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How do we say that things are Belgian i.e. from the country of Belgium (Bélgica in Spanish)?
It seems there are two adjectives:
E.g.
He is Belgian - Él es belga / bélgico
The chocolates are Belgian - Los chocolates son belgas / bélgicos
Do both adjectives have the same meaning? Is there a difference between the two? Why does one of these adjectives end with 'a' and the other with 'o'?
The DRAE (Spanish Real Academy Dictionary) says:
belga Del lat. Belga.
1. adj. Natural de Bélgica, país de Europa. U. t. c. s.
2. adj. Perteneciente o relativo a Bélgica o a los belgas.bélgico, ca Del lat. Belgĭcus.
1. adj. p. us. Perteneciente o relativo a Bélgica o a los belgas.
So, belga is the usual word, it is the one you should use.
While bélgico, ca is a rarely used word (it is marked as 'adj. p. us' by the dictionary itself, which means 'adjetivo poco usado', little-used adjective). They have almost the same meaning, but you should express nationality only with the first one.
The reason why belga ends with a is etymological, and it’s a word that doesn’t change. On the other hand, bélgico, bélgica uses the normal gender morpheme -o for masculine and -a for feminine.
You say: El belga. La belga. El avión belga. La revista belga. El avión bélgico. La revista bélgica.
I insist, the second form is rarely used. I myself - Spanish is my mother tongue - didn’t know it exists before reading your question, and it sounds ugly to me.
In my experience, I've never used or heard bélgico . However, Belga is far more in common usage where i live, in both masculine and femenine form.
Bélgico follows the rule adjectivizing things belonging to a certain place, such as "Teutónico" for all things german, "Gálico" for all things French, or "Gótico" for all things Goth, even "Sajónico" for all things Saxon, so it may be correct although in disuse.
