America

See also: América, Amèrica, and americà

English

Alternative forms

• (the United States of America): Merica/ 'Murica/ 'murica (nonstandard, often jocular or representing dialect)
• (North and South America): Americas

Etymology

New Latin America, feminine latinized form of the Italian forename of Amerigo Vespucci (1454–1512). Amerigo is an Italian name derived from a Germanic language and is etymologically related to Emmerich. Others, noting the peculiarity of the taking of the Italian version of the first name (not "Vespuccia" or "Alberica"), suggest that the origin are the Amerrisque mountains in Nicaragua, later attributed to Vespucci by Martain Waldseemüller.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈmɛɹ.ɪ.kə/
• Rhymes: -ɛɹɪkə

• Audio (UK)

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• Audio (US)

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Proper noun

America (plural Americas)

2. The United States of America.
   • 1837, George Sand, Stanley Young, transl., Mauprat‎^[2], Cassandra Editions, published 1977, →ISBN, page 237:

     For a long time the dormouse and polecat had seemed to him overfeeble enemies for his restless valour, even as the granary floor seemed to afford too narrow a field. Every day he read the papers of the previous day in the servants' hall of the houses he visited, and it appeared to him that this war in America, which was hailed as the awakening of the spirit of liberty and justice in the New World, ought to produce a revolution in France.

   • 2013 May 25, “No hiding place”, in The Economist‎^[3], volume 407, page 74:

     In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result.

   • 2014 July 27, “Nuclear Weapons”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 1, episode 12, HBO:

     And once gain, America is saved from destruction by the heroes in “MEAL Team Six”.

4. The Americas.
   • 1847, Joseph Dalton Hooker, On the Vegetation of the Galapagos Archipelago, as compared with that of some other Tropical Islands and of the Continent of America, DOI:10.1111/j.1096-3642.1846.tb00417.x, pages 235–262:

     The results of my examination ... for the most part allied to plants of the cooler part of America, or the uplands of the tropical latitudes ...

   • 1890, Encyclopaedia Britannica, page 796:

     the Marsupials or pouched animals, being found throughout the continent of America, from the United States to Patagonia

   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 691:

     Franciscan attitudes in the Canaries offered possible precedents for what Europe now came to call ‘the New World’, or, through a somewhat tangled chain of circumstances, ‘America’.

5. A female given name.
6. A town in Limburg, Netherlands.

Usage notes

In English, the unqualified term "America" typically refers to the United States of America as a synecdoche, with "American" typically referring to people and things from that country. The sense of "the Americas" is uncommon in contemporary English, but is found in some specific circumstances, such as in reference to the Organization of American States.

Synonyms

• (United States of America) see United States of America#Synonyms
• (North and South America) Americas

Translations

United States of America — see United States of America

Americas — see Americas

See also

• (continents) continent; Africa, America (North America, South America), Antarctica, Asia, Europe, Oceania ^{(Category: en:Continents)}

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Dutch

Etymology

First attested as Amerika in 1838-1857. Derived from New Latin America. The settlement was named for its remote location.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: Ame‧ri‧ca

Proper noun

America n

1. A village in Horst aan de Maas, Limburg, Netherlands.

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Italian

Etymology

From New Latin America.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈmɛ.ri.ka/
• Rhymes: -ɛrika
• Hyphenation: A‧mè‧ri‧ca

Proper noun

America f

1. (continent) the Americas

Derived terms

Derived terms

• America Centrale
• America Latina
• americano
• cardellino d'America

• lucherino d'America
• Nord America / America del Nord / America settentrionale
• Stati Uniti d'America
• Sud America / America del Sud / America meridionale

Descendants

• →⇒ Slavomolisano: Lamerika

Anagrams

• amicare, camerai, macaire, macerai, rameica

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Latin

Etymology

Feminine form of Americus, the Latinized form of the forename of Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci (1454–1512). Amerigo is the Italian form of a Germanic personal name (see Emmerich).

First recorded in 1507 (together with the related term Amerigen) in the Cosmographiae Introductio, apparently written by Matthias Ringmann, in reference to South America; first applied to both North and South America by Mercator in 1538. Amerigen means "land of Amerigo" and derives from Amerigo and gen, the accusative case of Greek gē "earth". America accorded with the feminine names of Asia, Africa, and Europa.

Proper noun

America f sg (genitive Americae); first declension

1. (New Latin) America

Declension

First-declension noun, singular only.

Case	Singular
Nominative	America
Genitive	Americae
Dative	Americae
Accusative	Americam
Ablative	Americā
Vocative	America

References

• America in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[4], pre-publication website, 2005-2016

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Occitan

Etymology

From New Latin America

Proper noun

America f

1. America (the Americas)

Derived terms

• America del Nòrd
• America del Sud
• american

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Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin America.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [aˈme.ri.ka]

Proper noun

America f (plural Americi)

1. America

Declension

Declension of America

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(o) Americă	America	(niște) Americi	Americile
genitive/dative	(unei) Americi	Americii	(unor) Americi	Americilor
vocative	America, Americă		Americilor

Derived terms

Derived terms

• american
• americanism
• americanist
• americanistică

• americaniza
• americanizare
• americanizat

Related terms

• America Centrală
• America de Nord
• America de Sud
• american

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Welsh

Etymology

From New Latin America

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈmɛrɪka/

Proper noun

America f

1. America

Derived terms

• America Ladin (“Latin America”)
• Americanaidd (“American”)
• Americanes (“American woman”)
• Americanwr (“American man”)
• Canolbarth America (“Central America”)
• De America (“South America”)
• Gogledd America (“North America”)
• Unol Daleithiau America (“United States of America”)

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	h-prothesis
America	unchanged	unchanged	Hamerica
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.