what do all the words for germany and germans mean?

Question

I already know what germany means, but what about deutschland? and allemande? and why do people call germans the bosch, when that's the german word for a bush?

Answer 1

Good question! Different names for the same group of people often show up in languages because the "first" people to hear about a group are usually talking to someone ELSE about that group. Deutschland simply means "land of the Deutsch [Germans]. Deutsch is closely related to the English word Dutch, which once also included the Germans, not just the "Dutch" (who call themselves "Nederlanders" -- "Netherlanders"...

Allemande is the modern version of the Old French word that was borrowed from ONE group of Germans who called themselves "all men"...

Boche [your 'bosch'] is French word that meant scoundrel or rascal and was used an insult for the WWI German soldiers.

Btw, Bosch is a Dutch word... like the painter or the city Den Bosch.

The German word for bush is Busch [yep, like the beer!]

Answer 2

Deutschland is the German word for Germany. Allemande is the French word for German. No idea, what Bosch means. You can look at some definitions on the wikipedia link I posted.

Answer 3

Deutschland is the word Germans themselves call their land/country. It means "people's land" (deutsch=people and land=land). The "deutsch" is the cognate of Dutch (as in Netherlands, and the "theo" in English names like Theodore. "Allemande" is the word the French use for the Germans. It comes from the name of a Germanic tribe in Roman times, and the name just got used for all the Germanic tribes.

Answer 4

Italian for German is Tedesco, which I have always assumed is cognate with the English word Teutonic.

Answer 5

To make it even more interesting:

In Spanish German = Alemán (a little similar to French).

In Italian, German = Tedesco

:-)