# Germany



## Child_of_darkness

I mean, what is the name of "Germany" in your language ? It is a different name of this country in every language. In polish - Niemcy (what means in old-polish "the dumb"), in german - Deutschland, in finnish - Saksa.


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## Touse

In Dutch we say "*Duitsland*", which is almost the same as the german "*Deutschland*".


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## Frank06

Hi,


Child_of_darkness said:


> I mean, what is the name of "Germany" in your language ? It is a different name of this country in every language. In polish - Niemcy (what means in old-polish "the dumb"), in german - Deutschland, in finnish - Saksa.



In Dutch, the name for Deutschland (Germany) is *Duitsland*.
The first part 'deutsch/duits' goes back to German*ic* *Þeudiskaz, which meant something as 'from the people'. That same word can be found in (older) Dutch, High and Low German, as diets, duuts, duytsch, deutsch, and countless other variations. 

Derivations of the word *Þeudiskaz were used throughout the Low Countries and nowadays Germany to denote a.o. the language spoken by the people. (Hence the confusion in English and (sad but true) the still ongoing confusion among quite a lot speakers of English concerning the words 'Dutch' and 'deutsch'.

Groetjes,

Frank

*Edit: *Sorry, Touse, I didn't see your mail yet when writing / posting mine...


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## Lemminkäinen

*Tyskland* in Norwegian.

Edit: In Russian, the country is Германия (Germaniya), but the adjective (other related words come from this stem too) is немецкий (nemetskiy).


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## Sesame

An Ghearmáin in Irish


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## jazyk

In Portuguese: Alemanha. Germânia is sometimes (seldom) used.


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## Sesame

That's similar to Allemagne in French (orthographically, at least)


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## Honour

Turkish: Almanya


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## Anatoli

*Russian:*
Германия (Germaniya - hard G as in "get")
немец (m), немка (f), немцы (pl) (n'*e*m'ets, n'*e*mka, n'*e*mtsy) (see Polish, same origin)

*German:*
Deutschland
der Deutsche/ein Deutscher, die/eine Deutsche, die Deutschen/Deutsche

*Polish:*
Niemcy (n'*e*mtsy)
niemec, niemka, niemcy (n'*e*m'ets, n'*e*mka, n'*e*mtsy)
(it doesn't mean "dumb", as a previous poster mentioned but "mute")

*Czech:*
Německo
němec, němka, němci

*Ukrainian:*
Німеччина
німець, німка, німці

*Japanese:*
ドイツ (Doitsu)
ドイツ人 (Doitsu-jin)

*Chinese:*
德国 Déguó
德国人 Déguórén

*Arabic:*
ألمانيا Almaanya
ألماني Almaaniy (m, sg.)


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## Jana337

A related thread. 

Jana


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## elroy

Anatoli said:


> (it doesn't mean "dumb", as a previous poster mentioned but "mute")


 Although "dumb" is mostly used to mean "stupid" nowadays, it can also mean "mute."


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## Namakemono

Spanish: Alemania
Galician: Alemaña
Danish: Tyskland


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## panjabigator

Where did these different names come from?  Why is it called Germany in English?  Where did the term originate?


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## Outsider

See the other thread.


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## robbie_SWE

In Romanian "*Germania*", in Swedish "*Tyskland*". 

 robbie


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## Ilmo

In *Finnish* Germany is *Saksa *and German *saksalainen *or, about a woman, though it is quite rare, *saksatar*, German (language) *saksa* or *saksan kieli.*

The Finnish name of Germany comes from *Sachsen*, that was a dukedom in northern Germany already in the Middle Ages.

The word *germaani* is known but used only in racial contexts.


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## Maja

In Serbian: Nemačka / Немачка.


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## gigi1

In Greek:
Γερμανία (Germania)

Almost the same in Russian. Don't know how come.


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## ronanpoirier

In Hungarian:
Nemétország... Nemét is related to the Germans and ország means country. So we have "Country of the Germans" or something like that. Mostly country names in Hungarian are made in that way.


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## betulina

In Catalan: "Alemanya"


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## Nino pirosmani

In Georgian: "Germania"


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## Thomas1

A few small corrections: 


Anatoli said:


> [...] *Polish:*
> Niemcy (n'*e*mtsy)
> Niemiec, Niemka, Niemcy (n'*e*m'ets, n'*e*mka, n'*e*mtsy)
> (it doesn't mean "dumb", as a previous poster mentioned but "mute")
> [...]


but _niemiecki_. 

