Marshallese

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Definitions

1. The Austronesian language spoken in the Marshall Islands and by Marshallese diaspora communities ; relating to or characteristic of the Marshall Islands, its people, or their culture
2. A language from the Micronesian region spoken primarily in the Marshall Islands ; of or belonging to the people, nation, or cultural traditions of the Marshall Islands
3. The native language of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean ; of, from, or pertaining to the Marshall Islands or its inhabitants and traditions

Etymology: The Marshallese language takes its name from the Marshall Islands, the Pacific archipelago where it is spoken, and that island group is named after John Marshall, the British captain who charted it in 1788. The name itself is a straightforward formation: "Marshall" plus the suffix "-ese," which English uses to name the language or people of a place, as in "Chinese" or "Japanese." The suffix has a longer journey than the place name. It descends from a Proto-Indo-European root, passed into Proto-Germanic and then West Germanic, and was borrowed into Latin as the adjective-forming "-iscus" and its variant "-ensis," meaning belonging to or coming from a place. Through Old French "-eis" it reached Middle English as "-eys," which later became the modern "-ese."

Synonyms: Marshallian