Why are Dutch people...

[Shirastro]

So, here we go. (German is my major, so beware to ask these kind of questions )

Dutch, as pointed out before, is the equivalent for our "Deutsch" which means "Germans" but is actually derived from Latin "theodiscus" which means "folklike" or "popular" and it was the word used for our language because educated people would speak Latin or French and the farmers and other uneducated people would speak German. It was therefore actually the term for "language of the people". Dutch and German were considered the same language for quite some time, and just as the Germans started to call themselves "Deutsch", the English picked up the word for the region of the "German"-speaking people closest to them - the Dutch. (German has a crazy variety of dialects, it's no surprise Dutch has developed in an own language.)

As for all the weird names for Germany:
We call it Deutschland (literally "land of the people").
All other names are derived from the variety of tribes that originally made up the "Germans" (So that's just an umbrella term). Most of the times, languages picked up the name of the tribe they had the most dealings with:

French/Spanish -> Allemagne/Alemania = Allemannen
Finnish -> Saksa = Sachsen (Related to the Anglo-Saxons)
Italian -> "tedesco" -> Actually the word we use (derived from "theodiscus" as well)

I hope that helped. =)

What about Serbian "Nemačka"? I always wondered about that. I know that "Ne" means No, and "mačka" means Cat, but i seriously doubt that's the origin of the name, unless Germany went through some serious cat shortage at the time Serbians coined this name

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

The Brittish have a long and weird history with changing names without informing anyone. Point in case, the names in the Bible have all been UPDATED to speak to a more MODERN crowd (In the middle ages.)

British*

And that's just what happens with language. A name will change or come about with different interpretations. Hell, England as a name comes from the 'Angle's Land'.

This whole thread is futile if it's to complain about name changes because honestly, that's just the evolution of language.

 

[daydreamerdeluxe]

TL;DR The English are doing it wrong

In France we call the English "Angle's", Angleterre means Earth of the Angle's because of their tribe, they even misspell their own name for goodness sake!

Hey! Just because you French name us after an old Germanic tribe that moved here (Yeah, the Angles were from Germany. Of course, so were the Saxons, so Anglo-Saxon basically means Germanic ) doesn't mean we're misspelling our own name Personally, I stick with Britain, the home of the Britons, the original, pre-Roman-invasion name of the peoples of the country But yeah, the Angles were not our tribe, they were yet another group of immigrants Still, England does come from Angleland, so we're still spelling that wrong...

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

we call them dutch cos of the Deutschland, which I believe the Netherlands were once a part of them.

this is utter and complete bullcrap I'm sorry to say.

Besides Nazi germany's occupation the only people ever to occupy The Netherlands were spain and france

The Dutch Republic originated out of rebellion against the spanish and even seized control of England at a few points in their lifetime (therefrom stems a certain hate between the two, yet also a bond)

See, you talk about bullcrap, yet I've never encountered anyone here in Britain who claims to hate or love the Dutch.

 

[Shirastro]

The Brittish have a long and weird history with changing names without informing anyone. Point in case, the names in the Bible have all been UPDATED to speak to a more MODERN crowd (In the middle ages.)

British*

And that's just what happens with language. A name will change or come about with different interpretations. Hell, England as a name comes from the 'Angle's Land'.

This whole thread is futile if it's to complain about name changes because honestly, that's just the evolution of language.

Ehm i wasn't complaining. I just always wondered about this particular "curiosity".
Besides, it turned out to be quiet informative little thread, so i don't see what's the problem.

 

[Linoleum Boy]

So, here we go. (German is my major, so beware to ask these kind of questions )

Dutch, as pointed out before, is the equivalent for our "Deutsch" which means "Germans" but is actually derived from Latin "theodiscus" which means "folklike" or "popular" and it was the word used for our language because educated people would speak Latin or French and the farmers and other uneducated people would speak German. It was therefore actually the term for "language of the people". Dutch and German were considered the same language for quite some time, and just as the Germans started to call themselves "Deutsch", the English picked up the word for the region of the "German"-speaking people closest to them - the Dutch. (German has a crazy variety of dialects, it's no surprise Dutch has developed in an own language.)

As for all the weird names for Germany:
We call it Deutschland (literally "land of the people").
All other names are derived from the variety of tribes that originally made up the "Germans" (So that's just an umbrella term). Most of the times, languages picked up the name of the tribe they had the most dealings with:

French/Spanish -> Allemagne/Alemania = Allemannen
Finnish -> Saksa = Sachsen (Related to the Anglo-Saxons)
Italian -> "tedesco" -> Actually the word we use (derived from "theodiscus" as well)

I hope that helped. =)

What about Serbian "Nemačka"? I always wondered about that. I know that "Ne" means No, and "mačka" means Cat, but i seriously doubt that's the origin of the name, unless Germany went through some serious cat shortage at the time Serbians coined this name

Its just a name probabli because its hard to pronaunce it in Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian
(On the other hand we use a lot of german words in everyday conversations) also we call the Germans "Schvabe" or ?vabe. Why because it is the name of there province just like Holand

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

The Brittish have a long and weird history with changing names without informing anyone. Point in case, the names in the Bible have all been UPDATED to speak to a more MODERN crowd (In the middle ages.)

