I seem to recall (but cannot find) a variant of the Weinreich witticism[1], which goes something like, "a nation is a language with an army and an origin story". (Meaning 'nation' in the sense of "a people" rather than "a state".[2])

1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_language_is_a_dialect_with...

2. https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/nation