The country you have generally known as “Germany” has historically been plenty of several things to plenty of different people. Depending on who you ask, it could be Germany or it perhaps is Deutschland, Niemcy, Iyášiča, Allemagne, Saksa, and Makȟóčhe. And to be certain, this is not merely a subject of translating the same root word into various languages.

Each of those names refers to something completely different about the Germans. If you are thinking to ask the reason that Germany has several names or is referred to as Deutschland?”, you probably too ask why it is called any of its several other names.

Eventually, Germany’s multifaceted worldwide identity says several things about the country’s past, as well as the sort of roles it had geopolitically throughout its history.

Why it’s Called Deutschland?

To get straight to the point of this question, it is first vital to distinguish that Deutschland is an endonym, or in other words an “inside name”. In simpler words, it is the name Germans use to refer to their own country from around the 8th century.

The etymology of Deutschland is very simple. The word deutsch is obtained from diutisc in Old High German, which stands for “of the people.” Land literally means “land.” In other words, Deutschland actually means something to the impact of “the people’s land.”

Why Other Names are Called for Germany?

In several instances, the names other languages have provided Germany are a clear signal of the specific Germanic tribe its speakers first came into contact with. And since Germany simply so happens to sit at the crossroads of where several groups historically set up camps, it was geographically in a situation to come into contact with plenty of different peoples.

For example, the Romans referred to the part as Germania, which is supposed to come from the name that the nearby Gauls provided to the Germanic tribe across the river from them: the Germani. This name is supposed to have meant “neighbor” and another name “men of the forest.”

This does not account for why specific Latin-acquired languages, such as Spanish and French, refer to Germany as Alemania and Allemagne. The name is acquired from the Alemanni, another Germanic tribe that once used to live surrounding modern-day Switzerland.

Then in Northern part of Europe, Germany’s neighbors used to interface with the Saxons, so they named that zone as Saksa (or some kind of variation thereof. Saksa is actually a Finnish name for Germany).

Some of Germany’s names are a little more humorous. For example, multiple Slavic languages have a name for Germany that is acquired from the Slavic name Nemets, which again comes from the Proto-Slavic němьcь. It means a certain thing to the tune of “the silent ones,” “unclear” or “difficult to understand,” but it is thought that this was merely a manner of saying those who do not speak like us.

Meanwhile, several Native American tribes encountered the Germans at a quite different stage in history, and their names for them reflect it. Another name for Germany in Navajo is Béésh Bich’ahii Bikéyah, or “Metal Cap-wearer land.” The Plains Cree called it Pîwâpiskwastotininâhk (“Among the Steel Helmets”), and the Lakota referred it Iyášiča Makȟóčhe, or “Bad Speaker Land” (so, not too varied from the Slavs).