Ussterian
Total population | |
---|---|
c. 15.5 million (2020) | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Northern States c. 12 million | |
Languages | |
Northian Elder Nordic Gothic Venetian | |
Religion | |
Valstígr Vallyar Pontōis Wītōs |
The Ussterians are an ethnic group primarily associated with the Northern States.
Etymology
The word Ussterian is an abbreviated rendering of the Northian word θaɣamuššteriiā̊, meaning "those who belong to Θaɣamusstera", Θaɣamusstera being the Northian name for the general locale of the Northern States. θaɣam means "land", and uššter- means "highest, most remote". The first attestation of the phrase θaɣam uššterā was of Epic age, referring to a far-away land where the Sun was said never to set in summer and never to rise in winter; as the Exile occurred, the Northians who went to θaɣam uššterā started to refer to themselves as θaɣamuššteriiā̊ or simply uššteriiā̊.
Earlier in the history of the ethnonym, it was "used to connect themselves to speakers of the Northian language scattered across western Eracura and Ossoria", "to a more numerous whole that shares a similar expulsion but live in different exiles". However, as the Ussterans were the only Northian group later to attain statehood, the term "Ussteran" has come to mean the Northian-speakers in general, even to identify those who came to live in Acrea, Ossoria, Shalum, and Æþurheim and speak non-Northian languages.