Mancunian

Mancunian

English

WOTD – 24 May 2017

Etymology

Manchester Town Hall

From Latin Mancunium (appearing in a 4th-century manuscript of the Antonine Itinerary), an alternative name for or corruption of Mamucium (“name of the Roman fort at what is now Manchester”) +‎ -an, probably modelled after Late Latin Mancuniensis (“related or pertaining to Mancunium”).[1]

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /manˈkjuː.nɪ.ən/, /maŋ-/

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /mænˈkju.ni.ən/
• Hyphenation: Man‧cu‧ni‧an

Adjective

Mancunian (comparative more Mancunian, superlative most Mancunian)

1. Related or pertaining to Manchester, England, in the United Kingdom.
   • 1775, [John] Whitaker, “The True Origin of Our Present Language, Letters, Weights, and Coins—and the Positive and Comparative Prices of Things before the Conquest”, in The History of Manchester, book II, London: Printed for Joseph Johnson, Nº 72, in St. Paul's Church-yard; and J[ohn] Murray, Nº 32, Fleet-street, opposite St. Dunstan's Church, OCLC 639715888, section I, pages 237–238:

     Current among the Britons, the name of Manchester was equally received and retained by the Saxons. […] [M]oſt of the more remarkable objects about the town, at this period, exchanged their Britiſh denominations for Saxon. And even one of the rivers, even the monarch of the Mancunian currents, now reſigned up its original name of Beliſama, and received another; from the marſhes and marſhy meadows, that ſkirt its channel on both ſides in one continued line to the ſea, obtaining the deſcriptive denomination of Merſc-ey, Merſ-ey, or marſhy water.

   • 1996, Ian Taylor; Karen Evans; Penny Fraser, “‘This Ruddy Recession’: Post-Fordism in Manchester and Sheffield”, in A Tale of Two Cities: Global Change, Local Feeling and Everyday Life in the North of England. A Study in Manchester and Sheffield, London; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 90:

     The Bridgewater Canal in Manchester during the summer months is colonised every Sunday by hundreds of Mancunian men and boys involved in angling competitions, a very traditional and gendered practice.

   • 2006, Sean Albiez, “Print the Truth, not the Legend. The Sex Pistols: Lesser Free Trade Hall, June 4, 1976”, in Ian Inglis, editor, Performance and Popular Music: History, Place and Time (Ashgate Popular and Folk Music Series), Aldershot, Hampshire; Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate Publishing, →ISBN, page 92:

     The Sex Pistols' first performance at Manchester's Lesser Free Trade Hall on June 4, 1976 has become widely accredited as 'year zero' in the history of Mancunian rock music.

Translations

related or pertaining to Manchester, England

French: mancunien (fr), mancunienne (fr) f Galician: mancuniano m Georgian: მანჩესტერული (mančesṭeruli) Irish: Manchanach Manx: Manchuinagh Russian: манчестерский (ru) (mančesterskij) Spanish: mancuniano

Noun

Mancunian (plural Mancunians)

1. A person raised or living in the city of Manchester, England, in the United Kingdom.
   • 1859, [Arthur Helps], “War”, in Friends in Council: A Series of Readings and Discourse thereon (New Series), volume I, 2nd edition, London: John W[illiam] Parker & Son, West Strand, OCLC 316352150, page 137:

     But the Mancunians are of all men the most disposed to peace. Their name has become a bye-word because they are said to require peace at any price. If the Mancunians are satisfied, for Heaven's sake do not let us put it into their heads that they could gain anything by change.

   • 1984, S. W. Stanbury, “Foreword”, in Willis J. Elwood and A. Félicité Tuxford, editor, Some Manchester Doctors: A Biographical Collection to Mark the 150th Anniversary of the Manchester Medical Society 1834–1984, Manchester; Dover, N.H.: Published for the Manchester Medical Society by Manchester University Press, →ISBN, page vii:

     In this epitome of local medical history there is much of which any Mancunian can be proud, be he a medical man, a citizen of Greater Manchester or a member of its universities.

   • 2017 May 23, Sarah Ann Harris, “Manchester bombing prompts extraordinary messages of defiance: ‘F*ck terrorism stick the kettle on.’”, in HuffPost‎, archived from the original on 23 May 2017:

     Mancunians have shown their defiance in the face of terror after a suicide bomber killed 22 people in the city on Monday night.

Synonyms

• Manc

Translations

person raised or living in the city of Manchester, England

French: mancunien (fr) m, mancunienne (fr) f Georgian: მანჩესტერელი (mančesṭereli) Irish: Manchanach m Manx: Manchuinagh m Spanish: mancuniano m, mancuniana f

References

1. “Mancunian, n. and adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2000.

Further reading

• Mamucium on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Manchester on Wikipedia.Wikipedia