:help:
A Canadian.
An American.
An Englishman.
A German.
An Australian.
A Chinese
A Taiwanese
A Spaniard (ish person).
Where do the rules come for these or am I making them up?
Most, if not all countries that allow the nationality to end in “an” can also be used as a noun to describe a person from that country (e.g. “An AMerican”, “A German”, etc.).
Most other countries need to have “man”, “woman” or “person” added to the end. Sometimes a space is required, sometimes it isn’t (for “man” only, as far as I know), e.g. “An Irishman”.
There are some exceptions, for example “A Spaniard”.
A Canadian.
An American.
An Englishman.
A German.
An Australian.
A Chinese
A Taiwanese
A Spaniard (ish person).
Where do the rules come for these or am I making them up?[/quote]
I don’t know if I can answer your question, but I’ll try to help you get started by quoting some sources I found on the 'net:
[quote]-ese adj suffix [Pg -es & It -ese, adj. & n. suffix, fr. (assumed)
VL -esis, fr. L -ensis] : of, relating to, or originating in (a certain
place or country) Japanese Viennese
. . .
-ard also -art n suffix - [ME, fr. OF, of Gmc origin; akin to
OHG -hart (in personal names such as Gerhart Gerard akin
to OE heard hard) : one that is characterized by performing
some action, possessing some quality, or being associated with
some thing esp. conspicuously or excessively . . . a large one of its kind. . . .
. . .
-an or -ian also -ean n suffix [an -ian fr. ME -an, -ian,
-ien, fr. OF L OF -ien, fr. L -ianus, fr. -i- + -anus, fr. -anus,
adj. suffix -ean fr. such words as Mediterranean, European] one that is of or belonging to – American Bostonian
. . .
-ish adj suffix [ME, fr. OE -isc’ akin to OHG -isc, -isk -ish, ON
-skr, Goth -isks -ish, Gk -iskos, dim. n. suffix] : of or belonging
to ; chiefly in adjectives indicating nationality or ethnic
group – Finnish Gaulish Turkish[/quote]–A Dictionary of Prefixes, Suffixes, and Combining Forms from Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged (2002) (You need Adobe Reader to read the above.)
As to the -ard ending for Spaniard, in English there are many rather insulting words that end in -ard, but the word supposedly originated in French, so perhaps it wasn’t intended as an insult (then again, sometimes next-door neighbors don’t get along very well).
For the above, fr. = from, L = Latin, ME = Middle English, OE = Old English, OHG = Old High German, Gmc = Germanic, OF = Old French, Gk = Greek, Pg = Portuguese, etc.
[quote]German (2)
“Teuton,” 1530, from L. Germanus, first attested in writings of Julius Caesar, who used Germani to designate a group of tribes in northeastern Gaul, origin unknown, probably the name of an individual tribe. It is perhaps of Gaulish (Celtic) origin, perhaps originally meaning “noisy” (cf. O.Ir. garim “to shout”) or “neighbor” (cf. O.Ir. gair “neighbor”). The earlier Eng. word was Almain or Dutch. Their name for themselves was the root word of modern Ger. Deutsch (see Dutch). Roman writers also used Teutoni as a German tribal name, and Latin writers after about 875 commonly refer to the German language as teutonicus. See also Alemanni. The German shepherd (dog) (1922) translates Ger. deutscher Schaferhund [/quote]–Online Etymology Dictionary
Again, as to -ard:
[quote]-ard, -art
-ard, -art. The termination of many English words . . . mostly from the French, in which language this ending is of German origin, being orig. the same word as English hard. It usually has the sense of one who has to a high or excessive degree the quality expressed by the root. . . . [/quote]Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
I haven’t looked at an OED (I mean a full-sized one) in a good while, but their etymologies are beautiful. If you know where you can look at one, I’d suggest looking there. They usually quote the first known instance of a word’s written use in English and go even further than that in showing its origin. If I recall rightly, they even show examples of the evolution of the word’s senses by using contemporary quotes.
I didn’t look up or figure out their pattern, but it appeared that in the case of scientific (or universal?) terms, they’d even show the first known written use in the language of origin. For example, for benzoin they traced it through Italian and Latin (either modern or medieval Latin scientific treatises) all the way to Arabic luban jawi (“milk of Java”).
The hard-copy OED is a huge, beautiful set of books.
Anyway, sorry for digressing, and I hope this helps a little.
xp+10K
xp+10k is right that there are many exceptions that are actually insults (or can at least be taken as insults).
Spaniard is definitely not one of them.
However for Chinese man, I was reluctant to write Chinaman (though I can think of another DEFINITE insulting alternative). I’d be interested to know if people think Chinaman is an insult or not.
