The Invasion That Gave Us English

I first published this August 11, 2008. I've edited and expanded the original article just a bit and I have added a "Word History."

I'll start this at about 40 A.D. At that time Britain was populated by Celts; that is, a group of tribes of Indo Europeans represented most prominently in today's world by the Irish, the Scots, and the Welsh (and let's not forget the "Boston Celtics!"). In those times, the Celts living on the island were collectively known as Britons.* The Romans had been sending military expeditions into Britain from the mainland for some time, but it wasn't until around 40 A.D. that they really made a major effort to conquer the Britons, which they only partially succeeded in doing, as the Romans were unable to completely subdue the Celts in the north, which is pretty much today's modern Scotland.** Many, but not all, Celts under Roman rule in Britain became "Romanized," as the Roman form of civilization took hold, but the Celtic dialects prevailed over Latin in Britain, although some Latin terms took hold, or Latin forms of Celtic words occurred. The unsubdued northern areas remained pretty wild for hundreds of years afterward. As time passed, Rome began to experience it's own problems, with Germanic tribes inside and outside of Rome's continental borders. The Romans began to withdraw their forces from Britain to help protect Rome itself, a process that was completed by 410 A.D. The Celtic Britons then seem to have tried to get some Germanic elements to serve as a partial defense force for their now vulnerable area. Eventually many of these Germanic people settled in Britain, but they also sent for their relatives on the continent. Gradually waves of Germanic invaders came, only not to protect the Celts, but to overtake them. I've seen various numbers of Germanic invaders used by historians, from 100,000 to half a million, but 100 to 200 thousand  is a pretty good guess, and this was a substantial number for those times; that is, the mid to late 400s A.D.

These Germanic invaders came from the area of what is today northwestern Germany, southwestern Denmark, and northeastern Holland. The bulk of the invaders seem to have been from two particular tribes, the Angles and the Saxons. Elements of Jutes, Frisians and Franks also joined the migration to Britain, but I'll use the term Anglo-Saxons for the collective Germanic invaders. The various Germanic tribesmen spoke dialects (variations) of a hypothetical common Germanic language.*** Archaeologists and historians have generally concluded that the Angles totally pulled up from their homeland in what is part of the modern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, and left for Britain.**** On the other hand only some of the Saxons departed for Britain. The Saxons generally inhabited the area around modern Kiel, Lübeck, and Hamburg in the area of the Elbe River, and many of their descendants are undoubtedly still there today. Bordering the Saxons to the west were the Frisians, who inhabited the coastal territories of modern northwestern Germany and northeastern Holland. The identity of the Jutes has been more controversial over time. There is not a lot of  historical evidence about them before they migrated to Britain, and in more recent times some historians have speculated that they may have been a part of the Saxons, rather than a truly separate Germanic tribe, or that they had vacated their Jutland homeland, an area stretching from modern Denmark into northern Germany, and gone to the area of the Rhine River, a region under the control of the Franks, a large Germanic tribal confederation, as artifacts recovered from the Jutes in England show characteristics closer to the Franks, rather than to the Angles and Saxons.***** The Jutes settled in what is now Kent, at the southeastern edge of England. The idea is, if the Jutes had remained in their Jutland homeland, would they have sailed all the way to that area of Britain to land, thus bringing some historians to speculate that the Jutes came from across what is now famously known as the English Channel; that is, from Frankish territory on the mainland.

Over time, the Anglo-Saxons took over much of the southern part of Britain, but they too seem to have been halted by the fierce Picts (another Celtic tribe) and Scots in the north, just as the Romans had been several centuries before. Further, it seems that a fair number of Celts retreated to the western part of the island, into an area with a ridge of mountains serving as a natural barrier. The Germanic forces were halted there, and this area is today's Wales, the population being known as Welsh, but both Wales and Welsh come from a Germanic term generally meaning "foreign/foreigner," which was often applied to Celtic speaking and Latin speaking people by the Germanic peoples long ago, seemingly from the inability of the Germanic people to understand them. German still even uses a verb form, "welschen," to mean, "to talk in gibberish, to speak incomprehensibly."   

The Anglo-Saxons established themselves in Britain and their dialects formed the basis for English, with the linguistic use of the term "Anglo-Saxon" now interchangeable with "Old English." To this day the one hundred most commonly used words in English trace back to Anglo-Saxon. Later, Norwegians and Danes (also Germanic speakers) went to England and they too contributed to the English vocabulary.

* There had been many other Celtic tribes spread throughout Europe prior to those times; most notably in the Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal) and Gaul (essentially modern France), but by the time I'm using, 40 A.D., they had been conquered and were mainly under the jurisdiction of the Romans.

** One of the Celtic tribes was known as Scots; thus we have the name Scotland, and the name of today's inhabitants thereof, Scots.

*** At least modern linguists believe that there had been a common Germanic language, called Proto-Germanic (sometimes "Old Germanic"), in the linguistic world.

**** The Angles lived in and around the region of the modern German city of Flensburg.

***** Archaeologists compare weapons, clothing, jewelry, housing and burial practices to try to determine relationships between one group to another. "If" indeed the Jutes left their homeland for Frankish territory, one would assume it was not six weeks before they sailed to Britain, for if their artifacts are similar to Frankish items, the Jutes undoubtedly did not pick up these practices in some relatively short period of time. A convincing verdict on the Jutes has not been reached.   

WORD HISTORY:
Begin-The origins of this common word are unknown, and it "may be" a West Germanic invention (English is a West Germanic language). West Germanic seems to have had "gennan/ginnan," the actual meaning of which is uncertain, but the word was used in compounds, and Old English had "onginnan," which meant "to set out to do something, undertake something." Old English also had "biginnan," which meant "to start, to commence." This then became "beginnen," before the modern version.The other West Germanic languages have: German "beginnen" (similar to its English cousin, German has "begann" in the past tense compared to English "began," and "begonnen" in the participle form, compared to English "begun"); Low German Saxon and Dutch have "beginnen;" and West Frisian has "begjinne." All have the meaning "to start, to commence, to begin."

The German Question, Part Six

Beginning before the death of Charlemagne in 814 A.D., the eastern border areas of his empire were secured by fortified territories. The territories were given by the emperor to nobles to administer. These nobles had fairly substantial military forces at their disposal, and the areas were called “Marks” or “Marches” (see Word History below the notes). As time passed, these various Marks had their own boundaries and designations changed, one of the most famous being the “Ostmark,” or “East Mark,” which formed what became a substantial part of modern Austria, and another, “Mark Brandenburg,” which became the modern area of Berlin and environs.

