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'''Demonym''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ɛ|m|ə|n|ɪ|m}}; δῆμος ''dẽmos'' 'people, tribe', ὄνομα ''ónoma'' 'name') is a recently created word that denotes terms that are used to identify natives or residents of a certain or specific place and which are derived from the name of that place. The term '''gentilic''' was used previously by the Oxford English Dictionary. A 'demonym' is [[derivation (linguistics)|derived]] from the name of a place.<ref name="Scheetz">{{Cite book |title=Names' Names: A Descriptive and Pervasive Onymicon |author=George H. Scheetz |publisher=Schütz Verlag |year=1988}}</ref> Examples of demonyms derived from place names include ''[[Chinese people|Chinese]]'' for the natives of [[China]], ''[[Swahili people|Swahili]]'' for the natives of the [[Swahili coast]], and ''[[Americans|American]]'' for the natives of the [[United States of America]] (or sometimes those of [[the Americas]]). |
'''Demonym''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|d|ɛ|m|ə|n|ɪ|m}}; δῆμος ''dẽmos'' 'people, tribe', ὄνομα ''ónoma'' 'name') is a recently created word that denotes terms that are used to identify natives or residents of a certain or specific place and which are derived from the name of that place. The term '''gentilic''' was used previously by the Oxford English Dictionary. A 'demonym' is [[derivation (linguistics)|derived]] from the name of a place.<ref name="Scheetz">{{Cite book |title=Names' Names: A Descriptive and Pervasive Onymicon |author=George H. Scheetz |publisher=Schütz Verlag |year=1988}}</ref> Examples of demonyms derived from place names include ''[[Chinese people|Chinese]]'' for the natives of [[China]], ''[[Swahili people|Swahili]]'' for the natives of the [[Swahili coast]], and ''[[Americans|American]]'' for the natives of the [[United States of America]] (or sometimes those of [[the Americas]]). |
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Just as ''American'' may refer to two different sets of natives, some sets have multiple names for natives or residents. For example, the natives of the [[United Kingdom]] are the ''[[British people|British]]'' or the ''[[British people|Britons]]''. Demonyms are [[capitalized]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mansioningles.com/gram19.htm|title=Gramática Inglesa. Adjetivos Gentilicios|work=mansioningles.com}}</ref> There may not be a parallel in other languages, leading to some adoptions of the terms as a nicknames or descriptive adjectives. The term has not been adopted by the Oxford English Dictionary or the Merriam-Webster dictionary <ref>http://www.oed.com/noresults?browseType=sortAlpha&noresults=true&page=1&pageSize=20&q=demonym&scope=ENTRY&sort=entry&type=dictionarysearch</ref> |
Just as ''American'' may refer to two different sets of natives, some sets have multiple names for natives or residents. For example, the natives of the [[United Kingdom]] are the ''[[British people|British]]'' or the ''[[British people|Britons]]''. Demonyms are [[capitalized]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mansioningles.com/gram19.htm|title=Gramática Inglesa. Adjetivos Gentilicios|work=mansioningles.com}}</ref> There may not be a parallel in other languages, leading to some adoptions of the terms as a nicknames or descriptive adjectives. The term has not been adopted by the Oxford English Dictionary or the Merriam-Webster dictionary. <ref>http://www.oed.com/noresults?browseType=sortAlpha&noresults=true&page=1&pageSize=20&q=demonym&scope=ENTRY&sort=entry&type=dictionarysearch</ref> |
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English widely includes country-level adjectives or nouns as identification terms, such as "French", "Ethiopian", and "Japanese", but only rarely lower-level ones such as "[[Seoul]]ite", "[[Wisconsin]]ite", "[[Virginia]]n", or "[[Rio de Janeiro (state)|Fluminense]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=from+Russia%2CRussian&year_start=1808&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cfrom%20Russia%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CRussian%3B%2Cc0|title=Google Ngram Viewer|work=google.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=from+Kentucky%2CKentuckian&year_start=1808&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cfrom%20Kentucky%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CKentuckian%3B%2Cc0|title=Google Ngram Viewer|work=google.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=from+Perth%2CPerthite&year_start=1808&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cfrom%20Perth%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CPerthite%3B%2Cc0|title=Google Ngram Viewer|work=google.com}}</ref> Indeed, many places, even large cities such as [[Perth]], lack a commonly-used "demonic" for their natives or residents, which poses a particular challenge to [[toponymy|toponymist]]s researching these words, and hence, "demonym" must be considered a subtype of other adjectives and nouns used as appellations. |
