amharic ጤፍ ṭēff, Tigrinya ጣፍ ṭaff ), is an annual grass, a species of lovegrass native to the northern Ethiopian Highlands of Northeast Africa.

The Tigrinya language is related to Amharic, but mostly spoken in northern Ethiopia in the state of Tigray.

Shire ( ሽሬ ), also known as Inda Selassie ( እንዳ ሥላሴ, Tigrinya " House of the Trinity "), is a town and separate woreda in northern Ethiopia.

Eritrea's main languages are mainly Tigrinya and Tigre which are North Ethiopic languages while Amharic ( South Ethiopic ) is the main language spoken in Ethiopia ( along with Tigrinya in the northern province of Tigray ).

Maychew ( Tigrinya ማይጭው " Salty water ," also transliterated Mai Ceu, Maich ' ew, and Mai Cio ) is a town and separate woreda in northern Ethiopia.

In the highlands, injera is the staple diet and is eaten daily among the Tigrinya.

In the highlands, injera is the staple diet and eaten daily among the Tigrinya.

The Emperor pressured Eritrea ’ s elected chief executive to resign, made Amharic the official language in place of Arabic and Tigrinya, terminated the use of the Eritrean flag, imposed censorship, and moved many businesses out of Eritrea.

All speakers of Tigrinya in Eritrea are officially referred to as Bihér-Tigrinya ( or simply, Tigrinya ).

The Semitic languages in Eritrea are Tigre, Tigrinya, the newly-recognized Dahlik, and Arabic ( spoken natively by the Rashaida Arabs ).

However, in Ethiopia Amharic ( the main lingua franca of modern Ethiopia ) or other local languages, and in Eritrea and Tigray Region in Ethiopia, Tigrinya may be used for sermons.

Tigrinya should not be confused with the related Tigre language, which is spoken in the lowland regions in Eritrea to the north and west of the region where Tigrinya is spoken.

In Eritrea, during British administration, the Ministry of information put out a weekly newspaper in Tigrinya that cost 5 cents and sold 5, 000 copies weekly.

In Eritrea, Tigrinya speakers are officially known as the Bihér-Tigrigna which means nation of Tigrinya speakers.

Tigrinya is the third most spoken language in Ethiopia, after Amharic and Oromo, and by far the most spoken in Eritrea ( see Demographics of Eritrea ).

In Eritrea, Afar is recognized as one of nine national languages which formally enjoy equal status ( though Tigrinya and Arabic are by far of greatest significance in official usage ).

Isaias Afewerki ( Tigrinya: ኢሳይያስ ኣፈወርቅ ; born February 2, 1946 ), is the first President of Eritrea, a position he has held since 1993.

The Unionists insisted in Tigrinya as the only official language of Eritrea.

Ertra, Ertra, Ertra ( Tigrinya: ) is the national anthem of Eritrea.

The doum palm fruit-dates are also known in Eritrea as Akat, or Akaat in the Tigrinya language.

Berbere ( Amharic: በርበሬ berberē, Tigrinya: በርበረ berbere ) is a spice mixture whose constituent elements usually include chili peppers, garlic, ginger, dried basil, korarima, rue, white and black pepper and fenugreek .< ref > It serves as a key ingredient in the cuisines of Ethiopia and Eritrea.

Bihér roughly means nation in the ethnic sense of the word in Tigrinya, Tigre and Amharic as well as in Ge ' ez from which all these languages originate.

In Ethiopia it evolved later into the Ge ' ez alphabet, which, with added symbols throughout the centuries, has been used to write Amharic, Tigrinya and Tigre, as well as other languages ( including various Semitic, Cushitic, and Nilo-Saharan languages ).

Abun ( in Europe erroneously known as Abuna, which is the status constructus form used when a name follows: Ge ' ez አቡነ ’ abuna / abune, ' our father '; Amharic and Tigrinya ) is the honorific title used for any bishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church as well as of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church.

A Tigrinya people | Tigray wedding.

A native of Tigray is referred to in Tigrinya as ( male ), ( female ), or tegaru ( plural ).

