Belarusan or Belarusian

[Paul B. Gallagher]

William Ryan wrote:

> There is no 'correct' way in English to form adjectives from the names 
> of places (England/English, France/French, Norway/Norwegian, 
> Congo/Congolese, Liverpool/Liverpudlian, Glasgow/Glaswegian, Isle of 
> Man/Manx, Switzerland/Swiss, Holland/Dutch). Since Belarus is a recent 
> creation we shall just have to see which form wins out. At present both 
> are in common use in print and on the Internet. Both -an and -ian are 
> historically possible suffixes in English (deriving ultimately from 
> Latin). 'Belarusan' seems like a logical formation, but 'Belarusian' is 
> easier on the ear because of the earlier 'Belorussian' and the very 
> large number of place adjectives ending in -ian. US and British official 
> websites seem to use 'Belarusian' which gives it a kind of authority. 
> What Belorusans/Belorusians think about it is neither here nor there - 
> this is a question of English.

Agreed -- we have no Académie Anglaise to issue an official ruling. 
Various organizations and government agencies may establish their own 
internal standards, and to the extent they are prestigious, others may 
follow along. Some time in the next few decades, the community of 
English speakers will reach a consensus, but to date it has not. I see 
both forms frequently, and have no strong preference either way.


Bill -- please leave "Reply-to" blank so replies will go to the list.

-- 
War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
--
Paul B. Gallagher
pbg translations, inc.
"Russian Translations That Read Like Originals"
http://pbg-translations.com

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