Here's a relevant clip from a novel:

FROM NIGHTFALL UNTIL MIDNIGHT, p. 105

"He led the way toward the room of the
Rev. Dr. Bulgin, whom the profane some-
times called Bulgine, which, as the learned
know, is good Ethiopian for Steam Engine.
This seemed to imply that the Rev. Dr. was
a perfect Locomotive in his way."

I doubt that the reference to "Ethiopian" means "Amharic" but I could be encouraged to pursue that "red herring."

Charley Noble