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exonym / endonym
Jul. 17th, 2012 07:38 amexonym (EK-soh-nim) - n., a name used by foreigners to refer to a people or social group that the group itself does not use.
endonym (EN-doh-nim) - n., a name used by a people or social group to refer to itself.
Thus, Navajo (from a Tewa word via Spanish) is an exonym for the people that call themselves by the endonym Diné. Some exonyms are considered offensive, such as Gypsy (from Egypt) for the Romani people, while others have been thoroughly adopted, such as Nihon/Nippon ("sun's origin" in Chinese as seen from China/Korea) for the country called Japan (another exonym) in English. The terms xenonym and autonym are also sometimes used, though the last also means the true name of someone, especially and author. Endonyms that have been nativized, such as English Moscow for Russian Moskva, are also exonyms, but apparently not xenonyms. It's all very confusing. In any case, all four terms are from Greek roots, the nym part being name (from ónoma), exo- being without, endo- within, auto- self, and xeno- being foreign.
---L.
endonym (EN-doh-nim) - n., a name used by a people or social group to refer to itself.
Thus, Navajo (from a Tewa word via Spanish) is an exonym for the people that call themselves by the endonym Diné. Some exonyms are considered offensive, such as Gypsy (from Egypt) for the Romani people, while others have been thoroughly adopted, such as Nihon/Nippon ("sun's origin" in Chinese as seen from China/Korea) for the country called Japan (another exonym) in English. The terms xenonym and autonym are also sometimes used, though the last also means the true name of someone, especially and author. Endonyms that have been nativized, such as English Moscow for Russian Moskva, are also exonyms, but apparently not xenonyms. It's all very confusing. In any case, all four terms are from Greek roots, the nym part being name (from ónoma), exo- being without, endo- within, auto- self, and xeno- being foreign.
---L.
