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Esperanto and Demonyms

de eojeff, 2013-februaro-12

Mesaĝoj: 17

Lingvo: English

eojeff (Montri la profilon) 2013-februaro-12 02:49:20

I'm aware that in Esperanto there are at least two different ways to indicate "inhabitant of a country." One for historically ethnocentric nations and another for nations in the "new world." That is, Anglio for Englishman, and Usonano for American, etc.

What about city/state or regional demonyms? Such as New Yorker, Michigander, New Englander and the like? Would one say Nova Anglano for "New Englander?" Is this the correct way to express a non-nation state demonym in Esperanto?

Amike,

Jeff

erinja (Montri la profilon) 2013-februaro-12 03:07:30

An Englishman would be an "anglo".

We use -an- forms for the names of people from a city or state.

novjorkano (a New Yorker), marilandano (a Marylander), etc.

Note that unlike in English, Esperanto doesn't generally capitalize these. We capitalize, usually, only the name of the place, but not other words derived from it.

So a baltimorano comes from Baltimoro.

Breto (Montri la profilon) 2013-februaro-17 16:09:40

Does the "-ano" ending also work for more general, nonstate regions? That is, would New Englander be "novangliano", or Midwesterner "okcidentmezano"?

(As a side note, sometimes in studying Esperanto, I miss having just a little irregularity. In English, the state is called Indiana, but its inhabitants are Hoosiers. No one knows why, and I have to admit, I enjoy that bizarre, apparently etymologyless term. Too bad I have to be indianaano rather than "huĵro" (or whatever) in Esperanto. It's just so...predictable, and not what I was brought up with. Ah well, c'est la vie.)

RiotNrrd (Montri la profilon) 2013-februaro-17 21:03:14

If you want to refer to yourself as a huĵero, no one will complain. ridulo.gif

erinja (Montri la profilon) 2013-februaro-18 00:58:37

In my experience, people outside of Indiana tend to use "Indianan" rather than "Hoosier", unless they have some special link to the state. The hoosier name doesn't come naturally to us.

It is a nice aspect of Esperanto that you don't have to memorize irregular names for people, even though you do lose a little flavor that way.

RiotNrrd (Montri la profilon) 2013-februaro-18 02:10:08

I guess what I meant to say is, if you want to refer to yourself as a huĵero, no one will complain, but be prepared to explain what that is, over and over again.

Calling yourself something, and having the general populace know what that something means, are two rather different things.

But I would certainly not be one to tell you that you can't call yourself anything you darn well please. ridulo.gif

On the other hand, "hoosier" is not a widely-recognized name even in the US. If you asked a bunch of random Oregonians (for example) what a Hoosier is, some would probably know. But many probably wouldn't. Could be it's just not the sort of thing that comes up a lot in conversation outside of Indiana. More of a "family name", so to speak. The only reason I recognize it is because Kurt Vonnegut went on about the term in one of his books. "Cat's Cradle", I think it was. He used it as a funny example of something or other germane to the plotline - I actually forget the details at this point; it's been many years.

Breto (Montri la profilon) 2013-februaro-23 03:20:57

Really? Huh, I could've sworn "Hoosier" was more widely known than that (and "Indianan" just sounds bizarre to me;I can barely even read it aloud). I guess I need to be more aware of my language bias.

I figured "huĵero" would get weird looks in Esperanto, but I kinda assumed "Hoosier" would at least be recognized in English....

brodicius (Montri la profilon) 2013-februaro-23 04:08:00

I know I'm not from the US, but I read that and initially thought that 'hoosier' was some kind of slur.

orthohawk (Montri la profilon) 2013-februaro-23 13:13:24

Breto:Really? Huh, I could've sworn "Hoosier" was more widely known than that (and "Indianan" just sounds bizarre to me;I can barely even read it aloud). I guess I need to be more aware of my language bias.

I figured "huĵero" would get weird looks in Esperanto, but I kinda assumed "Hoosier" would at least be recognized in English....
I would suspect any sports fan (US that is) would know what Hoosier means, ridulo.gif

erinja (Montri la profilon) 2013-februaro-23 23:49:22

I'm not a sports fan but actually I would assume a Hoosier was a supporter of the Indiana university basketball team - like a Terp for Maryland - rather than any generic Indianan.

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