I allways thought that tedesco is a corruption of the German word deutsch, which is how Grmans refer to themselvesBizzare etymologies of common words in various languages
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I allways thought that tedesco is a corruption of the German word deutsch, which is how Grmans refer to themselves
Isn't it from the matt/gloss distinction that a lot of Indo-Europeans used - Latin has seperate words for matt black (fuscus) and gloss black (niger).
Thande
Donor
That Wal- word was used by Germanic speakers to mean any kind of foreigner (with the connotation of 'talks funny/incomprehensibly). The Anglo-Saxons used it to describe the Britons (who are the "Welsh" in English), the Germans used it to describe the Walloons (French-speakers in modern Belgium) and as you mention, Germans also named Wallachia for this reason. I hadn't heard that Polish connection before but I did know that Germanic invaders of Italy, such as the Lombards, referred to the Romans as their local variant of "Welsh" so it's not that surprising, the Poles presumably borrowed a word from one of the Germanic dialects.
Thande
Donor
It's both. "Deutsch" is derived from "Theodisc" or its variants. Germany in Old English was "Theodiscland".
Ah, so it wasn't just us, after all. The curious thing is that Italian retained the Medieval German-rooted word while English adopted a Latin-descended term.
Even more bizarre!
Thande
Donor
For some reason, the word for Germany in lots of languages is kind of weird. The French of course use Allemagne, which is derived from the name of just one Germanic tribe that isn't terribly representative of the whole...then, because the Arabs mostly learned names for European countries from French-speaking crusaders, the Arabic name for Germany is "Alamaniyya". (Similarly, the Arabic name for England is "Injiltera", derived from "Angleterre"). EDIT: I had assumed that, but I just checked and apparently it's from Italian "Inghilterra".
I had thought that deutsch/teutsch is a shortening of teutonisch which would comme from the latin teuton. After all, the Teutonic Order is called in Germany Deutscher Orden.
Thande
Donor
I don't think words derived from Teuton are related, although I could be wrong. We had a German member here who used to get annoyed about how in English we use the word Teutonic to poetically refer to all Germany.
It's not entirely correct.
The Teutons were just a specific Germanic tribe, though their name does originate from *thiudiskaz (so, it's got a common ancestor, but it means something different). *thiudiskaz is reconstructed Proto-Germanic; it's most definitely not of Latin origin.
Later on, people tried to stick ancient names to everything, even leading to silly things like Dacia for Denmark, and Teutonic became faux-Latin for 'Deutsch'. Sure, it was used that way historically, but that was an 'incorrect' use of the word. It's best not to use it like that in a modern setting, anyway.
Coincidentally, the word 'German' was originally just the name for a single tribe, but by the first century AD it was already used by the Romans to describe every Germanic person.
He's gone now, but he taught me well. Now I am the Master of Correct Appelation for Germany.
Also, unlike mentioned earlier, *thiudiskaz had no connotations of 'commonness' (except in relation to foreign rulers, perhaps). It was just their endonym, 'our people', as opposed to *walhaz meaning foreigners and *fulkã meaning 'a people'.
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Indeed. In Polish an inhabitant of Italia (Włochy) is called "Włoch". An inhabitant of Vallachia in Romania ("Wołoszczyzna" in Polish) was called "Wołoch" (Vlakh, Vlah in other slavic languages).
An often repeated story is that kangaroo comes from a british settlers pointing to the animal and asking a native from another part of the country what it was only to be answered "gangullu" ("I don't know").
This story has been debunked but an interesting fact is that the word "gangurru" in Guugu Yimidhirr does not, unlike in english, refer to the macropods as a whole but only to a single species (the black kangaroo) so this would be a bit similar to a language deciding to start refering to all canine as rottweillers.
This story has been debunked but an interesting fact is that the word "gangurru" in Guugu Yimidhirr does not, unlike in english, refer to the macropods as a whole but only to a single species (the black kangaroo) so this would be a bit similar to a language deciding to start refering to all canine as rottweillers.
The french region "L'ile de France" (litteraly France's Island) is coming from "Liddle Franke" corruption. It was a frankish name for "Little Francia".
Why little? Because the franks were mainly settling the aera between Rhine and Meuse before the IX century, but the political (Fall of carolingian empire) and invasion issues (vikings, maygars) made some of them settleing the Seine region, calling then the "Little Francia".
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"Gascony" is the german translitteration of "Vasconia", the country of the Vascons, while "Basque" is the occitan translitteration of "Vascon" (with the "v" pronounced "b").
To resume, the latin area of Vasconia have a germanic name, while the non-latin have a latin name. Questions?
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For the name of Germany, "Allemagne" was first used for name the part of Germany where Alemanic people lived (roughly south-western part), while Theodisca was used for the ethnic Germany, when Germania was only for political purposes.
But as the only part of Germany that was in contact with France was Alemania, it became soon the official name of all the country. (and Alemany existed in english for a long time too to call all the Germany).
That said, Teuton is used too, for German. It's just a derogative word and calling someone such is mainly coming with a mental picture of this person with a pickelhaube.
Amusingly, it exist a town in Provence called Allemagne/Alemanha. In order to avoid possible confusions, it's called "Alemanha de Provenca" or "Germany of Provence".
