Translation
American Indian, Native American (traditional usage)
Word origin
Built inside Esperanto from Indi- (India) plus the suffix -an-, which makes a member or inhabitant. The name records Columbus's mistake: he believed he had reached the Indies, and the label stuck to the wrong continent. India itself goes back through Greek Indos and Old Persian Hindu to Sanskrit Sindhu, 'the river'.
- Origin
- Esperanto derivation on a Sanskrit place name
- Root
- Indi- + -an-
- English cognates
- Indian, Hindu, Indus
Examples
.
The Indigenous peoples lived on that land long before the first ships.
.
In old books you often read about American Indians and their tribes.
.
The Indigenous people of that region had their own language.
Two things to hold at once. First, the build is transparent: -an- makes an inhabitant, so sits beside , and o, and hindo is the separate word for a person from India.
Second, the word carries a five-hundred-year-old error, and careful modern writers avoid it. Prefer for an Indigenous person, or better still name the nation: maja , keĉua . You still need to recognise , because it fills older Esperanto books, but you rarely need to write it. The wider pattern of country, people and language names is set out in Landoj kaj popoloj.
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indiano: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Esperanto word "indiano" (American Indian, Native American (traditional usage)): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 35.