From about 1000 A.D. and continuing for the next couple of centuries, Germans began to migrate from densely populated western areas of Europe into many of the sparsely Slavic populated regions of eastern Europe.* Since Christianity had spread throughout most of western and central Europe, and part of eastern Europe, Church authorities looked upon these “Christian” migrations with favor.** The Germans, who brought various skills and even wealth with them, were even welcomed by the Slavic rulers of many of these areas, and much of this relocation was done peacefully. It seems that some of these Germans eventually were assimilated (absorbed) into the Slavic population, thus losing their “German” identity, but many formed essentially all German communities, or the German population overtook the Slavic population in certain areas, eventually absorbing (assimilating) the Slavs, who then lost their “Slavic” identity. These latter were/are usually referred to as “Wends.”

*This was something of a “reverse migration,” as earlier, Germanic tribes, some, but not all, later to be called “Germans,” had tended to migrate from east to west.

** It should be noted that the Franks eventually subdued their main rival among the Germanic tribes, the Saxons, and forcibly “Christianized” them. The wars, which accomplished that feat, continued from about 780 and ended in about 804 A.D. The Saxons are very important to our story, and they were a large confederation of Germanic tribes in northern Europe, part of which migrated to Britain along with other Germanic tribal elements, conquered the local Celtic population after the withdrawal of Roman forces during the 400s A.D., and founded England ("the land of the Angles," after one of those Germanic tribes, the Angles).

WORD HISTORY:
Mark-This word goes back to the Indo European base "mereg," which meant "border, edge, boundary" (Latin, another Indo European language, had "margo," which meant "margin"). The Old Germanic offshoot was "marko." This gave Old English "mearc/merc," which continued the same basic meaning with "boundary, limit," but eventually it also came to mean "a sign of a boundary or border," and this eventually evolved into any sign designating a boundary, perhaps traced on a map. These various general meanings gave us our more modern meanings of "putting a mark on something to show ownership," "marking something on paper," "putting a mark on something (as in "Oops!) and "in taking notice" ("Mark my words"). The other Germanic languages have: German has "Mark" (noun), Low German  has "Mark" (noun) and "marken" (verb), West Frisian has "merke" (both noun and verb form), Dutch has "merk" (noun) and "markeren/merken" (verbs), Danish has "maerke" (noun) and "markere/maerke" (verbs), Icelandic has "merki" (noun) and "merkja" (verb), Norwegian has "merke" (noun) and "merke/markere" (verbs), Swedish has "märke" (noun) and "märka" (verb).

The German Question, Part Five

Updated slightly 7/1/2015, then updated again (the Word History) on 6/9/22

Remember, it is believed by many historians (and seemingly supported by archaeology) that Germanic peoples spread into other parts of Europe, including eastern and central Europe, from the northern areas of Europe. Beginning in the 500s A.D., Slavic tribes* spread into areas often vacated by Germanic tribes in the eastern parts of Europe. It is believed that the primary reason that these Germanic peoples left the area was that they fled invaders from central Asia, especially the Huns.** In modern geographic terminology, the areas involved were Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, part of Belarus, and part of Ukraine (and undoubtedly a part of Lithuania***). Also included were parts of modern Germany, up to the area of the Elbe River. (A Word History is below the notes)

*Many linguists seem to agree that the various Slavic elements didn’t show great diversification in dialects for quite some time, making communication between these tribes relatively easy. Slavic is an Indo European language and is therefore related to English, but further down the family tree.

** The Huns were a nomadic group of people, long thought to be from Asia. They were excellent horsemen and fierce warriors, but their origins are murky. They appear in distant southeastern Europe in the vicinity of the Black Sea in the mid 300s A.D. Historians have generally believed them to be from central Asia and related to the Turks, but even the answer as to why they might have moved westward into Europe has never been clearly established. "Typically" the various tribes moved to find better sources of food, or because they lost their homeland to invaders. The Huns are, of course, best known for one of their leaders, Attila. The Huns took over large parts of Europe for a time, but eventually a coalition, largely of Germanic tribes in eastern Europe, defeated them in the mid 400s. The center of their empire became Pannonia, now basically modern Hungary.      

*** All of these modern countries still speak Slavic languages, with the exception of Lithuania. Many linguists feel there was a period of overlap between the Slavic languages and the Baltic languages, which includes Lithuanian, but that the two diverged from one another. On the other hand, some linguists still use “Balto-Slavic” as the term for these languages, as they feel the two are too closely related to be grouped separately. Lithuanian is thought by some (many?) linguists to be the least altered, and thus the closest, living language to the original Indo European, but this is a subject in its own right, and is thus beyond the scope of this article.

WORD HISTORY:
Toy-While this is a fairly common word in English, its origins are uncertain. In writing, as "toye," it came to be used in the 1300s with the meaning "amorous dalliance;" that is, "casual sexual affair." This later (in the 1500s) brought about the more expanded meaning of anything done for "fun, entertainment, or amusement," including "funny remarks," and by the late 1500s, "object for a child's entertainment" developed. Where did English get it? Did English already have a spoken form of the word in English dialect that was simply not used by the literate element of English society? Did an Old English form die out, ^ only to be resurrected by borrowing the word? The English traded goods heavily with the areas of the North Sea coast, which included the close relatives of English: Dutch, Frisian, and German (both Low German and High German). Low German has "tüg," and standard German has "Zeug" (the "eu" is pronounced as English "oy," and the "Z" is pronounced "ts"), with the generalized meaning "tool/implement (usually as the compound "Werkzeug;" literally, "work implement"), implement, stuff," and standard German has "Spielzeug," meaning "toy." Dutch has "tuig," also generally meaning "tool," and "speeltuig" meaning "toy." Danish and Swedish, also Germanic languages, have "toi/toj," and "tyg," respectively, with the meaning "stuff, gear." The verb "toyed" was derived from the noun during the 1500s. Some linguists have speculated (with good reason) that "toy" could be related to "tug" and "tow." English "tug" and "tow" are part of a "family of Germanic words" related through forms in Old Germanic. One of the other members of this family is German "ziehen" ("ziohan" in Old High German), which means "to pull, to drag, to draw." The Old English form of this word was "teon" (infinitive form, same basic meanings as the German word), and it's important to remember that German "z" is pronounced "ts." In this same family are the nouns, English "tug," and German "Zug," with the English word noun being the word for "a small boat that pulls a larger ship," and the German noun meaning, "a train (an engine that pulls a number of railway cars"). It most certainly seems that "toy" is a member of this overall family of words and it may well trace back to a form in Old English (see note below).

^ English once had "suhlgeteog," which meant "plowing tool/implement." A number of English words lost the ending "g" sound over time, as for instance, "day" and "may" (the verb form) both had an ending "g" at one time ("dæg" and "mæg"), as their German cousins still do: "Tag" and "mag/mög," the second form being the root for the infinitive and for the subjunctive.  

The German Question, Part Four

Updated slightly 6/30/2015

At this point in our story, it should be noted that the Danes were also by now a separate and distinct Germanic group, but we aren’t truly finished with the Danes, as they will be involved in what became northern Germany for quite some time. The area in question is what is generally known as Schleswig, a part of the post-World War Two German state of Schleswig-Holstein.

