Somali or somalian- a quest that needs to be explored

[Coloow]

Salaama, I don't know whether you have discussed this before my advent to this forum. As you may have noticed I am a kind of novice contributor: I have a thirst for knowledge pertaining to the adjective somali-

 

I have always used the word somali (plural somalis) to describe an ethnic somali. infact in many of the books, papers etc that have been published before the 1990:s the word somali was used by all authors. However, lately we have witnessed the emergence of somalian (somalien) to describe somalis! OOPs.

 

I have asked people on several occassions why they use it. It seems (and this is a calculated assumtion) that people in north america embrace this word more than any other group.

 

Could any of you shed some light on this issue please: because the somali name appear to be shaded!

 

Do you call yourself somali/somalien?

Do you find it rather offensive if you are adressed as somalien?

 

Thanks

[Caano Geel]

somalien, is french for somali, in af somali, you a somali i.e somali baan ahay not somalian, the word somalian is anglosised i.e hindu --> indian to fit in with the english language by those who cant be bothered to do the back-round reasearch when they write or talk about us, f**k it lets tear away these chains and stop changing our names to fit in by anglosising them. thats it i've been thinking about this for a while i'm gonna post a topic on on.

[Oocyte]

I am Somali! And I distaste the word somalian particularly when its used by some Somalis!

[Gabbal]

I feel you 100% Liban. There is no difference btw Somali and Somalian to a lot of people, but I hate :mad: when people, and particularly Somalis, call me Somalian instead of Somali. Can't stand it :mad:

 

But what of people who are citizens of Somalia, but do not belong in the Somali ethnicity, like the bantus and such? Is that an exception to use Somalian?

[rudy-Diiriye]

i prefer somali

[Oocyte]

HornAfrique,

 

We(including Bantus) all are Somalis!

[Coloow]

Ok, we all agree that somali is the right word..but where did somalien(an) come from? i wonder!

[missy_1]

personally i dont really see the difference or what the big fuss is about. untill i came to the uk, i was convinced that any1 who says 'somali' had it wrong, because in most other european countries, especially in germany every1 uses 'somalian'. i cant actually remember why they used somalian, but i do know it has something to do wit grammer. let me get bck 2 u on this.

[LadyMo]

I think 'somalian' is used because many ppl r not familiar with Somalia at all therefore they use wats commonplace, i.e Canadian, Norweigen, Italian, Brazilian, African, American, European, Asian and so on the ending 'an' is used all ova de place whether its to name a country or continent anyhow its caused by differin personal preferences, ignorance, lack of knowledge and understandin- u take u pick

(coz it varies from person to person)

 

Personally I prefer Somali it sounds better!

[Reality Check]

People from Somalia are called Somalis. God knows where Somalian came from ! I don't find it offensive when people use that term, However, It's quite irritating when I hear it. Kinda like when you scratch the blackboard with nails !!

[Captivating_SouL]

EXDANE AM SORRY BUT AM NOR IGNORANT OR LACK OF KNOWLEDGE BUT PERSONAL PREFEREBCE I WOULD SAY NAAH SINCE ME, MYSELF AND I DONT OWE THE COUNTRY I THINK IT DID BE WRONG FOR ME TO SAY BUT IF

 

YES THE CORRECT TERM IS SOMALI BUT I PERSONALLY WOULD CARE TOO MUCH IF SOME...

 

NON-SOMALI WOULD TO ASK ME WHERE ARE YOU FROM?

 

...I WOULD SAY SOMALIA

 

SO WHEN SOMEONE SAYS WHAT ARE YOU?

 

....SOMALI...OR AT TIMES SOMALIAN

 

AND WHEN THEY ASK WHAT LANGUAGE DO YOU SPEAK?

 

....SOMALI

 

SO GIVEN THAT..I AM NOT TRYNA BE SOMETHING AM NOT..BUT GRAMMARLY IF ONE TO ASK ITSELF THEY DID COME UP WITH THE SAME...OR IN CLOSE PREMIESES. AND IT HAS NO CONNECTION WITH HOW THE WESTERN WORLDS ARE INFLUENENCING US..AND TRUST I KNOW MY HISTROY OF SOMALIA SO DONT TAKE IT AS THOUGH I JUST OPEN MY EYES.

 

1..2.. CIAO

[Intuition]

Somali Somali Somali...sheesh we go thru the trouble of geting there vocab right, its about time we sorted out theirs :rolleyes: (non somalis) by all means we ought 2 be insulted i mean thats like pronouncing my name wrong...i just wont take it :mad: .

[silent-sistah]

aniiga,,,call me somaliEn, somaliAn, or somali..the fact that u recognise my country of origin is enuff...and i really dont see the difference.

 

ok ,,,u guys are telling me that the original word was somali..(i guess that y araabs say 'u are somaal?'),

 

but when im talking i say somalian, maybe because like X-dane said,,it is the western way. and i was i speak the same language as them

[Infatua.5an]

I am Somali...My people are Somalis...I don’t see what’s so mind jerking about it :confused: ...but I presume it’s in our nature to complicate everything!

[MD]

Somali...somalian the english term i assume, i wouldn't mind at all which ever word one uses..it's really not something to argue about