GENTILIC ADJECTIVE: TYPES AND EXAMPLES - LITERATURE

The adjective gentilicio in its broadest use, denotes a relationship with a place, which can be a city, region, country, neighborhood, town or any geographical place or political entity. However, they can also denote the provenance of animals and things. Even the concept can be extended to abstract terms. For example, the Spanish crisis, the Russian problems or the Guatemalan elections.

On the other hand, the adjective gentilicio is used in postponement. That is, it is written after the noun you are modifying. In general, to form it suffixes are added to geographical names. The most commonly used suffixes are: ano / ana, ense, eño / eña, ese / esa, í, iano / iana.

However, there are others that may occasionally appear: aco / aca, ata, echo / eca, ego / ega, eno / ena, eo / ea, ero / era, eta, ín / ina, ino / ina, ita, o / a, ol / wave and one / one.

Now, all the gentilices can work as adjectives or nouns. Thus, phrases such as the American individual, or simply the American, can be found. In the latter case, a substantivation of the adjective occurs. It can then be said that the gentilicio has a behavior that is closer to that of adjectives.

As for their main functions, they appear in the attributive and predicative positions. In the first case, they come after the copulative verbs ser or appear (It's Norwegian or It seems Norwegian).

The adjective gentilicio cannot go after the copulative verb estar (* It is norwegian) The second case is more common (They sold all Polish sausages) and its function is specific.

Types and examples

Gentilic adjective with high use suffixes

This group includes the gentilices with the most common suffixes. Among them we can mention:

ano / ana (Peruvian / Peruvian, Dominican / Dominican, Bogota / Bogota, Neapolitan / Neapolitan, Venezuelan / Venezuelan, Mexican / Mexican)
Ense (River Plate, Costa Rican, Canadian)
eño / eña (Honduran / Honduran, Angolan / Angolan, Salvadoran / Salvadoran)
es / esa (Danish / Danish, French / French, Portuguese / Portuguese)
iano / iana (Italian / Italian, Asturian / Asturian)

Gentilices with suffixes of occasional use

Gentilic adjectives whose suffixes appear occasionally are grouped here. These include:

abro (Cantabrian from Cantabria, Spain)
aco / aca (Austrian / Austrian, Polish / Polish, Slovak / Slovak)
Malagasy ache (inhabitants of the island Madagascar)
garlic (kasajo, native to Kazakhstan)
alo (Gallic)
ando (Benicarlando de Benicarló, Spain)
ata (Croatian, Kenyan, Serbo-Croatian)
ego / ega (Galician / Galician, Norwegian / Norwegian, Manchego / Manchega)
eno / ena (Chilean / Chilean, Slovenian / Slovenian)
eo / ea (Eritrean / Eritrean, European / European)
ero / era (barranquillero / barranquillera, cartagenero / cartagenera santiaguero / santiagera)
eta (Lisbon)
ín / ina (mallorquin / mallorquina, menorquin / menorquina)
ino / ina (Argentinian / Argentinian, Filipino / Filipino, Algerian / Algerian)
io (Armenian, Bosnian, Egyptian, Indian, Indonesian, Libyan, Syrian)
ita (Israeli, Muscovite, Vietnamese)
on (Breton, Latvian, Macedonian, Nippon, Teutonic)
ope (Ethiopian)
ol / ola (Spanish / Spanish, Mongolian / Mongolian)
ota (cypriot, cairota, epirota, biarrota, rodiota, tokiota)
ú (Bantu, Hindu, Manchu, Papuan, Zulu)
ucho (maracucho, gaucho)
uz (Andalusian)

Special cases

There is no general rule for the use of suffixes in the formation of gentilices. They cannot always be predicted from the toponym (a name attributed to a place). In this way, there are special cases of names.

For example, there is the case of populations with similar toponymy, but with different names. The inhabitants of Cuenca in Ecuador are known as Cuencanos. While those of Cuenca in Spain are called Cuenca.

