Why is it called the Diet of Worms?

In 1521, Martin Luther was summoned to the Diet of Worms to be given a chance to speak before he was declared an outlaw. That this meeting had such an unappetizing name is a linguistic coincidence.

Music:
"Style Funk" and "Hot Swing"
Creative Commons Attribution licence

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[TheBlackbird]

As a native German, mostly fluent in english and listening to the video in background (not directly watching) it took me till 3:20 to realize you talking about the "Reichstag zu Worms"
Shame on me

[Baccatube]

I tend to follow the Proto-Germanic root theory: "diet" is a rather common word for "folk" or "people" in the Nibelungenlied and is part of Germanic names ("Dietrich", "Dietmar", "Dietlind").

[timlandscheidt]

Oh, I wish I could have been a fly on the wall during your language exam :-).

[kacperwoch]

0:49 Emperor: ELECTORS!... Assemble.

[rzeka]

"Diet of Worms" sounds like a gross out kids book from 2003

[bucminster]

The Diet of Worms: or how to lose weight eating disgusting things.

[gustavmeyrink_.]

You didn't mention that the salaries of german MPs are also called 'diets' (diäten). In Switzerland it is called 'Taggeld' ie money received for either a convention (Tagung) or a day (Tag). Or something like that...

[hermannschaefer]

Worms had around 5000 citizens then - which is quite a lot for that time. It was one of the most important cities of the Holy Roman Empire aka Sacrum Imperium Romanum aka Heiliges römisches Reich deutscher Nationen.

[keidun]

Well stated...
I love the way you explain things...
Time to round up the cows...

[hallfiry]

Were you inspired by Crash Course European History for this video? They recently had the Diet of Worms covered and kinda joked about the name.

[schusterlehrling]

Actually there was a kind of government, as there were heraldic offices like the Mundschenk (cupbearer), der Sendeschall (seneschal), Verweser (steward) etc., that had different duties over the time, and there were even Kanzler (chancellors) for the three parts of the Holy Roman Empire, Germany, Burgundy and Italy. Also, the territories were organized in Reichskreise, where usually a monarch of one of the territories in that Kreise had additional administrative power. So there was some kind of government, but the offices were gained by dynastical inheritance mostly.

[NicolaW]

Thank you very much for this part of German Language History - and btw.: Yes, it must sound ridiculous for an English Native Speaker, especially when you didn´t know that "Worms" is the name of a German city.

[Ekvitarius]

Sounds like something ERB would make a pun out of

[RagingGoblin]

Honestly, when a technical or traditional translation gets in the way of the subject at hand, it's time to reconsider. Why not just 'Imperial Moot', 'Imperial Session', or even 'Imperial Thing' -- if you want it to have a touch of obsolescence.
Yes, I'm aware these words all mean slightly different things. And no, it doesn't matter. A translation has to be functional first before it can be literal.

[WINTERwaves]

Looks like your title attracted a diet spam bot 🙄

[KelbenArunsun]

As someone living in the city of Worms, i know exactly why native english speakers keep laughing at the City im living in ^^


But you should visit.. its quite beautiful

[terineedler]

We used to giggle in history class over this. And getting cannonized- that was pretty fu nny too! But what did they call the crawly wiggly thing on the ground?

[AlexanderGoeres]

imperial diet ... well, that was new to me.

[jkent]

It’s just weird. You say Martin Luther as “LOO-ter” but then I have to hear “DIE-uht”…

I really dislike the now common pronunciation of “diet” as “DIE-uht” instead of “dee-EHT” which is more classical from “dies” pronounced “dee-ACE” or “dee-EHS”

Same thing happened with “idyllic” it became “i-DEAL-ick” instead of the traditional “ID-ill-ick” because the root is “idyll” pronounced “ID-ill”

Makes me want to go jump into “The La Brea Tar Pits” “The The Tar Tar Pits”