Germans are referred to by vastly different root words across various European languages due to historical tribal interactions
the verdict
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the evidence backs this
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AS REPORTEDno primary record reached; this is what the reporting says
A linguistics discussion source establishes that Germans are referred to by multiple distinct root words across various European languages because neighboring nations had direct contact with different Germanic tribes on all sides.
# Why does the name for Germany vary so much between languages?
Tags: evolution, word-formation, proper-nouns
- Score: 7
- Views: 430
- Answers: 3
- Answered: yes
- Asked by: rootmeanclaire (269 rep)
- Asked: 2017-01-09
- Edited: 2017-01-12
- Site: linguistics
## Question
I understand that there are occasionally one or two different origins for the same word, but for Germany there are at least six distinct roots found in languages of nearby countries. Why so for Germany but not France?
English: Germany
Spanish: Alemania
German: Deutschland
Ukrainian: Німеччина (Nimechchina)
Czech: Německo
Hungarian: Németország
I'm not sure if northern Europe is relevant in this discussion, but here are more different roots:
Finnish: Saksa
Swedish: Tyskland
Lithuanian: Vokietija
## Answers
### Answer by Eleshar (score: 6 [ACCEPTED])
The primary reason is because there were many Germanic tribes with which the other nations came into contact with directly. This may actually be because of the position in Central Europe - i.e. the contact happened on all sides so on each side the peoples devise their own name instead of adopting a loanword from their neighbours from which they heard about the