The Latin word nigrum is of unknown origin, but I doubt it's related. As far as I know, it simply referred to the color black, and was not used to disparage African people until it was transferred to the Romance languages. The Hebrew negga ends in an ayin, which, I'm sure you know, is technically a guttural consonant, though treated as a silent letter in most Ashkenazic dialects. If Black Israelites are using the word, they are either mistakenly thinking the two words are related or self-consciously making a pun.
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The Latin word nigrum is of unknown origin, but I doubt it's related. As far as I know, it simply referred to the color black, and was not used to disparage African people until it was transferred to the Romance languages. The Hebrew negga ends in an ayin, which, I'm sure you know, is technically a guttural consonant, though treated as a silent letter in most Ashkenazic dialects. If Black Israelites are using the word, they are either mistakenly thinking the two words are related or self-consciously making a pun.
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