Savoyards

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person born in or living in the Alpine region of Savoy ; a performer or devoted admirer of the comic operas written by Gilbert and Sullivan
2. An inhabitant of the historical duchy of Savoy in the Alps ; an enthusiast or performer of the operettas of W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan
3. Someone from the Alpine territory of Savoy ; a fan or singer associated with the light operas of Gilbert and Sullivan

Etymology: Savoyards is the plural of Savoyard, and the word has two separate lives. The first is geographic: a Savoyard is a person from Savoy, the Alpine territory whose name is ultimately rooted in Savoy as a place. English borrowed the term from French "Savoyard," which is built on the French place name Savoie with the suffix "-ard," meaning someone from that place. The suffix itself has a surprising pedigree. The "-ard" ending traces back through Old French "-art" to Frankish "-hard" and Proto-Germanic "harduz," meaning "hardy" or "strong." So a word for a mountain dweller carries, in its ending, an old Germanic sense of toughness. The second life is theatrical. Because the operas of W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan were staged at the Savoy Theatre in London, their devoted fans came to be called Savoyards, and the same word now names the performers and enthusiasts of those works.