In general, the names for Germany can be arranged in six main groups according to their origin:
1. From Old High German diutisc or similar
• Afrikaans: Duitsland
• Chinese: 德意志 (pinyin: … See more

The name Germany and the other similar-sounding names above are all derived from the Latin Germania, of the 3rd century BC, a word simply describing fertile land behind the limes. It was likely the Gauls who first called the people who crossed east of the Rhine Germani … See more

The names Saksamaa and Saksa are derived from the name of the Germanic tribe of the Saxons. The word "Saxon", Proto-Germanic *sakhsan, is believed (a) to be derived from the word seax, meaning a variety of single-edged knives: a Saxon was perhaps … See more

In Latvian and Lithuanian the names Vācija and Vokietija contain the root vāca or vākiā. Lithuanian linguist Kazimieras Būga associated this with a reference to a Swedish tribe named Vagoths in a 6th-century chronicle (cf. finn. Vuojola and eston. Oju-/Ojamaa, ' See more

The name Deutschland and the other similar-sounding names above are derived from the Old High German diutisc, or similar variants from Proto-Germanic *Þeudiskaz (Old English þeod), which originally meant "of the people". This in turn comes from a Germanic word … See more

The name Allemagne and the other similar-sounding names above are derived from the southern Germanic Alemanni, a Suebic tribe or confederation in today's Alsace, … See more

The Slavic exonym nemets, nemtsy derives from Proto-Slavic němьcь, pl. němьci, 'the mutes, not able (to speak)' (from adjective němъ 'mute' and suffix -ьcь). It may never have meant 'the mutes', but rather 'those who can't speak (like us), foreigners'. Fittingly, the Slavic See more