Emmett Stone 11/26/21 Emmett Stone 11/26/21

2540: Reuss & Its Naming Nov 26, 2021

Although now part of Thuringia, Germany, there was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire named after Slavs until the 19th century. 'Reusse' (German 'Reuß') is sometimes translated as 'Russian' though really it means 'Ruthenian' and although the land had long been populated with a high number of Slavs, this connection was cemented with the marriage of King Daniel of Galicia into the local nobility. This region was also associated with some singular naming practices, such as the House of Reuss naming all its men 'Heinrich' and numbering each, even those not in power, Heinrich I all the way to Heinrich C (Heinrich the one hundredth) before repeating the cycle, or with another line of this house restarting the cycle at the end of the century.

Emmett Stone 9/4/21 Emmett Stone 9/4/21

2458: German Cake: Not Named for Germany Sep 4, 2021

The sort of chocolate cake known as 'German cake' is not only invented in America, but wasn't even supposed to be named after the country of Germany. Plenty of foods are named for their supposed region of origin like 'French fries' but in this case it was just named after a man Samuel German who started the Baker's Chocolate Company who named it "Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate".

Emmett Stone 7/28/21 Emmett Stone 7/28/21

2411: Language-Specific Names for Germany Jul 28, 2021

There are a number of etymologically distinct names for Germany around the world—far more than other countries—that are shared by at least a few languages, but others too went another way. Particularly North American native tribes made these names, like Lakota's Iyášiča Makȟóčhe (Bad Speaker Land), Navajo's Béésh Bich’ahii Bikéyah (Metal Cap-wearer Land); Cree has two different names both meaning roughly the same as those. Other languages like Sorbian, Silesian, and Medieval Greek took their names from different Germanic states, not so dissimilar to the practice of ancient languages taking their names from tribes. Kinyarwanda, the language of Rwanda, uses 'Ubudage' or just 'dage' thought to derive from the 'guten Tag' greeting during the days of the German colonial presence. Old Norse used the term 'Suðrvegr' literally 'South Way', which is effectively opposite to 'Norway' (Norþweg). Medieval Hebrew went another way and used the biblical name אשכנז‎ (Ashkenaz), thought to be the ancestor of the Germans.

Emmett Stone 7/27/21 Emmett Stone 7/27/21

2410: Standard Etymologies for Germany Around the World Jul 27, 2021

Around the world, there are roughly 7 etymologies for the country of Germany where various languages derive their exonyms, along with a few exceptional cases. Those would be:

•From Latin 'Germania' as seen in English and Russian

•From 'Alamanni' tribe as in French (Allemagne) and Arabic

•From Germanic ‘Diutisc’ as in German (Deutschland) or Chinese

•From the Saxon tribe, as in Finnish (Saksa) and Romani.

•From Slavic němьcь as in Polish (Niemcy) and Hungarian

•From Prussia, as in Tahitian (Purutia) or Silesian

•A root found in Baltic states without clear origin, like Lithuanian (Vokietija) or Latvian (Vācija)

Some of these roots have applied to different Germanic states too, like Austria or the Holy Roman Empire in various languages. Notably this list means the term used in Romantic French and Spanish is Germanic, and the term used in Germanic English is Romance based. More on the exceptional cases next.