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I'm seeing in this thread that while

Mujer de Nueva York

is not incorrect, it's also not very eloquent.

I think that New York has its own adjective in Spanish: neoyorquino

So would

Mujer neoyorquino

make sense?

How about

demócrata washingtoniano

aparente001
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MikeiLL
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    "Washingtoniano" has several problems: 1) it's not a well-known demonym; 2) it's long and clumsy; 3) it's ambiguous (does it refer to Washington D.C. or to George Washington?). Context should resolve (3) but still. – pablodf76 Dec 25 '18 at 13:48

2 Answers2

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There's nothing inelegant about using mujer de Nueva York. Note that if you do use the demonym (called a gentilicio in Spanish), it does need to agree in gender and number. So you'll have mujer neoyorquina.

Using de [lugar] can be more precise in some cases, especially if the adjective might refer to more than one thing (un texto español could be un texto en español (which may be from anywhere) or un texto de España (which may be written in any language).

In some cases, demonyms may not really exist (although it's always theoretically possible to coin them), and even if they do, there may be a clear preference for using the de [lugar] construction.

user0721090601
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  • i think a "New York Woman" is something different than a "woman from New York". can this matiz be preserved? – ths Dec 27 '18 at 00:23
  • @ths yes and no. The problem is that while people frequently contrast those in English (and they do in Spanish too), the meanings on the two aren't always strictly defined. In some cases, we might define a woman from NY to be someone born there, and in other cases someone who lives there, and use the NY woman to mean either someone who acts NY-like (to contrast with someone who was just born there) or someone who is actually from there (to contrast with someone who happens to live there). I'm not sure I'd venture to say that the same rules apply to Spanish, but similar things are done – user0721090601 Dec 27 '18 at 17:29
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You're having fun putting elements together, and this is good.

Specific feedback:

Mujer neoyorquina is certainly possible; note that here, "mujer" is a bit redundant, so you might prefer the simpler version, without "mujer": neoyorquina, e.g. "As a good New Yorker, she some some specialty side dishes from the neighborhood deli" | Como buena neoyorquina, etc.

Demócrata washingtoniano could work in some circles, but note that when people speak in English about Washington Democrats, I don't think they mean a special flavor of Democrats, which is what "Demócrata washingtoniano" suggested to me. I think they mean Democratic members of Congress (los demócratas en el Congreso). Also note that "Washingtonian" has a special meaning to people who live in DC. It refers to the local culture of that area. Which I don't think is quite what you were aiming for. I think you were trying to do something similar to "neoyorquino," no?

If I go back to your title, Noun Adjuncts associating a noun with a place -- hmm. Let me see if I can construct an example.

Women who live in the mountains, or mountain women, could be mujeres de la sierra, or more succinctly and commonly, "las serranas", e.g. "Las serranas de los lugares aislados generalmente se lavan el pelo en el río."

aparente001
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