Shetlander

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person born or living on the Shetland Islands, the northern archipelago off the coast of Scotland
2. Someone who comes from or resides in the Shetland Islands, a group of islands north of mainland Scotland
3. A native or inhabitant of the Shetland Islands in the North Atlantic, lying off the northeast coast of Scotland

Etymology: Shetlander is about as transparent as English words get: it is simply "Shetland" with the agent suffix "-er" added, meaning a person from Shetland. The place name is the older and more interesting part of the story. Shetland, the group of islands north of mainland Scotland, is a name that English took on through the Scandinavian settlers who colonised the islands, so the word for its people was built onto a name that predates English use of the islands. The suffix itself has a long pedigree. The "-er" ending descends from Latin "-arius", which denoted a person connected with or belonging to something, and it travelled through Proto-Germanic and Old English before reaching modern English. Old French also contributed a version of the same ending, which helped it spread through English usage. Together these routes explain why English has so many words like "New Yorker" or "Londoner" built the same way.

Synonyms: islander