ኤርትራ ዝብል ስም እንታይ ማለት እዩ?

ገ/ኢ. ጐርፉ

ኣብ ታሪኽ ጽሑፍ ንመጀመርታ ጊዜ ኤሪትረያ ዝብል ቃል እንረኽቦ ብዛዕባ መገሻታት ‘ጉዕዞ ኣብ ባሕሪ ኤርትራ’ (Periplus of the Erythraean Sea) ኣብ ዝብል ጽሑፍ እንትኸውን፣ ቃሉ ካብ ቋንቋ ግሪኽ ዝመጸ እዩ። እቲ ጽሑፍ ድማ ኣብ ግብፂ ዝነብር ዝነበረ ሓደ ግሪኽ/ሮማዊ መርከበኛ ኣብ ጉዕዞኡ ዘጋጠሞ ኩነታት ዘዝንቱ ገለጻታት እዩ። ትሕዝቶኡ ኸአ ኣብ መንጎ ሮማውያንን፣ ኣዕራብን፣ ህንድን ዝነበረ ርክባት ንግዲ የዘንቱ።   ይኹን ድኣ እምበር ኮንቲ ኣንቶኔሊ እተብሃለ ልኡኽ መንግሥቲ ጣልያን ምስ ሃፄይ ምኒልኽ ኣብ ዝገበሮ ውዕል* ንመጀመሪያ ብ1889 ነቲ ካብ ትግራይ ትግርኚ፣ ካብ መረብ ምላሽ፣ ንዘሎ ቦታ ተቖሪጹ እንትወስድ፣ “ኤርትራ” ዝብል ስም ዝሃቦ ንሱ እዩ። እዙይ ማለት ድማ ኤርትራ ዝብል ስም ጣልያን ጸላኢ ዘውጽኦ ናይ ውርደት ስም ድኣ እምበር ዘኹርዕ ስም ከም ዘይኮነ እዩ። ትርጉሙ ድማ ካብ ደም ምውታት ደቀቕቲ ሓሳኹ (bacteria) ‘ባክተርያ’ ዝብሃሉ፣ ነቱ ባሕሪ ሓሬት ዝመስል ሕብሪ ካብ ዝህብዎ ተተሓሒዙ ዝመጸ ስም ብምዃኑ: “ቀይሕ ሕብሪ ምውታት ሓሳኹ” ማለት ከም ዝኾነ መረዳእታ ኣብ ታሕቲ ምምልካት የድሊ። እቶም ሓሳኹ እንትሞቱ ድኣምበር ብህይወቶም እናሃለው ሕብሮም ኣይርኣይን። ምስ ሞቱ እዩ ደሞም ነቲ ማይ ሓሬት ዝመስል ሕብሪ ዝህቦ።  

“ The Red Sea occasionally, becomes filled with blooms of cyanobacteria algae, called trichodesmium erythraeum, which, upon dying, turn the usually blue-green water, reddish-brown. The color is not intense and is said to vary across the expansive body of water.”**

 እዙይ ዓይነት ስም ኣወሃህባ ሓደ ገዛኢ ንዝገዝኦ ግዙእ ሓድሽ ስም ምሃቡ እተለምደ እዩ። ብዙሓት ጸለምቲ ኣሜሪካ ካብ ኣፍሪካ ተጨውዮም ምስተወስዱ እቲ ገዛኢኦም ነቲ ናይ ቀደም ስሞም ገዲፉ ብቶሎ ሓድሽ ስም የውጽአሎም። እዙይ እውን እቲ ገዛኢ ካብቲ ዋንነቱን ጎይትነቱን ዘርእየሉ ሓደ ምልክት ንሱ እዩ። ኮሎኒ ዝተገዝኡ ብዙሓት ሃገራት እውን እቶም ገዛእቲ ኮሎኒ ካልእ ስም ሂቦም ከም ዝገዝእዎም ይፍለጥ። በዙይ ምኽንያት ድማ ብዙሓት ሃገራት ነፃ እንትወጻ ነቲ ብኮሎኒ ዝተውሃበን ስም ገዲፈን ሓድሽ ስም፣ ወይ ድማ ናብቲ ናይ ቀደም ስመን እተመልሳ ብዙሓት ኣለዋ። 

 ንኣብነት፦ ካብቲ ቀደም ሴይሎን (Ceylon) ዝነበረ ሎሚ ናብ ሲሪ ላንካ (Sri Lanka) ቀደም ቡርማ (Burma) ዝነበረ ሎሚ ናብ ሚያንማር (Myanmar) ቀደም ታንጋኒካ (Tanganyika) ዝነበረ ሎሚ ናብ ታንዛንያ (Tanzania) ቀደም ሮዴዠያ (Rhodesia) ዝነበረ ሎሚ ናብ ዚምባብዌ (Zimbabwe) ለዊጠን ኣለዋ።

 ኤርትራ ካልእ ካብ ጥንቲ ጀሚራ እትፍለጠሉ ዝነበረ ብዙሕ ስማት ኣለዋ። ካብ እቶም ክትክኡ ዝኽእሉ ስማት፦ ከበሳ፣ ቦጎስ፣ ምድሪ ባሕሪ፣ ባሕሪ ወሰን፣ ዛይላ፣ ኣዜብ፣ ሳባውያን፣ ኣግዓዝያን፣ ሮሓ፣… ወዘተ ዝመስላ ብዙሓት ጥዑማትን ታሪካውያንን ስማት እናሃለወካዶ ጸላኢ ብዘውጽኣልካ ስም ውርደትን ጸርፍን ተሸኪምካ እናተጸዋዕኻ ምንባር ይግባእ? እዙይ ጽቡቕ ኣይኮነን እሞ፣ ምሁራት ሰባት ምልስ ኢሎም ኣዕሚቖም ክሓስቡሉ ይግባእ።

