Flatlanders

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A designation for individuals hailing from extensive flatlands or plains A colloquial term that identifies those unacquainted with hilly or mountainous environments A descriptor applied to inhabitants of topographically uniform regions lacking elevation variance
2. People who live in regions characterized by wide, level terrain without significant hills or mountains
3. Individuals originating from geographic areas where the ground is predominantly even and lacks high elevations

Etymology: "Flatlander" is a plain compound: "flatland" plus the agent suffix "-er," meaning one who lives in or belongs to a place. The base is itself transparent, since "flat" describes level ground and "land" is the ordinary Old English word for territory. The suffix has a longer ancestry, descending through Middle English and Old English from Latin "-arius," a suffix that marked a person connected with something, and which came into Germanic languages as "-ārijaz" before reaching English. The result is a word whose meaning depends entirely on the observer's viewpoint. A person who lives in the wide plains is a flatlander to someone raised among hills, and the label carries no more information than that contrast. The plural "flatlanders" simply names more than one such person.

Synonyms: lowlanders, plainsmen, valley dwellers

Antonyms: mountaineers, highlanders