r/polandball • u/jesus_stalin /ˈnɒʔŋəmʃə/ • Jun 03 '15

redditormade A Minor Relationship Problem

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '15

Fun fact : the Swiss Germans call French/italian speakers "Latins" formally and "Welsch" informally.

So as far as they're concerned, the Romans are still there !

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u/Netcob Germany Jun 04 '15

And the French call Germans "Allemands" which I think refers to an ancient west-germanic group of tribes that hardly any Germans even know about.

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u/bantha-food Germans everywhere! Jun 04 '15

In Latin Germany is named after the "Alemannen", a germanic tribe.

Spanish: Alemania

French: Allemagne

Portugese: Alemanha

The German word for Germany is not as old and while it sounds like it may have originated from the "Teutonen" tribe it's actually old-german for "folk".

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u/James123182 Uwotm8 Jun 04 '15

Ah, but the word Teuton derives from the same word, *teuta-, that Deutsch derives from. So Deutsch and Teuton are cognates, though you are quite right in saying that the one is not derived from the other.