Germanic peoples

The Germanic peoples, also referred to as Teutons, are a group of Indo-European peoples. Their main area of inhabitation is Northern Europe, but they had spread elsewhere during the Middle Ages and to the present day. Modern day ethnic groups and national peoples who are associated with this include: German, Dutch, Flemish, English, Lowland Scots, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian peoples.

Etymology

The picture from Fritz Koch-Gotha shows a midsummer night solstice celebration ((Sommer) Sonnenwendfeier) with sun cross.

Various different terms have been used in reference to the general Germanic peoples, their language and culture in history. In the English language the word "Dutch" was used during the late 14th century until the end of the 16th century. From around 1600, the word "Dutch" was used instead in English to refer exclusively to Hollanders. A variation of the word "Dutch" itself is used in the German language as "Deutsch" to this day to refer to German people. The Old English version of this was þeodisc, which means "belonging to the people," the word þeod means "people, race, nation" and derives from the Proto-Germanic *theudo "popular, national". The Latin word used was theodiscus.

The word "Teutonic" began to replace "Dutch" as the general phrase for Germanic peoples, language and culture in the English language c. 1600. The word itself derives from the Latin Teutonicus in reference to a Germanic tribe that was known to the Romans for their sackings of Gaul. It's usage in English was likely inspired by Renaissance humanism's enthusiasm for the classical world. This word likely has a common root with "Dutch" which it replaced in any case. Finally in modern English, the word "Germanic" was formally adopted in 1892 to refer to the broader definition of language, culture and people. Although for political reasons some would continue to use the phrase "Teutonic" to make a clear nationalist distinction from the political German Empire state; for example most English, Lowland Scots, Dutch and Flemish people see themselves as racially Teutonic or Germanic, but not German people proper.

Origins

The Germanics originated out of the Corded Ware Culture, speaking a hypothetical Pre-Proto-Germanic, as early as the late 2nd millenium BC, during the Nordic Bronze Age. The Proto-Germanic langage later appeared during the Pre-Roman Iron Age of Northern Europe, c. 500 BC.

Archeological evidence testifies a uniform Germanic people appearing across the areas today of Northern Germany, Netherlands, Denmark and southern Scandinavia from the 1st millenium BC. Migrating Germanic peoples spread throughout other parts of Europe, during the Migration Period, including the Anglo Saxons, Vandals, Goths and Lombards. Germanic languages having diverged from Proto-Germanic became dominant in Germany, Austria, Netherlands, and later England. Furthermore, all Germanic peoples eventually converted to Christianity. The Germanic tribes also played an important role in transforming the Roman empire, which had collapsed, into Medieval Europe.

Physical appearance

Ancient sources reveals that the Germanics are described mostly as reddish-blond (rutilae comae = "golden-red") haired by the Romans (Germania (Tacitus) iv; Seneca. De Ira. iii. 26. 3) or flavus, meaning blonde (Juv. Sat. xiii. 164; Lucan. ii. 60) and blue or gray eyed (Tacitus. Ger. iv; Plut. Life of Marius, xi. 3; Hor. Ep. xvi). Their skin is also described as pale white (Vitruvius. vi. 1. 3; Eugippius. Thesaurus. 73).

The ancient writer Julius Firmicus Maternus went as far as claiming the whole of Germany was blonde:

"If the characters and complexions of mankind are due to the combinations of planets, and the motions of the planets make up men’s traits, as if in paintings: that is, if the Moon makes people fair-skinned, Mars red, Saturn black, why is the whole population of Ethiopia black, of Germany blond, of Thrace red-haired, as though the Moon and Mars had no strength in Ethiopia, and Saturn could not produce dark coloring in Germany or Thrace?" - Matheseos Libri Octo, ii. 1

Peoples (selection of tribes)

• Alamanni
• Anglo-Saxons
  • Angles
  • Saxon
• Bavarians
• Burgundians
• Cherusci
• Danes
• Franks
• Frisians, Frisii
• Goths
• Irminones (Herminones or Hermiones)
• Lombards
• Suebi
• Teutons
• Vandals
• Vikings
• Visigoths

Dynasties (selection)

• Merovingian dynasty
• Carolingian dynasty
• Ottonian dynasty
• Salian dynasty
• Hohenstaufen dynasty
• Habsburger dynasty
• Hohenzollern dynasty

See also

• Roman Empire
• Germanic deities
• Germania (Tacitus)
• Germania
• Holy Roman Empire

External links

• The Germanic Tribes
• Proto-Germanic
• Celto-Germanic Culture
• Successors of Rome: Germania, 395-774
• Encyclopedia Britannica: Germanic peoples
• Fall of Rome (Eroberung Roms)

Further reading

• Ripley, Professor Dr. William Zebina, The Races of Europe – A Sociological Study, London, 1899 (edition New York 1915)
• Leyser, Karl Joseph, Medieval Germany and its Neighbours 900-1250, Hambledon Press, London, 1982, ISBN: 0-907628-08-7.