Acarnanians

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. The people who lived in Acarnania, an ancient district on the western coast of mainland Greece
2. Natives of the ancient Greek region of Acarnania, located west of Aetolia along the Ionian Sea
3. Members of the ancient population inhabiting Acarnania, a rugged province of northwestern Greece

Etymology: The Acarnanians were a people of ancient western Greece, living in the region of Acarnania on the coast facing the Ionian Sea, between the Achelous river and the Ambracian Gulf. Their name is simply the plural of "Acarnanian," the adjective formed from the region's name, Acarnania, with the suffix "-an" that English uses for inhabitants and adherents of a place. That suffix has a longer road behind it than it first appears. It descends from a Proto-Italic form, passed through Latin "-ānus" and Old French, and reached Middle English as "-an." English then attached it to Greek place names such as Acarnania, so a word coined for a few ancient tribes in one corner of Greece arrived in English by way of Rome and medieval France.