Quick question for @linguistics (and anyone who might know about the topic): does anybody know why adjectives like “Muslim”, “Christian” and “Jewish” (or adjectives derived from names of religious orders) carry a capital letter, but the words “atheist” and “agnostic” don’t, even when they are used in the same way? Has anyone studied that?
@Narevalom@linguistics Adjectives based on geography and/or ethnicity are capitalized, as are adjectives based on historical/mythological figures. For example, "Kafkaesque" is capitalized because it refers to author Franz Kafka.
Since "atheist" and "agnostic" aren't based on people, ethnicities, or geography, they follow regular rules for adjectives.
@Narevalom@linguistics Seems to me that "Muslim", "Christian", etc are more often viewed/used as proper nouns while "atheist" etc are more descriptive.
@Narevalom@linguistics Not sure, but in many languages, the first words to be spelled with a capital letter were words for God, saints or other important religious things. Might go back to that. Important religious words have just always been spelled with a capital letter...
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