According to the NT, there was a town called Nazareth, where Jesus was from. Various Naz- word uses were interpreted by some early Christians as related to that place name and folks from there, as well as possibly related to two Semitic-language roots, one having to do with a vow for holiness and another meaning guard or observe, as in observers of Torah. (And Epiphanius records Nasarenes.) Observers of Torah, in a clipped form (Torah understood; similarly, principal can mean principal of a school, school understood), can be taken as a group (self-)designation, as I have proposed, from Hebrew (known in Qumran mss), which through Greek (with two endings) came into English as Essenes and Ossenes.
Demonyms, these days, means names (-nyms) of people (demos) from a given place. Sometimes there are two names in use for one place. People from Iowa are called Iowans. People from Michigan are called Michiganders or Michiganians or other options. The word demonym, according to OED, has two, earlier, now obsolete uses. One of those uses can be seen in older books, such as identifying the author only as "an English Gentleman," "an Amateur," "a Bibliophile," "a Royal Navy Officer," and suchlike.
In regard to the Naz- group of names (Nazarenes, etc.) one thing we can say is that a gentilic does not come before a toponym.
Demonyms, these days, means names (-nyms) of people (demos) from a given place. Sometimes there are two names in use for one place. People from Iowa are called Iowans. People from Michigan are called Michiganders or Michiganians or other options. The word demonym, according to OED, has two, earlier, now obsolete uses. One of those uses can be seen in older books, such as identifying the author only as "an English Gentleman," "an Amateur," "a Bibliophile," "a Royal Navy Officer," and suchlike.
In regard to the Naz- group of names (Nazarenes, etc.) one thing we can say is that a gentilic does not come before a toponym.
Statistics: Posted by StephenGoranson — Tue Dec 17, 2024 7:14 am