The German Question, Part Thirteen

From the 1200s until the 1600s, the Germans developed a dominant role in trade in much of northern Europe with the formation of the Hanseatic League (German, "Hanse"). The Hanse not only was a trade organization of north German communities, but it also had a military function, since trade routes and trade facilities needed protection. The Hanse's extensive reach also took more Germans (including people now called "Dutch," but in the early times of the Hanse they were still called "Germans") into settlements in northeastern Europe.

Much further south, Germans established settlements in what is modern Slovenia, and eventually that area came firmly under German rule by way of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation.

Also, during the mid 1300s, Europe suffered from the infamous "Black Death," which is thought by many, but not all, researchers to have been bubonic plague. The widespread German lands suffered from this outbreak, just as did other parts of Europe. Since record keeping in those times was not extensive, and some records undoubtedly did not survive into modern times, there really isn't an accurate count for the death toll from the Black Death, but it "seems" that in the overall German territories at least 20-25% of the population died.*

* In some other parts of Europe the death toll estimates run much higher, some exceeding 50%!!!

WORD HISTORY:
Smock-The history of this word is not firm, but it seems to go back to Indo European "smeugh," which had the notion "slip on, slip into," and then the Old Germanic offshoot "smukkaz." This then gave Old English/Anglo-Saxon "smoc," which was a woman's garment (later the spelling was "smok" and "smock"). Old English had two related words that seem to also be related to "smock." These were "smugan," which had the notion of "creeping into" (slipping into) and "smygel," which had the notion of "burrowing" (forcefully slipping into). The idea here is that a smock has a hole in the top and a person then draws it over the head or sort of burrows into it. German, a close relative of English, has "schmiegen," which means "to nestle into," so much the same meaning. From what I could find, "smock" didn't begin to be applied to part of an artist's outfit until the 20th Century. Likewise for part of a military outfit, often with camouflage design. The use of "smock" for a garment is purely English, although the other Germanic languages have related forms that are not used in that sense.