3mo ago

What are people from Moscow and Versailles called?

I’ve just heard, for example, to just say “from/in Moscow” or, when comparing it to something like “I went to an American school and then a Russian one”, you just say the country as the adjective.

11 comments

The noun that describes a person or thing from a place is a "demonym". American, Michigander, Californian, New Yorker...
Moscow: a Muscovite
Versailles: a Versaillais (pronounced "ver-sah-yeah")
it's on the wikipedia page of most places
People are answering your headline but not understanding your question; the two aren't as linked as they would be in French.
All of these are valid:
I went to a Moscow school
I went to a school in Moscow
I went to a Versaille cafe
I went to a cafe in Versaille.
I dated a London girl
I dated a girl from London
These sound more natural than the following:
I went to a Muscovite school
I went to a Versaillian cafe (People have been giving you the direct French for Versaillais, but English wouldn't use fhat)
I dated a Londoner girl.
At least for Muscovite, it retains the implication that the school is for people from Moscow, rather than the school being in Moscow. You could have a Muscovite school in London. You could have a Versaillian cafe in Osaka.
You can see this a lot more often in religion, eg. I went to a Presbyterian school - I went to a school for Presbyterians.
- A demonym is a noun that specifically refers to a person from a particular location; you can't use it as an adjective.
  So in your second list, a school can't be a Muscovite, since it isn't a person. You could have met a Muscovite at the school in Moscow.
  You would just say that you dated a Londoner. You would then use an adjective to describe the Londoner further (a female Londoner) or make the sentence longer and a bit clunkier IMO (a Londoner who was a woman)
I believe people from Moscow are called Muscovites. I don't know about Versailles though.
In Russian, a person from Moscow is a Moskvich (Москвич).
Muscovites and Versaillais.
Something in Russian and French :)
(Actual answers already in another comment)
Foreign language names for where people are from are usually limited to region and country.
Maybe I'm missing some context here but I would probably just say "Russian" or "French" 🤷‍♂️
москвич, which translates to muscovite.
versaillais just translates to “from Versailles”
moscowians and versaillans
- Musks and Verses?

11 comments