As the Roman Empire declined, the Germanic tribe the Alemanni* took over much of the regions known as “Alsace” and “Lorraine”, but the Alemanni were then conquered by the related Germanic tribe, the Franks. These two areas were later included in the “middle kingdom” by the Treaty of Verdun (see Part Three), but it wasn’t long before they were conquered, and became a part of the German-dominated Holy Roman Empire.

Similarly, in the area of what is modern Switzerland, the Alemanni settled in a large part of the middle and eastern sections, with the western areas being under the control of the Burgundians. The Burgundians were a Germanic tribe whose members spoke an East Germanic dialect, and they had long since been seen as a distinct Germanic element.** The Franks also conquered this region, but eventually the entire area of modern Switzerland came under control of the Holy Roman Empire, although the Latin-based French language had already overtaken any Germanic dialects in the western areas, and to this day, these areas are French speaking, with slightly more than 20% of Swiss nationals speaking French.*** The extreme southern part of Switzerland was, and still is, Italian speaking (about 8%). There is also a small Romansch-speaking area of Switzerland (less than 1%).**** Nearly 70% of Swiss nationals speak German to this day.^

So we have progressed to about 1000 A.D., and we’re beginning to see “some” borders develop around the general area of Germanic-speaking people in the western sections of Europe. In fact, it might now be more appropriate to start calling these people “Germans,” and their language “German,” although just like other languages of those times, there certainly was no standard language, but rather a great number of dialects. Obviously there were also many non-German speakers within this area, and this mixture would often prove to be a problem as time passed. (A Word History is below the notes)

*The modern Alsatian-German dialect traces back to the Alemanni tribal dialect, while the German dialect in Lorraine traces back to the Franks. The German dialects in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, far western Austria and in the general area of Stuttgart, Germany, all trace back to the Alemanni.

** Burgundy, a province of France, is of course named after the Germanic Burgundians, who ruled that general area prior to being overtaken by the Franks.

*** Again, the Franks conquered much of Gaul, but eventually the Latin dialects spoken there absorbed the Franks’ Germanic dialects, although the name for the country became “France,” named after the Franks, and the language was called “French,” after the language of the Franks. Confusing, but true.

**** Romansch (also frequently spelled Romansh) developed from the Latin spoken in these areas during the time of actual Roman rule. It is “similar” to some dialects of southern France and northern Italy.

^ Within the German language world; that is, native German speakers, regardless of country, people have tended to grow up speaking their own regional dialect, as well as “standard” German. By “standard,” I mean the language taught in the schools. The Swiss are no exception, as they still use their own broad dialect (which has some regional variations of its own), but they also speak and write in standard German, but with some Swiss distinctiveness, especially in governmental and food terminology. So, the point is, a person from Berlin and a person from Bern (Switzerland) can easily communicate with one another in standard German, but not so much so in their respective dialects. Berlin dialect is called "Berlinerisch," and the dialect of Bern is called "Berndeutsch," in standard German, but "Bärndütsch," in the dialect itself.

WORD HISTORY:
Fee-The history of this word may surprise you somewhat. It goes back to Indo European “peku,” which meant “cattle.” The history is rather difficult to follow, since many of the Indo European languages had a form of this word (“peku”), and it is tough to tell when one form was borrowed from another language, or when it was already present in a language, but perhaps reinforced by a similar term from another language. From what I can tell, there must have been an Old Germanic spin-off (spelled with an “f” at the beginning), although I cannot find it. Whatever the term, some of the Germanic dialects began to give additional meanings to their own forms of that term, as, for example, Old English had “feoh,” which meant “property, money,” besides the meaning “cattle,” Gothic had “faihu,” which meant “wealth, money,” Frankish had “fehu-od,” meaning “cattle-property” (literally "cattle wealth" or "wealthy in cattle"), Old Norse had “fe,” also meaning “cattle, money,” and Old High German had "fihu," meaning "cattle." The “cattle, money, property, wealth” connection is that if you owned cattle in those times, you had property, and therefore you were thought to have some wealth/money. Latin seemingly borrowed the term from Frankish (“fehu-od”) as “feudum” or “feodum,” which also had the connotation of “property given for service” (you can see the emerging meaning of modern “fee” in this), although Old Latin had a form of the original Indo European word “peku,” as “pecus” meant “cattle,” and “pecunia” meant “money” (and still does in modern Italian). Old French, a Latin-based language, had “fie/fieu,” and the Normans, who spoke a French dialect, brought their form of the term to England with their successful invasion in late 1066 A.D. The term “feudal” developed from the same word during those times, and “fee” did actually mean “a feudal estate” back then, although that meaning has now died out in English (William the Conqueror gave land to his Norman knights who helped him subdue England as his payment to them; thus “land for service”). Whether this meaning combined with the extended meaning (“money") of the similar and related Old English word, if it was even still around, is unclear to me, but it would make sense (maybe TOO MUCH sense), that we would then have the modern meaning of “money for service.” Modern German still has "Vieh," meaning "cattle" (the "V" is pronounced "F," [all German nouns are capitalized] the "ieh" is pronounced as a long "e," giving us a pronunciation much like the English word "fee").

The German Question, Part Three

While we now have the beginnings of “German” history at this point, 9 A.D., that history is still not separate and distinct from the history of many of the Germanic tribes. As the Roman Empire declined, the Germanic tribes pushed into imperial lands, including into Gaul, a Roman province, much of which equates to modern France, but conquered by the Romans long before this time period. The Franks, a Germanic tribe that seems to have taken over a number of closely related and allied Germanic tribes, conquered much of northern Gaul (I guess you could say, “they had a lot of Gaul”), which also included a part of what is now Belgium. The Franks established themselves as a formidable group, and Karl, one of their kings, later had the honorary title of “the Great” added to his name. Karl is better known to English speakers by the French rendering of his name, “Charlemagne.”* As the Frankish lands grew, Karl was crowned “Emperor of the Romans” by the Pope in 800 A.D. in Rome (the title was symbolic, rather than literal). The Germans see this as the beginning of The Holy Roman Empire,** which, in the early 1500s, came to be called “The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation;” thus, Germans consider Karl as “their” first emperor. Karl lived for the most part in the city of Aachen, in the modern German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (Nordrhein-Westfalen), and he was buried there upon his death. By the time of his death in 814 A.D., Charlemagne’s lands consisted of much of Western Europe, including Italy. His son, Ludwig (Louis),*** actually shared the imperial throne with his father for the last year of Charlemagne’s life.**** A couple of years after Ludwig/Louis died, an agreement was reached to divide the empire between his three surviving sons (The Treaty of Verdun, in 843 A.D.). Charles (I’ll use the English name forms), also known to history as “Charles the Bald,” was given much of what is modern France. Louis, also known to history as “Louis the German,” was given much of what are modern central and southern Germany, Austria, and much of Switzerland. Lothair, was given what are essentially (in modern geographic terms) the northern half of Italy, eastern France (including Alsace and Lorraine, which have a big part in our developing story), the western part of Switzerland, northwest Germany and much of what are termed “the Low Countries.” This division of territory, while granting some peace in those times, set the stage for fierce struggles in the future. (A Word History is below the notes)

*Charlemagne was the French rendering of Latin “Carolus Magnus.” In German his name is “Karl der Grosse.” While the French and Germans have had many disputes over the centuries, Karl is the one prominent person they share as part of a common history. The language that developed in Gaul during the Roman period was heavily based upon Latin, and though the conquering Franks spoke a Germanic dialect (Frankish), eventually that dialect was absorbed into the Latin form spoken in the conquered lands, but not before Frankish loaned a fair number of words to its Latin-speaking subjects, including the terms “France” and “French.”

