A demonym (; ????? d?mos "people, tribe", ?????? ónoma "name") is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place.
It is a neologism (i.e., a recently minted term); previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e.g., the Oxford English Dictionary and Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary.
Examples of demonyms include Swahili for a person of the Swahili coast and Cochabambino for a person from the city of Cochabamba.
Demonyms do not always clearly distinguish place of origin or ethnicity from place of residence or citizenship, and many demonyms overlap with the ethnonym for the ethnically dominant group of a region. Thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people.
Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms. For example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Briton or, informally, a Brit. In some languages, a demonym may be borrowed from another language as a nickname or descriptive adjective for a group of people: for example, "Québécois(e)" is commonly used in English for a native of Quebec (though "Quebecker" is also available).
In English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e.g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist; for instance the adjectival form of Spain is "Spanish", but the demonym is "Spaniard".
English commonly uses national demonyms such as "Ethiopian" or "Guatemalan" and more local demonyms such as "Chicagoan", "Wisconsinite", or "Parisian". Some places, especially smaller towns and cities, lack a commonly used and accepted demonym.
Video Demonym
Etymology
The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis ("of a clan, or gens") and the English suffix -ic. The word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning "populace" (????? 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. The word did 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. However, in What Do You Call a Person From...? A Dictionary of Resident Names (the first edition of Labels for Locals) Dickson attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names' Names: A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon (1988), 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.
Maps Demonym
List of adjectival and demonymic forms for countries and nations
List of adjectivals and demonyms for cities
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
- Asia -> Asian
- Australia -> Australian
- Europe -> European
- North America -> North American
- Central America -> Central American
- South America -> South American
Countries
States and provinces
Cities
-ian
Countries
States, provinces, counties, and cities
-anian
- Guam -> Guamanian
-nian
- Bendigo -> Bendigonian
- Buffalo -> Buffalonian
- Manchester (UK) -> Mancunian
- Panama -> Panamanian
- Sligo -> Sligonian
- Tampa -> Tampanian
- Tobago -> Tobagonian
- Toronto -> Torontonian
- Torquay -> Torquinian
- Trinidad & Tobago -> Trinbagonian
-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 -> Filipino (feminine: Filipina, see below)
- Philistia -> Philistine
-a(ñ/n)o/a, -e(ñ/n)o/a, or -i(ñ/n)o/a
as adaptations from the standard Spanish suffix -e(ñ/n)o (sometimes using a final -a instead of -o for a female, following the Spanish suffix standard -e(ñ/n)a)
Countries and regions
- Cebu -> Cebuanos
- El Salvador -> Salvadoreños (also "Salvadoran")
- Philippines -> Filipinos (in general), Filipino (singular male), Filipinas (if exclusively female), Filipina (singular female)
Cities
- Albuquerque -> Albuquerqueans (also "Burqueño")
- Buenos Aires -> Porteños
- Cavite -> Caviteños
- Davao City -> Davaoeños
- Los Angeles -> Angelenos
- Madrid -> Madrileños
- Manila -> Manileños (also "Manilans")
- São Paulo -> Paulistanos
- Zamboanga City -> Zamboangueño people
-ite
-(e)r
Often used for European locations and Canadian locations
-ish
(Usually suffixed to a truncated form of the toponym, or place-name.)
"-ish" is usually proper only as an adjective. See note below list.
-ene
- Cairo -> Cairene
- Cyrenaica -> Cyrene
- Damascus -> Damascene
- Nazareth -> Nazarene
- Palmyra -> Palmyrene
- Slovenia -> Slovene (also "Slovenian")
Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations.
-ensian
- Kingston-upon-Hull (UK) -> Hullensian
- Leeds (UK) -> Leodensian
- Reading (UK) -> Readingensian
-ard
- Spain -> Spaniard (also "Spanish")
- Savoy -> Savoyard
- Montagne -> Montagnard
-ese, -lese, -vese, or -nese
"-ese" is usually considered proper only as an adjective, or to refer to the entirety. 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(e)
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
- Finn -> Finnic (also "Finnish")
- Antarctica -> Antarctic
- Greenland -> Greenlandic (also "Greenlander")
- Iceland -> Icelandic (also "Icelander")
- Iran -> Iranic (also "Iranian")
- Slav -> Slavic
-iot(e)
- Chios -> Chiot
- Corfu -> Corfiot
- Cyprus -> Cypriot ("Cyprian" before 1960 independence of Cyprus)
- Phanar -> Phanariote
Used especially for Greek locations.
-asque
- Monaco -> Monégasque (native citizen of Monaco)
- Menton -> Mentonasque
- Basque Country -> Basque
Often used for French locations.
-(we)gian
- Galloway -> Galwegian
- Galway -> Galwegian
- Glasgow -> Glaswegian
- Norway -> Norwegian
-onian
- Aberdeen -> Aberdonian
- Bath -> Bathonian
- Connacht -> Connachtonian
- Cork -> Corkonian
- Dundee -> Dundonian
- Halifax -> Haligonian
- Newport -> Newportonian
- Oxford -> Oxonian
- Toronto -> Torontonian
- Truro -> Truronian
Often used for British and Irish locations.
-vian
- Barrow-in-Furness -> Barrovian
- Harrow -> Harrovian
- Oamaru -> Oamaruvian
- Oslo -> Oslovian
- Peru -> Peruvian
- Warsaw -> Warsovian
- Waterloo -> Waterluvian
- Wythenshawe -> Wythenshavian
-san
- Burkina Faso -> Burkinabè (also Burkina Fasan)
-ois(e), -ais(e)
- Benin -> Beninois(e) (also Beninese)
- Gabon -> Gabonais(e) (also Gabonese)
- Seychelles -> Seychellois(e)
- Quebec -> Quebecois(e) (also Quebecker, most common within Canada)
While derived from French, these are also official demonyms in English.
