To add insult to injury, what they call it, Deutschland, sounds like what we should call Netherlands
Deutschland, sounds like what we should call Netherlands
Until you then find out that the Netherlands is actually called “Nederland” in the Netherlands. And the reason they’d called “Dutch” in America is due to an archaic mix-up between the two nationalities.
It’s not really a mix-up. More a continuation of an old name for the language spoken in the Netherlands. The Dutch centuries ago called their language Diets/Duuts/Duits which means something like Germanic. This was before the countries Germany and the Netherlands existed.
Diets is not a single language but a name for all the different regional languages spoken in the low lands. Diets is also known as Middle Dutch. The name was used to differentiate the languages from the Romance languages.
Hence why the English called the people of the low lands Dutch since the people of the low lands said they were speakers of Diets/Duuts/Duits.
Also in the Dutch national anthem there is a line that says “Ben ik van Duitsen bloed” “I am of Dutch/Deutsche blood” which does not refer to modern day Deutschland but to what all Germanic people in the low lands, what is now present day Netherlands, would call themselves back then.
The Dutch centuries ago called their language Diets/Duuts/Duits which means something like Germanic.
No, it means something like “people” or “of the people”.
Wait, so Dutch is the language of people and everyone else has been using animal languages this whole time!?
Ja
What do people from the Netherlands call themselves if not Dutch or the Dutch?
Like, people from the United States call themselves Americans, there’s the Spanish and French.
Are they called Netherlanders or something?
Well in Dutch they call themselves Nederlanders or Hollanders. Though Hollanders is technically only correct if they are from the Dutch province North-Holland or South-Holland
here is a CGP Grey video about the difference between Holland and the Netherlands https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE_IUPInEuc
And the reason why the Netherlands is also known as Holland is basically before the unification of the Low Lands every province was a self governing state and Holland was the richest province. Hence why most traders who went abroad from the Low Lands were people from Holland. It’s therefore why people abroad would call the Low Lands Holland since Hollanders were the only people from the Low Lands they met and and after the Netherlands was formed the name Holland for that area stuck in many languages.
Holland is fairytale beautiful. Would happily live there. I loved visiting.
This is what confused me so much about germany’s real name :)
Technically, Japan is not called Japan in Japan. Its Nippon.
In France it’s called Japon.
France also uses the world “nippon” as an adjective equivalent of “japanese”
Same both Japón & Nipón for Spanish language but with its phonetics
Same in Italian. Giappone and nipponico.
I love this exchange.
It is interesting, because Nippon is a somewhat archaic version in Japanese. They usually say Nihon now.
But of course, these exonyms will have been borrowed into these various languages a long time ago, so it kind of makes sense.
Maybe it’s just regional for me, but we say Japonais
In Germany Nippon is a brand of puffed rice with chocolate.
That’s it, I’m going back to bed
More often Nihon than Nippon. The latter is somewhat archaic.
Both are spelled almost the same in Japanese (kana): にほん vs. にぽん.
日本 could be either, but most often Nihon.
Not technically, it just plain isn’t called Japan.
In Spanish Germany is Alemania. Just to add more confusion to this topic.
Allemagne in french.
And in Italian we call the country Germania but the inhabitants are called “tedeschi”
*Alemania, no accent
Thanks, fixed
Tedesco
and Japan is is not Japan in Japan.
NaNi-ppon?
In the Netherlands, we don’t call out country The Netherlands.
We call it: “Nederland”. Completely different.
But the Americans seem to think you are Duits.
There isn’t called there when you are there. It’s called here there.
Same same but different
Wait’ll you hear about Japan.
The wiki on Names of Japan is a rollercoaster.
Same goes for Korea (since it was defined by the reigning Kingdom)
Or China!
What’s Germany? You mean Německo?
No, he meant Allemagne
You mean Niemcy?
Wait until you find out that Kanada isn’t called Kanada in Kanada.
I believe trump will be renaming it due to his ancestry.
I’m a Newfoundlander. My sister felt betrayed when she found out that what we call turnips, most people call rutabegas
I could have sworn rutabagas were a different vegetable…
They are, I can buy both at the local grocery. Turnips are white, rutabaga are a yellowish color.
I’ve never heard the word rutabega, it’s what we’d call a swede in the UK
And the country of Georgia isn’t called Georgia either!
And lets not even get into named country’s in Sub-Saharan Africa.
USA is called ABD in Turkey
Bimmer
well how else are you going to know I’ve visited if I can’t go “Deutchland… sorry haha still thinking in German…”