British*

And that's just what happens with language. A name will change or come about with different interpretations. Hell, England as a name comes from the 'Angle's Land'.

This whole thread is futile if it's to complain about name changes because honestly, that's just the evolution of language.

Ehm i wasn't complaining. I just always wondered about this particular "curiosity".
Besides, it turned out to be quiet informative little thread, so i don't see what's the problem.

I didn't say you were. Many a thread becomes more focused on disagreements between posters by the time it reaches the second page, and less about the actual OP.

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

we call them dutch cos of the Deutschland, which I believe the Netherlands were once a part of them.

this is utter and complete bullcrap I'm sorry to say.

Besides Nazi germany's occupation the only people ever to occupy The Netherlands were spain and france

The Dutch Republic originated out of rebellion against the spanish and even seized control of England at a few points in their lifetime (therefrom stems a certain hate between the two, yet also a bond)

See, you talk about bullcrap, yet I've never encountered anyone here in Britain who claims to hate or love the Dutch.

there are terms in English that show this

For example " Going Dutch" Out on the town without paying
There's tons of negative sentences coined with dutch in them , you should look them up before you call bullcrap on me sir

I don't remember calling bullcrap, don't get so defensive.
I'd love to hear these apparent tons of negative terms with Dutch attached to them. Not saying you must be wrong, but actually being British and hearing basically none of them, I have to question.
Also I don't really think these are indicative of hatred. Maybe some kind of disdain hundreds of years ago, but nowadays I don't think anyone I've ever met regard the Dutch negatively...

 

[funguy2121]

...called Dutch if their country is called either Holland or Netherlands?

It's the only country/nation that uses different words for the nationality and name of the country, as far as i know.

No, it's not. And not all countries are named for the race who inhabits the land. There are Irish living in the States, but we don't rename them New Ireland, now, do we?

 

[Shirastro]

Its just a name probabli because its hard to pronaunce it in Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian
(On the other hand we use a lot of german words in everyday conversations) also we call the Germans "Schvabe". Why because it is the name of there province just like Holand

Yes but "Schvaba" is more of slang, often used derogatorily. In fact the Serbian word for cockroach is buba-schvaba (buba meaning bug).

 

[Lukeje]

Ermm... I'm pretty sure they call themselves `Nederlanders'. At least wikipedia [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_people] says so. And I think the real question is why we call Germans German when they come from Deutschland.

But that's different.
Deutschland is "Germany" in English language, hence Germany-->Germans.
There are many countries that are called differently from the original "indigenous" name:

Deutschland > Germany
Nipon > Japan
Elada > Greece

But Dutch do not come from Dutchland or Dutchuny, they come from Holland/Netherlands.

My point was that if we were going to call any people `Dutch', then Germans would be the prime candidates.

actually you're wrong heritage tells us if anybody is dutch it's the english funilly enough, or the scandinavians

Neither the Flemish nor the frisians nor those who we call dutch besides these people historically tie in with the germanic tribes as such.

From the southern netherlands to the north of france you find people with flemmish heritage or burgundian heritage (french).
then West those who are related to Celts and Angle-saxons, and north/north east you find those related to the frisians who on term share heritage with both angel-saxons and the vikings.

I meant `because Dutch and Deutsch sound similar'. Nothing more.

 

[daydreamerdeluxe]

TL;DR The English are doing it wrong

In France we call the English "Angle's", Angleterre means Earth of the Angle's because of their tribe, they even misspell their own name for goodness sake!

Hey! Just because you French name us after an old Germanic tribe that moved here (Yeah, the Angles were from Germany. Of course, so were the Saxons, so Anglo-Saxon basically means Germanic ) doesn't mean we're misspelling our own name Personally, I stick with Britain, the home of the Britons, the original, pre-Roman-invasion name of the peoples of the country But yeah, the Angles were not our tribe, they were yet another group of immigrants Still, England does come from Angleland, so we're still spelling that wrong...

not to be a killjoy but then refer to yourself as bretons as history complies

Ofcourse not to be confused with the french from Bretagne nor the Elder Scrolls equivalent of the term

Nope, it's definitely Britons from Britain. The Bretons were the people of Brittany, which is, of course, in France

 

[Zantos]

We probably couldn't say it and decided one day, "You know what, we're just calling you this. Any arguments? Tell it to the navy".

In fairness in Britain we don't call ourselves British, it has to break down to about 8 or 9 different regions, it's rude to lump us in with those damn southerners.

there are terms in English that show this

For example " Going Dutch" Out on the town without paying
There's tons of negative sentences coined with dutch in them , you should look them up before you call bullcrap on me sir

That's not what going dutch means. It actually means to split the bill based on what you had. As opposed to one person paying, or splitting the bill equally regardless of what each person ate.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Two pages in and no-one's said: 'fuck this, let's just call them de Oranje'?!

Anyway, much hoo-ha about historic labels + derivation.

The English (Angles) are from Denmark, the Brits are from north west France, the Germans (Saxons/Allemanni etc.) never moved, the French are from central Germany and why don't we go back to calling the Netherlands 'the United Provinces' and save us all the arguing.