Why is Germany "Deutschland" in German, "Germany" or variants thereof in English and some other languages (such as Russian or Italian), and "Allemagne" (or variants thereof) in some Romance languages (e.g., French, Spanish)?
2007-01-04 00:44:40 · 6 answers · asked by Stephen B 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Germany:
From Latin word Germanus, first attested in writings of Julius Caesar, who used Germani to designate a group of tribes in northeastern Gaul, origin unknown, probably the name of an individual tribe. It is perhaps of Gaulish (Celtic) origin, perhaps originally meaning "noisy" (cf. O.Ir. garim "to shout") or "neighbor" (cf. O.Ir. gair "neighbor").
Alemania:
name of a Suebic tribe or confederation that settled in Alsace and part of Switzerland (and source of the Fr. Allemand "German"), from P.Gmc. *Alamanniz, probably meaning "all-man" and denoting a wide alliance of tribes, but perhaps meaning "foreign men" (cf. Allobroges, name of a Celtic tribe in what is now Savoy, in L. lit. "the aliens," in reference to their having driven out the original inhabitants), in which case the al- is cognate with the first element in L. alius "the other" and Eng. else
Deutschland:
The name Deutschland and the other similar-sounding names above are derived from the Old High German diutisc which originally meant "of the people". This in turn comes from a Germanic word meaning "folk" (leading to Old High German diot, Middle High German diet), and was used to differentiate between the speakers of Germanic languages and those who spoke Celtic or Romance languages. These words come from *teuta, the Proto-Indo-European word for "people" (Lithuanian tauto, Old Irish tuath, Old English þeod).
2007-01-04 01:05:21 · answer #1 · answered by - 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because of Germany's geographic position in the centre of Europe and its long history as a disunited region of distinct tribes and states, there are many widely-varying names for Germany in different languages, perhaps more than for any other European nation: for example, in German the country is known as Deutschland, in French as Allemagne, and in Polish as Niemcy.
Arabic: ألمانيا ('Almāniyā)
Russian: Германия (Gyermaniya)
Spanish: Alemania
Italian: Germania
2007-01-04 00:59:19 · answer #2 · answered by (^_^) 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
German evolved from a tribe name that inhibited this part of Europe in the times of the Roman Empire. Allemagne evolved from the name of the tribes inhibiting the parts west of France. What's west of France became Germany and the name prevailed. "Deutschland" is a bit more tricky. Actually it's the least understandable term. It comes with a very long shot from teuton.
2016-05-23 02:19:28 · answer #3 · answered by Penelope 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's a new country, different parts of it have had different groups of people in it like the the Germanians, the Allemani, etc. I think the name in German just means something like "the middle land" so it wouldn't make sense for other people to call it that. In Italian the country is Germania but the language is Tedesco.
2007-01-04 00:51:14 · answer #4 · answered by Goddess of Grammar 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The "Germanen" and the "Allemannen" were two tribes in Germany long time ago. And "Deutschland" comes from the Derman language (deutsch)...maybe
2007-01-04 05:29:56 · answer #5 · answered by tine 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
in arabic it's called "Almania"
should be called "Doucheland" =P
JK,
2007-01-04 00:46:36 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