How can I say the demonym of “Chaco”? In Spanish it is “chaqueño”, but I don’t know what the correct word is in English. Answer The only use of Chacoan I was able to find was in the English name of the charming little creature Cabassous chacoensis (Cabasú Chaqueño), the Chacoan naked-tailed armadillo, shown above. … Read more
eSwatini (officially the Kingdom of eSwatini) is the new name of Swaziland. What should one call a citizen of eSwatini in English? A citizen of eSwatini is called a[n] _____. I can think of the following candidates: a liSwati, a Swati, an eSwatini, a Swazi. I’m not asking for an invented word. Just for the … Read more
Being a native German speaker, I just came across the word “Rhenish” (as a translation of German “rheinisch”, belonging to the Rhine). I am a bit confused about this, and am at a loss for the proper “language words” to describe it… I have long since ceased to think about either German or English in … Read more
The apparent peculiarity of the phrase mentioned in the title is that the city name itself is used at the beginning of the phrase instead of its demonym Belgradian. Is there a rule of English grammar regarding this situation? Here is a sample sentence containing the above-mentioned phrase: Review of the first part of Husserl’s … Read more
Why do we say the French to refer to the French people collectively, while we say the Greeks, the Russians, the Jews? Why the Chinese, but the Tibetans and the Germans? Why are some such nouns countable plurals? We also say the "Soviets". Answer The only way this question can be answered is by reference … Read more
In Dutch the demonym for a person from Gouda is Gouwenaar. What is the demonym for that person in English? Answer I would go with Goudan.* There does not appear to be an established English demonym to describe the people of Gouda, let alone the adjective to describe anything coming from that province. However, I … Read more
I can say “An American” or “A Frenchman”, however, can I say “A Chinese” like that? Does it sound weird? Answer Yes, you can say “a Chinese” but yes, it sounds at least a little weird to many people most of the time. This is discussed in Why can we say ‘an American’ but not … Read more
In English, the term for a person of Spanish descent is (at least traditionally) a Spaniard. Its etymology is, as far as I can tell, pretty unique among modern words: c. 1400, from Old French Espaignart, from Espaigne “Spain,” from Latin “Hispania”, from Greek Hispania “Spain” (Etymonline) Now-a-days, for different nationalities we use all sorts … Read more
While reading on the Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina in Wikipedia: Their goals, however, were no obstacle to economic cooperation with the Austrian-Hungarian authorities […] This was done as the Austrian-Hungarian authorities had a plan to isolate Bosnia and Herzegovina from its neighbouring Slavic countries, Croatia and Serbia, and to halt the national aspirations … Read more
I know a handful of cities whose denizens can be called "city+er", e.g. Londoner. But is this construction still in active use today and can new demonyms be formed by it? Answer Sure. It is perfectly productive, with the fine print indicated in John Lawler’s comment, i.e., limited applicability: not every place name will sit … Read more
