At what point, and why did we start using the word "german" as a translation of "Deutsch", and Germany/Deutschland ??
What does "german" mean?
2007-01-03 13:32:20 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
"German" comes from the Latin word "Germani", the Roman name for them. The origin of the word is unknown.
The origin of the word "Deutsch" is likely "teuta", the Indo-European word for "tribe" and related to "teutonic".
See below for more, especially origins of other languages' names for them.
2007-01-03 13:37:17 · answer #1 · answered by The Doctor 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The name is possibly the name of an obscure Celtic tribe at the Celtic Germanic language border: some assume it meant ppl in their dialect? Another idea is that the early main arms of the transrhenian ppl consisted of a Ger ( used as javlin and for stabbing ).
The word German plus Latin ending was first used by the Roman governing elite - and later transfered to English - all educated classes in Europe used Latin words during the Middle Ages & the Norman invaders spoke a Northern French dialect that descends from Latin.
European Nations often use derivatives based on the German word for the German tribe clossest to them - so in Finish a German would be a Saxon & in French an Alleman (if You translate the terms to English). In England this was impossible. The Natives in England had been already called Saxons by the Normans and their neighbors accross the North Sea in Germany also called themselves Saxons.
2007-01-03 22:43:41 · answer #2 · answered by Yttl 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm no expert or anything, but I am studying German, and my understanding on the definition is that "German" translates roughly to "brother" or "ally". So when another tribe would refer to the Germans, if they were allies, they would say "The Germans" or "our brothers" "our allies"
"Germanus" means "brother" in Latin
I'm not sure when it was first used. But I do know we already called people from Holland "Dutch", so maybe that is a reason we use German...
2007-01-03 23:53:20 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Since in old German the word "ger" means "spear", the meaning of "german" could have been "spearman" originally. But this is only one of several possible explanations, the others mentioned here may also be valid.
2007-01-04 04:37:27 · answer #4 · answered by NaturalBornKieler 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
after Jermaine Jackson of The Jackson Five left the group
2007-01-03 22:27:55 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