A demonym, also referred to as a gentilic, is a name A name is a label for a noun, normally used to distinguish one from another. Names can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. A personal name identifies a specific unique and identifiable individual person, and may or may not include a middle name. The name of a specific entity is for a resident of a locality and is derived from the name of the particular locality.[1] The word demonym comes from the Greek Greek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical ancient Greek literature and the New Testament of word for "populace" (δῆμος demos) with the suffix for "name" (-nym). In English English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into South-East Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria. Following the economic, political, military, scientific, cultural, and colonial influence of Great Britain and the United Kingdom from the 18th century, and of, the demonym is often the same as the name of the people's native language: the people of Italy Italy (pronounced /ˈɪtəli/ ; Italian: Italia [iˈtaːlja]), officially the Italian Republic (Italian: Repubblica italiana), is a country located partly on the European Continent and partly on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine are called Italian b includes 291,200 permanent residents; not including about 500.000 Italian-speaking Swiss people, , which is also the name of their language[citation needed]. National Geographic Magazine National Geographic, formerly the National Geographic Magazine, is the official journal of the National Geographic Society. It published its first issue in 1888, just nine months after the Society itself was founded. It is immediately identifiable by the characteristic yellow frame that surrounds its front cover attributes this term to Merriam-Webster Merriam–Webster, which was originally the G. & C. Merriam Company of Springfield, Massachusetts, is an American company that publishes reference books, especially dictionaries that are descendants of Noah Webster’s An American Dictionary of the English Language editor Paul Dickson.[2] It was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals.[3]

Dickson himself attributed the term to George H. Scheetz in What Do You Call a Person From...? A Dictionary of Resident Names (the first edition of Labels for Locals).[4] The term first appeared in Names' Names: A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon by George H. Scheetz.[1]

The term is foreshadowed in demonymic, which the Oxford English Dictionary The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is a dictionary of the English language. Two fully-bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. As of December 2008[update], the editors had completed one quarter of a third edition defines as the name of an Athenian citizen according to the deme In Ancient Greece, a deme was a subdivision of Attica, the region of Greece surrounding Athens. Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside seem to have existed in the 6th century BC and earlier, but did not acquire particular significance until the reforms of Cleisthenes in 508 BC. In those reforms, enrollment in the citizen-lists of to which he belonged, with first usage traced to 1893.[5][6]

The term demonym is not widely employed or known outside geographical circles and does not yet appear in mainstream dictionaries. It is used by some geographers, both online and within their studies and teaching.[7]

Some places, particularly smaller cities and towns, may not have an established word for their residents; toponymists Toponymy is the scientific study of place names , their origins, meanings, use and typology. The word 'Toponymy' is derived from the Greek words tópos (τόπος) ('place') and ónoma (ὄνομα) ('name'). Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds. Toponymy is distinct, though often confused with etymology, have a particular challenge in researching these. In some countries, like Belgium Belgium (pronounced /ˈbɛldʒəm/ , BEL-jəm), officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO. Belgium covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres (11,787 sq mi), and it has a and Luxembourg Luxembourg (pronounced /ˈlʌksəmbɜrɡ/ LUKS-əm-berg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (Luxembourgish: Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg, French: Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, German: Großherzogtum Luxemburg), is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. Luxembourg has a population of over half a, there is strong tradition of "demonym-like nicknames", called blason populaire in French French is a Romance language spoken as a first language by about 136 million people worldwide. Around 190 million people speak French as a second language, and an additional 200 million speak it as an acquired foreign language. French speaking communities are present in 57 countries and territories. Most native speakers of the language live in. In some cases, this blason populaire is frequently used as the name of the inhabitants.

