Southerns

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A group of individuals originating from the southern regions of a country or area
2. Pertaining to people or cultures that inhabit the southern part of a specific geographical location
3. Relating to those who live in or identify with the southern territories, often characterized by distinct traditions or dialects

Etymology: "Southerns" is simply the plural of "southern," and the adjective itself is an old Germanic formation. Its ancestor in Old English was "sūþerne," meaning southern or coming from the south, and it descends from a Proto-Germanic form built on the word for "sun." The sun's position over the sky gave the south its name, so the direction and the sun were tied together from the start. The same root shows up across the North Sea and beyond. Scots has "southron" and "sudron," Old Frisian has "sūthern," Middle Low German has "sūdern," and Icelandic has "suðrænn," which can also mean tropical. Those cousins show that the sense of "belonging to the south" was shared across several Germanic languages long before English settled on its modern spelling. In its plural use, "southerns" refers to people from the south, so the word turns a direction into a group of people, much as "northerners" does.