زنج

الزَّنْجُ ذ and الزِّنْجُ, (AA, S, Msb, K,) the latter being a dial. var. of the former, (Msb,) both of them chaste, (TA,) [but the latter is the more common,] and ↓ الزُّنُوجُ (S, K) and ↓ المَزْنَجَةُ, (K,) A certain nation of the blacks; (S, Msb, K;) [ the inhabitants of the country called by us “ Zanguebar, ” including the “ Zingis ” of Ptolemy, near the entrance of the Red Sea, and a large portion of inner Africa: ] their country is beneath, and to the south of, the equinoctial line; and beyond them is [ said to be ] no habitation, or cultivation: [sometimes applied to the Negroes absolutely; for] some say that their country extends from the western parts of Africa nearly to Abyssinia, [ comprehending the whole of Nigritia properly so called, or at least the whole of the countries of the Negroes known to the Arabs of the classical ages, ] and that part of it is on the Nile of Egypt: (Msb:) the n. un. is ↓ زَنْجِىٌّ and زِنْجِىٌّ, (AA, A'Obeyd, ISk, S, K,) like as رُومِىٌّ is of رُومٌ: (TA:) and ↓ أَزْنُجٌ occurs as a broken pl., meaning the divisions and subtribes [ of that nation ]: so says AAF, and so in the M. (TA.)