Why do we say DEUTSCHLAND instead of GERMANY? #askagerman Series Pt. 1 | Feli from Germany

This time: Why do we call Germany Deutschland? And why does Germany have so many different names in different languages?

Mentioned videos:

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0:00 Intro
3:53 Why we call Germany Deutschland
6:51 Different origins: Diutisk
9:08 Germani
10:03 Alemanni
11:13 Saxons
11:34 Niemc
12:26 Summary
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ABOUT ME: Hallo, Servus, and welcome to my channel! My name is Felicia (Feli), I'm 27, and I'm a German living in the USA! I was born and raised in Munich, Germany but have been living in Cincinnati, Ohio off and on since 2016. I first came here for an exchange semester during my undergrad at LMU Munich, then I returned for an internship, and then I got my master's degree in Cincinnati. I was lucky enough to win the Green Card lottery and have been a permanent resident since 2019! In my videos, I talk about cultural differences between America and Germany, things I like and dislike about living here, and other experiences that I have made during my time in the States. Let me know what YOU would like to hear about in the comments below. DANKE :)
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[Japanican]

"Germanus" is Latin for "neighbor." So since the Goths were at the Romans' borders, they referred to the area as "Germania, :" the "neighboring land."

[JM-ffsg]

as a native Polish speaker, you nailed the Polish pronunciation of Niemcy ;) congrats! :D

[sanchesseli]

"Niemcy" is 100% the same in Russian language (just exactly as you said in the video). But it works if you speak about German people. Country is "Germania"
And yes, you are correct, most studies shows that Slavs came from 'slovo' = means 'word', i.e. the people who speak our words. Niemcy = 'muted' or 'silent' = who can not speak our words. It appeared in Slvac language before Slavs separated into different brachnes and nations, so it sounds the same in every present Slavic language.

[LiveSimpleLiveFree]

I find this type of discussion to be fascinating. Thank you. 😊 My grandmother came to the USA from Nederland (Netherlands, Holland) not long after WW1, when she was 16 years old.
All her life here in the USA, she always got upset when someone called her Dutch, "I am Nederlander, not German!" This is the same American confusion over the "Pennsylvania Dutch, " who are actually Deutsch.

[FlyingDutchman]

With regard to 'Niemc', the Germanic languages had a similar term for non-Germanic speakers: Walhaz. Hence: Wallonia (Belgium), Wales (Britain), Wallis (Switzerland), Wallachia (Romania) etc.

[wtfpwnzred]

I'm glad she raised the "dumb question" issue, because it's always astounding to me when people don't understand that a country names itself

[beeeecki]

Actually I'm from Poland and I admire your really good pronunciation of "Niemcy", bravo! :)

[davidroddini]

I find it interesting that the Italian word for Munich is Monaco. Actually, it is Monaco di Baviera (The Monaco of Bavaria) to differentiate it from the other Monaco (the wealthy city state on the French Riviera), which is called il principato di Monaco (or just Monaco for short).

[rashedt]

Just to make this even more complex, in Arabic we call Austria "Namsa" which is similar to Niemcy that is being used to refer to Germany from Polish people 😂

[rettawhinnery]

This is very interesting, Feli. A friend told me that he had Pennsylvania Dutch relatives, who were Dutch (i.e., from Holland). He's a smart person, an engineer, so at first I thought he was correct that his relatives were from Holland. I mentioned that in the genealogical world, the Pennsylvania Dutch were Germans, and that the word Deutch was mis-heard and mis-understood by English speakers as Dutch. It turned out that his Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors were indeed originally from Germany. So, I guess it's not as stupid a question as I originally thought.
Great presentation. Thanks for sharing.

[ebick]

Of course it’s not strange that country and city names differ in different languages. But I was curious why Germany seemed to have a wider range of variations than other countries, so I appreciate the history & etymology lesson. As to why this might be a more common query among Americans; I’d suppose that American city and state names post-colonization are relatively new compared to most parts of the world, and other languages tend to pronounce them very similar to the American pronunciation, or as a direct translation such as Nuevo York or Etats Unis and Estados Unidos. Now if the Netherlands continued to call New York “New Amsterdam, ” that could change things up.

[marikaserasini]

As italian, I can say you pronounced italian words very good; actually I've always thought : "why we use the word "Germania" to talk about the country and "tedesco" to talk about nationality.
Vielen dank😍😍🙏🙏❤❤ Grüße aus Italien👋👋

[jiros]

Your Danish accent when pronouncing "Tyskland" was really good!

[СергейСмирнов-фкл]

11:46 in Russian we call Germany - Германия (Germaniya) but Germans - Немцы (Nemtsy)

[reddor]

Great post. Thank you for using the term “high” German. I grew up (Iowa) around my grandmother and 10 aunts and uncles plus my mom who all spoke German. I, unfortunately never learned German. My mom sometimes mentioned that my grandmother could speak high and low German but she could only speak low German. It was nice to hear that phrase again, I haven’t heard it for over 50 years.

[bobnieland]

Very interesting and, as always, well-researched. When you mentioned "Teutschland" about halfway into your video, I immediately thought of "teutonic/teutonisch". It seems this word is derived from "teuta", a Proto-Indo-European root that means "tribe" or "community" (in English). Teuton/Teutone was the name of the tribe in the northeast of modern-day Germany during the Roman era that defeated the Gauls. The pronunciation in German and meaning are very similar to "Deutsch".

[justinkimmel]

I think it is impossible to watch one of Feli's video without smiling.

Her personality always comes of so warm and friendly.

[vesnaznidarkadunc]

This is such an interesting video! As a Slovene linguistic enthusiast I am, of course, aware of all the facts, quoted in the video, but I am surprised, how well have you explained all this, especially the origin of the name Nemci/Nemčija. You made it without a single mistake! As a teacher of Slovene I can tell, that not a lot of people here in Slovenia knows, why your nation is called Nemci, but ours is called Slovenci. Thank you again for your great video!

[Lia-ufir]

9:53 of those, only Italian and Romanian are Romance languages! Bulgarian is a Slavic language, Albanian is its own branch within the Indo-European languages as is Armenian, and Georgian belongs to the Kartvelian language family

[brianrussell]

Well done Feli! I really enjoy the history and background of words and phrases. Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving. While it’s decidedly an American holiday. The feeling of gratitude, gathering of family and good friends combined with yummy food and no obligatory gifts, makes it one of my favorite holidays.
~Cheers!