# Full name of country that uses proper adjective



## Lusus Naturae

Not very many inflected languages use the proper adjective in the official full names of their own territories (e.g., République française, Repubblica Italiana, Российская Федерация), whereas many use the proper noun with their equivalent of _of.  _Is it a form of classicism?

Historically or historiographically, the adjective or gentilic is often used in Latin appellation for territories and associated things, e.g., Ducatus Mantuanus, in contrast to Ducato di Mantova, Res publica Genuensis, in contrast to Repubblica di Genova; Pugna Cannensis, in contrast to Battle of Cannae, Proelium Zamense, in contrast to Battle of Zama; Zeno Eleates, in contrast to Zeno of Elea, Lucianus Samosatensis, in contrast to Lucian of Samosata; Universitas Cantabrigiensis, in contrast to University of Cambridge_._


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## elroy

Lusus Naturae said:


> Is it a form of classicism?


 Highly doubtful.  I wonder what makes you think this might be the case?


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## Abaye

It can also be mixed, as in جمهورية مصر العربية "the Arab Republic of Egypt". Compare to الجمهورية العربية السورية "the Syrian Arab Republic".

I live in מדינת ישראל "the State of Israel". One can say המדינה הישראלית "the Israeli State" or, as we see sometimes, המדינה היהודית "the Jewish State" which are OK as general terms but not as the formal name.


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## ahvalj

I think it largely depends on whether a certain language (or a prestigious language that serves as the example) prefers relational adjectives (_presidential elections_), genitives (_elections of the president_) or appositions (_president elections_). Slavic languages prefer the former, Romance and Baltic the second, modern Germanic the latter. As to Latin, I've noticed that the names of the Roman dioceses, while introduced at once, were heterogeneous in this respect: compare the genitives in the majority of cases vs. the adjectives in _Viennensis, Asiana_ and _Pontica_.


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## apmoy70

The official name of Greece is *«Ελληνική Δημοκρατία»* [e.li.niˈci ði.mɔk.raˈti.a] (both fem.) which in English is 'Hellenic (=Greek) Republic'


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## momai

apmoy70 said:


> The official name of Greece is *«Ελληνική Δημοκρατία»* [e.li.niˈci ði.mɔk.raˈti.a] (both fem.) which in English is 'Hellenic (=Greek) Republic'


What do you use for democratic if I may ask? As in X is a democratic republic.


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## apmoy70

*«Λαϊκή»* [la.i.ˈci] (fem.) --> _laïque, of the people_, e.g Democratic Republic of the Congo = «Λαϊκή Δημοκρατία του Κονγκό» [la.i.ˈci ði.mɔk.raˈti.a tu kɔŋˈgɔ]


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## ahvalj

This system apparently fails to convey the most elaborate concepts, like Democratic People's Republic, which becomes just Λαοκρατική Δημοκρατία ,)

By the way, is the syllabification indeed _mok.ra,_ not _mo.kra_?


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## apmoy70

ahvalj said:


> This system apparently fails to convey the most elaborate concepts, like Democratic People's Republic, which becomes just Λαοκρατική Δημοκρατία ,)


Indeed it does, we fall short to describe the magnificence, Best Korea, is 


ahvalj said:


> By the way, is the syllabification indeed _mok.ra,_ not _mo.kra_?


Yes, you're right, it's _mo.kra _[ði.*mɔ.kra*ˈti.a]


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## berndf

This case of the _genitive of definition_ where a genitive noun denotes an instance of another noun denoting  the class occurs first in Classical Latin (_Ubs Romae = City of Rome_). Romance _<class> de <instance>_ seems a logical evolution  as a result of the decay of the case system. In English this pattern is first attested about 50 years after Norman invasion, _se burg of lincolne = the borough of Lincoln_, and becomes frequent during the ME period. Other Germanic languages don't have this pattern (at least I don't know any). It is likely that it copies Anglo-French usage (_Realme d'Engleterre = Kingdom of England_).

There was a  genitive of definition with a similar meaning in OE (and also in other Germanic languages) but that form was relatively rare and worked a bit differently: The above example would be _*lincolnes burg = Lincoln's borough_. It it unlikely that the ME genitive of definition is connected to this.


