The Jeberti in Eritrea also speak Tigrinya. Bihér roughly means "nation" in the ethnic sense of the word in Tigrinya, Tigre, Amharic and Ge'ez. In Ethiopia, a Tigrayan, that is a native of Tigray, who also speaks the Tigrinya language, is referred to in Tigrinya as tigrāwāy (male), tigrāweytī (female), tigrāwōt or, more commonly, tegaru (plural). In Eritrea, Tigrinya speakers are officially known as the Bihére-Tigrigna ("nation of Tigrinya speakers") or Tigrinya people. There is no general name for the people who speak Tigrinya. Upon Eritrea's independence in 1991, Tigrinya retained the status of working language in the country, the only state in the world, until changes made in Ethiopia in 2020, to recognize Tigrinya on a national level. Tigrinya (along with Arabic) was one of Eritrea's official languages during its short-lived federation with Ethiopia in 1958 it was replaced by the Southern Ethiopic language Amharic prior to its annexation. At the time, it was reported to be the first of its kind. In Eritrea, during British administration, the Ministry of Information put out a weekly newspaper in Tigrinya that cost 5 cents and sold 5,000 copies weekly. The earliest written example of Tigrinya is a text of local laws found in the district of Logosarda, Debub Region in Southern Eritrea, which dates from the 13th century. Ge'ez, because of its status in Ethiopian culture, and possibly also its simple structure, acted as a literary medium until relatively recent times. Although it differs markedly from the Geʽez (Classical Ethiopic) language, for instance in having phrasal verbs, and in using a word order that places the main verb last instead of first in the sentence-there is a strong influence of Geʽez on Tigrinya literature, especially with terms relating to Christian life, Biblical names, and so on.
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