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Demonym
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SUFFIX DEMONYMS

The English Language uses several models to create demonyms. The most common is to add a Suffix to the end of the location's name. These may be modelled after Late Latin , Semitic or Germanic suffixes, such as:

  • ''-an'' or ''-ian'' (America → American , Venice → Venetian)

  • ''-ine'' ( Argentina → Argentine)

  • ''-ite'' ( Vancouver → Vancouverite, Moscow → Muscovite) (mostly cities)

  • ''-er'' ( London → Londoner, Sheffield → Sheffielder) (mostly cities)

  • ''-ish'' ( Spain → Spanish, Denmark → Danish) (mostly countries)

  • ---"-ish" is usually only proper as an adjective. Thus many common "-ish" forms have irregular demonyms. (Spain/Spanish/Spaniard; Denmark/Danish/Dane; Judea /Jewish/ Jew or Judean; Poland /Polish/Pole)

  • ''-ese'' ( Taiwan → Taiwanese, Vienna → Viennese, the Tyrol → Tyrolese)

  • ---"-ese" is also usually only proper as an adjective, or to refer to the entirety. Thus, "the Chinese person" is the singular, "the Chinese people" is the small-number plural, and "the Chinese" refers to the government of China, or to the group of all people of Chinese ancestry.

  • ---Used mostly 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'' ( Iraq → Iraqi, Bengal → Bengali) (mostly Middle East ern and South Asia n locales)

  • ''-i'' ('' Allemanni '', '' Helveti '') (Latinate plural ending applied to the many peoples they encountered)

  • '' -ic '' ('' Hispania '' → Hispanic , '' Turk '' → '' Turkic '' (cf. '' Turkish '')) (a Latinate suffix widely used outside ethnonyms (e.g., chemical compounds) which with regard to people is mostly used adjectivally (Semite vs. Semitic, Arab/Arabian vs. Arabic) to refer to a wider ethnic or linguistic group ( Turkic vs. Turkish , Hispanic vs. Spanish , Finnic vs. Finnish , Germanic vs. German )).

  • ''-iote'' ( Cyprus → Cypriote, Phanar → Phanariote ), especially for Greek locations.



IRREGULAR FORMS

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''.

Often the singular name for one of the people is the base form, and the country name, if it exists, is derived therefrom ('' Switzer '' (an archaic word for ''Swiss'') → '' Switzerland '', '' Arab '' → '' Arabia '', '' Croat '' → '' Croatia '', '' Dane '' → '' Denmark '', '' Teuton '').

In a few cases, demonyms are recent borrowings from other languages or adapted in a process of linguistic mutation where English demonyms are similar to those of other languages (''Kosovo'' → ''Kosovan'' (English demonym) → ''Kosovar'' ( Albanian demonym also used in English), ''Bosnian Muslim'' → ''Bosniak'' (based on the Bosnian demonym ''Bošnjak'')).

In a few cases, the name of the country is not at all related to the name of the people ('' Netherlands '' → '' Dutch ''), usually because the two words originate from different languages.

In the case of Canadian Provinces And Territories and U.S. States , it is non-standard to use demonyms as attributive adjectives (for example "Manitoba maple", not "Manitoban maple"); they can be used only predicatively (" Ben Franklin was Pennsylvanian.").

Demonyms can be Noun s or Adjective s. In many cases the noun and adjective forms are the same (''Canadian/Canadian''); in other cases they are different ('' Spaniard / Spanish '', '' Slovene / Slovenia n'', '' Flemings / Flemish '').
In some of the latter cases the noun is formed by adding -man or -woman (''English/Englishman/Englishwoman'', the obsolete '' Chinese / Chinaman /Chinawoman'').


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 ), Earthling (from the Diminutive -ling) as a possible name for the people of Earth, and Lilliputians from the town of Lilliput in the satire Gulliver's Travels .


CULTURAL PROBLEMS

Some peoples, especially cultures that were overwhelmed by European colonists, have no commonly accepted demonym, or have a demonym that is the same as the name of their (current or historical) nation. Examples include Iroquois , Aztec , Māori , and Czech . Such peoples' ''native'' languages often have differentiated forms that simply did not survive the transfer to English. In Czech, for example, the language is '' Čeština '', the nation is ''Česko'' Or ''Česká Republika'' , and the people are '' Češi ''.

Although many English-speakers are not aware of it, the demonym for citizens of the United States of America suffers a similar problem when translated into many foreign languages, because "American" ambiguously refers to both the USA and to the two American continents. ''United Statesian'' is awkward in English, but it exists in Spanish (''estadounidense''), Portuguese (''estado-unidense'') and also in Italian (''statunitense''). ''US-American'' 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'' (''''.''


SEE ALSO