Re: [tied] etmyology of Germani

Thanks for clearing that up Piotr. So, so is the word "Germanus" in
Latin cognate with the Germanic word (do we know it's Germanic form?), or
does it being a FEM rule out this possibility? Which brings to my
second question, there seems to be disagreement over the origin of the
word "Germani" as applied to the German tribes, was it a word of Celtic
or Germanic origin? I've heard that it has a meaning of "fierce men" in
Germanic. Is this true? I also wonder if it is an Indo-European cognate
with the Iranian Germani/Kermani.

-Michael

On Sun, 30 Mar 2003 09:00:12 +0100 "P&G" <petegray@...>
writes:

> > I was wondering about the etymology of the word Germani, and
> if
> > there is any truth in what Strabo said:"The Romans assigned to
> them the
> > name 'Germani,' as though they wished to indicate thereby that
> they were
> > 'genuine' Galatae, for in the language of the Romans 'germani'
> means
> > 'genuine.'
>
> It's a false etymology - the story was invented later.
> The word "germanus" in Latin means full brother or sister (i.e.
> having same
> parents - or at least the same father). It therefore moves on to
> mean
> "genuine brother/sister" and then to "genuine", in which sense it is
> very
> common in classical Latin.
> When the Romans met the Germani they were conscious of the pun - and
> so the
> story was invented to explain it.
>
> Peter
>
>
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