: : Just incidentally, did you realize that all three
: terms
: With the exception of the word gothic, which I will
: return to in a moment, this is because, like many
: English words, we derive the words german and teutonic
: from their Latin roots. Germanus in Latin meant
: having the same parents. And through some leap of
: Roman logic this became Germania, the lands north of
: Italy and east of Gaul that were not under Rome's
: control. Teutoni referred to those people who
: specifically lived in the areas of modern Germany and
: Austria. Both of these terms entered English through
: Middle French and the conquering of England by the
: Normans.
: Gothic peoples, or Gothi in Late Latin, refers to those
: people from Gotland, or modern northern Germany and
: Scandinavia. While it has a Latin base, the term
: actually comes from the Gothic people's name for
: themselves. And the term probably entered Old English
: as Gotan or Gotes and became Goth sometime after
: the Norman Conquest.
: -Phil.
Exactly on all points but one. While technically the "Gothic" part is true, it was the name of only one tribe of the Gothic people that the Romans based their word for the entire group.
Dom. ;)
