American (word)

Use of the word American differs between historical, geographical and political contexts.

The word American, in English, is generally understood to mean "of or relating to the United States of America". For example, "Elvis Presley was an American singer" or "The American president gave a speech today..." Other speakers, particularly in Latin America, have objected to this usage, feeling it unfairly appropriates the meaning of American.

The adjective American is used to mean "of or relating to the Americas", even when used in the United States.

History of the word American

British Map of America in 1744.

Various theories exist for the derivation of the word America. The most commonly expounded is that German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller derived it from the Latinized version of the name of Amerigo Vespucci (Americus Vespucius), an Italian merchant and cartographer whose exploratory journeys in the early 1500s brought him to the eastern coastline of South America and to the Caribbean. A second theory suggests its derivation from the name of one Richard Amerike of Bristol in England, financier of John Cabot's expedition in 1497, and Cabot became the first Western European to set foot on the mainland. Another theory is that it came from the region of Amerrique in Nicaragua. However it came into existence, the term American was subsequently used as an adjective describing the New World and its native people.

By the 1500s, the word American was used by Europeans for the indigenous habitants of the New World and was extended to describe newly settled Europeans and their mixed progeny. In 1776, the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation proclaimed a new country, "The United States of America." Above the signatories of the Articles of Confederation it states as follows: "In Witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands in Congress. Done at Philadelphia in the State of Pennsylvania the ninth day of July in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy-Eight, and in the Third Year of the independence of America." It is noteworthy that only the word America, not the United States, was used.

In 1801, a document titled "Letter to American Spaniards" is considered to have directly influenced the Act of Independence and the 1811 Constitution of Venezuela [1]. This document was published in French, Spanish, and English in 1799, 1801 and 1808, respectively.

Today, American is used in both the historical continental sense and to refer to the United States of America.

Disagreement over meaning of American

The use of American as a national demonym for United States Citizens has been frequently challenged primarily by Latin Americans since 1947 or earlier. This has been attributed to a shift in meaning in English usage of a word that has historically referred to the land mass that comprises the New World.

Political-cultural views

Spain

In Spain people who have lived in the Western Hemisphere but now live in Spain may be called americanos. The Diccionario de la Lengua Española (Dictionary of the Spanish Language) published by the Real Academia Española (Royal Spanish Academy), also gives estadounidense (unitedstater) as one of the definitions of americano, meaning "someone from the United States or relating to the United States".

Canada

Some Canadians in particular have devoted a great deal of attention to proclaiming that they are not "Americans" both in their own cultural products and when they travel outside the region and are frequently mistaken for U.S. citizens .

Some Canadians (among with Latin Americans) have protested the use of American as a national demonym in the past.

United States

The use of the word American in the U.S. has given rise to terms like Mexican American to refer to people of Mexican origin living in the United States, either as first-generation immigrants or their descendants. These terms are not used to refer to natives of Mexico living in Mexico.

United States Census

Self-described American ancestry in US counties per 2000 United States Census. (Dark colors may represent higher relative density).

In the United States census, millions of people describe their ancestry or ethnic origin as American, particularly those belonging in southern states. This region has a high percentage of people who trace their ancestry to the colonial origins of the United States but often lack records of the specific countries of their ancestors' origins. People who describe themselves as Italian-American, Mexican American or Native American were coded separately per census tabulation rules.

Justifications for use as national demonym

At present, the United States of America is the only sovereign nation in the world with the word America in its official name. Additionally, other nations have or have had the term United States in their official names (Mexico presently, as well as Brazil and Colombia in the past). References to United States citizens as Americans is viewed by its proponents as convenient and legitimate.

Some have asserted that the word America in United States of America denotes the country's proper name, and is not strictly a geographical indicator. They argue that the interpretation of United States of America to mean a country named United States located in the continent of America is mistaken. One should note that no other country uses Europe, Asia, or Africa in the official name of their country. Instead, they argue that the preposition of is equivalent to the of in Federative Republic of Brazil, Commonwealth of Australia, or Federal Republic of Germany. That is, the of indicates the name of the state. The formal name of Mexico is Estados Unidos Mexicanos, which is currently officially translated as "United Mexican States", had in the past been translated as "United States of Mexico."

Criticisms of use as a national demonym

Others question a nation's right to formally appropriate the name of a continent for itself, citing the fact that America existed long before the United States of America.