In other cases, the names do not bear any relation to the root of the toponymy from which they derive. As in the cases of the following cities:

Aguas Calientes Mexico (hydro-warm)
Alcalá de Henares, Madrid-Spain (complutense, alcaino / na)
Antequera, Malaga-Spain (anticarian)
Aragon, Spain (hand)
Badajoz, Spain (Badajoz)
Buenos Aires, Argentina (porteño / a)
Cabra, Córdoba-Spain (Egabrense)
Calatayud, Zaragoza-Spain (bilbilitan / na)
Ciudad Rodrigo, Salamanca-Spain (Mirobriguense)
Extremadura, Spain (castúo / úa)
Fuerteventura, Spain (majorero / ra)
Huelva, Spain (Huelva)
Jerusalem (Hierosolimitan / na)
Mother of God, Peru (mother)
Quindio, Armenia (whosebro)
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Rio de Janeiro)
Ronda, Malaga-Spain (Arundense)
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain (chicharrero / ra)

Some suffixes have a special assignment to certain geographic areas. This is the case, for example, of the suffix -eco / -eca, which appears associated with the regions of Mexico and Central America:

Yucatecan / Yucatecan
zacateco / zacateca
Guatemalan / Guatemalan

Likewise, the suffix -í appears with more intensity in the use of North African and Asian names as in

Iranian
saudi
Somali
Moroccan

Alternative names

There is also a type of name known as alternative (they coexist with other names). In the first case, these are formed from the name of the original inhabitants of the territory. Thus, the adjective gentilicio of the current country, refers to its historical past.

In this group of countries the following can be mentioned:

Germany (German, Teutonic)
Costa Rica (Tico)
Spain (Hispanic, Iberian)
Finland (Lapp)
France (Gallic)
Greece (Hellenic)
Guatemala (chapin)
Hungary (Magyar)
Israel (Hebrew)
Italy (Italian)
Mexico (Aztec)
Neerlandia (Flemish)
Paraguay (guaraní)
Peru (Inca)
Portugal (Portuguese, Lusitanian)
Puerto Rico (boricua)
Uruguay (charrúa)

In the second case, the alternative names are formed from the names of historical dynasties that have ruled the country in its past. Of this group we can mention:

Thailand (Siamese)
Iran (Persian)
Turkish (Ottoman)
Japan (Japanese)
Switzerland (Helvetius, Helvetian)

Other non-topographic names

Finally, there are also alternative names that do not bear any relation to the place names that originate them. They are not officially recognized names, but they are in common use among the countrymen of a locality.

Its origin has more to do with the relationships between the inhabitants and with their environment. Some localities in Spanish provinces that present this sociological phenomenon can be mentioned:

Castilblanco de Henares (Guadalajara) (His name is fish because they fished a lot in the Cañamares river and Toledo in memory of a resident of the town from Toledo.)
Castilforte (Guadalajara) (They have the gentilicio adjective / nickname big heads for being short and plump and zarangollos for a meal made of ground and toasted wheat.)
Castillar de la Muela (Guadalajara) (The alternative name is cuchos because they made the dogs run with stones.)
Castillejo de Azaba (Salamanca) (Alternatively, they use the adjective of foxes due to the abundance of these foxes.)
Castillo de Bayuela (Toledo) (Gentilicio de pajariegos because the town was located in what was previously a haystack.)
Castillo de Duero (Valladolid) (They share the name of stubborn because a stream called Pecina is near this town and because Don Juan Martín, called El Empecinado, was born there.)

References

Saucedo, A. (2010, October 10). Specific, explanatory and gentilic. Three classes of qualifying adjectives. Retrieved on February 18, 2018, from abc.com.
Almela Pérez, R. (2013). Category, function and meaning of the names Yearbook of Philological Studies, Vol. 36, pp. 5-18.
Hualde, JI; Olarrea, A.; Escobar, AM and Travis, C. E. (2010). Introduction to Hispanic Linguistics. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Fernández Fernández, A. (2007). Dictionary of doubts: AH. Oviedo: Ediuno.
Pan-Hispanic Dictionary of Doubts. Royal Spanish Academy. (2005). Countries and capitals, with their names. Retrieved on February 18, 2018, from rae.es.
De la Torre Aparicio, T. and de la Torre, J. (2006). Spanish names. Madrid: Editorial Vision Libros.

GENTILIC ADJECTIVE: TYPES AND EXAMPLES - LITERATURE - 2024