ነፍስ

Amharic

Etymology

From Proto-Semitic *napš- (“breath, spirit”). Compare, Classical Syriac ܢܦܫܐ, Hebrew נֶפֶשׁ, Akkadian 𒆒 (napašu, “to breath”), 𒍣 (napištu, “life”),Arabic نَفْس (nafs, “a soul, a life”), Ugaritic 𐎐𐎔𐎌 (npš), Ge'ez ነፍስ (näfs).

Noun

ነፍስ • (näfs) ?

1. breath, soul, spirit

References

• Isenberg, Karl Wilhelm (1841) Dictionary of the Amharic language. Amharic and English‎^[1], London: The Church Missionary Society, page 109b

Ge'ez

Etymology

From Proto-Semitic *napš- (“breath, spirit”). Compare, Classical Syriac ܢܦܫܐ, Hebrew נֶפֶשׁ, Akkadian 𒆒 (napašu, “to breath”), 𒍣 (napištu, “life”),Arabic نَفْس (nafs, “a soul, a life”), Ugaritic 𐎐𐎔𐎌 (npš).

Noun

ነፍስ • (näfs) f (plural ነፍሳት (näfsat))

1. breath, soul, spirit

References

• Dillmann, August (1865) “ነፍስ”, in Lexicon linguae aethiopicae cum indice latino (in Latin), Leipzig: T. O. Weigel, columns 707–708

Tigrinya

Alternative forms

• ነፍሲ (näfsi)

Etymology

From Proto-Semitic *napš- (“breath, spirit”).

Noun

ነፍስ • (näfs)

1. soul