Because of Germany's long history  as a non-united region of distinct tribes and states before 1871 , there are many widely varying names of Germany in different languages, more so than for any other European nation. For example, in the German language, the country is known as from the Old High German , in Spanish as and in French as from the name of the Alamanni tribe, in Italian as from the Latin (although the German people are called ), in Polish as from the Protoslavic nemets, and in Finnish and Estonian as and respectively from the name of the Saxon tribe. Afrikaans: Duitsland Chinese: in both simpl. and trad. (pinyin: Déyìzhì)commonly / (Déguó, "Dé" is the abbr. of , "guó" means "country") Danish: Tyskland Dutch: Duitsland Faroese: Týskland German: Deutschland Icelandic: Þýskaland Italian: Tedesco (meaning German) Japanese: (Doitsu) Kinyarwanda: Ubudage Korean: (Dogil). (Doichwillandeu - North Korea) Lojban: dotygu'e Low German/Low Saxon: Düütschland/Duutslaand Luxembourgish: Däitschland Medieval Latin: Teutonia, regnum Teutonicum Nahuatl: Teutōtitlan Norwegian: Tyskland Northern Sami: Duiska Northern Sotho: Tôitšhi Swedish: Tyskland Vietnamese: West Frisian: Dútslân Yiddish: (daytshland) Arabic: (nímsā) meaning Austria Belarusian: (Njamjéččyna) Bulgarian: (Nemsko) (obsolete colloquial) Croatian: NjemačkaCzech: NěmeckoHungarian: NémetországKashubian: MiemieckôMontenegrin: NjemačkaOttoman Turkish: (nemçe) meaning all Austrian - Holy Roman Empire countries Polish: NiemcySerbian: (Nemačka) Silesian: ŃymcySlovak: NemeckoSlovene: Lower Sorbian: NimskaUpper Sorbian: NěmskaUkrainian: (Niméččyna) Limburgish: Pruses (mostly in derogatory meaning) informal Luxembourgish: Preisen informal Twents: De Pruus Silesian: Prusacy Tahitian: Purutia (also Heremani, see above) 7. Unclear originKursenieki: Vāce Zėm Latgalian: Vuoceja Latvian: Vācija Lithuanian: Vokietija Samogitian: VuokītėjėOther forms:Medieval Greek: Frángoi, frangikós (for Germans, German) – after the Franks. Medieval Hebrew: (Ashkenaz) – from biblical Ashkenaz () was the son of Japheth and grandson of Noah. Ashkenaz is thought to be the ancestor of the Germans. Lower Sorbian: bawory or bawery (in older or dialectal use) – from the name of Bavaria. Silesian: szwaby from Swabia, bambry used for German colonists from the area around Bamberg, krzyżacy (a derogative form of krzyżowcy - crusaders) referring to Teutonic Order, Rajch or Rajś resembling German pronunciation of Reich. Old Norse: Suðrvegr – literally south way (cf. Norway), describing Germanic tribes which invaded continental Europe. Kinyarwanda: Ubudage, Kirundi: Ubudagi – thought to derive from the greeting guten Tag used by Germans during the colonial times,Jutta Limbach, Ausgewanderte Wörter. Eine Auswahl der interessantesten Beiträge zur internationalen Ausschreibung „Ausgewanderte Wörter “ . Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verl, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2007, p. 123, . or from deutsch.John Joseph Gumperz and Dell Hathaway Hymes, The ethnography of communication. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, N.Y. [etc.] 1972, p. 96, . Navajo: ("Metal Cap-wearer Land"), in reference to Stahlhelm-wearing German soldiers. Lakota: Ullrich, Jan F. (2008). New Lakota Dictionary. Bloomington, Indiana: Lakota Language Consortium. . ("Bad Speaker Land"). Plains Cree: pîwâpiskwastotininâhk ("Among the Steel Helmets") or mâyakwêsinâhk ("Among the Speakers of a Foreign/Strange Language") URL Sudovian: miksiskai, Old Prussian miksiskāi (both for "German") – from miksît "to stammer". Polish (slang of the communist period): Erefen from R.F.N. = F.R.G. (Federal Republic of Germany), Polish (pre-Second World War slang): Rajch from German Reich The common Chinese name 德国 (  , ) is a combination of the short form of 德 (), which approximates the German pronunciation of Deutsch ‘German’, plus guó ‘country’. Due to the history of