Lucanians

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The ancient peoples who inhabited Lucania, a region of southern Italy, during classical antiquity
2. Members of an ancient Italic people who lived in the mountainous interior of southern Italy
3. Ancient inhabitants of the southern Italian region of Lucania, known from Greek and Roman sources

Etymology: The plural "Lucanians" is simply the plural of "Lucanian," the name for the ancient people of Lucania, a region in southern Italy. The people themselves were an Italic group who lived in the mountainous interior of what is now Basilicata and parts of Calabria, and they were known to the Romans long before the Romans absorbed them. The adjective "Lucanian" is formed from "Lucania," the Latin name of the region, with the English suffix "-an," which turns a place name into a word for its people or inhabitants. The same pattern produces "Italian" from "Italy" and "Roman" from "Rome," so the word is a straightforward example of how English names a people after their homeland.