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True Language Names in Foreign Languages | ||
Tags: Names | Foreign Languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5334 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 33 of 38 30 April 2010 at 12:18am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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In Andalucia I have never heard them use anything but Castellano, for what we call Spanish. That makes sense, as it is the language which was spoken in the region of Castilla, and it is to differenciate it from the languages spoken in Cataluña, Galicia and el Pais Vasco.
That same distinction would not make as much sense in Latin America, where it would be more important to differentiate Spanish from the local languages. As for Germany and German I have many times wondered why the words for it is so different in the various languages. Most languages, although they are called different things in different languages, come from the same root. (Norsk, Norwegian, Norvègien, Nouruego, Norvegese), but German seems to have a wide variety of different names. In Norwegian it is called "Tyskland(noun) and tysk, (adjective)" - and is unrelated to the other names for German. I was once told that this is because the German people consisted of many small kingdoms/tribes and that different languages would pick out different parts to represent the whole of Germany. Does anyone know if this is true? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7156 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 34 of 38 30 April 2010 at 12:34am | IP Logged | ||||||||
That's plausible to a certain degree (cf. Allemand ~ Alamannen, Saksa ~ Sachsen). See the following: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_of_Germany en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terms_used_for_Germans (this link is more for interest as the list also includes offensive/pejorative terms for "German" in many languages) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| PaulLambeth Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5373 days ago 244 posts - 315 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Icelandic, Hindi, Irish | Message 35 of 38 30 April 2010 at 1:06am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Solfrid Cristin, Old Norse-derived languages seem to share that version of Germany/German (language) in common. As Chung's links to Wikipedia point out, the Icelandic for Germany is 'þýskaland'. The word for the language is 'þýska', with 'þýskur' (fem sing. 'þýsk') being the adjective. That's very similar to the Norwegian. I'll guess judging by that that it's similar in other Scandinavian languages.
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| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5334 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 36 of 38 30 April 2010 at 9:32am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Do you have any idea what a thrill it is to have an Englishman teach you about Old-Norse? I LOVE THIS FORUM!!!! Getting back to a serious mood, you are absolutely right, it is the same word in the other Scandinavian languages. I still do not know which tribe the Old-Norse got its word from though, and why it is different from most other languages. Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 30 April 2010 at 12:48pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| minus273 Triglot Senior Member France Joined 5765 days ago 288 posts - 346 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, EnglishC2, French Studies: Ancient Greek, Tibetan | Message 37 of 38 30 April 2010 at 10:44pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
It's the same root to Deutsch. The etymology is clear: -isk "pertaining to", suffixed to a word cognate to Icel. þjóð "people". "Folkish", as our modern language say. King Theodoric took a name containing the root, recorded in the Sagas as Þjóð-rekr, the king of people. The modern Icelandic form is a contraction from I-forgot-what, on the model of Deutsch. Forgive me if my lapse of memory took the better part of me. Icelandic Þ corresponds well to a t in Norwegian, save for the pronouns. Edited by minus273 on 30 April 2010 at 10:46pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Mafouz Diglot Groupie Spain Joined 5325 days ago 56 posts - 64 votes Speaks: Spanish*, English Studies: German, Japanese, French | Message 38 of 38 01 May 2010 at 10:52am | IP Logged | ||||||||
More or less thrue, but I think it is less dramatic. "Castellano" tends to be used as a more cultish name these days. I do not know from were comes the interpretation that castellano is the name for the dialect of Castilla. It is simply not thrue. It has been the name of the language together with español at least since XVIII century. And it is used often in Castilla, and more often in Madrid. There are reasons for and against calling it Español or Castellano, none of them purely linguistic, in both sides of the atlantic. Names for basque: Euskara / Euskera. Current oficial form: Euskara batua (unifíed) En español: Vasco, Vascuence. The dialects north of the (french) frontier: lapurdino The Slovak name for German sounds like the hungarian: Német 1 person has voted this message useful |
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