{{Short description|Identifier or designation referring to ethnicity}} {{linguistics}}
An '''ethnonym''' ({{etymology|grc|''{{wikt-lang|grc|ἔθνος}}'' ({{grc-transl|ἔθνος}})|nation||''{{wikt-lang|grc|ὄνομα}}'' ({{grc-transl|ὄνομα}})|name}}) is a [[name]] applied to a given [[ethnic group]]. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: [[exonym]]s (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or [[endonym]]s (whose name is created and used by the ethnic group itself).
For example, the dominant ethnic group of [[Germany]] is the Germans. The ethnonym ''Germans'' is a [[Latin]]-derived exonym used in the English language, but the Germans call themselves {{lang|de|Deutsche}}, an endonym. The German people are identified by a variety of exonyms across Europe, such as {{lang|fr|Allemands}} ([[French language|French]]), {{lang|it|tedeschi}} ([[Italian language|Italian]]), {{lang|sv|tyskar}} ([[Swedish language|Swedish]]), and {{lang|pl|Niemcy}} ([[Polish language|Polish]]).
As a sub-field of [[anthroponymy]], the study of ethnonyms is called ethnonymy or ethnonymics.
== Variations == Numerous ethnonyms can apply to the same ethnic or racial group, with various levels of recognition, acceptance and use. The State Library of South Australia contemplated this issue when considering [[Library of Congress]] headings for literature pertaining to [[Indigenous Australians|Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people]]. Some 20 different ethnonyms were considered as potential Library of Congress headings, but it was recommended that only a fraction of them be employed for the purposes of cataloguing.<ref>[http://www.nla.gov.au/niac/libs/martin.html Aboriginal Rountable (1995): LCSH for ATSI People<!-- Bot generated title -->]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110321105159/http://www.nla.gov.au/niac/libs/martin.html |date=2011-03-21 }}</ref>
== Change over time ==
Ethnonyms can change in character over time; while originally socially acceptable, they may [[List of ethnic group names used as insults|come to be considered offensive]], or become [[List of ethnic slurs|ethnic slurs]]. For instance, the term [[Wikt:gypsy|gypsy]] has been used to refer to the [[Romani people|Romani]]. Other examples include [[Vandals|Vandal]], [[Bushmen|Bushman]], [[Barbarian]], and [[Philistine]].
The ethnonyms applied to [[African Americans]] have demonstrated a greater evolution; older terms such as ''[[colored people|colored]]'' carried negative connotations and have been replaced by modern-day equivalents such as Black or ''[[African American]]''.{{citation needed|date=September 2015}} Other ethnonyms such as ''[[Negro]]'' have a different status. The term was considered acceptable in its use by activists such as [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] in the 1960s,<ref name="Jr.Holloran2005">{{cite book|last1= King|first1=Martin Luther Jr. |last2=Holloran |first2=Peter |last3=Luker |first3=Ralph E. |author4=Penny A. Russell |title=The Papers of Martin Luther King, Jr.: Threshold of a New Decade, January 1959 – December 1960|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TU_HozbJSC8C&pg=PA40|access-date=29 July 2013|date=1 January 2005|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-24239-5|page=40}}</ref> but other activists took a different perspective. In discussing an address in 1960 by [[Elijah Muhammad]], it was stated "to the Muslims, terms like Negro and colored are labels created by white people to negate the past greatness of the black race".<ref>[http://www.albany.edu/jmmh/vol1no1/elijahmuhammad.html Message from the Wilderness of North America. A Journal for MultiMedia History article<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071224142008/http://www.albany.edu/jmmh/vol1no1/elijahmuhammad.html |date=2007-12-24 }}.</ref>
Four decades later, a similar difference of opinion remains. In 2006, one commentator suggested that the term Negro is outdated or offensive in many quarters; similarly, the word "colored" still appears in the name of the [[NAACP]], or National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
In such contexts, ethnonyms are susceptible to the phenomenon of the [[euphemism treadmill]].<ref>{{cite news |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110515171806/http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/articles/media/1994_04_03_newyorktimes.pdf |title=The game of the name |newspaper=Baltimore Sun |archive-date=2011-05-15 |url=http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/articles/media/1994_04_03_newyorktimes.pdf |date=1994-04-03 |access-date=2011-01-19 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
== Morphology and typology == {{more citations needed section|date=June 2019}} {{Further|Morphology (linguistics)|Semantics|Demonym}} In English, ethnonyms are generally formulated through [[suffixation]]; most ethnonyms for toponyms ending in ''-a'' are formed by adding ''-n'': ''Bulgaria, [[Bulgarians|Bulgarian]]''; ''Estonia, [[Estonians|Estonian]]''. In English, in many cases, the name for the dominant [[natural language|language]] of a group is identical to their English-language ethnonym; the French speak [[French language|French]], the Germans speak [[Germany|German]]. This is sometimes erroneously overgeneralized; it may be assumed that people from [[India]] speak "Indian",<ref name="BournePollard2002">{{cite book|last1=Bourne|first1=Jill|last2=Pollard|first2=Andrew|title=Teaching and Learning in the Primary School|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KOsXN9eJvDkC&pg=PA34|access-date=29 July 2013|date=26 September 2002|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-203-42511-4|page=34}}</ref> despite there being no language in India which is called by that name.