Germany, the principle of federalism is strong. Only the state of Hitler (1933–1945) and the state of the communists (East Germany, 1949–1990) were centralist states. As a result, the words Reich and Bund were used more frequently than in other countries, in order to distinguish between imperial or federal institutions and those at a subnational level. For example, a modern federal German minister is called Bundesminister, in contrast to a Landesminister who holds office in a state such as Rhineland-Palatinate or Lower Saxony. After the defeat in World War II, Germany was occupied by the troops of Britain, France, the United States and Soviet Union. Berlin was a case of its own, as it was situated on the territory of the Soviet zone but divided into four sectors. The western sectors were later called West Berlin, the other one East Berlin. The communists tended to consider the Soviet sector of Berlin as a part of GDR; West Berlin was, according to them, an independent political unit. In the GDR Westberlin was the preferred spelling in order to de-emphasize the relationship to Berlin, Hauptstadt der DDR (the GDR capital). Further reading Bithell, Jethro, ed. Germany: A Companion to German Studies (5th edition 1955), 578pp; essays on German literature, music, philosophy, art and, especially, history. online edition Buse, Dieter K. ed. Modern Germany: An Encyclopedia of History, People, and Culture 1871-1990 (2 vol 1998) Clark, Christopher. Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947 (2006) Detwiler, Donald S. Germany: A Short History (3rd ed. 1999) 341pp; Germany A Short History; by Donald S. Detwiler; Fulbrook, Mary. A Concise History of Germany (2004) Maehl, William Harvey. Germany in Western Civilization (1979), 833pp Ozment, Steven. A Mighty Fortress: A New History of the German People (2005) Reinhardt, Kurt F. Germany: 2000 Years (2 vols., 1961), stress on cultural topics
Because of Germany's long history before 1871 as a non-united region of distinct tribes and states , there are many widely varying names of Germany in different languages, more so than for any other European nation. For example, in the German language, the country is known as from the Old High German , in Spanish as and in French as from the name of the Alamanni tribe, in Italian as from the Latin (although the German people are called ), in Polish as from the Protoslavic nemets, and in Finnish and Estonian as and respectively from the name of the Saxon tribe. Afrikaans: Duitsland Chinese: in both simpl. and trad. (pinyin: Déyìzhì)commonly / (Déguó, "Dé" is the abbr. of , "guó" means "country") Danish: Tyskland Dutch: Duitsland Faroese: Týskland German: Deutschland Icelandic: Þýskaland Italian: Tedesco (meaning German) Japanese: (Doitsu) Kinyarwanda: Ubudage Korean: (Dogil). (Doichwillandeu – North Korea) Lojban: dotygu'e Low German/Low Saxon: Düütschland/Duutslaand Luxembourgish: Däitschland Medieval Latin: Teutonia, regnum Teutonicum Nahuatl: Teutōtitlan Norwegian: Tyskland Northern Sami: Duiska Northern Sotho: Tôitšhi Swedish: Tyskland Vietnamese: West Frisian: Dútslân Yiddish: (daytshland) Arabic: (nímsā) meaning Austria Belarusian: (Njamjéččyna) Bulgarian: (Nemsko) (obsolete colloquial) Croatian: NjemačkaCzech: NěmeckoHungarian: NémetországKashubian: MiemieckôMontenegrin: NjemačkaOttoman Turkish: (nemçe) meaning all Austrian – Holy Roman Empire countries Polish: NiemcySerbian: (Nemačka) Silesian: ŃymcySlovak: NemeckoSlovene: Lower Sorbian: NimskaUpper Sorbian: NěmskaUkrainian: (Niméččyna) Limburgish: Pruses (mostly in derogatory meaning) informal Luxembourgish: Preisen informal Twents: De Pruus Silesian: Prusacy Tahitian: Purutia (also Heremani, see above) 7. Unclear originKursenieki: Vāce Zėm Latgalian: Vuoceja Latvian: Vācija Lithuanian: Vokietija Samogitian: VuokītėjėOther forms:Medieval Greek: Frángoi, frangikós (for Germans, German) – after the Franks. Medieval Hebrew: (Ashkenaz) – from biblical