Overleg:indiaan

Capital letter

Hello, sorry to write in english but I do not speak dutch. In French and in English, the name of thepeople begins with a capital letter. It looks it is not the same for this article in Dutch. Is it correct to not use capital letter to begin this king of words? Pamputt 9 aug 2011 08:21 (CEST)

Well, in general the same is for Duch: Duitser, Europeaan, Nederlander, Germaan, but religious names do not: christen, moslim. indiaan seems to be another exception, but I have no idea why :) --Ooswesthoesbes 9 aug 2011 09:26 (CEST)

See here: Taaladvies & regel 16.J. If the name is considered an umbrella term for several specific nations / ethnic groups, it is not written with a capital letter. Curious 9 aug 2011 19:04 (CEST)

Why is "Europeaan" written with a capital letter then? --Ooswesthoesbes 9 aug 2011 21:00 (CEST)

(Because, um, otherwise that would possibly make it too consistent/easy, while the ultimate goal of the spelling rules is to bully us? )

If I understand correctly:

• capital letter:
  • nation / ethnic group derived from a geographical name (e.g. Europeaan, Nederlander, Duitser)
  • specific nation / ethnic group (e.g. Sioux, Kelt, Berber)
• no capital letter:
  • umbrella term for several specific nations / ethnic groups (e.g. indiaan, zigeuner, nomade) -- Curious 9 aug 2011 22:51 (CEST)

Pfff.. Well, I do believe that the spelling makers' knowledge of ethnology wasn't sufficient, 'cause I do think there are more specific nations of Germanic tribes nowadays :) --Ooswesthoesbes 10 aug 2011 08:46 (CEST)

You may want to make some comments here: WikiWoordenboek:Knelpunten van de Nederlandse spelling. :) -- Curious 10 aug 2011 18:58 (CEST)

Good idea ;) --Ooswesthoesbes 10 aug 2011 19:20 (CEST)