English widely includes country-level adjectives or nouns as identification terms, such as "French", "Ethiopian", and "Japanese", but only rarely lower-level ones such as "[[Seoul]]ite", "[[Wisconsin]]ite", "[[Virginia]]n", or "[[Rio de Janeiro (state)|Fluminense]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=from+Russia%2CRussian&year_start=1808&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cfrom%20Russia%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CRussian%3B%2Cc0|title=Google Ngram Viewer|work=google.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=from+Kentucky%2CKentuckian&year_start=1808&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cfrom%20Kentucky%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CKentuckian%3B%2Cc0|title=Google Ngram Viewer|work=google.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=from+Perth%2CPerthite&year_start=1808&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cfrom%20Perth%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2CPerthite%3B%2Cc0|title=Google Ngram Viewer|work=google.com}}</ref> Indeed, many places, even large cities such as [[Perth]], lack a commonly-used "demonic" for their natives or residents, which poses a particular challenge to [[toponymy|toponymist]]s researching these words, and hence, "demonym" must be considered a subtype of other adjectives and nouns used as appellations. |
Revision as of 03:10, 13 October 2015
Demonym (/ˈdɛmənɪm/; δῆμος dẽmos 'people, tribe', ὄνομα ónoma 'name') is a recently created word that denotes terms that are used to identify natives or residents of a certain or specific place and which are derived from the name of that place. The term gentilic was used previously by the Oxford English Dictionary. A 'demonym' is derived from the name of a place.[1] Examples of demonyms derived from place names include Chinese for the natives of China, Swahili for the natives of the Swahili coast, and American for the natives of the United States of America (or sometimes those of the Americas). Just as American may refer to two different sets of natives, some sets have multiple names for natives or residents. For example, the natives of the United Kingdom are the British or the Britons. Demonyms are capitalized.[2] There may not be a parallel in other languages, leading to some adoptions of the terms as a nicknames or descriptive adjectives. The term has not been adopted by the Oxford English Dictionary or the Merriam-Webster dictionary. [3]
English widely includes country-level adjectives or nouns as identification terms, such as "French", "Ethiopian", and "Japanese", but only rarely lower-level ones such as "Seoulite", "Wisconsinite", "Virginian", or "Fluminense".[4][5][6] Indeed, many places, even large cities such as Perth, lack a commonly-used "demonic" for their natives or residents, which poses a particular challenge to toponymists researching these words, and hence, "demonym" must be considered a subtype of other adjectives and nouns used as appellations.
Etymology
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/61/Webster_collegiate_11.jpg/170px-Webster_collegiate_11.jpg)
The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis ("of a clan, or gens") and the English suffix -ic.[7] The word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning "populace" (δῆμος demos) with the suffix for "name" (-onym).
National Geographic attributes the term "demonym" to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990,[8] however, the word does not appear for nouns, adjectives, and verbs derived from geographical names in the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary nor in prominent style manuals such as the Chicago Manual of Style. It was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals.[9] Dickson, however, in What Do You Call a Person From...? A Dictionary of Resident Names (the first edition of Labels for Locals)[10] attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names' Names: A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon (1988),[1] which is apparently where the term first appears. The term may have been fashioned after demonymic, which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as the name of an Athenian citizen according to the deme to which the citizen belongs, with its first use traced to 1893.[11][12]
Suffixation
Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language. The most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. These may resemble Late Latin, Semitic, Celtic, or Germanic suffixes, such as:
-(a)n
Continents:
- Africa → African
- Antarctica → Antarctican
- Asia → Asian
- Australia → Australian
- Europe → European
- North America → North American
- South America → South American
countries:
states / provinces:
cities:
"German" is not derived by suffixation of the term "Germ"; rather, it is the shortened form of Latin Germanus.
