Greek ethnonyms in English

[Ars Lande]

I have a question relative to Greek ethnonyms, and how they are adapted to English.

In French, we borrowed the suffix -te from Ancient Greek, giving:
Sparte > Spartiate
Sybaris > Sybarite
Stagire > Stagirite

The usage is restricted, as far as I know, to Ancient Greek ethnonyms.

Is that suffix used at all in English? I can't find anything conclusive; "Sybarite" gives a few Google hits, but that's all I could find.

[Mecislau]

Is that suffix used at all in English? I can't find anything conclusive; "Sybarite" gives a few Google hits, but that's all I could find.

The suffix -ite is actually extremely common in English; the weird thing is it's actually not that commonly used for Greek placenames. It seems to be especially productive with city names (though not all cities), as well as for many cities, ethnicities, and other groups of the Middle East (where it seems to have been contaminated to some extent with the Semitic suffix -i).

Wikipedia lists some examples at Demonym:

-ite (Austin → Austinite, Brisbane → Brisbanite (also "Brisbanian"), Chennai → Chennaite, Dallas → Dallasite, Denver → Denverite, Irmo → Irmite, Israel → Israelite (or "Israeli", depending on the usage; see below), Moscow → Latin Muscovia → Muscovite, Ruskin, FL → Ruskinite, Seattle → Seattleite, Vancouver → Vancouverite), Wisconsin → Wisconsinite, mostly for cities. However, for the state of New Hampshire → New Hampshirite, and the state of Wyoming → Wyomingite.

[Thomas Winwood]

The suffix -ite is actually extremely common in English; the weird thing is it's actually not that commonly used for Greek placenames. It seems to be especially productive with city names (though not all cities), as well as for many cities, ethnicities, and other groups of the Middle East (where it seems to have been contaminated to some extent with the Semitic suffix -i).

I suspect this is heavily AmE, as evidenced by the fact most of the examples you give are in North America.

If Irmo was a city in the UK, chances are if you lived there you'd be an Irmonian, not an Irmite.

[Jetboy]

I think English mostly just uses the -(a)n suffix, as someone from Sparta is a Spartan, from Athens an Athenian, and presumably someone from Stag(e)ira would be Stag(e)iran. There is an English word "sybarite" but it's acquired a meaning more along the lines of "hedonist", so that would probably be avoided; Sybaritian, maybe?

[Lleu]

I think English mostly just uses the -(a)n suffix, as someone from Sparta is a Spartan, from Athens an Athenian, and presumably someone from Stag(e)ira would be Stag(e)iran. There is an English word "sybarite" but it's acquired a meaning more along the lines of "hedonist", so that would probably be avoided; Sybaritian, maybe?

I'd probably go with "Sybarian" as my first guess.

[David McCann]

In French, we borrowed the suffix -te from Ancient Greek, giving:
Sparte > Spartiate
Sybaris > Sybarite
Stagire > Stagirite
Is that suffix used at all in English? I can't find anything conclusive; "Sybarite" gives a few Google hits, but that's all I could find.

Spartiate exists as an occasional adjective in English, while the noun tends to be used for the Spartan citizens as opposed to the Helots and Perioeci. We also have "The Stagirite" as an old-fashioned reference to Aristotle. In Britain, -ite for inhabitants tends to be confined to ancient nationalities, like Moabite.

There's also the -ite as a frequently derogative designation of those following a cause: Luddite, Trotskyite, Labourite.

[linguoboy]

Looking over this list of modern Greek gentilics, I'm only seeing -της in about half the derviations. A healthy number use -ιος (corresponding to our -ian, e.g. Θεσσαλονικιός <> Thessalon(ik)ian).

[Salmoneus]

We usually use -(i)an for cities.

-ite is mostly used for 'ways of life': religious or political groups named after a follower (Thatcherite, Luddite, Mennonite), people dedicated to a certain rule (cenobite) or people associate with particular practices (sybarite, catamite, sodomite).

It is also found for ethnic groups - but I think the tendency has been to use -an for civilised people from a particular location, and relegate -ite to barbarian tribes and people from far-off lands. So "Athenian", "Roman", "Carthaginian"... but Edomite, Ephthalite, Xionite, Israelite, etc.

Occasionally it is still found in the 'from X' use even with civilised places. The only example I can think of, however, is the name of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite.


The main use of the affix is in chemistry and biology.

[linguoboy]

It is also found for ethnic groups - but I think the tendency has been to use -an for civilised people from a particular location, and relegate -ite to barbarian tribes and people from far-off lands. So "Athenian", "Roman", "Carthaginian"... but Edomite, Ephthalite, Xionite, Israelite, etc.

I think this has less to do with how "far-off" these lands are and much more to do with their closer proximity to the Greek-speaking world than the Latin. It's similar to the reason we prefer -ese with Asian gentilics--because the Portuguese got there before we did.