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{{more citations needed|date=March 2008}} | |||
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{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}} | |||
There are many alternative ways to describe the people of ], though the official designated nationality as well as the standard ] is '''German'''. (see also ]). In practice, Germans are often referred to differently. Historically "German" has had some very different meanings. During the early renaissance "German" merely implied that the person spoke ] as a native language. Until the time of the German unification most "Germans" were called after the region they lived in, examples include ]ns, ]ers and ]s. Some other terms are ] or derogatory ], and used mainly by people from other countries, although they can be used in a self-deprecating way by German people themselves. Other terms are serious or tongue-in-cheek attempts to ] words as alternatives to the potentially ambiguous standard terms. | |||
There are many terms for the ]. In English the ], or noun, is '''German'''. During the early ], "German" implied that the person spoke ] as a native language. Until the ], people living in what is now Germany were named for the region in which they lived: examples are ]ns and ]ers. | |||
==English== | |||
===Dutch (obsolete)=== | |||
:''See also ] and ].'' | |||
The English word '']'' has also changed with time. It was only around ], with growing cultural and economical contacts and the rise of an independent country, that the modern meaning arose, i.e., '] or ]'. Prior to this, the meaning was more general and could refer to any Germanic-speaking area or the languages there (including ]). For example: | |||
Some terms are ] or ] ], and used mainly by people from other countries, although they can be used in a self-deprecating way by German people themselves. Other terms are serious or tongue-in-cheek attempts to ] words as alternatives to the ambiguous standard terms. | |||
*in four books containing the Chronography and History of the whole world'', Vol. II (London, 1677: 154) contains "...the Dutch call Leibnitz," adding that ''Dutch'' is spoken in the parts of Hungary adjoining to Germany. | |||
Many pejorative terms for Germans in various countries originated during the two World Wars. | |||
*To this day, descendants of German settlers in southeastern Pennsylvania are known as the "]", especially those who are members of the ]. (Those who are not members of the plain sects often identify themselves as being ''Pennsylvania German''). | |||
== English == | |||
===Almain (obsolete/poetical)=== | |||
Almain is a historical term for Germans (often specifically the ones living in the South of Germany) it is a borrowing from ] (compare "Allemagne" ''Germany'') and ultimately comes from the Latin name for the Germanic tribe of the ]. It was used alongside "''Dutch''" but unlike Dutch had a more limited meaning. It gradually fell out of use when "''German''" was introduced but remained a poetical term (like Teuton) for quite a while. | |||
=== |
=== Hun (pejorative) === | ||
] | |||
In former times, ''Kraut'' was used as a colloquial expression for ], especially loose tobacco for ]. Today it is sometimes used for ]<ref></ref>. | |||
''Hun'' (or ''The Hun'') is a term that originally refers to the nomadic ] of the ]. Beginning in ] it became an often used pejorative seen on war posters by Western Allied powers and the basis for a criminal characterisation of the Germans as barbarians with no respect for civilisation and humanitarian values having unjust reactions.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Picture This: World War I Posters and Visual Culture |author=Nicoletta Gullace |chapter=Barbaric Anti-Modernism: Representations of the "Hun" in Britain, North America, Australia and Beyond }}</ref> | |||
The wartime association of the term with Germans is believed to have been inspired by an earlier address to Imperial German troops by Kaiser ]. What is dubbed the "]" (''{{lang|de|Hunnenrede}}'') was delivered on 27 July 1900, when he bade farewell to the German expeditionary corps sailing from the port of ] to take part in suppressing the ]. The relevant part of the speech was:{{quote|{{lang|de|Kommt ihr vor den Feind, so wird derselbe geschlagen! Pardon wird nicht gegeben! Gefangene werden nicht gemacht! Wer euch in die Hände fällt, sei euch verfallen! Wie vor tausend Jahren die Hunnen unter ihrem König Etzel sich einen Namen gemacht, der sie noch jetzt in Überlieferung und Märchen gewaltig erscheinen läßt, so möge der Name Deutsche in China auf 1000 Jahre durch euch in einer Weise bestätigt werden, daß es niemals wieder ein Chinese wagt, einen Deutschen scheel anzusehen!}}{{-}}When you meet the enemy, he will be defeated! No quarter will be given! No prisoners will be taken! Those who fall into your hands are forfeit to you! Just as a thousand years ago, the Huns under their King ] made a name for themselves which shows them as mighty in tradition and myth, so shall you establish the name of Germans in China for 1000 years, in such a way that a Chinese will never again dare to look askance at a German.<ref>''Die Reden Kaiser Wilhelms II'', Hg. v. Johannes Penzler. Bd. 2: 1896–1900. Leipzig o.J., S. 209–212. </ref>}} | |||
