Alexandrians

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. People born or living in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria ; scholars who belonged to the ancient school of learning centred on that city's great library
2. Residents or natives of the Egyptian city of Alexandria ; thinkers and scholars associated with the Hellenistic learning centre based in that city
3. Those who come from the Egyptian seaport of Alexandria ; the grammarians and philosophers of the classical school that flourished in that city

Etymology: "Alexandrians" is the plural of "Alexandrian," which describes people or things from Alexandria, the Egyptian port founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BC. The name of the city is itself the root: Alexandria combined with the suffix "-ian" gives the adjective, and the noun is formed from the same city name with "-n" attached. The source also points to a second family of roots, and it is the more surprising one. Some uses of "Alexandrian" come from the personal name Alexander with "-ian," and the noun and one adjective sense are variants of "alexandrine," a term borrowed from Middle French "alexandrin." That French word refers to a line of verse, named after a twelve-syllable poetic form associated with Old French romances about Alexander the Great. So a word that sounds like a plain place-based adjective can also trace back to a medieval poem about the conqueror who founded the city.