Amharic

Root

hakata

divining lots, the four carved tablets cast to judge and decide a matter; kuhakata, to cast the lots

Menelik carries the Semitic judging root that surfaces in Shona hakata

Confidence
34/100
Root language
Shona
Descent begins
MenelikEnglish

The consensus position

Mainstream scholarship treats Mənilək as an Ethiopian personal and throne name of uncertain origin, most often explained as a contraction of Arabic ibn al-ḥakīm, son of the wise man, the epithet the Kəbrä Nägäśt gives to the son of Solomon and Makədda. Some scholars instead suspect a pre-Semitic or Agaw substrate name later reinterpreted; no derivation is settled.

The working behind this.

The full descent — 7 links from the attested form down to the root — the segment-by-segment correspondences, the phonological breakdown and the case for the derivation are behind an account.

An account opens 10 entries in full, free.