The origin of the names of peoples and countries is sometimes hidden by secrets and riddles, which the most knowledgeable linguists and historians of the world are completely unable to solve. But we still try to figure out what's what about the Germans-Germans. Why are Germans and not Germans or vice versa?
He doesn’t say it means dumb. Is it logical?
The most common point of view in Slavic linguistics regarding the name of the representative of the warlike tribes from the West from the residence of the Slavs is considered quite an ordinary thing. So where does the name "German" come from? All who cannot speak Slavic dialects are de facto dumb. All Slavs call such Germans. For some long period (even in the time of Gogol), all the peoples of Western Europe were called colloquially Germans, and all their countries combined - Nemetchina. That is why then the Germans, not the Germans?
And the fact that the Germans themselves call themselves simply “people” (Old German - “Deutsch”), had no significance not only for the Slavs. Much more common among neighboring peoples were the names of the Germanic tribe with which they most often had to communicate: Allemans (Allamans), Saskis (Saxons), Barawski (Bavars) ... Therefore, the version that the Germans became Germans in honor of the German tribe , and "dumbness" stuck in harmony and "content". That is why the Germans, not the Germans.
Neighborhood, i.e. Germany
Above we often use the word "Germanic" in relation to the Germans. Where did it come from?
Again, no one cared and still does not care that the Germans themselves call their country "Land of the people" (Deutschland). More often it is called Germany. This name was introduced into use by the Romans, who named the country north of the Roman Empire, inhabited by warlike war-var-ami (written separately to assess the similarity of this Latin word with the sound system of German speech). Unlike the Gauls, they failed to conquer them, and in the end they completely finished off the Empire, torn by internal squabbles.
The origin of the word "Germany" is a mystery. There is no direct thread, no, therefore, scientists pulled for everything that would help to somehow tie the word to reality. The Old Celtic word "gird" fell out, which means "neighbor." Well, for the Gauls and the Romans, this land is neighboring. Will it do?
And so it has been since the time of Julius Caesar: the tribes in Germany were Germanic, and only then the Alemans, Saxons, Longbards, Prussians, Bavars and others, including the Germans. That is, they are all Germans. We hope that it is now clear why the Germans are called Germans.
Germans
Germanic tribes, being a very active, warlike and aggressive community, quickly settled (conquered, subjugated) almost the entire north of the European continent: in the west they squeezed Gauls, in the east - Slavs, became masters in British Albion and in Scandinavia.
On these lands, on the basis of tribes, new states and new languages appeared and disappeared, but all of them are still connected by kinship - blood, cultural and linguistic. Therefore, from the point of view of linguists, anthropologists and culturologists, Germans are not only Germans.
Germanic peoples:
- Germans.
- The British.
- Dutch.
- Friezes.
- Danes.
- Norse.
- Swedes.
- The Austrians.
- Icelanders.
- Afrikaner.
- Boers.
Therefore, it is not so difficult to compile a list of countries that can be called German. Even the United States of America with English and basic Anglo-Saxon culture and a large number of citizens of German origin will fall into their number.
We hope that to this place you understand the difference between the concepts of "Germans" and "Germans." And still, many are wondering why the Germans, and not the Germans.
United Germany: Germans, same as Germans
Despite the fact that the Germans themselves long ago realized their commonality, somehow it did not work to assemble a single German state. The attempt of the mighty Charlemagne to do this in a historical perspective ended in failure. Apparently, the ancient traditions of the independence of individual tribes affected. In practice, Germany was a patchwork of about a dozen city-states (lands). In those days, to say "German" is not much to say. It was necessary to clarify. From Saxony? From Brandenburg?
The most amazing thing is that crumbs as a whole successfully managed to maneuver in politics and economics among such giants as France, Sweden, England and Russia, and Prussia even militarily represented a serious rival for them. After the Napoleonic wars, when the German states became bargaining chips in the dispute of the giants, and Germany itself turned into their battlefields and almost became part of someone’s territory, the Germans realized that it’s better to unite for the common good. At the end of the 19th century, they did this, but it arose among other nations. This is the German "Deutsche" and there is a "Deutsche". But what can I call it in one word, if the word "Germans" had previously lost relevance, all of these united Prussians, Vertemberts, Hanoverians, Bavarians, Saxons, Holstein? Right! Germans!
"Brothers": Russians, British, Indians, Kazakhstanis ...
According to the same principle, citizens of large multinational states were often called and referred to. For example, the citizens of Russia are Russians. Are they not all Russians? Just like not all Britons are English. Not all people with a Kazakhstan passport are Kazakhs. It is easier to call a resident of India an Indian than to understand the numerous nationalities of this country. For the same reason, the citizens of the now extinct Yugoslavia were called Yugoslavs, who after the collapse of the country disappeared somewhere, again becoming Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Bosnians, Macedonians, Montenegrins, and even Albanian Kosovars to boot.
Germans: a new round
Now the word "German" is probably gaining relevance again due to the fact that in Germany the number of citizens of non-German origin has increased.
Well, for example, the language doesn’t turn up to name such famous football players playing for the German national team, like the black Kevin Boateng and the Turkish Mesut Ozil, the Germans.
But we will not follow the segregative words in the German language, in which modern phenomena gave rise to the concept of "bio-deductible" ("biological German") and clearly derogatory - "passdeutch" ("passport German", "German by passport")? Therefore, let Boateng and Ozil be better than the Germans.
That is why it seems that it will be difficult to answer the question of why the Germans live in Germany and not the Germans. At the same time, we will answer it like this:
- Why are Germans in Germany, not Germans?
- Yes, it’s just a centuries-old speech tradition, an exception to the rules by which words are formed in Russian that denote residents of countries.
Luminaries of linguistics consider the words “German” and “German” to be synonyms, but it is better to use the second word when it is necessary to emphasize statehood, and also when it comes to not an ethnic German, but a German citizen.