When I was younger, I thought Dutch was some weird regional colloquialism for German. I thought it was supposed to be a weird anglicization of "Deutsch."
Actually it wouldn't be that weird, re: Pennsylvania Dutch are of German origin, not Dutch. From Wikipedia: "Contrary to popular belief, the word Dutch in Pennsylvania Dutch is not a mistranslation, but rather a variation of the Pennsylvania German endonym Deitsch, which means "Pennsylvania Dutch / German" or "German".[15][16][17][18] Ultimately, the terms Deitsch, Dutch, Diets and Deutsch are all cognates of the Proto-Germanic word *þiudiskaz meaning "popular" or "of the people"".
When I was younger, I thought Dutch was some weird regional colloquialism for German. I thought it was supposed to be a weird anglicization of "Deutsch."
ReplyDeleteMy dad is German and says he gets this all the time in the US. “Oh you’re Dutch?” “No, DEUTSCH.”
DeleteActually it wouldn't be that weird, re: Pennsylvania Dutch are of German origin, not Dutch. From Wikipedia: "Contrary to popular belief, the word Dutch in Pennsylvania Dutch is not a mistranslation, but rather a variation of the Pennsylvania German endonym Deitsch, which means "Pennsylvania Dutch / German" or "German".[15][16][17][18] Ultimately, the terms Deitsch, Dutch, Diets and Deutsch are all cognates of the Proto-Germanic word *þiudiskaz meaning "popular" or "of the people"".
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