Contents

Demonyms as roots

While many demonyms are derived from placenames, many countries are named for their inhabitants: Germany A region named Germania, inhabited by several Germanic peoples, has been known and documented before AD 100. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire, which lasted until 1806. During the 16th century, northern Germany became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. As a modern nation-state, for the Germans The Germanic peoples are a historical ethno-linguistic group, originating in Northern Europe and identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages, which diversified out of Common Germanic in the course of the Pre-Roman Iron Age. The descendants of these peoples became, and in many areas contributed to, the ethnic groups of North, Thailand Thailand (pronounced /ˈtaɪlænd/ TYE-land or /ˈtaɪlənd/; Thai: ราชอาณาจักรไทย Ratcha Anachak Thai, IPA: [râːtɕʰa ʔaːnaːtɕɑ̀k tʰɑj]) (formerly Siam Thai: สยาม) is an independent country that lies in the heart of Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos for the Thais The Thai are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China. Their language is the Thai language, which is classified as part of the Kradai family of languages, and the majority of Thai are followers of Theravada Buddhism, Denmark Denmark (pronounced /ˈdɛnmɑrk/ ; Danish: Danmark, pronounced [ˈd̥ænmɑɡ̊], archaic: [ˈd̥anmɑːɡ̊]) is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders for the Danes The Danes were a North Germanic tribe residing in modern day southern Sweden and on the Danish islands . They are mentioned in the 6th century in Jordanes' Getica, by Procopius, and by Gregory of Tours, France France (pronounced /ˈfrænts/ frantss or /ˈfrɑːnts/ frahnts; French pronunciation (help·info): [fʁɑ̃s]), officially the French Republic (French: République française, pronounced: [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a state in Western Europe with several of its overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, for the Franks The Franks were a West Germanic tribal confederation first attested in the third century as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a kingdom on Roman-held soil that was acknowledged by the. Additional examples are: Abkhazia Abkhazia is a political entity on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus whose status is disputed. It considers itself an independent state (the Republic of Abkhazia). This is recognised by Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Nauru, South Ossetia and Transnistria (the last two are entities with a limited for the Abkhaz The Abkhaz or Abkhazians are a Caucasian ethnic group, mainly living in Abkhazia. A large Abkhazian diaspora population resides in Turkey, the origins of which lie in the emigration from the Caucasus in the late 19th century known as Muhajirism. Many Abkhazians also live in other parts of the former Soviet Union, particularly in Russia, Kazakhstan, Slovakia The Slovak Republic (short form: Slovakia /sloʊˈvɑːkiə/ ; Slovak: Slovensko (help·info), long form Slovenská republika (help·info)) is a state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about 49,000 square kilometres (19,000 sq mi). Slovakia is a landlocked country bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria for the Slovaks The Slovaks are a western Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language, and Slovenia Slovenia /sloʊˈviːniə/ sloh-VEE-nee-ə, officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: Republika Slovenija, [reˈpublika sloˈveːnija] (help·info)), is a country in Central Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy on the west, the Adriatic Sea on the southwest, Croatia on the south and east, Hungary on for the Slovenes Slovenes are a South Slavic people primarily associated with Slovenia and the Slovene language. Tribes and peoples generally have a longer continuous history than their countries: tribal names often imply a descent from a single ancestor, such as Rus According to an old legend, Lech, Čech and Rus were eponymous brothers who founded three Slavic nations: Poland , Bohemia (Čechy – now known as the Czech Republic), and Ruthenia (Rus', whose successor states are now Russia, Belarus and Ukraine) as the legendary ancestor of the Russians Other Slavic peoples, especially East Slavs . In Bantu The Bantu languages constitute a sub-branch of the Niger-Congo languages. By one estimate, there are 522 languages in the Bantu family, 668 languages in the Southern Bantoid branch which includes Bantu, and 1,532 in Niger-Congo. Bantu languages are spoken largely east and south of the present day country of Cameroon; i.e., in the regions commonly languages the name of the land and the name of the inhabitants will have a common root distinguished by different prefixes (e.g. Buganda, land, and Baganda, inhabitants).

