why do we call germany -germany when they call themselves duechland?

Question

Which is right and do germans call themselves germans or even their country germany?

if " germany" is the english name ,,,, where did it come from and what do they call english people?

Answer 1

Germany, nameDeutschland, Germany, L'Allemagne, Alemania, La Germania, Saksa and the sources of all these names!
There was a post on rec.travel.europe today that got me thinking about the name of the country I'm going to, and decided to do some research. Thanks to the Word Nerds, I even have some sources for it.

Anyway the post this morning, posted by David Horne, on rec.travel.europe said:



"German deutsch is from Old High German diutisg and Low German theodisc, meaning "of the people," which comes from an Indo-European root, teuta-, meaning "tribe" or "clan." This became tuath "people" in Old Irish and
theod "people, nation in Old English."


The Italian tedesco comes from this root, as do the Swedish word tysk and the English word Dutch, which formerly was applied to all Germans, but gradually came to refer only to those Germanic people who inhabit
what is now the Netherlands"




David's source is livejournal.com. The full article, on Etymology of the various names for the people of the area of Germany, from all kinds of languages, is at http://www.livejournal.com/community/linguaphiles/344988.html

Etymonline.com, which is the source that both the Word Nerds and leo.org suggest for English Etymology.

The names are all names of people in that area of central Europe which comprised a bunch of tribes for many years. Indeed the current borders of Germany will be only 15 years old when I am over there in early October. It almost seems like people call the country by the name of the tribe they came in contact with the mosts.

"Germany" comes from Latin and date back to Julius Caeser. Etymonline traces the etymology back to Celtic words Noisy (garim) or neighbor (gair), while Live Journal's linguaphiles identify spear-man, or gari+mann as possible eymologies. Note that some version of the Germania version of the name of the country is used in Italian (La Germania), Hebrew ("germanit"), Hindi (jarman),a dn Indonesian (jerman) according to Live Journal.

The French/Spanish version of the name of the country (L'Allemagne, Alemania), according to etymonline AND the linguaphiles comes from a tribe in the southwest corner of Germany, Alsace, and Switzerland. It could come from a word meaning all men, "Alamanniz" (precursor to "alle Männer). or come from "Allobroges" which means "foreign men" and may refer to the fact that this tribe moved into an area previously occupied by different people.

Deutsch (and ultimately Deutschland) makes its appearance in 1380 according to etymonline, and comes from the ancestor languge of German, duit-isc, or teodisc (note consonant shift, from the t to the d). It means people, community, country. Diutusklant, the predecessor of Deutschland, was, according to etymonline, in use from the 13th century.

Teutonic feels like it should be related to these, but it refers to a tribe on the coast of Germany, although at some point it probably shared the same root and also means people. (How many countries do you think have called themselves "the people?"

I note that the Livejournal linguaphiles also address the roots of slavic names for Germany, but I'm tired, and I'm not going into that. You can read it yourself.

d Deutschland in the German language

Answer 2

Actually, it is Deutschland, and Germans generally refer to themselves as Deuch or Germans. Their money, before the Euro, was the Deutschmark. It is not uncommon for a people or a country to call themselves differently than what they are called by other countries. For the Navajo, for instance, they call themselves the dineh, and the Navajo nation is dinetah.
There is also the issue of the fact that country names translate differently and are pronounced differently in other languages. While we call Spain Spain, the Spanish speaking world calls it Espana.

Answer 3

Uhm..
Deutchland not due... besides..

Finland in finnish is Suomi
Switzerland is Suisse or Schweiz
Austria is Österreich
Japan is Nipon
The dutch even make things worse, they live in the Netherlands or Holland and call it Nederland.

Again your point was?

Germans call English people 'loud'. Also Englander. Americans are Amerikaner or 'Ammies'.

The name German originates from a tribe that lived there before nations were an issue.. like Bavarians, Teutons ,Bastarnae, Burgundians, Goths, Rugians, Vandals, Gepids, Heruli. The name just stuck.

Answer 4

Deutsch = German

Deutschland = German Land

Therefore is Germany

Answer 5

Because we speak English and they speak German. Deutschland is Deutsch for Germany... I know I'm not spelling it correctly because I haven't taken German for 35 years....

Answer 6

Same reason we, Americans, say Bavaria when the Germans call it Bayern. Languages vary, that's all. There isn't always a direct translation for everything.

Answer 7

they dont call themselves germans they call themselves deutsches. but the reason we call germany germany is because it sounds prettier. for example the coreec name of Japan is Nihon. Spains is Hispana, but with spanish n with this symbol on top:~.

Answer 8

Speaking English, the Germans call their home country German - have never heard anything else.

In German, it's Deutschland.

Answer 9

I don't think people are really understanding your question. It's one I wonder myself actually. Why don't we call all countries by the names they call themselves, regardless of what language we speak. It would be like meeting someone named John and calling then Fred. It doesn't make much sense.

Answer 10

Why do we call India, India, when its really Hindustan? The truth is we name and label people, things, and nations all the time to suit our needs. Black people never called themselves ******, *******, Darkies, Coons, or Afro-Americans. Those are names/labels given to them by others who never really cared what Black people though. They didnt ask, they just did it.