Rochelais ?

I am stumped on 'rochelais'. The online dictionary says: Sorry, the word rochelais was not found.

But it appears in this tweet on Figaro:

"Courage à Olivier Falorni qui n'a pas démérité, qui se bat aux côtés des rochelais depuis tant d' années dans un engagement désintéressé." - -- Valerie Trierweiler.

I have a rough idea that VT is supporting Ségolène Royal's opponent - but 'rochelais' is a nut I cannot crack.

Could anyone plse translate the sentence? Thnks.

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EducatorPermalink Reply by George Hunt on June 12, 2012 at 9:13pm

"Olivier Falorni who has proved himself worthy, who has fought selflessly for the people of La Rochelle for so many years"

kindly translated for us by the BBC.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18406390

I am getting the impression that words to describe (town) place of origin ,like rochelais and parisien don't always need to be capitalised although it seems more common.

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Permalink Reply by Pete Laubscher on June 12, 2012 at 9:36pm

Much obliged George.

On second thoughts, I suppose I should have guessed! What with "...aux côtés des rochelais."

Thnks!!

PS. Yup, German loves that too. Very confusing. There you have a capital starting a silly noun followed by a noun name in lower case!

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Permalink Reply by KARIM BEN on June 12, 2012 at 9:36pm

Hi Peter,

A londoner lives in London, a New Yorker lives in NYC and a Rochelais lives in La Rochelle -a French city-.

Regards,

Karim

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Permalink Reply by Pete Laubscher on June 12, 2012 at 9:55pm

Thnks Karim!

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EducatorPermalink Reply by stu harris on June 13, 2012 at 5:35pm

The appellation for the inhabitants of a town or city is called its demonym in English, gentilé in French. Wikipedia gives many of them, and Rochelais[e] is in the French version. I must admit that would have stumped me, too.

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Permalink Reply by Pete Laubscher on June 13, 2012 at 6:11pm

Brilliant, thnks Stu. Thnks for making feel a bit better - thought I was a bit stupid.

BTW, that odd post about me wanting a GREEK(!) online dictionary - can you help? These chaps aren't only averse to paying taxes. Even their online efforts appear to be dodgy. (Sorry to any Greek Frenchman!) My Oxford Modern Greek dictionary by Pring isn't always up to date.