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## symposium

For what my opinion is worth, I think there is also a very slight difference in nuance between the relational and genitive forms, as ahvalj calls them, at least in languages like French and Italian: "Italian" conveys more the idea of "belonging to all Italians" whereas  "of Italy" is more an abstract concept. That must be the reason why "Repubblica d'Italia" sounds less proper than "Repubblica Italiana", while there's nothing wrong with the more aulic, impersonal-sounding "Regno d'Italia" (Kingdom of Italy). That is also the reason behind Philippe d'Orleans calling himself "Roi des Français" instead of "Roi de France". "Italian/French" doesn't always have the same exact meaning of "of Italy/of France".


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## ahvalj

That's true but that depends on the repertoire a language provides: when there are two or three ways to express more or less the same, semantic nuances may arise and be maintained. The genitive (or, strictly speaking, genitive-like) constructions, while rooted in Latin, have expanded immensely in Romance. For example, a Roman (Ancient Greek, Ancient Germanic) name could not stand in genitive, so that one could be named Napolitano but not Di Napoli and hence no semantic nuances were possible in such cases.


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## Circunflejo

Regarding Romance languages, if we focus on Europe, there isn't a clear trend.

República portuguesa. Republica Moldova. République française. Reppublica Italiana. Confédération suisse.

Romania nowadays is Romania but in the past we can find Republica Populară Română (Popular Romanian Republic) and Republica Socialistă România (Socialist Republic of Romania).

On the other hand, Reino de España, Royaume de Belgique, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg and Reppublica di San Marino.


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## ahvalj

On the other hand, _reino de Portugal__, república Española, regno d'Italia, regatul României._ So, a republic (after Latin I guess?, also _imperium Rōmānum, empire Français_) requires a relational adjective, while kingdom, in the native Romance fashion, takes a genitive construction (or a genitive in Romanian). San Marino is perhaps too long for an adjective ,)


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## ahvalj

By the way, the genitive is almost impossible in the names of states in Russian: it can be only used when a part of a country is implied. For example, West Germany in the Soviet times was called in Russian "Federative Republic _of_ Germany" (vs. "German Democratic Republic" that was considered_ proper_ Germany). So, in Russian only adjectives ("French Republic") or appositions ("Kingdom Sweden") exist in such cases.


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## Circunflejo

I forgot to quote countries that include state as part of their name: Status Civitatis Vaticanae and, out of Europe, Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia.



ahvalj said:


> So, a republic (after Latin I guess?, also _imperium Rōmānum, empire Français_) requires a relational adjective


Well, all the examples that I quoted were from Europe. If we go out of Europe, we can find, among others, Républic du Mali, Républic du Niger, Républic de Côte d'Ivoire, Républic de Guinée, República Federativa do Brazil, República de Moçambique, República de Angola, República Democrática de Timor-Leste, República del Perú, República de Panamá, República de Colombia, República del Paraguay...


ahvalj said:


> while kingdom, in the native Romance fashion, takes a genitive construction


The same is true for principalities: Principat d'Andorra. Principauté de Monaco. However, the Italians call Regno Longobardo what in Latin was Regnum Langobardorum...


ahvalj said:


> San Marino is perhaps too long for an adjective


Sammarinese isn't that long.


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## ahvalj

I wonder if there are memoirs in some of these cases explaining why state founders preferred either variant. To me the substantival nomination looks much less bureaucratic (and honestly speaking I fail to understand why an official name of a country should include anything except its one-word name, the opposite being excusable only when a locality had grown into a country, like in case of Rome, but even there _Romania_ was invented back in Late Antiquity).

I happened to be watching TV when in the early nineties the new official name of the Russian state was discussed in the parliament, and I recall that there was nothing especially intellectual: deputies eventually agreed that the country should have two official names, _Russian Federation_ (for smaller constituent nations to keep feeling involved) and _Russia,_ and so both have been codified as juridically equivalent (article 1 of the current constitution).


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## Circunflejo

ahvalj said:


> I wonder if there are memoirs in some of these cases explaining why state founders preferred either variant.


República del Perú was adopted with the Constitution of 1979. The Constitution of 1933 called it República peruana. The basis of the Constitution of 1822 might give us a clue about this question when they say that the nation is called República peruana but the _país _(I guess that it's being used with the meaning of state although it can also mean nation) is called Perú.


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