Notes on glottonyms and ethnonyms in Ethiopian languages

Abstract This paper gives a grammatical and sociolinguistic account of glottonyms and ethnonyms in Ethiopian languages. As a metonymic relationship, glottonyms are derived from ethnonyms by attaching the roots of the vocal organs: ‘mouth’, ‘tongue’ and ‘tooth’. The mouth-based glottonyms are widespread in Cushitic, Omotic and Semitic languages. Nilo-Saharan languages have mouth- and tongue-based glottonyms. Few suppletive forms of glottonyms and ethnonyms were recorded. The use of multiple names for the same language and ethnic group is frequent. The disparity between endonyms and exonyms has long been a source of confusion. In particular, the use of derogatory names has created discontent among ethnolinguistic groups. To alleviate the problems emanating from this polyonymous situation, a uniform use of endonyms as standard names is proposed in this study.