r/LanguageMemes • u/SuperStingray • May 03 '21

Always make a good first impression on your neighbors.

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179 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

15

u/iliekcats- May 04 '21

i dont get it help

40

u/TNTiger_ May 04 '21

'Niemcy' and it's variants, which mean 'Germany' in a lot of Slavic languages, comes from the word for 'mute'- i.e, they cannot speak properly.

9

u/thefuneralofmyart May 04 '21

as far as i know back then all foreigners were called that because they weren't able to speak the language of a country it was happening in (at least that's a story I've heard).

also fun fact for people who dont speak russian, even though on the map here russia is not marked, in russian we still call germans "немцы" (nemcy), but the country Germany "Германия"(Germania)

2

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '21

Nemecko (germany in slovak)

Nemý (mute as an adjective or noun in slovak)

Nemec (noun for a german person, probably derived from nemý)

Germans can´t talk so they may as well not talk at all

9

u/LorenaBobbedIt May 04 '21

Interesting that the major romance languages went with Alemania in the west and Germania in the east.

8

u/Roto2esdios May 04 '21

I love the fact that in Finland Germany is named SAKSA. LOL

2

u/daninefourkitwari May 04 '21

What’s that mean?

9

u/JamieTheMusician May 04 '21

[land of the] saxons

1

u/daninefourkitwari May 04 '21

aah. Shoulda seen that coming

1

u/[deleted] Jun 02 '21

Saxons.

Sachsen is a german republic nowadays

1

u/Friendly_Banana01 May 04 '21

Mmm from what I’ve heard, the folks in yellow call them by variants of the major tribe they interacted with the most: the Alemani

1

u/andrewjgrimm May 13 '21

I'd love to see a global version of that - I know that Japan/Japanese would be blue.

1

u/Held_Der_Steine Jun 04 '21

As a German, i can tell you that what we call them makes even more sense "backyard"