The correct demonym: Somali or Somalian?

[Som@li]

The word Somalian has been used so much now, it is now in dictionary, so it is here to stay.

 

I have no problem with it

[grasshopper]

OdaySomali;746537 wrote:

The way I have [recently] understood to be correct is that:

 

1) '

Somali

' refers to ethnicity (as well as language) and can be used for all ethnic Somalis in the Somali peninsula and beyond.

 

2) '

Somalian

' refers to nationality and is used exclusively for the citizens of Somalia whether of Somali, Bantu or Arab heritage.

Personally I prefer Somali over Somalian but that explanation sounds good...

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

OdaySomali;746537 wrote:

The way I have [recently] understood to be correct is that:

 

1) '

Somali

' refers to ethnicity (as well as language) and can be used for all ethnic Somalis in the Somali peninsula and beyond.

 

2) '

Somalian

' refers to nationality and is used exclusively for the citizens of Somalia whether of Somali, Bantu or Arab heritage.

Wax walba la iska dhaho haddana tanaa lala imaaday miyaa. Wax walba in la iska indhatiro, lana iska dhaadhacsiiyo maa tanaa maanta lala soo shirtagay. Maxee Carabta dhihi jireen markaan oo kaleeto, haa, mish macquul ayee ahayd ereyada ee adeygsan jireen.

 

Dadka waa Soomaali, afkana waa Soomaali, dalkana waa Soomaaliya. Diid ama doon, iska dhaadhacsii jacburis ama quraafaad kale ama ha iska dhaadhacsiin, Soomaali ayaa la dhahaa dadka. Afkaas shisheeyana 'Somali' lagu dhahaa. Wax 'Somalian' la dhaho kuma jirto Soomaali walaa Ingiriis.

 

Waxaa arki jiray wartabiye u shaqeeyo telafashinka Yunifersal oo had iyo jeer dhihi jiray markuu warka aqrinaayo 'dadka ku hadlo afka Soomaaliga,' intuu naceyb ka gaaray, una qabo just to say ereyga 'Soomaaliyeed.' Ereyga Soomaaliyeed ayuu saas ugu sasi jiray in uu dhaho, instead had iyo jeer ku heyn jiray 'dadka ku hadla afka Soomaaliyeed' instead of properly saying 'ummadda Soomaaliyeed ayaa halkaas ku shirtay,' et cetera. I am glad he no longer works for Yuniversal.

 

My own personal opinion regarding about this particular topic, in ka badan sagaal sano kahor ayaa inta ku qoray. Inta ka aqriso.

[The Zack]

^We are talking about what term should other people (this time those who speak English)use when they are referring to us, right? Well, I say whatever makes sense for them.. We have no writen rules for that or do we? In the Somali language, Soomaali baan nahay, Soomaaliyaan ma nihin. I know that part. However, if you ask me to translate the word 'Soomaali" ( as the Soomaali people) to another language, I have no idea what to say. there isn't an agreed upon term for that per se but everybody can speak of their opinion. The Xabashi speaking Axmaars call us "Soomaalee" and they call our language "Soomaalanyaa" LOL. The arabs call Africa "Ifriiqiya". We call Americans "dadka mareykanka ah". Anyways, Somali Somalian, Somalo...all work fine for me.

[Somalicentric]

Potato, Patata!

[Jacpher]

The Zack;746641 wrote:

^We are talking about what term should other people (this time those who speak English)use when they are referring to us, right? Well, I say whatever makes sense for them.. We have no writen rules for that or do we? In the Somali language, Soomaali baan nahay, Soomaaliyaan ma nihin. I know that part. However, if you ask me to translate the word 'Soomaali" ( as the Soomaali people) to another language, I have no idea what to say. there isn't an agreed upon term for that per se but everybody can speak of their opinion. The Xabashi speaking Axmaars call us "Soomaalee" and they call our language "Soomaalanyaa" LOL. The arabs call Africa "Ifriiqiya". We call Americans "dadka mareykanka ah". Anyways, Somali Somalian, Somalo...all work fine for me.

The language in discussion is English, not Amxaari or Carabi. In the English standard, Somalian would be wrong for the same way the following are wrong, Iraqian, Turkian, Yemenian, Saudian, Denmarkian, Japanian, Chinaian, Sudanian, Japanian, Francean, Irelandian...well you get the point. You wouldn't call a New Yorker New Yorkian?