** The term “Holy Roman Empire” was not used until the 900s.

*** I’ve seen his name as both, but I “assume” he was called by the Germanic form “Ludwig,” at least at first.

**** Ludwig/Louis, who later came to be known as “Louis the Pious,” was the only surviving “legitimate” son of Charlemagne.

                                                                   

WORD HISTORY:

Game- We have two distinct words "game" in English. (1) By far the most common is "fun and amusing pastime, contest, sport," which is a compound going back to Old Germanic "ga," a collective prefix, and "mann," which meant "person," and which is also the ancestor of the English word "man." The notion behind the Germanic compound is "people participating together." This gave Old English "gamen," which meant "fun, amusement." The other Germanic dialects/languages had similar forms long ago, with Old High German, for instance, having "gaman," which meant "glee," and Old Frisian (a very close relative of Old English) having "game," but most have now died out. One source mentions Swedish as still having "gamman" and Danish still with "gammen," and although I could not find them in dictionaries, they may not be considered "standard" in either language, but rather as dialect words). In English, by the late 1200s and early 1300s the word took on the meaning of "contest played by a set of rules" (this obviously retained the notion of "participation for amusement"), and not much later the idea of "hunting wild animals" was added, which then transferred the term for the activity to the object (wild animals) of the sport; thus we have "game" (noun) used for "wild animals," not that the term isn't used for humans at times, too. This also gave us the form "gamey" during the mid 1800s to denote "the taste or flavor of wild game." And since wild animals were (and still are) hunted in contest, the term "fair game" developed for anything not off limits (supposedly first used in the 1820s). Also, during the early 1700s the sense of "spirited, feisty, brave, plucky" developed as an adjective, seemingly from the spirit of wild animals to defend themselves, and perhaps also from game birds used in "fighting events" (cock fighting). By the way, the spelling "gamen" (and the variant "gammon") remained with some in English clear into the 1500s, and is still with us in "backgammon."

(2) The second word "game," meaning "lame," came into common English usage from a dialect in the north Midlands of England during the latter part of the 1700s as "gam." The origins are uncertain, but an old French dialect word (which presumably would have been brought by the Normans), "gambe," has been suggested. It meant "leg," and since "game leg" was/is a common term associated with "game," that "could" be the source. And while I could not find this term, one source suggests "gambi," supposedly an old French word, as a possible source, since it gives the meaning as "crooked." Whatever the source, "gammy," a non-standard word once used in England, developed from it in the 1800s, and meant "bad."

The German Question, Part Two

The question, "who is a German," is important to history, because there have been so many wars fought around this central question over the centuries, the last being World War Two, although even the "Cold War" certainly had some of the German Question involved in it, too. The Germanic people(s) constituted a large group, and with this large group living in much of northern and central Europe, they held a key geographic location as other groups of people to the east migrated westward, or, like with the Romans, who tried to move northwards and eastwards from their established empire. As some of the Germanic tribes migrated southward and westward, they came into conflict with numerous Celtic tribes* which inhabited large areas of Europe prior to the rise of the Romans.** As Germanic elements moved south, they encountered the Celts in what is today southern Germany (Bavaria), Austria, and Switzerland. Eventually the Germanic elements won out, perhaps more through "absorbing" the Celts, rather than by destroying them militarily. This Germanic advance now put some of the Germanic tribes right up against the boundaries of the developing Roman Empire. Much the same happened in northwest Europe, as the Germanic tribes in that area pushed into Celtic occupied territory.

So, just to recap: we now have the various Germanic tribes dominating much of Scandinavia; that is, modern day Norway and Sweden, and also northern and central Europe, including modern day Denmark, Holland (the Netherlands), Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, and large segments of Belgium, Switzerland, and Britain. The key thing is, however, while these tribes were Germanic, with similar customs and dialects (undoubtedly they could understand one another to varying degrees in those times), they did not necessarily act together, but individually, although confederations seem to have been likely at times, and gradually some tribes did consolidate into larger entities over time.

Gaul,*** long a part of the Roman Empire, bordered on the western areas of the Germanic tribes. The Romans pushed into these areas, but they found the Rhine River to be a formidable barrier and the Germanic warriors to be a tough lot. Eventually in 9 A.D., numerous Germanic tribal elements under the leadership of Arminius,^ virtually annihilated a large Roman force near present day Osnabrück, Germany, in what is known as "The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest" (Teutoburgerwald, in German). The Romans, by some historical accounts, suffered more than 20,000 casualties out of a force numbering perhaps 25,000. The Romans tried to regain the initiative and push across the Rhine, but after the resulting seven years of war with virtually no gains, they gave up the fight and accepted the Rhine River as the boundary between the Roman  Empire and the Germanic tribes. Many historians see this time frame, and especially the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 A.D., as the start of "German" history, as in this case, these Germanic tribes cooperated in a common cause to defeat an invader, rather than to act as individual tribes. This seems to be the birth of German nationalism, although it would take centuries to mature, and during that time, it would cause much pain for Germans and other Europeans, and eventually for much of the world.
To be continued...... (A word history is after the notes)

* The Germanic elements that established settlements in England displaced the Celtic Britons, who had themselves been conquered a few hundred years before by the Romans. These Celtic people were actually "Romanized" Celts; that is, they had taken on much Roman culture, and indeed they relied upon the Roman military presence to protect them from invaders, including other "wild" Celtic elements in the north of the main island (essentially present day Scotland). As Rome declined, the Romans withdrew their military forces from Britain, leaving the area vulnerable to the Germanic invaders, many of whom first came and formed alliances with the existing population to protect the "Romanized" areas from those barbarians in the north. Many of the Germanic tribes were seafarers, as they inhabited coastal areas of the North Sea and Baltic Sea. Some of their later descendants would become famous for their seafaring skills and raids, for they were known as the Vikings.

** The Celtic tribes were also Indo European, and they were the ancestors of the Irish, the Scots, the Welsh, and the Bretons (of Brittany), to name perhaps their best known modern descendants.

