Ethiop, n. and a. arch.
(ˈiːθɪɒp)
Also: 4–7 ethiope, (5 ethyope), 6–9 æthiop(e.
[ad. L. æthiops, gen. æthiop-is, ad. Gr. αἰθίοψ, αἰθίοπος, ‘Ethiopian’, commonly believed to be f. αἴθ-ειν to burn + ὄψ face, and to mean primarily ‘burnt-face’ (cf. αἶθοψ ‘fiery-looking’, later ‘sunburnt’, f. same or cognate elements); the formation is however not clear, and some have supposed the word to be an etymologizing corruption of a foreign ethnic name.
The ‘Ethiopians’ are mentioned by Homer as a people dwelling in the far east and the far west; in later Gr. the name was applied chiefly to the inhabitants of Africa south of Egypt, but also to peoples of swarthy complexion in other parts of the world.]
A. n. lit. = Ethiopian; hence, usually, a person with a black skin, a blackamoor. Phrase, to wash an (or the) Ethiop (white): to attempt the impossible.
| 1382 Wyclif Jer. xiii. 23 Yf chaunge mai an Ethiope his skyn. 1490 Caxton Eneydos xxiii. (1890) 84 Vpon his last part of therth there habitable where conuerse thethyopes. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxxvii. x, Out there flew, ryght blacke and tedyous, A foule Ethyope. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado v. iv. 38 Ile hold my minde, were she an Ethiope. 1660 Hickeringill Jamaica (1661) 106 The truth whereof many an æthiope hath now unwillingly asserted. a 1688 Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.) Ep. to Julian, As sure to miss, As they, that wash an Ethiope's Face. 1775 Sheridan Rivals iii. ii, Though I were an æthiop. a 1791 Wesley Serm. lxviii. (1825) II. 158 In the most elegant language, she labours to wash the æthiop white. |
B. attrib. and adj.
1. = Ethiopian. † Ethiop line (Milton): ? the equator.
| 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 282 By som suppos'd True Paradise under the Ethiop Line By Nilus head. |
2. Of the hue of an Ethiop; black.
| 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iv. iii. 35 Ethiop vvords, blacker in their effect Then in their countenance. 1635 [Glapthorne] Lady Mother v. ii. in Bullen O. Pl. II. 193 To hang this matchless diamond in the eare Of Ethiope Death. 1812 Heber Transl. Pindar ii. 155 Aurora's knight of Ethiop hue. 1818 Keats Endymion ii. 413 The ivy mesh, Shading its æthiop berries. |