Prominent figures

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton is quoted as saying, "...todos somos Americanos" during a speech in Honduras [2]. His quotation is translated as "We are all Americans" by the Washington Post and CNN.

American in other contexts

American in law, generally

In legal circles a citizen of the United States is usually referred to as a United States citizen, not an American citizen though this term is common in popular usage. The following excerpt is from the North American Free Trade Agreement:

"Only air carriers that are U.S. citizens are permitted to operate domestic air services or operate international air services as a "U.S." carrier; non-U.S. citizens may own and control foreign air carriers that operate between the U.S. and foreign points." [3].

In Black's Law Dictionary, 8th edition, "American" is defined as "of pertaining to the United States."

American in trademark law

There are hundreds of prominent organizations and corporations that use "American" in their names to indicate that they are located in or serve the United States of America. Since all of them have a vested interest in their trademarks — many of which have been established as brand names at enormous expense — it is highly unlikely that any of them would consider a name change in the foreseeable future.

Notable organizations and corporations with American in their trademark

The following prominent organizations and corporations use "American" in their trademarks to refer solely to the United States of America:

• American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• American Academy of Ophthalmology
• American Academy of Pediatrics
• American Airlines
• American Apparel
• American Association for the Advancement of Science
• American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials
• American Astronomical Society
• American Bankers Association
• American Bar Association
• American Broadcasting Company
• American Cancer Society
• American Chemical Society
• American Civil Liberties Union
• American College of Physicians
• American College of Surgeons
• American Conservative Union
• American Dental Association
• American Economic Association
• American Electric Power
• American Enterprise Institute
• American Express
• American Family Association
• American Federation of Labor
• American Film Institute
• American Friends Service Committee
• American Geophysical Union
• American Heart Association
• American Historical Association
• American Kennel Club
• American Institute of Architects
• American Jewish Congress
• American Legion
• American Library Association
• American Management Association
• American Medical Association
• American Meteorological Society
• American National Standards Institute
• American Osteopathic Association
• American Petroleum Institute
• American Philosophical Society
• American Political Science Association
• American Public Transportation Association
• American Society of Civil Engineers
• American Society of Mechanical Engineers
• American Sociological Association
• American Stock Exchange
• American Symphony Orchestra
• American Tourister
• American University
• Association of American Publishers
• Federation of American Scientists
• People For the American Way

U.S. national in other languages

English, French, German, Italian, and Russian speakers commonly use American to refer to United States citizens.

In Spanish and Portuguese, americano tends to refer to any resident of the Americas and not necessarily from the United States; English spoken in Latin America often makes this distinction as well.

Latin Americans also have the euphemism norteamericano (North American, which itself conflates the USA, Canada and Mexico).

United Statian is awkward in English, but similar constructions exist in Spanish (estadounidense or "estadinense"), French (étatsunien), Italian (statunitense), and Portuguese, though not widely used.

The word Gringo is widely used in all of Latin America, to make a reference to U.S. residents, not necessarily in a pejorative way. Yanqui (Yankee) is also very common in some regions (in contrast to "gringo", "yanqui" tends to have a pejorative undertone.)

With the 1994 passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the following words were used to label the United States Section of that organization: in French, étatsunien; in Spanish, estadounidense. In English the adjective used to indicate relation to the United States is U.S.

Alternative adjectives for U.S. citizens

There are a number of alternative adjectives to "American" as an adjective (in this case, a demonym) for a citizen of the United States that do not simultaneously mean any inhabitant of the Americas. However, with the exception of U.S. or United States citizens, no serious alternative to American is currently used universally. [4].

• See Adjectives for U.S. citizens.

See also

• Americas (terminology)
• Alternative words for British

Scholarly sources

• Alexander Hamilton. The Federalist No. 24. The Powers Necessary to the Common Defense Further Considered. The Federalist Papers.
• Condon, J.C. (1986). “…So near the United States”. Chapter 8 in J.M. Valdes (Ed.), Culture bound: Bridging the cultural gap in language teaching. (pp. 85-93). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Allen, Irving L. The Language of Ethnic Conflict: Social Organization and Lexical Culture (1983).
• Herbst, Philip H. Color of Words: An Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Ethnic Bias in the United States (1997) ISBN 1877864978.

External links

• "The trouble with Americans" by The Guardian on the use of the word "American" meaning "US citizen" (September 7, 1998)
• Diccionario de la Lengua Española entry for americano