I'd the same thought until I read Elroy's post. I'd guess that if a person who is incapable of speaking hears that is refered to as _dumb_ he may take offence.

Tom


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## Cnaeius

In Italian is "Germania"


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## ergaster

In Italian: _Germania_ - it derives from the latin _Germanus_, used to refer to the non-latin tribes at the north-west of the Rhine.

Strangely, the Italian for German is_ tedesco_, that has the same origin of _Deutsch_, from the Germanic word _theudisk/diutisk_ which means something like "belonging to the tribe". 

This is what a German friend told me


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## Cepkah

Германия (na latinica-Germanija) Germany
немски език (na latinica-nemski ezik) german language


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## ireney

That other thread contains some false information (i.e. The meaning of "germanus", the Modern Greek * [and I believe Ancient Greek also] appellation of the Germans)

* See gigi1's post above.


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## Anatoli

Thomas1 said:


> A few small corrections:
> 
> but _niemiecki_.
> 
> I'd the same thought until I read Elroy's post. I'd guess that if a person who is incapable of speaking hears that is refered to as _dumb_ he may take offence.
> 
> Tom


The common meaning "dumb" is "stupid" these days. "Mute" is not a good description of Germans either. At some stage, Slavs called everyone whose language they couldn't understand немцы (Niemcy, нiмцi, Němci, etc.) - "mute" people, only it specifically started referring to Germans - (similar to "Barbarians" used in the ancient Rome).

There is no confusion in modern Slavic languages. E.g. in Russian "немой" [nemoy] (adjective) is the actual word to mean "mute".

This Slavic word referring to Germans (and in some languages to Germany) was the source for an Arabic word "*Namsa*", meaning Austria, discussed in these forums.

Interestingly enough, the English word "*Dutch*" originated from the German "Deutsch" (German).


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## samanthalee

Both the Japanese name ドイツ (Doitsu) and Chinese name 德意志联邦共和国 (Deyizhi Federation, always shortened to 德国 De Nation) are derived from "Deutch".


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## jun

In Korean: " 독일 " (dok-il)
Like the Japanese and Chinese word for Germany, it is derived from "Deutch".


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## roxyfoxy

dIn Romanian we have Germania as the word for the country, but curious enough, we have two nouns describing its citezens: 1st one is "german/i"(german/s), 2nd one is "neamt/i" which can be close to the Russian "nemetskiy", i believe.


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## Anatoli

samanthalee said:


> Both the Japanese name ドイツ (Doitsu) and Chinese name 德意志联邦共和国 (Deyizhi Federation, always shortened to 德国 De Nation) are derived from "Deutch".





jun said:


> In Korean: " 독일 " (dok-il)
> Like the Japanese and Chinese word for Germany, it is derived from "Deutch".



Yes, both Chinese and Japanese use the German pronunciation but methods are different and different characters are used:
Japanese:
*独*国 Dokukoku (n) Germany.
or more commonly written in Katakana:
*ドイツ* Doitsu Germany (from Dutch: Duits).

Chinese:
德国 Déguó Germany

Microsoft Hangul to Hanja converter suggested just one Hanja writing for Dok-il 독일 - 獨逸, not sure if this correct , I think Korean uses the Japanese character *独

*Edit:
獨 is another version of 独, so it is one of the Japanese methods.


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## Kazuma

Anatoli said:


> Yes, both Chinese and Japanese use the German pronunciation but methods are different and different characters are used:
> Japanese:
> *独*国 Dokukoku (n) Germany.
> or more commonly written in Katakana:
> *ドイツ* Doitsu Germany (from Dutch: Duits).
> 
> Chinese:
> 德国 Déguó Germany
> 
> Microsoft Hangul to Hanja converter suggested just one Hanja writing for Dok-il 독일 - 獨逸, not sure if this correct , I think Korean uses the Japanese character *独
> 
> *Edit:
> 獨 is another version of 独, so it is one of the Japanese methods.



Sorry for "warming up" such an old thread. Probably there's already a more recent one on this topic, but I came here throught the search option.

Japanese 独, the abbreviation to refer to German(y), shortened from 独逸, which is the same as the more modern ドイツ. 独逸　was - as far as I know -  the transscription used before it became common to spell foreign words in katakana. As native German I am also interested in this issue and as a lover of Japanese language I did already research on this. I use to read that Japanese ドイツ derives from Dutch "Duits(land)" rather than directly from German "Deutsch(land)". As with most countries/languages, in compound forms 独 (which actually means "alone" or "lonely") is still used in its on-yomi (sino-japanese reading) "doku", so a Japanese-German dictionary is called 和独辞典, wadoku jiten; "wa" representing Japan. Online wadoku jiten also have the traditional version of this character (獨) added in parenthesis. This made me wonder whether the Korean name (韓：獨逸＝日：独逸*) was imported from Japan. Does anyone know the answer?

