Negus

Negus is a noun derived from the Ge'ez Semitic root ngś, meaning "to reign".

The title has subsequently been used to translate the word "king" or "emperor" in Biblical and other literature.

In more recent times, it was used as an honorific title bestowed on governors of the most important provinces (kingdoms): Gojjam, Begemder, Wello, Tigray and the seaward kingdom, (where the variation Bahri Negasi (Sea King), was the title of the ruler of present-day central Eritrea).

[4][5] Sometime during the development of the Ethio-Semitic language family "m-l-k," the original triconsonantal root for king, was elevated to the generic word for "god" in the form of the broken plural "ʾämlak/ʔamlāk."

During this time period the semitic term for a ruler or lord, n-g-s, began to mean "king."