The name is absent



ENGLISH NAMES AND MISNOMERS FOR THE
GERMANS: DUTCH, GERMAN, TEUTON

by Max Freund

This investigation will be dealing with far-reaching questions of
nomenclature on a historical and philological basis.

Deutsch is what the Germans call themselves in their national
language. Unlike most other adjectives denoting nationality, such
as English and French, the word
deutsch is not based on the name
of any tribe. In fact, its origin is quite unique and unparalleled. It
occurs for the first time in the fourth century a.d. as the equiva-
lent of the Greek word
ethnilcos in the Gothic translation of the
Bible by Bishop Wulfila. There the word
thiudisko is used with the
meaning heathenish and in contrast to Jewish. It is derived from
the Gothic noun
thiuda meaning people, which, in its turn, is
supposed to be related to Latin
tota, meaning whole, and to go
back to an Aryan stem
*teut, meaning people. It took four
hundred years for our word to reappear frequently, but then in
the Latinized form
theodisc-, used with reference to language and
in contrast to the Latin word
latine. Its successive meanings now
were vulgar, Germanic, and German. Continuing via Old High
German
diutisk, we are ultimately led to the modern German word
form
deutsch.

I

The word Dutch is the Anglicization of the word deutsch, i.e.,
the result of its adaptation in pronunciation and spelling to the
English language.
Dutch is what the English have called (though
not consistently) the German-speaking inhabitants of the old Ger-
man Empire, founded by Charles the Great, during the one thousand
years of its existence, as well as their descendants down to the
present day.

From the 15th to the 17th century the English were in constant

Editor’s Note: Mr. Freund is Professor Emeritus of Germanics at Rice Uni-
versity. This paper is an abridged and updated version of an address
delivered in 1940 before the South Central Modern Language Association.

33



More intriguing information

1. Needing to be ‘in the know’: strategies of subordination used by 10-11 year old school boys
2. Telecommuting and environmental policy - lessons from the Ecommute program
3. An alternative way to model merit good arguments
4. An Economic Analysis of Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Consumption: Implications for Overweight and Obesity among Higher- and Lower-Income Consumers
5. Outline of a new approach to the nature of mind
6. Permanent and Transitory Policy Shocks in an Empirical Macro Model with Asymmetric Information
7. What should educational research do, and how should it do it? A response to “Will a clinical approach make educational research more relevant to practice” by Jacquelien Bulterman-Bos
8. EXPANDING HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE U.K: FROM ‘SYSTEM SLOWDOWN’ TO ‘SYSTEM ACCELERATION’
9. The name is absent
10. Structural Conservation Practices in U.S. Corn Production: Evidence on Environmental Stewardship by Program Participants and Non-Participants
11. Philosophical Perspectives on Trustworthiness and Open-mindedness as Professional Virtues for the Practice of Nursing: Implications for he Moral Education of Nurses
12. Who is missing from higher education?
13. The name is absent
14. Types of Tax Concessions for Promoting Investment in Free Economic and Trade Areas
15. The name is absent
16. The name is absent
17. How much do Educational Outcomes Matter in OECD Countries?
18. European Integration: Some stylised facts
19. EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES IN TENNESSEE ON WATER USE AND CONTROL - AGRICULTURAL PHASES
20. The name is absent