14世紀晚期，源自拉丁語 Æthiops “埃塞俄比亞人，黑人”，來自希臘語 Aithiops，長期以來在通俗詞源學中被認爲來自 aithein “燃燒”+ ōps “臉”（比較 aithops “火紅的外貌”，後來是“曬黑的”）。
Who the Homeric Æthiopians were is a matter of doubt. The poet elsewhere speaks of two divisions of them, one dwelling near the rising, the other near the setting of the sun, both having imbrowned visages from their proximity to that luminary, and both leading a blissful existence, because living amid a flood of light; and, as a natural concomitant of a blissful existence, blameless, and pure, and free from every kind of moral defilement. [Charles Anthon, note to "The First Six Books of Homer's Iliad," 1878]
荷馬史詩中的埃塞俄比亞人是一個有爭議的問題。詩人在其他地方提到了他們的兩個部分，一個居住在太陽升起的地方，另一個居住在太陽落山的地方，兩者都因爲接近太陽而臉色曬黑，並且都過着幸福的生活，因爲生活在光的洪流中； 作爲幸福生活的自然伴隨，他們是無可指責的，純潔的，沒有任何道德污染。[查爾斯·安東（Charles Anthon），《荷馬史詩伊利亞特的前六卷註釋》，1878年]