Generally, any group of people may have numerous ethnonyms, associated with the political affiliation with a state or a province, with geographical landmark, with the [[language]], or another distinct feature. Ethnonym may be a compound word related to origin or usage.
A ''polito-ethnonym'' indicates that name originated from the political affiliation, like when the [[polysemic]] term ''[[Austrians]]'' is sometimes used more specifically for native, German speaking inhabitants of [[Austria]], who have their own endonyms.
A ''topo-ethnonym'' refers to the ethnonym derived from a [[toponym]] (name of a geographical locality, placename), like when the [[polysemic]] term ''Montenegrins'', which was originally used for the inhabitants of the geographical area of the ''Black Mountain'' ([[Montenegro]]), acquired an additional ethnonymic use, designating modern [[ethnic Montenegrins]], who have their own distinct endonyms. Classical geographers frequently used ''topo-ethnonyms'' (ethnonyms formed from toponyms) as substitute for ethnonyms in general descriptions, or for unknown endonyms.
Compound terminology is widely used in professional literature to discriminate semantics of the terms.
== Related terms == In [[onomastic]] studies, there are several terms that are related to ethnonyms, like the term ''ethnotoponym'', that designates a specific [[toponym]] (placename) that is formed from an ethnonym. Many names of regions and countries are ''ethnotoponyms''.{{sfn|Room|1996|p=39}}
==See also== *[[-onym]] *[[Demonym]] *[[diaspora studies]] *[[Ethnonymic surname]] *[[hyphenated American]] *[[onomastics]] *[[Confessionym]] *[[Ethnic slur]]
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
==Sources== * {{Cite journal|last=Coates|first=Richard|title=Some thoughts on the theoretical status of ethnonyms and demonyms|journal=Onomastica|year=2021|volume=65|number=2|pages=5–19|doi=10.17651/ONOMAST.65.2.1 |url=https://onomastica.ijp.pan.pl/index.php/ONOM/article/view/326|doi-access=free|ref=none}} * {{Cite book|last=Roberts|first=Michael|chapter=The semantics of demonyms in English: ''Germans'', ''Queenslanders'', and ''Londoners''|editor=Zhengdao Ye|title=The Semantics of Nouns|year=2017|location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=205–220|isbn=978-0-19-873672-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n0ypDgAAQBAJ|ref=none}} * {{Cite book|last=Room|first=Adrian|title=An Alphabetical Guide to the Language of Name Studies|year=1996|location=Lanham and London|publisher=The Scarecrow Press|isbn=0-8108-3169-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XEtiAAAAMAAJ}} * {{Cite journal|last=Tuite|first=Kevin|date=1995|title=The declension of ethnonyms in English|url= https://journals.linguisticsociety.org/proceedings/index.php/BLS/article/view/1420 |journal=Proceedings of the Berkeley Linguistics Society|volume=21|pages=491–502|doi=10.3765/bls.v21i1.1420|doi-access=free|ref=none}}
==External links== *{{Commonscatinline|Ethnonyms}}
{{Ethnicity}} {{Authority control}}
[[Category:Ethnonyms| ]] [[Category:Types of words]]