The Tigrayan People's Liberation Front ( TPLF ), known more commonly and sometimes as Woyane or Weyane ( Ge ' ez: ሕዝባዊ ወያኔ ሓርነት ትግራይ, Tigrinya: ḥizbāwī weyānē ḥārinet tigrāy, " Popular revolution ( for ) the freedom of Tigray ") is a political party in Tigray, Ethiopia.

The Mareb was important historically as the boundary between two separately governed regions in the area: the land of the Bahr negash ( Tigrinya " kingdom of the sea ", also known as Medri Bahri or " land of / by the sea ") to the north of the river, and the Tigray to the south.

The Amhara and Tigray ethnicities combined make up about 33 % of Ethiopia's population ( c. 24. 6 million Amhara, 5. 5 million Tigray ), while the Tigrinya and Tigre combined make up 85 % ( 55 % plus 30 % respectively ) of Eritrea's population ( c. 5 of 5. 9 million ).

Mikael Sehul ( Tigrinya " Mikael the Astute " – his name at birth was Blatta Mikael ; c. 1691 – 23 June 1779 ) was a Ras or governor of Tigray 1748 – 71 and again from 1772 until his death.

The region was first referred to as Ma ' ikele Bahr (" between the seas / rivers ," i. e. the land between the Red Sea and the Mereb river ), renamed under Emperor Zara Yaqob as the domain of the Bahr Negash, called Midri Bahri ( Tigrinya: " Sea land ," though it included some areas like Shire on the other side of the Mereb, today in Ethiopia ) until the modern day, when its name was changed to Mereb Mellash ( beyond the river Mereb ) under the rule of Yohannes IV, the locals referred to this area as Midri Bahri.

Languages recorded included Oromiffa ( 49. 79 %), Amharic ( 36. 97 %), Harari ( 7. 61 %), Gurage ( 1. 13 %) and Tigrinya ( 1. 13 %) The religious composition of the population of the region indicated that 60. 28 % were Muslim, 38. 09 % Ethiopian Orthodox, 0. 94 % Protestant, and 0. 46 % Catholic.

Tigrinya ( along with Arabic ) was one of Eritrea's official languages during its short-lived federation with Ethiopia ; in 1958 it was replaced with Amharic prior to its annexation.

Yona Bogale claimed that the name stems from the Tigrinya word for artisans, and on the broader sense excommunicated people ( as Yeshaq I of Ethiopia has denied the right of inheritance of all non-Christians ).

Examples of present-day abjads are the Arabic and Hebrew scripts ; true alphabets include Latin, Cyrillic, and Korean hangul ; and abugidas are used to write Tigrinya, Amharic, Hindi, and Thai.

Conversely, the vowel marks of the Tigrinya abugida and the Amharic abugida ( ironically, the original source of the term " abugida ") have been so completely assimilated into their consonants that the modifications are no longer systematic and have to be learned as a syllabary rather than as a segmental script.

The leadership of this multi-ethnic movement came to be dominated by leftist, Christian dissidents who spoke Tigrinya, Eritrea's predominant language.

According to the CIA, the Tigrinya people make up about 55 % of the population, with the Tigre people constituting around 30 % of the population.

Their language is called Tigrinya.

The Jeberti, some of whom do not consider themselves to be " Tigray-Tigrinya " are Muslim and account for about 5 % of the Tigrinya people there.

Meat such as beef ( siga, Ge ' ez: ሥጋ śigā ), chicken ( Amharic: ዶሮ dōrō, Tigrinya: ደርሆ derhō ), fish ( Amharic: asa ), goat or lamb ( Amharic: beg, Tigrinya በግዕ beggiʻ ) is added ; legumes such as split peas ( Amharic: ክክ kik, Tigrinya: ክኪ kikkī ) or lentils ( Amharic: ምስር misir, Tigrinya: ብርስን birsin ); or vegetables such as potato ( dinich, Amharic: ድንች dinič, Tigrinya ድንሽ diniš ), carrots and chard ( Tigrinya: costa ) are also used in wat.