Adjectives as placenames

Some placenames originated as adjectives. In such cases the placename and the demonym often are the same word, sometimes specialized in form.

This dual function is very common in French, where for example Lyonnais means either the region or an inhabitant of Lyon Lyon (French pronunciation: [ljɔ̃] ; Arpitan: Liyon, IPA: [ʎjɔ̃]; English: /liːˈɒn/ or anglicized as Lyons /ˈlaɪ.ənz/), is a city in east-central France in the region Rhône-Alpes, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at 470 km (292 mi) from Paris, 320 km (199 mi) from Marseille, 160 km (99 mi) from Geneva, 280 km (174.

Suffix demonyms

The English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into South-East Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria. Following the economic, political, military, scientific, cultural, and colonial influence of Great Britain and the United Kingdom from the 18th century, and of uses several models to create demonyms. The most common is to add a suffix An affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word. Affixes may be derivational, like English -ness and pre-, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed. They are bound morphemes by definition; prefixes and suffixes may be separable affixes. Affixation is, thus, the linguistic process speakers use to form new to the end of the location's name, slightly modified in some instances. These may be modeled after Late Latin Late Latin is the scholarly name for the written Latin of Late Antiquity. The English dictionary definition of Late Latin dates this period from the 3rd to the 6th centuries AD. extending in Spain to the 7th. This somewhat ambiguously defined period fits between Classical Latin and Medieval Latin. Although there is no scholarly certainty when, Semitic In linguistics and ethnology, Semitic was first used to refer to a language family of largely Middle Eastern origin, now called the Semitic languages. This family includes the ancient and modern forms of Akkadian, Amharic, Arabic, Aramaic, Ge'ez, Hebrew, Maltese, Phoenician, Tigre and Tigrinya among others or Germanic The Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all the languages in this branch is Proto-Germanic, spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe. Proto-Germanic, along with all of its descendants, is characterized by a suffixes, such as:

Irregular forms

There are many irregular demonyms for recently formed entities, such as those in the New World. There are other demonyms which are borrowed from the native or another language.

In some cases, both the location's name and the demonym are produced by suffixation, for example England and English and English(wo)man (derived from the Angle tribe). In some cases the derivation is concealed enough that it is no longer morphemic: France → French (or Frenchman/Frenchwoman) or Flanders → Flemish or Wales → Welsh.

In some of the latter cases the noun is formed by adding -man or -woman (English/Englishman/Englishwoman; Irish/Irishman/Irishwoman; Chinese/Chinese man/Chinese woman, versus the archaic or derogatory terms Chinaman/Chinawoman).

From Latin or Latinization
From native or other languages
Irregular singular forms
New World forms

In the case of most Canadian provinces and territories and U.S. states, it is unusual to use demonyms as attributive adjectives (for example "Manitoba maple", not "Manitoban maple"); thus they are generally used only predicatively ("Ben Franklin was Pennsylvanian") or substantively ("Eight Virginians have become Presidents of the United States"). There are some exceptions — the attributive adjective for Alaska for many is Alaskan; the same is true for Alberta (Albertan) and Hawaii (Hawaiian).

According to Webster's New International Dictionary, 1993, a person who is a native or resident of Connecticut is a "Connecticuter", although many prefer "Connecticutian" or the slightly shorter "Connecticite"; The nickname "Nutmegger", which is not a demonym, is also used.

A person who is a native or resident of Indiana is a Hoosier, an irregular demonym whose origin is obscure. The state's official nickname is "The Hoosier State." Hoosier is also an attributive adjective (e.g.: "the Hoosier Lottery"). Demonyms like "Indianan" or "Indianian" are attributed to the state by federal publications and dictionaries, but are confusing at best and not used in practice. (Since "Indiana" literally means "land of the Indians," the historical mistake initiated by Columbus becomes inherently absurd and clunky: "of the people of the land of the Indians," or perhaps "of the land of the land of the Indians," or even "of the land of the land of the land of the people of india") A search of the state's official website at in.gov on June 16, 2010 found 13 instances of the word Indianian and 47 of the word Indianan, compared to more than 20,000 of the word Hoosier.