From Latin or Latinization
- Alsace -> Alsatian (Alsatia)
- Ashbourne -> Ashburnian (Essiburn)
- Cambridge -> Cantabrigian
- Colchester -> Colcestrian
- Courland -> Couronian (Curonia)
- Exeter -> Exonian
- Germany -> German (Germani)
- Guernsey -> Sarnian (Sarnia)
- Halifax -> Haligonian
- Hispanic America -> Hispanic (Hispania)
- Leeds -> Leodensian (Ledesia)
- Lviv -> Leopolitan (Leopolis)
- Manchester -> Mancunian (Mancunia)
- Melbourne -> Melburnian (Melburnia)
- Minneapolis -> Minneapolitan
- Naples -> Neapolitan (Neapolis)
- Newcastle -> Novocastrian (Novum Castrum)
- Orkney Islands -> Orcadian (Orcadia)
- Oswestry -> Oswestrian (Oswestria)
- Shropshire -> Salopian (Salopia)
- Tripoli -> Tripolitan (Tripolis)
- Venice -> Venetian
- Wolverhampton -> Wulfrunian
Prefixation
It is much rarer to find Demonyms created with a prefix. Mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of a particular ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, and the language, Kiluba or Tshiluba. Similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti (Viti being the Fijian name for Fiji). On a country level:
- Botswana -> Motswana (singlular), Batswana (plural)
- Burundi -> Umurundi (singular), Abarundi (plural)
- Lesotho -> Mosotho (singular), Basotho (plural)
In the Pacific, at least two countries use prefixation:
- Kiribati -> i-Kiribati
- Vanuatu -> Ni-Vanuatu
Cities
- Shillong -> nong Shillong
Non-Standard Examples
Demonyms may also not conform to the underlying naming of a particular place, but instead arise out of historical or cultural particularities that become associated with its denizens. These demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the intercollegiate sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed.
Formal
- Albuquerque -> Burquenos
- Buenos Aires -> Porteños
- Indiana -> Hoosier
- Los Angeles -> Angelenos
- Rio de Janeiro -> Cariocas
- Massachusetts -> Bay Staters
- Valparaíso -> Porteños
Informal
- Birmingham, England -> Brummie
- Canada -> Canuck
- Connecticut -> Nutmegger
- Jersey -> Jèrriais (adjectival), Jerseyman (demonym)
- Kansas -> Jayhawker
- Liverpool -> Scouser or Liverpudlian
- London, England -> Cockney (Specifically: One hailing from East London, England)
- Newcastle upon Tyne, England -> Geordie
- Newfoundland, Canada -> Newfie
- New Zealand -> Kiwi
- North Carolina -> Tar Heel
- Pittsburgh -> Yinzer
- Scotland -> Jock
- Sunderland -> Mackem
- Sydney -> Sydneysider
- Ohio -> Buckeye
- Oklahoma -> Okie, Sooner
- Oldham -> Yonner
Ethnic demonyms
- Abkhazia -> Abkhazs
- Afghanistan -> Afghans
- Arab World -> Arabs
- Azerbaijan -> Azerbaijanis, Azeris
- Bengal -> Bengali
- Bosnia -> Bosniaks
- Canada -> Canadians
- Chechnya -> Chechens
- Cornwall -> Cornishman, Cornishwoman
- Croatia -> Croats
- Czech Republic -> Czechs
- Denmark -> Danes
- England -> Englishman, Englishwoman
- Finland -> Finn
- Flanders -> Flemings
- France -> Frenchman, Frenchwoman
- Indonesia -> Indonesians
- Ingushetia -> Ingushians
- Iran -> Iranian, Persian
- Ireland -> Irishman, Irishwoman
- Jersey -> Jerseyman, Jerseywoman
- Kalmykia -> Kalmyks
- Kazakhstan -> Kazakhs
- Kosovo -> Kosovars
- Kerry -> Kerrymans
- KwaZulu -> Zulus
- Kurdistan -> Kurds
- Kyrgyzstan -> Kyrgyzs
- Lapland -> Lapps (note: considered offensive in Norway and Sweden. "Same" is preferred in Swedish, derived from the land being called Sapmi in the native language)
- Luxembourg -> Luxembourgers
- Madagascar -> Malagasys, Madagascans
- Mongolia -> Mongols
- Montenegro -> Montenegrins
- Netherlands -> Dutch people
- New South Wales -> New South Welshman
- Philippines - Filipinos
- Poland -> Poles
- Scotland -> Scots, Scotsman, Scotswoman
- Serbia -> Serbs
- Slovakia -> Slovaks
- Slovenia -> Slovenes
- Somalia -> Somalis
- Spain -> Spaniards
- Swaziland -> Swazis
- Sweden -> Swedes
- Tajikistan -> Tajiks
- Tamil Nadu -> Tamils
- Tatarstan ->Tatars
- Thailand -> Thais
- Turkey -> Turks
- Turkmenistan -> Turkmens
- Ulster -> Ulsterman
- United States of America -> Americans
- Uzbekistan -> Uzbeks
- Wales -> Welsh people
- Yorkshire -> Yorkshireman, Yorkshirewoman
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 adjectivals and demonyms for subcontinental regions
- List of adjectivals and demonyms for Australia
- List of adjectivals and demonyms for Canada
- List of adjectivals and demonyms for Cuba
- 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 the Philippines
- List of adjectivals and demonyms for the United States
- List of adjectivals and demonyms for former regions
- List of adjectivals and demonyms for Greco-Roman antiquity
- List of adjectivals and demonyms for fictional regions
- List of regional nicknames
- Macedonia naming dispute
- Nationality
-onym, especially ethnonym and Exonym and endonym
References
Notes
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.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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