Ashkenaz () was the son of Japheth and grandson of Noah. Ashkenaz is thought to be the ancestor of the Germans. Lower Sorbian: bawory or bawery (in older or dialectal use) – from the name of Bavaria. Silesian: szwaby from Swabia, bambry used for German colonists from the area around Bamberg, krzyżacy (a derogative form of krzyżowcy – crusaders) referring to Teutonic Order, Rajch or Rajś resembling German pronunciation of Reich. Old Norse: Suðrvegr – literally south way (cf. Norway), describing Germanic tribes which invaded continental Europe. Kinyarwanda: Ubudage, Kirundi: Ubudagi – thought to derive from the greeting guten Tag used by Germans during the colonial times,Jutta Limbach, Ausgewanderte Wörter. Eine Auswahl der interessantesten Beiträge zur internationalen Ausschreibung „Ausgewanderte Wörter " . Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verl, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2007, p. 123, . or from deutsch.John Joseph Gumperz and Dell Hathaway Hymes, The ethnography of communication. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, N.Y. [etc.] 1972, p. 96, . Navajo: ("Metal Cap-wearer Land"), in reference to Stahlhelm-wearing German soldiers. Lakota: Ullrich, Jan F. (2008). New Lakota Dictionary. Bloomington, Indiana: Lakota Language Consortium. . ("Bad Speaker Land"). Plains Cree: pîwâpiskwastotininâhk ("Among the Steel Helmets") or mâyakwêsinâhk ("Among the Speakers of a Foreign/Strange URL Sudovian: miksiskai, Old Prussian miksiskāi (both for "German") – from miksît "to stammer". Polish (slang of the communist period): Erefen from R.F.N. = F.R.G. (Federal Republic of Germany), Polish (pre-Second World War slang): Rajch from German Reich The common Chinese name 德国 ( 德國 , ) is a combination of the short form of 德意志 (), which approximates the German pronunciation of Deutsch ‘German’, plus guó ‘country’. Due to the history of Germany, the principle of federalism is strong. Only the state of Hitler (1933–1945) and the state of the communists (East Germany, 1949–1990) were centralist states. As a result, the words Reich and Bund were used more frequently than in other countries, to distinguish between imperial or federal institutions and those at a subnational level. For example, a modern federal German minister is called Bundesminister, in contrast to a Landesminister who holds office in a state such as Rhineland-Palatinate or Lower Saxony. After the defeat in World War II, Germany was occupied by the troops of Britain, France, the United States and Soviet Union. Berlin was a case of its own, as it was situated on the territory of the Soviet zone but divided into four sectors. The western sectors were later called West Berlin, the other one East Berlin. The communists tended to consider the Soviet sector of Berlin as a part of GDR; West Berlin was, according to them, an independent political unit. In the GDR Westberlin was the preferred spelling to de-emphasize the relationship to Berlin, Hauptstadt der DDR (the GDR capital). Further reading Bithell, Jethro, ed. Germany: A Companion to German Studies (5th edition 1955), 578pp; essays on German literature, music, philosophy, art and, especially, history. online edition Buse, Dieter K. ed. Modern Germany: An Encyclopedia of History, People, and Culture 1871–1990 (2 vol 1998) Clark, Christopher. Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600–1947 (2006) Detwiler, Donald S. Germany: A Short History (3rd ed. 1999) 341pp; Germany A Short History; by Donald S. Detwiler; Fulbrook, Mary. A Concise History of Germany (2004) Maehl, William Harvey. Germany in Western Civilization (1979), 833pp Ozment, Steven. A Mighty Fortress: A New History of the German People (2005) Reinhardt, Kurt F. Germany: 2000 Years (2 vols., 1961), stress on cultural topics
A
before 1871
D
before 1871
R
-
–
R
-
–
R
-
–
R
“
"
D
Language")
A
德國
R
德
德意志
D
in order
D
in order
R
1871-1990
1871–1990
R
1600-1947
1600–1947