Double forms

Some regions and populaces also have double forms, as the concepts of nation and state are diverging once more. Hence, one whose genetic ancestors were from Britain is a Briton, whereas one with a passport from the country is considered British. The Franks settled France, but the citizens are French. This may be the case for states which were formed or dissolved relatively recently. As in the examples below, another reason for double forms of demonyms may be in relation to historical, cultural or religious issues.

Due to the flexibility of the international system, the opposite is often also true, where one word might apply to multiple groups. The U.S. Department of State states that 98 percent of the Austrian population is ethnically German,[9] while the CIA World Factbook contradicts this assertion by saying Austrians are a separate group (see Various terms used for Germans).[10]

In fiction

Literature and science have created a wealth of demonyms that are not directly associated with a cultural group, such as Martian for hypothetical people of Mars (credited to scientist Percival Lowell), Jovian for those of Jupiter or its moons, Earthling (from the diminutive -ling, ultimately from Old English -ing meaning 'descendant') as a possible name for the people of Earth (as also "Terran", "Terrene", "Earthican" and "terrestrial"), and Lilliputians and Brobdingnagians from the islands of Lilliput and Brobdingnag in the satire Gulliver's Travels. Some of these, like Venusians for a putative resident of Venus, are technically incorrect; to conform with the Latin etymon, they should be Venerians. Said demonyms of planets are often used astronomically to describe characteristics, such as surface, satellites, and weather, of the same planets: e.g., a Jovian storm.

Cultural problems

There will often be differences between endonyms (terms used by groups themselves) and exonyms (terms used by outsiders to describe a group). Exonyms often lack the internal variety of endonyms: they often lump together groups who see themselves as distinct. For example, terms like Iroquois, Aztec, Māori, might be used by outsiders to refer to groups as a whole, whereas members of each of these groups will favor more differentiated endodyms. Languages also might make use of grammatical differences that are lost when translated: in Czech, for example, the language is Čeština, the nation is Česko or Česká republika, and the people are Češi.

The governments of both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China officially adhere to the One-China policy, use "Chinese" to describe their nationals, and refuse to have diplomatic relations with states that recognize the other. However, in the Republic of China, consisting mostly of Taiwan, many inhabitants do not consider themselves Chinese. A larger number consider themselves both Chinese and Taiwanese.[11]

Both North Korea and South Korea officially refer to their nationals simply as Koreans, since they recognize a single nationhood even if they refuse to recognize each other. They have diplomatic relations with states that recognize their rival.

The demonym for citizens of the United States of America suffers a similar problem albeit non-politically, because "American" may ambiguously refer to both the nation, the USA, and the conjoined continent pair, North and South America. United Statian is awkward in English, but it exists in Spanish (estadounidense), French (étatsunien(ne), although americain(e) is preferred), Portuguese (estado-unidense or estadunidense), Italian (statunitense), and also in Interlingua (statounitese). US American (for the noun) and US-American (when used as a compound modifier preceding a noun) is another option, and is a common demonym in German (US-Amerikaner). Latin Americans (who are the most affected by this use of American) also have yanqui (Yankee) and the euphemism norteamericano/norte-americano 'North American, which technically includes the USA, Mexico and Canada, but is frequently used in Spanish to refer to the United States only. Frank Lloyd Wright popularized Usonian, from the abbreviation for United States of North America, and which is used Esperanto (country Usono, demonym Usonano, adjective usona). In the spirit of Sydneysider, Statesider is also sometimes seen. See main article: Names for Americans.

