why do countries outside Germany call the country "Germany"?
Asked by
akidd (
4
)
February 9th, 2008
and the “Germans” call it “deutschland”
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5 Answers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_for_Germany
Oops, sorry, that’s rude. The basic idea is this: there are lots of countries that are called different things by foreigners. In Germany’s case, the different names are a result of the history of the region: for a long time there were many distinct states in what we now call Germany. If you want to know more about the origins of specific names for Germany, check out the link.
Only English-speaking countries call Germany “Germany.” Bob’s interesting link will tell you what you want to know (or perhaps more.)
Wow, thanks to that Wikipedia site, I now know about the existence of the New Curonian, Kashubian, and Lower Sorbian languages.
@christybird; you are now ready to try out for Jeopardy!, considering what you already know. (I saw a red-tail carrying off a vole yesterday.)
It’s the result of the exonymic process, if that is indeed a word: “exonymic.” Germany is an English exonym, and Deutchland is an endonym. There is a good Wikipedia article on how and why this happens.
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