Ironman, I notice you’ve corrected the Spanish person / Spaniard entry. As for Taiwanese and Chinese, these would both have to have “person” at the end (and wait for the answer about “Chinaman”).
Regards,
Stu
Are there any other nationalities that’s country+man? I can only think of China+man.
[quote=“914”]Are there any other nationalities that’s country+man? I can only think of China+man.[/quote]Englishman, Welshman, Scotsman, Irishman, Frenchman, Dutchman.
Chinaman does have negative connotations nowadays, maybe because of the way it was used in the past.
[quote=“Slartibartfast”][quote=“914”]Are there any other nationalities that’s country+man? I can only think of China+man.[/quote]Engl[color=red]ish[/color]man, [color=red]Welsh[/color]man, [color=red]Scots[/color]man, Ir[color=red]ish[/color]man, Fr[color=red]ench[/color]man, [color=red]Dutch[/color]man.
[color=green]China[/color]man does have negative connotations nowadays, maybe because of the way it was used in the past.[/quote]
Not so fast, Slartibartfast. Please reread. Nation+man. Not nationality+man. (I know nationality+man.) 
Any? I can’t think of any right now.
[quote=“914”][quote=“Slartibartfast”][quote=“914”]Are there any other nationalities that’s country+man? I can only think of China+man.[/quote]Engl[color=red]ish[/color]man, [color=red]Welsh[/color]man, [color=red]Scots[/color]man, Ir[color=red]ish[/color]man, Fr[color=red]ench[/color]man, [color=red]Dutch[/color]man.
[color=green]China[/color]man does have negative connotations nowadays, maybe because of the way it was used in the past.[/quote]
Not so fast, Slartibartfast. Please reread. Nation+man. Not nationality+man. (I know nationality+man.)
Any? I can’t think of any right now.[/quote]Oh yeah, sorry 
No I can’t think of any.
And interestingly, this is most probably why nationalities that end in -an don’t require you to add -man.
Can you imagine saying “Germanman”, or “Columbianman”, etc?
According to George Stewart’s “Laws of Municipal Onomastics,” there are seven main guidelines:
- If the place name ends in -a or -ia, add -n
- If the name ends in -i or a sounded -e, add -an
- If the name ends in -on, add -ian
- If the name ends in -y, change the -y to an -i and add -an
- If the name ends in -o, add -an
- If the name ends in a consonant or a silent -e, add either -ite or -er, depending on euphony
- If the name ends in -polis, change that to -politan
I think these guidelines cover most situations, but there are numerous exceptions and situations to which none of these rules apply.
Israel - Israeli (or Rule 6: Israelite, but that’ archaic)(Bangladesh - Bangladeshi)
Norway - Norwegian (variation of Rule 4)
Lebanon - Lebanese (Burma - Burmese)
Poland - Polish (Finland - Finnish)
What’s a person from Brunei called?
[quote=“Jack Burton”]
What’s a person from Brunei called?[/quote]
Applying Rule 2 to form Bruneian seems to work. I “Googled” it an others use it.
[quote]Slartibartfast wrote:
914 wrote:
Are there any other nationalities that’s country+man? I can only think of China+man.
Englishman, Welshman, Scotsman, Irishman, Frenchman, Dutchman.
Chinaman does have negative connotations nowadays, maybe because of the way it was used in the past.
Not so fast, Slartibartfast. Please reread. Nation+man. Not nationality+man. (I know nationality+man.)
Any? I can’t think of any right now.
[/quote]
caveman
[quote=“ploor”][quote=“Jack Burton”]
What’s a person from Brunei called?[/quote]
Applying Rule 2 to form Bruneian seems to work. I “Googled” it an others use it.[/quote]
Well I lived ther for 2 years and that is the correct term
[quote=“914”][quote=“Slartibartfast”][quote=“914”]Are there any other nationalities that’s country+man? I can only think of China+man.[/quote]Engl[color=red]ish[/color]man, [color=red]Welsh[/color]man, [color=red]Scots[/color]man, Ir[color=red]ish[/color]man, Fr[color=red]ench[/color]man, [color=red]Dutch[/color]man.
[color=green]China[/color]man does have negative connotations nowadays, maybe because of the way it was used in the past.[/quote]
Not so fast, Slartibartfast. Please reread. Nation+man. Not nationality+man. (I know nationality+man.) 
Any? I can’t think of any right now.[/quote]
Although they are not [nation + man], Ulsterman and Yorkshireman are both examples of [place name (noun) + man] rather than [nationality (adjective) + man]. 