Suriname vs. Surinam
Can anyone shed some light on the variable usage of the two spellings of the country, Suriname vs. Surinam???
It has been used both ways in english. but technically the correct name is "Republic of Suriname" in english.
Just like in Suriname some use Sranan and others use Sranang....
We also do this type of thing for example: USA, United States, United States of America, America and so on... When it comes to language there are rules, rules are made to be broken, and sometimes breaken them infuences the language over time.
The official name is Suriname. However, historically the name Surinam has been used primarily in context of english usage. For instance, Surinam Airways the official ariline of Suriname uses it without the (e). The official name of Germany is Deutschland, but is Suriname we call it Duitsland. If one wants to be precise in Dutch it should be referred to as Suriname. In English it technically is Suriname also. In many old english movies and books it is referred to as Surinam.
I guess if the official language is changed to sranan(g) tongo we would have to call it sranan or sranang..... which is it?
The name, Suriname, may derive from a Taino (Arawak-speaking) group called "Surinen" who first inhabited the region prior to European arrival.[citation needed]
Originally, the country was spelled Surinam by English settlers who founded the first colony at Marshall's Creek,[6] along the Suriname River, and was formerly known as Nederlands Guyana, Netherlands Guiana or Dutch Guiana. "Surinam" can still be found in English. A notable example of this is Suriname's own national airline, Surinam Airways. The older English name is reflected in the English pronunciation of "Suriname", /ˈsʊrəˌnæm/ or /ˈsʊrəˌnɑm/. In Dutch, the official language of Suriname, the pronunciation is /ˌsyriˈnamə/, with the main stress on the third syllable.
This is from wikipedia (The opensource encyclopeadia
Syndicate
So you'd expect, in a book written in English, to find "Surinam"?