4 ms·

I always laugh that the (modern, correct) word for Germany in Polish is "Niemiec" which basically means "people who don't talk." Like some Polish guys ran into

by CamTin 8y ago

I always laugh that the (modern, correct) word for Germany in Polish is "Niemiec" which basically means "people who don't talk." Like some Polish guys ran into some Germans, and the Germans just started speaking some gibberish non-slavic language. Polish guys were like "I really doubt this is a language. They must not be able to talk at all."

chewz 8y ago
Not just in Polish - word Niemiec, Nemec, немец etc. you will find used (not necessarily as the most common word nowadays) in many Slavian languages. Simply because Slavians share common roots of the language and can more or less communicate with each other while Germanic tribes were 'non-speakers'.
passiveincomelg 8y ago
This is hilarious. I love the humor of our neighbors to the east. :)
jbuzbee 8y ago
I also read that a lot of native American tribe names came about when early European explorers asked one tribe, "What is the name of the tribe that lives over there?". The local tribe would respond, "We call them the other people" So the Europeans would translate the tribe's vocalization of "Other People" into the name for that tribe.
- ndespres 8y ago
  There are a couple examples of this: Comanche (from a Ute word meaning "they fight with us.") Apache (from a Zuni word for "enemy.") "The term Maliseet is the exonym by which the Mi'kmaq people referred to this group when speaking to early Europeans. Maliseet was a Mi'kmaq word meaning "broken talkers", "lazy speakers" or "he speaks badly," or differently by which the Mi'kmaq contrasted the other tribe's language to their own.[3] The Wolastoqiyik and Mi'kmaq languages are closely related but distinctly different. The Europeans met the Mi'kmaq before the Wolastoqiyik, and adopted their term of Malesse'jik (transliterated as Malécite in French) for the people, not understanding that it was not their true name. The later English colonists anglicized this term as Maliseet, in another transliteration of sound."

by CamTin 8y ago

chewz 8y ago

Not just in Polish - word Niemiec, Nemec, немец etc. you will find used (not necessarily as the most common word nowadays) in many Slavian languages. Simply because Slavians share common roots of the language and can more or less communicate with each other while Germanic tribes were 'non-speakers'.

passiveincomelg 8y ago

This is hilarious. I love the humor of our neighbors to the east. :)

jbuzbee 8y ago

I also read that a lot of native American tribe names came about when early European explorers asked one tribe, "What is the name of the tribe that lives over there?". The local tribe would respond, "We call them the other people" So the Europeans would translate the tribe's vocalization of "Other People" into the name for that tribe.

ndespres 8y ago
There are a couple examples of this: Comanche (from a Ute word meaning "they fight with us.") Apache (from a Zuni word for "enemy.") "The term Maliseet is the exonym by which the Mi'kmaq people referred to this group when speaking to early Europeans. Maliseet was a Mi'kmaq word meaning "broken talkers", "lazy speakers" or "he speaks badly," or differently by which the Mi'kmaq contrasted the other tribe's language to their own.[3] The Wolastoqiyik and Mi'kmaq languages are closely related but distinctly different. The Europeans met the Mi'kmaq before the Wolastoqiyik, and adopted their term of Malesse'jik (transliterated as Malécite in French) for the people, not understanding that it was not their true name. The later English colonists anglicized this term as Maliseet, in another transliteration of sound."