San Sebastian
4
4.2
- proper noun
- Every summer, tourists flock to San Sebastian for its renowned beaches and gourmet cuisine.
Examples
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The International Film Festival held in San Sebastian attracts filmmakers from around the world.
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During our trip to northern Spain, we spent three days exploring San Sebastian.
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I visited San Sebastian last summer.
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Have you ever been to San Sebastian?
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Every summer, tourists flock to San Sebastian for its renowned beaches and gourmet cuisine.
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During our trip to northern Spain, we spent three days exploring San Sebastian.
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The International Film Festival held in San Sebastian attracts filmmakers from around the world.
Surface Forms
Morphology
San + Sebastian
Knowing 'San' (a form of 'Saint' used in Spanish place names) and 'Sebastian' (a personal name) lets a learner infer this is a proper name likely referring to a Spanish place or person, so some basic information (that it is a named location) is recoverable. However, the specific identity and properties — that it is a city in northern Spain on the Bay of Biscay and a fashionable seaside resort — are lexicalized and cannot be derived from the constituents, so the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
San Sebastian comes from Spanish: San means 'saint' and Sebastian is the name of a Christian saint who was said to have been killed by arrows. When people built a church or shrine there the town took the saint's name, so today San Sebastian is the name of the seaside city.