Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles

Emperor Haile Selassie greatly curtailed the power of the Mesafint to the benefit of the Mekwanint, who by then were essentially coterminous with the Ethiopian government.

The full title of the Emperor of Ethiopia was Negusa Nagast and Seyoume Igziabeher (Ge'ez: ሥዩመ እግዚአብሔር; "Elect of God").

Until the reign of Yohannes IV, the Emperor was also Neguse Tsion (Ge'ez: ንጉሠ ጽዮን, nəgusä tsiyon, "King of Zion"), whose seat was at Axum, and which conferred Hegemony over much of the north of the Empire.

Rather than take the title itege, which was reserved for empress consorts, Zewditu was given the feminine version of nigusa nigist to indicate that she reigned in her own right.

She was accorded the dignity of Girmawit ("[Her] Imperial Majesty") and the title of Siyimta Igzi'abher (Ge’ez: ሥይምተ እግዚአብሔር səyəmtä ’əgziabhēr, "Elect of God").

A Negus (Ge'ez: ንጉሥ nəgus, "king") was a hereditary ruler of one of Ethiopia's larger provinces, over whom collectively the monarch ruled, thus justifying his imperial title.

The title of Negus was awarded at the discretion of the Emperor to those who ruled important provinces, although it was often used hereditarily during and after the Zemene Mesafint.

In 1914, after having been appointed "Negus of Zion" by his son Lij Iyasu, Mikael of Wollo, in consideration of the hostile feelings this provoked among much of the nobility in northern Ethiopia (particularly Le'ul Ras Seyoum Mengesha, whose family had resented being denied the title by Menelik), who were now technically made subordinate to him, instead elected to use the title of Negus of Wollo.

[citation needed] Despite this, European sources referred to the Ethiopian monarch as the Negus well into the 20th century, switching to Emperor only after the Second World War – around the same time the name Abyssinia fell out of use in favour of Ethiopia in the west.

The term was introduced as an official title in 1916 by the former foreign minister Blatten Geta Heruy Wolde-Selassie; it was first applied to Dejazmatch Tafari and his wife Princess Menen, who were respectively designated Leul-Ras and Le'elt Woizero.

The notable exception to the rule was Leult Yeshashework Yilma, Emperor Haile Selassie's niece by his elder brother, who received the title with the dignity of "Highness" from Zewditu upon the princess' marriage to Leul Ras Gugsa Araya Selassie in 1918, and then again from her uncle upon his coronation in 1930 with the enhanced dignity of "Imperial Highness".

Lij Tedla Melaku, an influential Ethiopian philosopher, monarchist, and a member of the Gondar-Lasta branch of the Solomonic-Zagwe Imperial House and the Shewan nobility was also invested with the title of Abeto by the Crown Council of Ethiopia in 2019.