*** Gaul was named after the Gauls (hmm, how strange), another Celtic group of people, and while certainly not exact, the area consisted of much of modern France.

^ "Arminius" was his Roman name, as he had been raised by the Romans, but returned to his Germanic tribe and led them against the Romans. He is known to Germans (now I am using "German," not Germanic) as "Hermann," which seems to have been how they rendered his Latin name in their own language. "Armin," a shortened version of the original, has been quite a common German male given name, although I don't know if that has still been true in recent decades.

 
WORD HISTORY:
Ago-This form of the word began to be used more frequently during the 1300s, a part of the Middle English period. It was the shortened form of the past participle of Old English verb "agan," with the "a" sound in both cases being long. The verb had the sense of "passing on, departing, moving along in time" (the "gan" part is really the same word as present day "gone"). Initially it was spelled "agone," a word still used in some dialects in England, but the shortened "ago" began to become proper from the time of William Caxton in the mid 1400s, the first known English printer of books, and thus a man who had a substantial influence on how we spell and speak English to this day. By the way, originally in English, "ago" was used BEFORE a given time, as for example, "ago two years," rather than our modern "two years ago." While German uses "vor" to express the same meaning in time expressions, it too goes before the given time: "Vor zwei Minuten," literally "fore two minutes," but actually, "two minutes ago." In case you hadn't noticed, "vor" is closely related to English "fore." The close German relative of "ago," is "ergehen," which means "to travel on, go forth."

The German Question, Part One

Slightly edited and updated, 6/28/2015

Historically, the “German Question” is simply, “Who is a German?” The answer has not been an easy one, but did the outcome of World War Two give us a definitive answer? This is the first of a multiple part series, and it is not an all encompassing and detailed history, but rather a basic history of people who are, or were, in some sense, called German. Some things are purely my own opinion; after all, this is "Pontificating." If you are an American, you should see something of a connection to the German attempts at unity over the centuries, as we have become so divided in recent times. If you are interested in this subject, there are tons of books in libraries around the world on various parts of German history, and certainly there are many articles available online, and there will be a list of sources I used at the end of the series.

First, we have to go back thousands of years to a group of people known to us in modern times as Indo Europeans (they did NOT use this term for themselves, nor did they even know this term, it is purely more modern). While there are varying opinions, the Indo Europeans likely lived in an area along or near the Black Sea. The theory is, they shared a common culture, including a common language, known to linguists as Proto Indo European. Language goes a long way toward giving us our identity, and thus groups of people from the past are often classified, to a great degree, by their language. As centuries passed some of these people wandered off in various directions. Their common language developed into dialects; that is, variations, which grew further and further apart from their original language and from the dialects of other groups that had split off, as time separated them from one another, and as they interacted with other peoples, even with other people of Indo European descent.* One of the split off groups came to be known as the Germanic people.** This group gradually developed a culture and distinct dialect of its own, forming new words (as all people do) as they encountered new things. Again, according to archaeologists, the Germanic people seem to have settled in much of northern Europe, perhaps initially in Scandinavia. The same process took place with the Germanic people as had taken place with their ancestor Indo Europeans; that is, some groups split off going their own separate ways, along with developing dialects that gradually became increasingly more difficult for other Germanic speakers to understand. Over the centuries, some of these Germanic groups migrated to distant lands like (using the modern names) Spain, Portugal, the Balkans, North Africa, and even possibly North America, and, of course they went to Britain, where they founded England.

English took on the Anglicized form “Germany” from the Roman name for the areas of northern Europe settled by the various Germanic tribes; that term being “Germania.” English speakers then naturally called the people of these areas “Germans.” This term has resulted in much confusion for many a speaker of English, as not everyone understands the difference between “German” and “Germanic.” For example, the Norwegians are Germanic, but they are NOT German. The English are Germanic, but they are NOT German. The Bavarians are German AND Germanic. The Germans do not call themselves “Germans;” that is, they don’t use a term derived from German or Germany, but rather they use “Deutsche,”*** which is really the same word as “Dutch,” (“duitsch” in Dutch) just one of many variations (from dialects) from long ago.^ The French call the Germans the “Allemande,” after the name of a specific Germanic tribe, the Allemanni/Alamanni (if only they had settled in Alabama/Alabami). The Italians call the Germans “tedesco,” which is their form of “Deutsche,” although it may not look quite so similar. The Finns call the Germans “Saxons,” again, after a specific Germanic tribe, part of which helped found England.

One thing to remember, as the ancient Germanic people (just as with people from the other groups mentioned in the note below) split off into various tribes, they did not necessarily see themselves as related, nor did they always cooperate with each other, even if their particular dialects were mutually intelligible. In fact, they often clashed, most likely over territory due to hunting and fishing (perhaps over farm land, but that more than likely came a bit later). Gradually some tribes established themselves as distinct entities: the Norwegians and the Swedes in Scandinavia. The other Germanic tribes in northwest and central Europe took a while longer to “sort themselves out.” Essentially a few tribes became dominant, as they either took over (as in “conquered”) other tribes, or they combined in confederations, perhaps to make them stronger militarily, or perhaps from marriages.

More in "Part Two" ... 


* What does this mean? Well, Americans do not speak English the way English is spoken in England, and not all people in England speak the same, nor do all Americans speak English the same. Time, geography, topography, climate, and contact with non-English speakers have changed the way Americans speak English vs. the English spoken in England. And this is after just a few hundred years. About a hundred years ago, some English language experts were very concerned that American English was changing and diverging so much from that of England, they feared that within a fairly short time Americans and Englishmen would not be able to understand one another. Of course, more modern communication, like radio and television, developed, keeping a common bond, and the fear of separate languages has subsided. Dialects that can essentially be understood by speakers of each are called “mutually intelligible.” For instance, people in New York City and Birmingham, Alabama speak English in their own particular ways, but they still can understand one another. When various Germanic tribal elements invaded Britain in the mid 400s (A.D.), most historians believe they could understand one another, more or less, although since there were no sound recorders from those times, no one knows that to be an absolute fact.

** The other major Indo European groups, besides Germanic, were: Greek, Celtic, Italic, Baltic, Slavic, Armenian, Albanian, Indic, Iranian, Tocharian, and Anatolian.

