由 台灣英語網1.0 » 週四 9月 17, 2015 2:51 am
Here's what I've found in the dictionaries I have ready access to:
Patria is an English word meaning “natural habitat.” It comes from New Latin, where it means “native country.”
A similar word, Patrial, is a British English word meaning “a native of any country who, by virtue of the birth of a parent or grandparent in Great Britain, has citizenship and residency rights there.”
Both words are formed from "patria." The word root “patri(a)” (with or without the ending “a”) is Latin, meaning “native land” or “native country.” “Patri(a)” is the feminine noun from the adjective “patrius,” which is a derivative of “pater” (father).
Patria is closely related to EXPATRIATE, which comes from Medieval Latin “expatriatus,” the past participle of “expatriare,” meaning “to leave one's native country.” This Medieval Latin word comes from Latin: ex-: out + -patriare [Late Latin, from Latin “patria”]
“Patr-“ has two variants: patri- and patro-. All three mean “father,”but they entered English via different routes.
patr-: partly from Latin, from patr-, pater; partly from Greek, from patr-, pater
patri-: from Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin, from patr-, pater
patro-: New Latin, from Greek, from patr-, pater
Any of the major English dictionaries has an etymology section, usually right after the word entry. The best source is the OED, which is an invaluable source for a lot of things about English words. but I don’t have access to it at this moment.
My conclusion: I don't know which genius came up with the word Taiwanpatria, but it seems that the word was used to mean a native of Taiwan. If that's what it means, then it's just another word invented with a political agenda. I hope the word is not used to divide between the so-called "pure/genuine" Taiwanese and the rest of us, who also love Taiwan and call Taiwan our mother country. If that's the case, the word is better off left in the garbage can. Just because someone invented a word doesn't mean we have to use it or believe in it. (Funny, I seem to use this sentence pattern a lot. But why not? It's effective, and I love the sound of it.)