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Definition 2024


exonymy

exonymy

English

Noun

exonymy (uncountable)

  1. The use of the name for a group or geographic region by outsiders, as opposed to that by its members or inhabitants.
    • 2000 June, B Bodenhorn & G vom Bruck, “Processes of Naming”, in Anthropology Today, volume 16:
      Eduardo Viveiros de Castro (Brazil/Paris) analysed the comparative relation between exonymy and endonymy in lowland South America.
    • 2008, Tany˜xiwe's Journey: A Javae Theory of History, ISBN 0549742387, page 998:
      As such, there arises a symbolic association between endonymy and the firstborn, and exonymy and the last-born, in keeping with the idea that the firstborn represents internal continuity and the last-born represents the transformation associated with exteriority. Indeed, in the practice of name-giving, the names of the firstborn come from the closest kin and from what is "inside", whereas the names of the last-born come from more distant kin and from what is increasingly "outside."
    • 2011, William Cooney, Egypt's encounter with the West: Race, Culture and Identity in Pacific Linguistics (thesis, Durham University):
      First it will examine the etymologies of the various groups as products of Egyptian nomenclature (exonymy) or indigenous nomenclature (endonymy).