[OdaySomali]

Jacpher;746651 wrote:

In the English standard, Somalian would be wrong for the same way the following are wrong, Iraqian, Turkian, Yemenian, Saudian, Denmarkian, Japanian, Chinaian, Sudanian, Japanian, Francean, Irelandian...well you get the point. You wouldn't call a New Yorker New Yorkian?

Lets see if there is some sort of rule to this all. What about Bolivian, Arabian, Russian, Italian, nigerian etc. Are they wrong too ? It seems they all end in vowels and then have the suffix 'n' attache. Begian ?

 

Then there are:

 

polish, turkish, Irish

Dutch, french

japanese, chinese, viatnamese potuegese

 

Or do we fall in the category:

 

somali, Czech and any others you can think of ? (somali republic, Czech republic)

is there any rule to this ?

[grasshopper]

you're comparing apples and oranges jacpher..none of the countries you mention end with -IA

 

What about Tanzania, eritria, australia, malyasia, etc..the nationality adjectives for those countries end in -ian (Tanzanian, eritrian, australian, malaysian and so on.

[Jacpher]

I didn't realize we had English Professors setting up the rules of country/people names in English languge. My bad. Go ahead and enlighten us why English is spoken the way it is.

 

Good luck finding Somalian in the world encyclopedia.

[nuune]

^^ Jacphar, have you ever wondered that the Somalian thing has no mention of any English articles, journals, or books that existed before the 2000, all the articles and published books that existed before that period all used Somali, Somalis, so basically the internet has corrupted the minds of many, and that is the sad part of all, it is the lack of central government rule that caused so many people to say and write whatever they like concerning the country name and its people, manhaj la'aan iyo madbacadeeni qaran hadey jiri laheyd waxbeyba ahaan laheyd, oo meel loo cilmi kororsado ayey noqon laheyd for those who wants to use the correct words.

 

 

Ps: Ninkii threadkan bilaabey wuu ku guuleestey ula jeedadii uu u bilaabey, kumana uusan soo noqon threadkan illaa uu ka gaaro labaatameeyo page oo muran iyo kag

[The Zack]

grasshopper;746654 wrote:

you're comparing apples and oranges jacpher..none of the countries you mention end with

-IA

 

What about Tanzania, eritria, australia, malyasia, etc..the nationality adjectives for those countries end in -ian (Tanzanian, eritrian, australian, malaysian and so on.

 

Exactly grasshopper! Jacphar what is your come back to that? Grasshopper stated what I would have said. If we go by what you are saying, people from Tanzania would be Tanzanis.

[nuune]

^^ His comeback was that he let you guys state the English grammatical rules for setting and stating country names, is that hard to ask, bal casharada waan sugeenaa ee noo soo dhajiya lol

 

 

 

EDIT:

 

Ps: Recently(November 2010 last year) I corrected the guys who are managing the Somali Domain, they ahve being using Somalian all over the places, even in their terms and conditions, I was annoyed, contacted them, and they told me they removed it and are now using Somali, within one hour they made the modification in their website and company.

 

So people jaahilnimaa u geesa specially the ajnabi, idinka ma jaahilnimaa idiin geesey using Somalian, ibtilo innagaa aragney

[The Zack]

^lool it wasn't us who where claiming that one of the terms is wrong. My position is they are both correct, since good jacphar is telling us otherwise asagaa laga rabaa tangible sources to prove us wrong. Keep in mind opinions are opinions.

[Jacpher]

^Sxb, I am not an English major nor a professor who is debating how to come up with a standard of adjectives of world country names with prefixes. That's not what I wrote. You and grasshopper read something that wasn't in my reply. I never said why Somalia doesn't have 'an' and Tanzania has 'an' in the end. What I listed there were the example of countries that don't have 'an' as adjectives in their people. I have yet to come across a Somali scholar or writer that uses the word 'an' to describe people of Somalia. Sources you ask? Check the CIA World Fact book. No an there.

 

Nuune: You're absolutely right. I have never read or seen a book referring to us as Somalians. I agree there is no marjic that corrects these sorts of thing. Google is the their best source and people generally assume it must be correct.

[Malika]

Whats wrong with just being a Somali? This 'am Somalian' is a product of qurboo joogto - waxaan melahaan kuu dashee baa yiraada 'Somalian'..uurrrgh, I dont like to be called Somalian - I am Somali, we are Somalis.

 

It actually annoys me when a grown man/woman calls themselves Somalians..eew eew...Lol

 

"What's in a name?"