-ian
countries:
cities / states / provinces:
-anian
countries:
- Guam → Guamanian
-nian
- Bendigo → Bendigonian
- Buffalo → Buffalonian
- Panama → Panamanian
- Sligo → Sligonian
- Tampa → Tampanian
- Tobago → Tobagonian
- Toronto → Torontonian
-in(e)
- Argentina → Argentine (and less commonly as "Argentinian" or "Argentinean")
- Byzantium → Byzantine
- Florence → Florentine (also Latin "Florentia")
- The Levant → Levantine
- Montenegro → Montenegrin
- Palatinate → Palatine
- Philippines → Philippine (and less commonly as "Philippinean")
- Philistia → Philistine
-ite
-(e)r
Often used for European locations and Canadian locations
-(en)(in)o
as adaptations from the standard Spanish suffix -(eñ/n)o. countries:
- Andorra → Andorrano
- China → Chino
- El Salvador → Salvadoreño (also "Salvadoran")
- Philippines ("Filipinas") → Filipino
cities:
- Los Angeles → Angeleno or Los Angeleno
- Madrid → madrileño
- Málaga → malagueño
- Manila → Manileño
- Davao City → Davaoeño
- Zamboanga City → zamboangueño
-ish
"-ish" is usually only proper as an adjective. Thus many common "-ish" forms have irregular demonyms, e.g. Britain/British/Briton; Denmark/Danish/Dane; England/English/Englishman; Finland/Finnish/Finn; Flanders/Flemish/Fleming; Ireland/Irish/Irishman; Kurdistan/Kurdish/Kurd; Poland/Polish/Pole; Scotland/Scottish/Scot; Spain/Spanish/Spaniard; Sweden/Swedish/Swede; Turkey/Turkish/Turk.
-ene
- Cairo → Cairene
- Cyrenaica → Cyrene
- Damascus → Damascene
- Greece (Hellas) → Hellene
- Nazareth → Nazarene
- Slovenia → Slovene (also "Slovenian")
Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations.
-ensian
- Kingston-upon-Hull (UK) → Hullensian
-ard
-ese, -lese, -vese, or -nese
"-ese" is usually considered proper only as an adjective, or to refer to the entirety.[citation needed] Thus, "a Chinese person" is used rather than "a Chinese". Often used for East Asian and Francophone locations, from the similar-sounding French suffix -ais(e), which is originally from the Latin adjectival ending -ensis, designating origin from a place: thus Hispaniensis (Spanish), Danensis (Danish), etc.
-i
Mostly for Middle Eastern and South Asian locales and in Latinate names for the various people that ancient Romans encountered (e.g. Allemanni, Helvetii)
-ic
- Finland → Finnic → (also "Finnish" or "Finn")
- Greenland → Greenlandic
- Hispania → Hispanic
- Iceland → Icelandic (also "Icelander")
- Turkey → Turkic (also "Turkish" or "Turk")
-iot(e)
Used especially for Greek locations.
-asque
- Monaco → Monégasque (for natural born citizens of Monaco, not naturalized citizens, see above)
- Menton → Mentonasque
Often used for French locations.
-gian
-onian
- Aberdeen → Aberdonian
- Bath → Bathonian
- Cork → Corkonian [17]
- Dundee → Dundonian
- Halifax → Haligonian
- Newport → Newportonian
- Toronto → Torontonian
Often used for British and Irish locations.
-vian
- Barrow-in-Furness → Barrovian [18]
- Oamaru → Oamaruvian
- Oslo → Oslovian
- Peru → Peruvian
- Warsaw → Varsovian
- Waterloo → Waterluvian [19]
From Latin or Latinization
- Alsace → Alsatian (Alsatia)
- Ashbourne → Ashburnian (Essiburn)
- Colchester → Colcestrian
- Courland → Couronian (Curonia)
- Exeter → Exonian
- Germany → German (Germani)
- Guernsey → Sarnian (Sarnia)
- Halifax → Haligonian
- Leeds → Leodensian (Ledesia)
- Lviv → Leopolitan (Leopolis)
- Manchester → Mancunian (Mancunia)
- Melbourne → Melburnian (Melburnia)
- Naples → Neapolitan (Neapolis)
- Newcastle → Novocastrian (Novum Castrum)
- Orkney Islands → Orcadian (Orcadia)
- Shropshire → Salopian (Salopia)
- Tripoli → Tripolitan (Tripolis)
- Venice → Venetian
- Wolverhampton → Wulfrunian
Fiction
Literature and science fiction have created a wealth of gentilics that are not directly associated with a cultural group. These will typically be formed using the standard models above. Examples include Martian for hypothetical people of Mars (credited to scientist Percival Lowell) or Gondorian for the people of Tolkien's fictional land of Gondor.