Sharing a demonym does not necessarily bring conflict. During the 1996 Olympics, the residents of Atlanta, Georgia gave a rousing applause to the Eurasian state of Georgia during the opening ceremony. Many cities that share the same name have sister city relations, such as Toledo, Ohio and Toledo, Spain. The demonyms for the Caribbean nations Dominican Republic and Dominica, though pronounced differently, are spelled the same way, Dominican. The former country's demonym is the ordinary English adjective "Dominican", stressed on the second syllable. The demonym for Dominica, like the name of the country, is stressed on the third syllable: /ˌdɒmɪˈniːkən/. Another example is the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Their nationals are both known as Congolese.

A few residents of the island of Lesbos tried to ban homosexual women from being called lesbians but it was rejected by a court in Athens.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b George H. Scheetz (1988). Names' Names: A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon. Schutz Verlag.
  2. ^ ), National Geographic Society (U.S (February 1990). "Gentilês, Demonyms: What’s in a Name?". National Geographic Magazine 177: 170. http://books.google.com/?id=krIOAAAAIAAJ&q=demonym&dq=demonym.
  3. ^ William Safire (1997-12-14). "On Language; Gifts of Gab for 1998". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F04EEDB143CF937A25751C1A961958260&scp=1.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ a b "Oxford English Dictionary". Oxford University Press. http://www.oed.com/.
  6. ^ "Aristotle's Constitution of Athens, edited by J.E. Sandy, at the Internet Archive". p. 116. http://www.archive.org/details/constitutionofat00arisuoft.
  7. ^ "Demonyms". http://www.geography-site.co.uk/pages/countries/demonyms.html.
  8. ^ "Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 2, Section 35: Designation of citizens of commonwealth". The Commonwealth of Massachusetts. http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/2-35.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-29. : "Bay Staters shall be the official designation of citizens of the commonwealth".
  9. ^ "U.S. Department of State". U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State. 2007-08-28. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3165.htm. Retrieved 2007-08-28.
  10. ^ "CIA World Factbook". CIA World Factbook. CIA World Factbook. 2007-08-28. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/au.html#People. Retrieved 2007-08-28.
  11. ^ Yun-han Chu and Chia-lung Lin (16–17 December 1998). "The Construction of Taiwanese Identity and Cross-Strait Relations". Taiwan Security Research. http://www.taiwansecurity.org/TS/TS-Lin.htm. Retrieved 7 December 2009. "A general survey conducted after the 1996 presidential election found that 47.8% of the population said that they were proud of being of both Taiwanese and Chinese, compared to 20.8% proud of being only a Taiwanese and not as a Chinese and only 5.5% proud of being a Chinese and not as a Taiwanese."
  12. ^ Court rules lesbians are not just from Lesbos

External links

Look up demonym or gentilic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Categories: Semantics | Types of words

 

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is a demonym , and one that is 100% likely to be understood by any Arab christian, whether he lives in Egypt, or lived in Yathrib 1400 years ago.



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the Former Yugoslav Republic of","09-08","Ma​cedonian","+1""​ML","Mali","09-​22","Malian",""​"MM","Myanmar",​"01-04","Burmes​e","+6.5""MN","​Mongolia","11-2​6","Mongolian",​"+7 to +8""MO","Mozamb​ique","12-20","​Macanese","+8""​MP" ...

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Q. I Have Homework About France. If You Would Be So Kind To Give Me A Website About It, That IS NOT Wikipedia. Here Are The Questions I Need To Answer: The Largest City: Official Language: Demonym: Type Of Government: Brief History: Total Land Area: Population(2007 or 2008 estimate): Currency: Dominant Religion: Two Facts Why It Is Great To Visit: **if you already know some answers feel free to put it.** :)thank you.
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A. Largest city: Paris Official language: French Demonym: French Type of government: Republic Brief history: Roman provinces united progressively, starting with King Clovis who converted to Christianity in 498. Total land area: 260,558 sq.miles (including overseas territories) Population: 64,473,140 (2008 estimate) Currency: Euro Dominant religion: Christianity Two facts why it is great to visit: Food and arts
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