VOA慢速英语--Making Sense of Adjectives from Country Names

 

Recently a reader asked us about how English defines¹ the adjective of nation or country. Hien Lai gave these examples: "We have American as the adjective of America, Vietnamese as the adjective of Vietnam, Brazilian as the adjective of Brazil, Swiss as the adjective of Switzerland and so on."

Hien names some of the common suffixes³, or endings we add to the placename to make an adjective. They include -ese, as in Chinese; -ish, as in Scottish; -ic, as in Icelandic and -i as in Iraqi.

At first look, it seems that there is no reason for the choice of one adjective form over another for a country. However, a closer look shows that history plays a role in how we chose them. The suffixes to go with country names were borrowed many years ago from Greek, Latin, French and even Arabic.

Europe is commonly known as the Old Continent. It has countries like England, Sweden, Spain, Scotland, Ireland, Turkey and Poland. They all use the suffix² -ish in the adjective form to become English, Swedish, Spanish, Scottish, Irish, Turkish and Polish. The suffix -ish, meaning "born in or of a country," came into use in Old English until around 1150.

Staying in Europe, you will hear a similar suffix in the adjectives French and Dutch for the countries France and the Netherlands. This is a shorter form of the -ish suffix that English speakers used for their close neighbors. Speaking of neighbors, we took the adjective Swiss in the 1500s from their neighbors, the French, who used the word Suisse.

Looking further East from England, the country of Iceland forms an adjective with -ic for Icelandic. This is another old French and Latin suffix that you will find on terms related to groups of people in European history, such as Celtic and Gothic.

A few countries make their adjectives with the suffix -i. These include Israeli, Iraqi, Yemeni, Omani, Pakistani, Somali and Bengali. These countries usually have populations of Arabic speakers or have neighbors as Arabic speakers. A similar sound is used in Arabic to make adjectives. But do remember that the adjective for Madagascar has the same sound only it is spelled with the letter -y, Malagasy.

Portugal, a European country, forms its adjective with the suffix -ese. This suffix is borrowed from the Old French -eis. So, when the Portuguese⁴ started trading with China, the word Chinese entered the English language in the 1570s.

Country names borrowed into English from Medieval⁵ Latin around 1530 include Russian, Egyptian and Norwegian, all ending with one of the most common suffixes, -ian.

You will find that many countries in the New World, or America, and newly independent countries usually have the suffix -ian or -an.

They include Canadian, Brazilian, Chilean or Peruvian in America. There are Estonian, Lithuanian and Ukrainian in Europe and Ethiopian, Nigerian and Kenyan in Africa.

When a new country is formed in modern days, its founders⁶ usually decide what they want to be called.

In the African country of Burkina Faso, its founders wanted the people to be called Burkinabè, not Burkinese or Burkinish or Fasoan, in 1984. Another new country in the Pacific Ocean, the Republic of Vanuatu, independent since 1980, uses the adjective form Ni-Vanuatu, which translates to "Of Vanuatu" from a local language.

To find the official name of a country or its people, you can go to The World Fact Book. The website also has useful maps and information on each country.

The next time you are together with some friends, a fun party game might be to test their knowledge of adjectives, people and countries in English.

And when you have finished learning the adjectives for the countries, there are many more to learn for people of different states or cities! For example, I came from the American state of Indiana, but people from my state are called "Hoosiers."

And that's Everyday Grammar!

1 defines   

规定( define的第三人称单数 )； 使明确； 精确地解释； 画出…的线条

参考例句：

• This name defines us all. 这个名字造就了我们。 来自演讲部分
• The range of incomes over which this happens defines the 'poverty trap'. 发生在这种情况的收入范围，称为“贫困陷阱。”

2 suffix   

n.后缀；vt.添后缀

参考例句：

• We add the suffix "ly" to make the adjective "quick" into the adverb " quickly ".我们在形容词“ quick”后加“ly” 构成副词“quickly”。
• It described the meaning of suffix array and also how to built it.它描述的含义，后缀数组以及如何建立它。

3 suffixes   

n.后缀，词尾( suffix的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Many domain name suffixes have failed to gain general popularity. 很多域名后缀没有获得一般的通用性。 来自互联网
• For example, consider the use of prefixes and suffixes. 例如，那前缀和后缀的使用来说。 来自互联网

4 Portuguese   

n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语

参考例句：

• They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
• Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。

5 medieval   

adj.中世纪的，中古（时代）的

参考例句：

• This is a medieval story.这是一个中世纪的故事。
• The museum has a fine collection of medieval ivories.该博物馆收藏着一批精美的中世纪象牙制品。

6 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句