Other science fiction examples include Jovian for those of Jupiter or its moons, and Venusian for those of Venus. Fictional aliens refer to the inhabitants of Earth as Earthling (from the diminutive -ling, ultimately from Old English -ing meaning "descendant"), as well as "Terran", "Terrene", "Tellurian", "Earther", "Earthican", "terrestrial", and "Solarian" (from Sol, the sun).
Fantasy literature which involves other worlds or other lands also has a rich supply of gentilics. Examples include Lilliputians and Brobdingnagians, from the islands of Lilliput and Brobdingnag in the satire Gulliver's Travels.
In a few cases, where a linguistic background has been created, non-standard gentilics are formed (or the eponyms back-formed). Examples include Tolkien's Rohirrim (from Rohan) and the Star Trek world's Klingon people (with various version of homeworld name).
See also
- List of adjectival and demonymic forms of place names
- List of adjectivals and demonyms for astronomical bodies
- List of adjectivals and demonyms for continental regions
- List of adjectival and demonymic forms for countries and nations
- List of adjectivals and demonyms for Australia
- List of adjectivals and demonyms for Canada
- List of adjectivals and demonyms for India
- List of adjectivals and demonyms for Malaysia
- List of adjectivals and demonyms for Mexico
- List of adjectivals and demonyms for New Zealand
- List of adjectivals and demonyms for Nigeria
- List of adjectivals and demonyms for the Philippines
- List of adjectivals and demonyms for the United States
- List of adjectivals and demonyms for cities
- List of adjectivals and demonyms for former regions
- List of adjectivals and demonyms for fictional regions
- List of regional nicknames
- Macedonia naming dispute
- Nationality
-onym, especially ethnonym and Exonym and endonym
References
- ^ a b George H. Scheetz (1988). Names' Names: A Descriptive and Pervasive Onymicon. Schütz Verlag.
- ^ "Gramática Inglesa. Adjetivos Gentilicios". mansioningles.com.
- ^ http://www.oed.com/noresults?browseType=sortAlpha&noresults=true&page=1&pageSize=20&q=demonym&scope=ENTRY&sort=entry&type=dictionarysearch
- ^ "Google Ngram Viewer". google.com.
- ^ "Google Ngram Viewer". google.com.
- ^ "Google Ngram Viewer". google.com.
- ^ "Dictionary". Merriam Webster. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
- ^ "Gentilés, Demonyms: What's in a Name?". National Geographic Magazine. 177. National Geographic Society (U.S.): 170. February 1990.
- ^ William Safire (1997-12-14). "On Language; Gifts of Gab for 1998". New York Times.
- ^ What Do You Call a Person From...? A Dictionary of Resident Names by Paul Dickson (Facts on File, February 1990). ISBN 978-0-8160-1983-0.
- ^ "Oxford English Dictionary". Oxford University Press.
- ^ "Aristotle's Constitution of Athens, edited by J.E. Sandy, at the Internet Archive". p. 116.
- ^ Press, AIP, Associated (2007). Stylebook and briefing on media law (42nd ed.). New York: Basic Books. p. 112. ISBN 9780465004898.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Investing in Future, Quiet Manhattan Apartments Next to Construction Sites" http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/12/realestate/manhattan-apartments-next-to-construction-sites.html
- ^ "Copquin explains "Queensites" for New York Times - Yale Press Log". Yale Press Log.
- ^ Paul Dickson (15 August 2006). Labels for Locals : What to Call People from Abilene to Zimbabwe (1st Collins ed.). New York: HarperCollins. p. 208. ISBN 978-0-06-088164-1.
{{cite book}}
:|access-date=
requires|url=
(help) - ^ "Corkonian". merriam-webster.com.
- ^ "North West Evening Mail". nwemail.co.uk.
- ^ "City of Waterloo on Twitter".
Notes
- ^ Local usage generally reserves Hawaiian as an ethnonym referring to Native Hawaiians. Hawaii resident is the preferred local form to refer to state residents in general regardless of ethnicity.[13]
External links
- www.geography-site.co.uk Alphabetical list of world demonyms.
- www.everything2.com Demonyms of the World.
- CIA World Factbook – NATIONALITY
- www.peoplefrom.co.uk Demonyms of the United Kingdom.