From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 20563
Date: 2003-03-30
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael J Smith" <lookwhoscross-eyednow@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Cc: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2003 9:42 PM
Subject: Re: [tied] etmyology of Germani
> 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?
Nobody knows. No Germanic etymology I've seen looks convincing. Julius Caesar was the first writer to use the word <germa:ni:>, but he wasn't kind enough to tell posterity where he had learnt it. It may have been the name of a single tribe, but the trouble is that no such tribe is independently attested. The second syllable can hardly be identified with 'men' (Gmc. *-manniz would not have been rendered as Lat. -ma:ni:), so pseudo-explanations like 'war-men' or 'fierce men' are completely worthless. There have been attempts to explain <germa:ni:> as a Celtic word (relating it to otherwise known terms meaning 'neighbour' or 'war-cry'); while perhaps marginally better, they can't all be true at the same time and I find no reason to prefer any particular etymology.
Piotr