Glossary of Local Terms
Abba Gadaa | Traditional leader (head, president) in the Oromo community according to the Gadaa system (the age and generation set governance system of the Oromo). |
ʼAhādāwi (ኣሃዳዊ) |
Centrist/unitarist mindset (in the context of state structuring/governance) |
ʼAḥemade gerāñe (አሕመድ ግራኝ) |
‘Ahmad the left-handed or southpaw’, refers to Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, imam and general of the Adal Sultanate (c. 1506 –1543) which invaded Christian Ethiopian Empire. |
Arat Kilo | (In Addis Ababa) the locale where the Government of Ethiopia is hosted. |
ʼAwurājā ā gezāte (አዉራጃ ግዛት) |
Sub-province governorate (under the Imperial Ethiopia administration, provincial governorate (under the Derg administration) |
ʼAzemāče (አዝማች) |
During the Imperial Ethiopia, vanguard leader or military commander acting as the Monarch’s representative in different parts of the country during the imperial Ethiopia. |
Bāhere-zāfe (ባሕር ዛፍ) |
Eucalyptus tree |
Bālābāte (ባላባት) |
Local noble man (nobility) who acts as an intermediary of the central Imperial government. |
Ċesañā (ጭሰኛ) |
Tenant farmer, sharecropper |
Derg | The military committee formed in 1974 in Ethiopia which ended imperial rule; by extension the socialist government in power from 1974 to 1991. |
ʻEdere (እድር) |
Mutual aid association of a neighborhood for burial and mourning. |
ʼEmā (እማ) |
Mam!; Mammy! |
ʼEqube (ዕቁብ) |
Mutual aid/credit association in which the members meet at stated intervals and contribute a fixed sum, after which a member selected by drawing lots will receive the total of the contributions (less the chairs fee) |
ʼEresete (እርስት) |
Inherited land; Land to which title is acquired by hereditary right through descent from the original owner through any combination of male and female ancestors. |
Fano | (In Amhara community), an individual or group of individuals who volunteer to give time and exert effort for a community cause, specially in the form of fighting off a threat to the community. |
Fāqere (ፍቅር) |
Love, affection, fraternity |
Gabāre — ገባር; plr. Gabāroče — ገባሮች |
Tribute-paying local farmer who provide to the Bālābāte (ባላባት) and the ነፍጠኛ/nafeṭañā -turned-privileged hereditary class with determined amounts of services and produce. |
Hamle | Month of July |
ʼIteyop̣eyā teqedame (ኢትዮጵያ ትቅደም) |
Ethiopia First |
ʼIteyop̣eyāwinate (ኢትዮጵያዊነት) } |
Ethiopian-ness |
Kebele/ qabalé | Lowest level of local administration/state administrative level |
Kelele (ክልል) |
Region, the federating units of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. |
Leyu qabalé (ልዩ ቀበሌ) |
(Under the current state structure) Special Kebele, a Kebele given autonomous status as part of the exercise of self-determination right of territorially concentrated minorities within a district (waradā — ወረዳ). |
Leyu waradā (ልዩ ወረዳ) |
(Under the current state structure) Special District, a district given autonomous status as part of the exercise of self-determination right of territorially concentrated minorities within a Zonal administration (Zone — ዞን). |
Leyu zone (ልዩ ዞን) |
(Under the current state structure) Special Zone, a Zonal administration given autonomous status for territorially concentrated minorities within a Regional State (Region — ክልል). |
Madamare (መደመር) |
Literally translates as ‘addition,’ or ‘coming together"; it represents the political philosophy crafted and touted by the incumbent prime minister of Ethiopia and emphasizes synergy, unity, collaboration, pulling resources together, love, forgiveness, reconciliation and teamwork as the way forward for collective wellbeing. |
Māhebarāte (ማህበራት) |
Associations |
Maketafiyā (መክተፊያ) |
Wooden chopping board, a utensil used in Ethiopian households for chopping veg and meat. |
Nafeṭañā (ነፍጠኛ) |
Literally meaning ‘gunslinger’, denotes settler-soldiers during the imperial government of Ethiopia. |
Nage-bane (ነግ በኔ) |
‘Tomorrow it will be my turn,’ i.e., I might be the next one to suffer the same misfortune. |
OroMara/Oro-Mara | A recently coined term to denote the alliance between political elites in ANDM and OPDO that brought Abiy Ahmed of the then Oromo Democratic People’s Organization (OPDO) to the premiership in April 2018, ending decades of TPLF’s hegemonic place. |
Tewahedo (ተዋሕዶ) |
In ‘Orthodox Tewahedo Christianity’, Miaphysitism, dogma asserting that Jesus Christ is fully divine and fully human, in one 'nature'. |
Qeerroo | (In Afan Oromo) literally it means a young or unmarried person but in the post-2014 political movement it symbolizes the Oromo youth movement for increased political freedom and greater ethnic representation in the federal government. |
reḥerāhé (ርሕራሄ) |
Compassion, kindheartedness |
Sheger | Pop name for the city of Addis Ababa |
Tādāgi keleloče (ታዳጊ ክልሎች) |
Emerging/developing regions (in FDRE) |
Taqelāye gezāte (ጠቅላይ ግዛት) |
Governate-general |
Tur (ጡር) |
Wrong done to someone which also may befall the wrongdoer; a revolting action [which God will punish]; unrighteous action toward another person(s). |
Waradā gezāte (ወረዳ ግዛት) |
District-governorate |
Wereda | District, lower level of administration |
Yaʼasetadādare wasane (የአስተዳደር ወሰን) |
Administrative boundary |
Yeluñetā (ይሉኝታ) |
Concern for public opinion as regards own action; regard for proprieties of one’s behavior. |
Yeqeretā (ይቅርታ) |
Forgiveness |
Zamana masāfenete (ዘመነ መሳፍንት) |
The Era of Princes, a period in Ethiopian history between the mid-18th and mid-19th centuries when the country was divided within itself into several de facto autonomous regions with no effective central authority. |
Zamanāwinate (ዘመናዊነት) |
Modernity |
Zone-9 Movement | A social Media activism by a group of bloggers from Ethiopia advocating human rights and the rule of law. |
Zone (ዞን) |
Administrative division of a regional state under the current Ethiopian state structure. |