*** Pronounced “doytsh-eh,” which is plural: “Germans.” They call their language “Deutsch,” with no “e” at the end.

^ The variations are numerous, with some dialects having a “T” instead of a “D,” to start the word, and other dialects having “Tuutsch,” as well as other forms. See: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2009/02/why-do-we-call-them-these-names.html

WORD HISTORY:
Pamper-I did not find a history tracing this word back to any Indo European base, but that doesn't mean there wasn't one (see further). The word seems to have been borrowed during the mid to late 1300s from Low German "pampen" or "pampfen" (I found both), which meant "to cram with food," or perhaps Flemish (another Germanic language, spoken in Belgium, now seen more as a dialect of Dutch by many linguists), which had "pamperen," with the same basic meaning. Trade was quite common between England and the areas of northwest Europe, present day Holland and northern Germany, and words could easily be picked up from one language to another. Gradually the idea of cramming someone with food took on the notion of "overindulging someone, spoiling them." While I mentioned that I could not find a direct link to an Indo European base, some linguists "suggest" that it "could" be related to Latin "pappere," which meant "to eat (soft food);" so that we have "eating" involved in the Latin word, too, and "soft food," might lead to the notion of "pampering someone who is ill," if you get the drift, and indeed English got "pap" from the French "papa" ("watered down meal") in the 1400s, and it still seems to have limited use in England, meaning "food for babies." This word carries back to Latin "papilla," "nipple of a woman's breast," and eventually to the Indo European root "pap," meaning "to swell." To confuse matters a little more, English already had another word "pap," which also meant "nipple," which is assumed to have come from Old Norse around 1200, as Swedish dialect has "pappe." All of these words and forms in various languages are tough to resist as the ancestor of "pamper," and to me, the most interesting link is to Lithuanian, the language considered by many linguists to be the closest living European language to Indo European, which has "papas," which is not considered proper, but rather vulgar, and is equivalent to English "tits," or "titties." All of these forms have connections to "food," from the mother's nipple providing food to a baby, watered down or soft food, etc. It "could" be that the Germanic form just added the "m" sound for "pamper/pamperen."

Why Do We Call Them These Names? Part Three

This will be the last part on the Germanic tribes and terms I've chosen to cover. There were many, many more, but these tribes and terms covered in Parts One, Two, and Three are the names most people are familiar with in some context.

Burgundians-These were people from a Germanic tribe that spoke what is classified by linguists as being "East Germanic." I included them because their name gave us the name of the famous red wine, Burgundy, which was derived from the province in France named after the Burgundians. I had some difficulty finding much on the tribal name, but it "seems" that the "burg" part equates with German "Berg," which means "mountain." (Of course, in English, we have "iceberg," a borrowing from German "Eisberg," [pronounced as if ice-bear with a "g" on the end]which literally means "ice mountain.") This would give the notion that this tribe lived in the high country. Old English had "Burgenda." They seem to have lived in southern Scandinavia, in what is now Sweden, and then moved to an island, Bornholm, in the Baltic Sea, before moving into eastern Europe. In Old Norse, the island of Bornholm was called "Burgendarholmr;" that is, "the island of the Burgundians," and the Old Norse form has now been contracted into "Bornholm." The Romans picked up their name and thus Latin had "Burgundiones." The name was given to the wine from "Burgundy" during the 1600s.

Goths-This was another East Germanic speaking tribe. Old English had "Gota" ("Gotan," plural). Some sources feel that the term simply meant "men," as Old Norse had "gotar," which meant "men," but this is not certain. The Romans used the term "Goth" for these people, and the "th" of Latin was later adopted to the English form. During the Middle Ages, the term "Gothic" was used interchangeably with "Germanic," and this in turn brought the use of the term "Gothic" to the art and architecture of northern Europe, and later, to the writings of authors who used these settings for their works.

Frisians-While there are differing dialects for Frisian, many, if not most, linguists say that Frisian is the closest living relative of English, followed by Saxon, the Low German dialect in the north of Germany (see Part One for "Saxon"). In Old English they were "Frisa" (sing.), "Frisan" (plural). Frisian, German (both Low and High), Dutch, and English are all classified as West Germanic. The name seems to come from their hair style (but only their hairdresser knows for sure), as in Old English, "fris" meant "curly" (we still have "frizzle") and Old Frisian had "frisle," "curly hair." The general area they inhabited* (and still inhabit, to some extent) is really something of the ancestral home of English, as this was the same area occupied by the Angles, Saxons and Jutes before their invasion of Britain. Some Frisians also participated in this invasion. I wonder if they had the "frizzies?"

* Stretching from the southern part of modern Denmark, across northern Germany and into northeastern Holland, and all of the offshore islands. The Germans call the area "Friesland," the "land of the Frisians." Interestingly, just as their close English cousins, the Frisians, more especially the East Frisians, are known for their tea!!!

Why We Call Them These Names, Part Two

For those needing it, here is the link to "Part One:"

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2009/02/why-do-we-call-them-these-names.html

I'm limiting this part to only two words, as I'm still doing research on some others.

Vandals-Old (Proto) Germanic had “Wandal,” which meant “wanderer,” and this Germanic tribe used that name for itself. In Old English, they were called “Wendlas.” The Romans took the basic Germanic name into Latin and called them the “Vandali.” Unfortunately for the Romans, they got to know these Germanic warriors too well, as they captured and sacked Rome in 455 A.D. The amount of actual destruction caused by the Vandals in Rome has been debated by historians, but needless to say, the association of the Vandals with deliberately destroying fine and beautiful objects and property stuck with their name. During the 1600s, the word was borrowed into English from Latin and it has been with us ever since. I “assume” the Old English word died out, but I can’t find any further details on it. “Vandalism” seems to have come into use in the late 1700s, and was borrowed from French “vandalisme.” The Vandals have quite a history, for those interested in the period of the late Roman Empire, as they certainly lived up to the original meaning of their Germanic name, “wanderers.” Not only did they invade what is now modern Italy, but also Gaul (essentially much of what is now modern France), Spain (giving their name to the Spanish province of “Andalusia,” and even North Africa!!!

Franks-This was a large Germanic tribe, probably formed by the inclusion of many smaller Germanic tribes. “Supposedly” the tribal name itself derives from their particular type of spear or javelin, called a “frankon.” Old English had “Franca,” and Old High German had “Franko.” The meaning is not a certainty, as they also used a throwing ax called a "francisca/franciska." Some linguists feel that instead of their tribal name being derived from their spear, that it was really the other way around; that is, the tribal name was applied to their main weapon. The main elements of the Franks conquered much of Gaul, eventually giving their own name to the territory, “France,” and to the people and language, “French.” Interestingly in German, the word for France is “Frankreich;” that is, “empire of the Franks.” Gaul (named after the Celtic people, “the Gauls”) had been a Roman province for centuries by the time the Franks arrived, and the population spoke a form of Latin. Ever so gradually over a few centuries, the conquerors became the conquered, so to speak, as the Frankish language essentially was absorbed into the existing and more widespread Latin dialects. Frankish, however, did give many words to the “new” French language before it disappeared as a separate language in that area. Another part of the Franks settled in the region around Nuremberg (Germany), and to this day, that area is still known as “Franken,” (usually rendered in English as "Franconia") and the regional dialect is a descendant of the Frankish spoken centuries before, still called “Fränkisch” (pronounced like “Frenk-ish). Again, note the similarity to our word “French,” which was also spelled “Frensch” in England by some folks up until a few centuries ago. Another note, historians (confirmed by archaeologists) say there were also a number of Franks who accompanied the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes in their eventual conquest of much of Britain and their founding of England. In those times, circa 450-500 A.D., the various Germanic dialects had “probably” not yet so differentiated that one group couldn't understand the others; at least in most cases.

