Re: placename nomenclature [was Re: Attn: Spanish speakers]

Philip Newton <Philip.Newton@...> writes:

> > > > gentilicians? (the names of the people that inhabit some place)
> > > "gentilics"? Not sure, though.
> I understood it as referring to "words used for inhabitants of a
> certain place", especially when not formed regularly. For example,
> "Chinese" from "China" but not "Americese" from "America".
It works when they're regular, too. "American" is the
g-whatever for "America".

Really strange g-s in Spanish: "fluminense" (from Rio
de Janeiro), "jerosolimitano" (from Jerusalem), and
our own "bonaerense" (from the province of Buenos Aires,
Argentina -- the capital's inhabitants are "porteños".)
Oh, and "neoyorquino" (a New Yorker). Spanish uses
-ano, -eno, -ino, -ense, -iense, -eño, and -eco...
And in Argentina most people say "brasilero" instead
of the accepted standard "brasileño".


--Pablo Flores
  http://www.angelfire.com/ego/pdf/sp/index.html