like who decided 2 call us mexicans like who made up that name 4 us?
2006-12-04 17:30:41 · 7 answers · asked by thalia 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Other - Cultures & Groups
why are canadians canadians? why are french french? who the hell cares?
2006-12-04 17:35:48 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 2⤋
"Mexico" comes from the name of a large grouping of tribes of indigenous peoples in the high plane (altiplano) and desert regions of Central America at the time of the Spanish conquest.
The language spoken by most of the people in Mexico at that time was Nahuatl. The best pronunciation of that large grouping of peoples in Spanish was, more or less, "me-SHEEK", and was first spelled Mexic. At the time of the Spanish conquest (1520), the sound "sh" was not a common sound in Spanish, but the closest letter that at one time did was the "x". However, the "x" was more commonly pronounced like the English letter "h" and so the pronunciation of the "Mexic" designation became "Mejic" - in fact, early maps of Mexico show the word spelled "Mejico", the "o" rounding out the idea of "land of the Mexic".
So, the answer to your question is that the Spanish are the guilty ones. Various tribes of the Mexic were known as Aztec, Tlascalans, Mixtec, etc. The Aztecs called the land from which they came "Atzlan". All of the names that the original tribes had for the land of Mexico where hispanisized and many of those names became the "states" of Mexico. "Oaxaca" and "Michoacan" are good examples.
Hope that helps explain it a little.
2006-12-05 02:21:47 · answer #2 · answered by SafetyDancer 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Mexican is the adjectival form of the word Mexico.
See the book "Labels for Locals" to get an idea of the linguistics behind this concept.
2006-12-05 01:40:30 · answer #3 · answered by bmi=22 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's because they are from Mexico. All people are called by what country they originated from, aren't they? Don't know who started the trend of calling people from America "Americans" but it works for most of us.
Looks like Dan, above, knows all about it!
2006-12-05 03:00:10 · answer #4 · answered by Lovin' Mary's Lamb 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Mexicans = decendant of mexico! Hello, you dont know your own culture? Get a book and learn, youd be surprised and proud of where you come from!
2006-12-05 01:39:44 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Because "Southern Half of North Americano" is too long.
2006-12-05 01:49:27 · answer #6 · answered by chuck 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
coz youre from mexico. it's like asking why are americans called americans and italians called italians.
2006-12-05 01:40:13 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