The Latin speaking Gauls borrowed the name for the Franks into Latin and it took on the meaning of “freeman, free” as during Frankish rule, only people of Frankish background had full rights and status in their kingdom. This was borrowed into English during the 1300s from Old French, along with the meaning “free,“ and by the 1500s, it came to be used in the sense of “outspoken:” that is, “to speak freely,” which we still have today. Remember this line? “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn!”

To be continued....

Why Do We Call Them These Names?

Updated May 11, 2014

As part of English word histories, I thought you might like to know why we call various groups of people certain names. By the title, you probably thought I was going to get into why we call some people SOBs, asses, idiots, and such, but see, I fooled ya! My intention is to come back to this overall subject occasionally and cover terms for other ethnic, nationality, and linguistic groups. For this article, I figured I'd stick with terms more closely associated with English, and since English is a Germanic language, I'll start with terms for various Germanic groups. Remember, Germanic and German are NOT the same thing. Germans are Germanic, but all Germanic people are NOT German. See below why there is common confusion among English speakers for these terms, but stay focused, because it can be a bit confusing and hard to follow. Just a note, I've tried to put Old English spelling/sounds into the equivalent modern spelling, as Old English had some different "letters/symbols" no longer in use to represent sounds of that time.

Dutch-I would say that most Americans have heard of  "Deutsch," (pronounced doytsh) for German. Well Dutch is simply the same word with a slight variation in the way it is pronounced. In many language groups, in a number of cases, the letters/sounds "d" and "t" were used sort of interchangeably. This is certainly true within the Germanic languages, and as you'll see further below, the ancestor of "Dutch" had a "t," not a "d." I believe part of the reason for this is, long ago, the sounds of what developed into our more modern sounds were not as distinct as they are (or "supposed" to be) today. Remember, in more modern times languages have developed "standard" forms that are taught in schools, with generally regular spellings and some general pronunciation guidelines, although that certainly doesn't mean that people pronounce words the same, by any stretch of the imagination. Further, the above mentioned "Deutsch" is also pronounced and spelled in a variety of ways in German dialects, including "Teutsch," "Tüütsch" and "Düütsch" (my grandmother pretty much said "Deitsch" =dytsh, with a "y" or long "i" sound). In more modern times, it is easier to define "dialect" as a variation from the standard, school taught language, although even then, not all speakers of a particular language agree what is standard.

For quite some time in history, the people in what we now call The Netherlands (frequently just called Holland by many English speakers), Germany, Austria, parts of Belgium, a part of northern Italy, eastern France, a large part of Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein were referred to as Germans by English speakers, and indeed, the Dutch and the others just listed were a part of the old German Empire. Initially, during the 12th Century, the word was a general term for all of these "Germans;" however, at some point during the 1600s, a form of the pronunciation we use became identified more specifically to people in Holland, which was actually only a part of what is now The Netherlands. Back then it was usually spelled "duutsch." The term goes back to Old High German "duitisc," which had a meaning "of the people or belonging to the people." This notion of belonging to the people came to be applied to the basic common language of these Germanic speakers. (Please note that they didn't all speak exactly alike, as there were many dialects, but back many, many centuries ago, speakers of these various Germanic dialects, including the Anglo-Saxons in England, could still basically understand one another, although undoubtedly at times with difficulty.) The term went back further to Old Germanic "theudo," which meant "popular, of the same people, national (in the sense of related people)." Old English had "theodisc," which likewise meant "belonging to the people," and also referred to the "common Germanic language." Old English also had "theod," which meant "people, nation (in the sense 'related people')." The Old Germanic term went back to Indo European "teuta," which meant "people." Just for the sake of example, Old Lithuanian, an Indo European language related to English further down the family tree, had "tauta," also meaning "people," and Oscan, also related further down the family tree, had "touto," which had the sense "community;" that is, "sense of people together in common." The term was also picked up by Latin and used at times back in the 7th Century to refer to the language of the area of Mercia,* England; that is, Old English. Then it was used just a short time later in Latin to refer to the broad conglomeration of Germanic dialects on the Continent, excluding the north Germanic dialects (these northern dialects became Danish, Icelandic Norwegian and Swedish). This "dutch/deutsch" term for German dialects then was extended to mean the people who spoke the language, and by the 1200s, the term "Diutisklant" was being used to describe the area where these people lived. In case you didn't notice, "Diutisklant" was the original word for the modern "Deutschland;" that is, "Germany."

In English, by the 1600s, the term began to be applied more specifically to "people or things" of  the Netherlands, as that area had become a separate state, independent of the Old German Empire by that time, and a very major rival of England for trade and for colonies in the New World. Remember, New Amsterdam was established in the New World by the Dutch, after breaking bread with the local Indians and offering them some trinkets and beads. New Amsterdam later became a part of what is now New York City. I guess the Indians learned the meaning of eating and "going Dutch." Stop me from laughing too hard!!! To confuse matters more, the people in Holland, in order to show their independence of the German Empire, no longer used the term for themselves or their language (they use "Nederlanders" and "Nederlands"), but continued to apply the term to the people of Germany. This sense was picked up in English, and we still say "Pennsylvania Dutch," who weren't "Dutch," but "Deutsch" from western Germany in the Rhineland area. Hey, even I'm getting confused! Anyway, eventually English speakers settled on "Dutch" for people in Holland/The Netherlands.

German-Having gone through the history of "Dutch/Deutsch," this word should be easier....I hope. The term "Germani" was used by Julius Caesar in his historical writings about a group of related people (tribes) in northwestern Europe. It is assumed that one of those tribes had a similar name for itself, and that Julius just used that "latinized" term for all of these people, but some linguists feel that the term may have come from Celtic, a part of the Indo European language family, and related to Germanic, and thus also to English. Latin speakers back then referred to the Germanic speaking areas collectively as "Germania" (English took this on as "Germany"). In English long ago, the Germans were referred to either as "Almain" or "Dutch." The first is from a Germanic tribe called the "Alemanni," the second, "Dutch," is.....I'm NOT going to get into that again. (Just a note: the Alemanni tribal name gave French their words for Germany and German.) The Germans do NOT use the word "German" for themselves or their language, but rather Deutsch(e) (see above). Further, the Germans do not use a form of the word "Dutch" for the people and language of  the Netherlands, but rather they use "Holländisch" (pronounced "hole-lend-ish), which we English speakers do not use, but of course, we do use "Holland" interchangeably with The Netherlands for the name of the country. German does use the adjective "germanisch" for "Germanic;" that is, relating to all of the Germanic peoples, languages and dialects.