Why little? Because the franks were mainly settling the aera between Rhine and Meuse before the IX century, but the political (Fall of carolingian empire) and invasion issues (vikings, maygars) made some of them settleing the Seine region, calling then the "Little Francia".
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"Gascony" is the german translitteration of "Vasconia", the country of the Vascons, while "Basque" is the occitan translitteration of "Vascon" (with the "v" pronounced "b").
To resume, the latin area of Vasconia have a germanic name, while the non-latin have a latin name. Questions?
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For the name of Germany, "Allemagne" was first used for name the part of Germany where Alemanic people lived (roughly south-western part), while Theodisca was used for the ethnic Germany, when Germania was only for political purposes.
But as the only part of Germany that was in contact with France was Alemania, it became soon the official name of all the country. (and Alemany existed in english for a long time too to call all the Germany).
That said, Teuton is used too, for German. It's just a derogative word and calling someone such is mainly coming with a mental picture of this person with a pickelhaube.
Amusingly, it exist a town in Provence called Allemagne/Alemanha. In order to avoid possible confusions, it's called "Alemanha de Provenca" or "Germany of Provence".
vokietis
The lLithuanian word for German is Vokietis. I think that it is derivative of German "volk" which means people. We have aleman, tedesco, and vokietis, all derived from what german groups called themselves.
There are three indo-european words for nation. there the is lithuanian word tauta and the like. teutonic is a cognate. The cognate means folk or nation in oscan, but in Latin it means total. the word tauta would have meant something simular to alle maenner. A second word is arya. Aryan can be derived from a word like latin alien through regular sound changes. If aryan once had a meaning like stranger, it would be natrual for the god Aryaman to be the god of hospitality. Since the Hebrews were also once strangers, kindness to strangers is a basic part of their law.
The third word is something like Danu, with which Danube is related. Homer used Danaian to refer to Greeks. A legendary Irish tribe is tuatha de danaan. Since the word Eire is often derived from "Arya", the Irish my use all three original terms.
The lLithuanian word for German is Vokietis. I think that it is derivative of German "volk" which means people. We have aleman, tedesco, and vokietis, all derived from what german groups called themselves.
There are three indo-european words for nation. there the is lithuanian word tauta and the like. teutonic is a cognate. The cognate means folk or nation in oscan, but in Latin it means total. the word tauta would have meant something simular to alle maenner. A second word is arya. Aryan can be derived from a word like latin alien through regular sound changes. If aryan once had a meaning like stranger, it would be natrual for the god Aryaman to be the god of hospitality. Since the Hebrews were also once strangers, kindness to strangers is a basic part of their law.
The third word is something like Danu, with which Danube is related. Homer used Danaian to refer to Greeks. A legendary Irish tribe is tuatha de danaan. Since the word Eire is often derived from "Arya", the Irish my use all three original terms.
The word 'dope' comes from the Dutch word 'doop', meaning a thick sauce. However, it has had several meanings in American English over the centuries. By the late 19th century it had come to have drug connotations for a thick liquid prepared from opium, but in the Southeast US for a while around the early 20th century it was a slang term for Coca-Cola and other colas, similar to the universal application of 'coke'. It is uncertain whether the term dope was applied to Coca-Cola because of the stimulant in the original formula or because of the thickness of Coke syrup. However, the term became so widespread in the region that in Georgia and the Carolinas soda fountains and drugstores were called 'dope shops'.
Summarized from here.
Summarized from here.
Anderman
Donor
Yeah that´s the reason why hundreds of jedi kick their asses at least in the long run
SCNR
Well, English speakers did decide to start referring to all hounds as dogs at one point.
The term Scouser for an inhabitant of Liverpool, is derived from Lobscouse the stew that local sailors often ate. Twenty five miles up the road in Leigh, between Wigan and Manchester, the locals are often called Lobby's, also derived from the same term.
The latin word "equus" was the normal name for a horse. But in romance languages, as well in gaelic, it was the word "caballus" that replaced it.
"Caballus" is probably from gaul origin and means "a nag".
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In many romance languages, you have two ways for saying "head".
1) From the latin "caput", that means "chief". It means that the head is the leader of the body.
2)From the latin "testa" that means "jug", as all of you have an empty head.
For some reason, a part a minority, all of romance language prefers to use the second word.
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In the western romance languages (Gallo-Roman and Ibero-Roman) the word for "work" came from the latin "tripalium" that is a torture device.
The italian use the regular word "lavorare", as breton and english, and the romanian "lucra" cames from "lucrare" that means "working during night".
"Caballus" is probably from gaul origin and means "a nag".
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In many romance languages, you have two ways for saying "head".
1) From the latin "caput", that means "chief". It means that the head is the leader of the body.
2)From the latin "testa" that means "jug", as all of you have an empty head.
For some reason, a part a minority, all of romance language prefers to use the second word.
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In the western romance languages (Gallo-Roman and Ibero-Roman) the word for "work" came from the latin "tripalium" that is a torture device.
The italian use the regular word "lavorare", as breton and english, and the romanian "lucra" cames from "lucrare" that means "working during night".