Carthaginians

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Residents of an ancient city in North Africa recognized for their naval strength, commerce, and military struggles against Rome
2. Inhabitants of a renowned city-state in antiquity celebrated for their trading networks, engineering skills, and hostilities with the Roman Empire
3. People who lived in the ancient city of Carthage, known for their influence in Mediterranean trade and conflicts with Rome

Etymology: The people's name is the plural of "Carthaginian," and the adjective goes back to a city whose name is older than any of its Latin forms. The Latin "Carthāgō" was the Roman rendering of the Phoenician name of the city, which the Phoenicians called Qart-Hadasht, meaning "new town." The Romans then built the adjective "carthāginiānus" from that name with the suffix "-iānus," a common Latin marker of belonging to or coming from a place, so the word means something like "of Carthage." English took the adjective from Latin, and the plural "Carthaginians" follows the same pattern as other national and civic names in English. The ending "-ian" is what ties the word to a long list of similar formations, such as "Athenian," "Parisian," and "Lutheran," all built on the same suffix. Each one names a person by reference to a place or a founder, and the Carthaginian entry is no different in structure, though its history of conflict with Rome made it one of the most frequently written-about peoples of the ancient world.