[Ads-l] Haligonian

[Baker, John]

There is Cantabrigian, in reference to Cambridge University or to a resident of Cambridge (England or Massachusetts).  It derives from Cantabrigia, the medieval Latin name for Cambridge.

Glaswegian is said to have been formed on the analogy of Norwegian, which would perhaps make more sense if the city were named Glasway.  Haligonian seems to have been the brainchild of whoever named the Halifax Haligonian, a newspaper that was extant in 1839 and 1840; it is immediately not clear how they came up with the name.


John Baker



From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> On Behalf Of Bill Mullins
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2022 1:18 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Haligonian

An article about Mattea Roach, a recent Jeopardy champion, referred to her as a "Haligonian" -- that is, one from Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Why "Haligonian" instead of "Halifaxian"? Why "Glaswegian" instead of "Glasgowian"? Are there other names like this, where the denonym is more distantly related to its place name than normal?

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