*) Example of short(ened) country/language names in Japanese.


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## Setwale_Charm

Chechen: Германи
Welsh: yr Almaen


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## Nizo

In *Esperanto*, the country is _Germanujo_ or _Germanio_.  A German man is _germano_ and a German woman is _germanino_.  What they speak is _la germana _or _la germana lingvo_.


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## kusurija

Lithuanian: Vokietija(country)
Vokietis(man)
Latvian: Vācija


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## argentina84

Español: *Alemania (Spanish)*
Italiano: *Germania (Italian)*

Regards!


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## Kazuma

I suggest y'all to have a look at the article "List of terms used for Germans" on the English Wikipedia. You will find several terms no matter if they are obsolete, poetical, friendly or offensive.


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## MarX

Indonesian

Germany = *Jerman*

German (language) = *Bahasa Jerman*

German (person) *= Orang Jerman*


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## Hakro

kusurija said:


> Lithuanian: Vokietija(country)
> Vokietis(man)
> Latvian: Vācija


This is interesting – so different from any other language. Can you explain the etymology?


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## Jana337

Hakro said:


> This is interesting – so different from any other language. Can you explain the etymology?


Preferably here, please.


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## kusurija

Hakro said:


> This is interesting – so different from any other language. Can you explain the etymology?


Here is a citation of "velnias" in: http://forum.istorija.net/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=2991&mid=42735#M42735 
Apie vokietiją Fraenkelio žodyne: (About Germany in Fraenkel dictionary)

'Deutschland', Vo/ke`, 0000">Vokietija\ dass., 0000">vo/kietis 'Deutscher' (z^em. vo/kytis. f. voky~te`, s. Skardz^ius Z^D 73. 81. 356. 360), Vo/kiec^iai (Plur.) wie poln. Niemcy 'Deutschland', vo/kis^kas 'deutsch', Adv. vo/kis^kai (Einzelheiten bei Bu:ga KS 202 f. 209 f. = Ras^tai 2, 226f. 234f.), vokiec^iu/oti 'deutsch radebrechen, auf deutsche Art sprechen', 0000">vo/kietinti 'germanisieren', 0000">vokiete`/ti 'germanisiert werden, zum Deutschen werden'.

Lett. va:ca 'die Deutschen, Land der Deutschen', Va~cija 'Deutschland', va~cietis 'Deutscher', va~cina^t 'germanisieren'.

Aus dem Balt. stammt finn. Vuoja, Vuojo, estn. Oju, Oja in Vuojola, Oju-, Ojamaa 'Gotland'.

Umstritten ist die Grundform dieser Entlehnungen.

Nach Seta"la" AASF 27, 396 - 408 (s. Verf. Balticosl. 2, 210), FUF 22, 190f. gehen die Wo"rter auf balt. *vo:kio: zuru"ck. Nieminen FUF 22, 62ff. geht von Vuojoumaa, Ojumaa (im 2. Gl. zu maa 'Land') aus. vergleicht lit. vokiu, z^e~me` 'Deutschland', lett. va:cu zeme und ha"lt das 1. Gl. der finn. und lit.-lett. Wo"rter fu"r kurisches Lehnwort; im 2. Gl. sei das finn. Wort aus dem Balt, u"bersetzt.

Auch die Etymologie der balt. Wo"rter ist nicht klar. Bu:ga a. a. O. bezieht sie auf den Volksnamen Vagoth (bei Jordanes) aus *Va:k(ia)-goth und vergleicht lett. Va~czeme, Vac(a)szeme 'Deutschland' und 'Ausland u"berhaupt'. 1272

Rašoma, kad suomių Vuojola ir estų Oju- yra skoliniai iš baltų. Tačiau šio žodžio etimologija baltų kalbose nėra aiški. Ji gali sietis su tautos pavadinimu Vagoth (paminėta Jordano)


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## Woland

the country = Germania
the language = Germana//Nemţeşte
people : we usually call the _nemţi_, germani is rarely used in everyday speech


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## jana.bo99

Croatian:     Njemačka

Slovenian:   Nemčija

German:      Deutschland


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