[Ads-l] Albanians

[Laurence Horn]

Can't remember if residents of Greece, NY (a suburb of Rochester contiguous with Chili /'tSai lai/) are Greeks, Grecians, or neither.  And are inhabitants of Paris, Texas Parisians, or Paris-ites?

LH 


On Feb 19, 2015, at 11:24 AM, Paul A Johnston, Jr. wrote:

> The little town in New York State, Monroe, has a similar problem.  We are "Monrovians" but have probably never been to Liberia.
> 
> Paul
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Sent: Thursday, February 19, 2015 10:51:58 AM
>> Subject: Re: Albanians
>> 
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
>> Subject:      Re: Albanians
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> At 2/19/2015 10:21 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>>> Wonder if the first vowel would disambiguate in=20
>>> the spoken language.  Ah, yes, so saith OED, at=20
>>> least in the primary pronunciation with open /O-/.
>> 
>> Probably, but the invitation wasn't written in IPA.
>> 
>>> There's also Albanian, n.3 and adj.1, another new one on me:
>>> 
>>> Of or relating to Scotland or its people;=20
>>> Scottish. Chiefly with reference to the time=20
>>> prior to the Scottish Wars of Independence=20
>>> (1296=AD1357), in later use often in relation to=20
>>> the Scots (Scot n.1 1) who settled in what is now western Scotland.
>> 
>> I wondered, but then remembered.  To quote=20
>> Wikipedia, "Albion", not just the island of Great Britain, but:
>> 
>> "... The name for Scotland in the Celtic=20
>> languages is related to Albion: Alba in Scottish=20
>> Gaelic, Albain in Irish, Nalbin in Manx and Alban=20
>> in Welsh, Cornish and Breton. These names were=20
>> later Latinised as Albania and Anglicised as=20
>> Albany, which were once alternative names for Scotland."
>> 
>> Joel
>> 
>> 
>>> Presumably they'd have been recognized as British but not as
>>> English...
>>> 
>>> LH
>>> 
>>> On Feb 19, 2015, at 10:09 AM, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>>> 
>>>> "Following the French and Indian War,=20
>>> Albanians believed themselves to be British,=20
>>> but visiting Britons did not recognize them as fellow countrymen."
>>>> 
>>>> Since this is the first sentence of the=20
>>> description of a talk titled "Degrees of=20
>>> Britishness: The People of Albany, New York,=20
>>> and Questions of Cultural Community Membership,=20
>>> 1763--1775", I suffered a moment of=20
>>> dislocation.  But the next sentence brought me back across the
>>> ocean:
>>>> 
>>>> "New World Dutch architecture, the Albany=20
>>> Dutch dialect, and the Dutch Reformed Church=20
>>> contributed to the British view of the=20
>>> Albanians as inter-imperial foreigners:=20
>>> subjects who lived within the British empire=20
>>> but stood outside of the British cultural community."
>>>> 
>>>> And I find it has a long history, even if not=20
>>> as long as in the Caucasuses* -- "Albanian,=20
>>> n.4", "A native or inhabitant of Albany, New York State", from
>>> 1689.
>>>> 
>>>> * Not to be confused with Secaucus, which is not close to Albany.
>>>> 
>>>> Joel
>> 
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