Teuton-This term is not as extensively used as it once was, and I guess I should be glad, because it can also be confusing, because English speakers have frequently used it interchangeably for German or Germanic, but it really means the latter, Germanic. It came from the Teutones, a Germanic tribe from the time before Julius Caesar, but who were called Teutonicus in Old Latin. Linguists feel that it is just another form of "teuta," which meant people (See "Dutch," if you dare, above), from Indo European. In English, it was used to refer to the Germanic languages and the various Germanic tribes; however, just to muddy the waters, from the mid 1800s on, it was also used just for "German." I guess turn about is fair play, as many German speakers mess up the difference between English and British; frequently using British (including the Irish, as the Irish are British, in the sense that they inhabit one of the British Isles) when they mean English, and using English when they mean British. I can attest to this, too. One time years ago in Frankfurt, Germany, I was sitting in the barroom of my favorite restaurant there. The bar had several types of draft beer, including "Guinness Stout" (which is from Ireland, in case you don't know). A German guy at the bar was talking with another German guy seated at a small table near the bar. In Germany, beer glasses almost always have the name of the beer you're being served on the glass, as I believe the various breweries supply them to advertise their products. The guy at the table was drinking Guinness and the other guy asked him what kind of beer it was. He quickly replied, "Englishes Bier." Of course, this means "English beer." I'm sure the Irish would NOT be amused.

Saxon-This comes from Old Germanic "sakhsan," which seems to have meant "someone skilled with a knife or sword, swordsman," as many of the Germanic dialects had a form of the root "sax" to mean a knife, sword or dagger. The belief is that it may ultimately go back to the Indo European root word related to "saw," the cutting instrument. In Old English is was usually spelled "Seaxe." The Saxons were one of the Germanic tribes (and probably the largest contingent) that migrated from NW Europe to Britain in the 400s A.D., and who, along with their other Germanic allies, eventually subdued most of the area now known as England. Many Saxons stayed behind on the Continent, however, and Germany still has two states in existence to this day, called Sachsen-Anhalt and Sachsen, as well as another, "Niedersachsen," or Lower Saxony. Sachsen is translated into English as "Saxony." The Low German dialect of northern Germany is often referred to as "Saxon." The Saxons of England referred to their relatives in northern Germany as "Ealdesaxe;" that is, "Old Saxons." Many English place names bear reference to the Saxons: Sussex, Middlesex, Essex. In many Celtic dialects to this day, a "Saxon" means Englishman. And in Finland, their term for Germany literally means "Land of the Saxons."

Lombards-The Lombards were a Germanic tribe that had a major impact on Italy. They settled in the northern part of Italy, and one of the Italian provinces is named after them, "Lombardia," which English has as "Lombardy." The Old Germanic name of this tribe was "Langgobardoz," which was passed onto Old English as "Langbeardas." Many linguists have taken this to mean "long beards," assuming that they were so named from having extensive facial hair. Other linguists feel that the compound name comes from "lang," which also meant "tall" in times past, but standard English doesn't use it that way anymore (it still has the duel meaning, "long and tall," in German), plus "Bardi," which they assume was the name of a particular Germanic tribe. The idea was that some of these "Bardi" were taller than their contemporaries, and thus the "lang" was added, and it remained as the name for the entire tribe. So, take your pick. When you hear people say about blond Italians in northern Italy, this is because the more commonly dark-haired Latins mixed with various Germanic and Celtic people long ago, and these groups "tended" to have lighter colored hair from what seems to be known of them. Anyway, later in time, a good number of people in the Lombard part of Italy got involved in financial matters, and the term "Lombard" came to mean "bankers, loan dealers and pawnbrokers," besides the original meaning for the particular Germanic tribe or person from the Italian province. This meaning was picked up by French, and from French it was picked up by Low German, Dutch and English, although I dare say in modern times that few English speakers would recognize that meaning. London has a "Lombard Street," which supposedly goes back to the 1500s, because of bankers having set up business there. (From my readings, I can't tell if these bankers may have come to England FROM northern Italy, or whether they were just English bankers, and the "financial" meaning of "Lombard" was applied to them and thus to the street.)

Danes-In history, I guess there have been some GREAT Danes! (And don't HOUND me over that remark, either, dog-gone-it! ) Anyway, many linguists believe there is strong evidence that the term goes back to Old High German "tanar," which meant a "sand bank." (If this theory is correct, there's that "t" and "d" situation again.) Since these North Germanic people tended to live near the sea, where sandy areas are common, that is the notion behind the association with "sand bank." In Old English it was "Dene" (this was plural), but it was used by Englishmen as the term for ALL North Germanic groups, in general. (see "Norse," below) Over time (primarily in the 8th and 9th Centuries), the Danes frequently landed in England, subduing and then even settling in large portions of the eastern and northeastern part of the country. Under influence of their own term for themselves, "Daner," English spelling and pronunciation changed to "Dane." (Unlike the other Germanic languages, the North Germanic languages back then had a tendency to end many words in "r." I don't know why that is, but this word itself is a good example, as English had "Dene," then "Dane," but the Danes had the "r" at the end. Likewise, English had "Viking," German had "Wiking," but North Germanic had "Vikingr.") By the 1700s, the term was being used for a large breed of dog. If you're something of a historian, you might remember the "Danelaw." This term came about in the 9th Century for that part of England under Danish rule. While many Danes had settled in England prior to the Norman Invasion, most remained behind on the North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts, and the area became known as Denmark, which of course has the "e" spelling, while in German it is "Dänemark," Low German "Deenmark, Danish itself has "Danmark," as do Norwegian and Swedish, but Icelandic has "Danmörk."

Norse-This term is derived from "north." An Old English word, "Nordman/Nort(h)man" was used for what we now call "Norwegians." The North Germanic term was "norsk." The Dutch used "Noorsch" for Norwegian. The Old English term "Nordman/Nort(h)man" was borrowed by the French dialect spoken along and near the NW coast, across the Channel from England, as "Normand." When the "Northmen" raided into that area in the 8th Century, the Frankish king gave them the territory to settle in, as a sort of ransom payoff to get them to stop raiding into the Paris area (they were sailing up the rivers from the coast). Thus the area became known as "Normandy" and the people became "Normans." Writer Sir Walter Scott seems to be responsible for the term "Norseman," as he used it in his writings, and I therefore take it that there is no record of its use prior to him.

This has gotten more involved than I intended, so I will have to continue with Part Two about various Germanic groups (including the Vandals, the Burgundians, the Franks, the Goths, the Frisians), hopefully in the not too distant future.

* Mercia was "Mierce" in Old English. The word is related to both modern nouns "mark" and to the now rather archaic "march." The latter means "boundary, border." German has the closely related noun (die) Mark, which also means "border area."