Sources:- * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Wuchale
** https://www.google.com/search?q=RedSea+color+reason&oq=RedSea+color+reason& aqs=chrome..69i57j33.20758j1j9&client=ms-android-att-us&sourceid=chromemobile&ie=UTF-8 

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The Red Sea (also the Erythraean Sea) is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. To the north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez (leading to the Suez Canal). The Red Sea is a Global 200 ecoregion. The sea is underlain by the Red Sea Rift which is part of the Great Rift Valley.
The Red Sea has a surface area of roughly 438,000 km² (169,100 mi²),^[1][2] is about 2250 km (1398 mi) long and, at its widest point, 355 km (220.6 mi) wide. It has a maximum depth of 3,040 m (9,970 ft) in the central Suakin Trough,^[3] and an average depth of 490 m (1,608 ft). However, there are also extensive shallow shelves, noted for their marine life and corals. The sea is the habitat of over 1,000 invertebrate species, and 200 soft and hard corals. It is the world's northernmost tropical sea.

Red Sea is a direct translation of the Greek Erythra Thalassa (Ερυθρὰ Θάλασσα), Latin Mare Rubrum (alternatively Sinus Arabicus, literally "Arabian Gulf"), Arabic: البحر الأحمر‎, romanized: Al-Baḥr Al-Aḥmar (alternatively بحر القلزم Baḥr Al-Qulzum, literally "the Sea of Clysma"), Somali Badda Cas and Tigrinya Qeyyiḥ bāḥrī (ቀይሕ ባሕሪ). The name of the sea may signify the seasonal blooms of the red-coloured Trichodesmium erythraeum near the water's surface.^[5] A theory favoured by some modern scholars is that the name red is referring to the direction south, just as the Black Sea's name may refer to north. The basis of this theory is that some Asiatic languages used colour words to refer to the cardinal directions.^[6] Herodotus on one occasion uses Red Sea and Southern Sea interchangeably.^[7]
The name in Hebrew Yam Suph (Hebrew: ים סוף‎, lit. 'Sea of Reeds') is of biblical origin. The name in Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ `ⲛϩⲁϩ Phiom Enhah ("Sea of Hah") is connected to Egyptian root ḥḥ which refers to water and sea (for example the names of the Ogdoad gods Heh and Hauhet).^[8]
Historically, it was also known to western geographers as Mare Mecca (Sea of Mecca), and Sinus Arabicus (Gulf of Arabia).^[9] Some ancient geographers called the Red Sea the Arabian Gulf^[10] or Gulf of Arabia.^[11][12]
The association of the Red Sea with the biblical account of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea is ancient, and was made explicit in the Septuagint translation of the Book of Exodus from Hebrew to Koine Greek in approximately the third century B.C. In that version, the Yam Suph (Hebrew: ים סוף‎, lit. 'Sea of Reeds') is translated as Erythra Thalassa (Red Sea). The Red Sea is one of four seas named in English after common color terms — the others being the Black Sea, the White Sea and the Yellow Sea. The direct rendition of the Greek Erythra thalassa in Latin as Mare Erythraeum refers to the north-western part of the Indian Ocean, and also to a region on Mars.

The earliest known exploration of the Red Sea was conducted by ancient Egyptians, as they attempted to establish commercial routes to Punt. One such expedition took place around 2500 BCE, and another around 1500 BCE (by Hatshepsut). Both involved long voyages down the Red Sea.^[13] Historically, scholars argued whether these trips were possible.^[14] The biblical Book of Exodus tells the account of the Israelites' crossing of a body of water, which the Hebrew text calls Yam Suph (Hebrew: יַם סוּף). Yam Suph was traditionally identified as the Red Sea. Rabbi Saadia Gaon (882‒942), in his Judeo-Arabic translation of the Pentateuch, identifies the crossing place of the Red Sea as Baḥar al-Qulzum, meaning the Gulf of Suez.^[15]

 In the 6th century BCE, Darius the Great of Persia sent reconnaissance missions to the Red Sea, improving and extending navigation by locating many hazardous rocks and currents. A canal was built between the Nile and the northern end of the Red Sea at Suez. In the late 4th century BCE, Alexander the Great sent Greek naval expeditions down the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. Greek navigators continued to explore and compile data on the Red Sea. Agatharchides collected information about the sea in the 2nd century BCE. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea ("Periplus of the Red Sea"), a Greek periplus written by an unknown author around the 1st century , contains a detailed description of the Red Sea's ports and sea routes.^[16] The Periplus also describes how Hippalus first discovered the direct route from the Red Sea to India.

The Red Sea was favored for Roman trade with India starting with the reign of Augustus, when the Roman Empire gained control over the Mediterranean, Egypt, and the northern Red Sea. The route had been used by previous states but grew in the volume of traffic under the Romans. From Indian ports goods from China were introduced to the Roman world. Contact between Rome and China depended on the Red Sea, but the route was broken by the Aksumite Empire around the 3rd century AD.^[17]

(Source: Wikipaedia)