Since ], ''Kraut'' has, in the American English language, come to be used as a derogatory term for a German. This is probably based on ], which was very popular in ] at that time. The stereotype of the Sauerkraut-eating German dates back to long before this time, though, as can for example be seen in ]'s depiction of the evil German industrialist Schultz as an avid sauerkraut eater in "]." | |||
The theme of Hunnic savagery was then developed in a speech of ] in the ] in which he recounted details of the cruelty of the German expedition which were taken from soldiers' letters home, styled the ''{{lang|de|Hunnenbriefe}}'' (letters from the Huns).<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VYOHaIa-9Z8C&pg=PA171 |title=Kolonialkrieg in China: die Niederschlagung der Boxerbewegung 1900–1901 |author=Klaus Mühlhahn |isbn=978-3-86153-432-7 |year=2007 |publisher=Ch. Links Verlag }}</ref> | |||
The Kaiser's speech was widely reported in the European press at that time. | |||
] | |||
One possible explanation of the origin of this term is this: | |||
Raw ] is an excellent source of ]. Captain ] always took a store of sauerkraut on his sea voyages, since experience had taught him that it was an effective remedy against ]. Later, on British ships, sauerkraut was mostly replaced by ] juice (for the same purpose). But German sailors continued with the use of kraut, calling their British colleagues "limies" and being similarly called "krauts." | |||
The term "Hun" from this speech was later used for the Germans by British and other Allied propaganda during the war. The comparison was helped by the spiked '']'' ] worn by German forces until 1916, which would be reminiscent of images depicting ancient warrior helmets (not necessarily that of actual historical Huns). This usage, emphasising the idea that the Germans were ]s, was reinforced by the propaganda utilised throughout the war. The French songwriter ] described the Kaiser as "an Attila, without remorse", launching "cannibal hordes".<ref>"Quand un Attila, sans remords, / Lance ses hordes cannibales, / Tout est bon qui meurtrit et mord: / Les chansons, aussi, sont des balles!", from "Theodore Botrel", by Edgar Preston ''T.P.'s Journal of Great Deeds of the Great War'', 27 February 1915</ref> | |||
===Jerry (offensive)=== | |||
By coincidence, ] ("God is with us"), a motto first used in the ] and later the ], may have contributed to the popularisation of 'Huns' as British Army slang for Germans by misreading 'uns' for 'Huns'.<ref></ref> | |||
The usage of the term "Hun" to describe Germans resurfaced during ], although less frequently than in the previous war. For example in 1941, ] said in a broadcast speech: "There are less than 70,000,000 malignant Huns, some of whom are curable and others killable, most of whom are already engaged in holding down Austrians, Czechs, Poles and the many other ancient races they now bully and pillage."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/timeline/410427awp.html|title=PRIME MINISTER WINSTON CHURCHILL'S BROADCAST "REPORT ON THE WAR"}}</ref> | |||
Jerry was a nickname given to ] German soldiers, the German armed forces, or collectively the entirety of ]. Although the nickname was originally created during ] , it didn't find common use until World War II.<ref></ref> | |||
Later that year Churchill referred to the invasion of the ] as "the dull, drilled, docile brutish masses of the Hun soldiery, plodding on like a swarm of crawling locusts."<ref>Churchill, Winston S. 1941. </ref> During this time American President ] also referred to the German people in this way, saying that an Allied invasion into Southern France would surely "be successful and of great assistance to ] in driving the Huns from France."<ref>]. 1953. "Triumph and Tragedy" (volume 6 of ''The Second World War''). Boston: Houghton-Mifflin. Ch. 4, p. 70</ref> | |||
=== Fritz === | |||
Jerry has analogues from different eras in ] (British), ] (Vietnam), and ] (Russians). | |||
] soldiers employed a variety of epithets for the Germans. '']'', a German pet form of Friedrich,<ref name="BBC News">{{cite news|title=The English expressions coined in WW1|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26277732|work=BBC News|date=22 February 2014}}</ref> was popular in both World War I and ].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Language of Ethnic Conflict: Social Organization and Lexical Culture|first=Irving|last=Allen|url=https://archive.org/details/languageofethnic0000alle|url-access=registration|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=0-231-05557-9|year=1983|page=}}</ref> | |||
=== Heinie (pejorative) === | |||
The name is likely an alteration of the word ''German''. Others have claimed that the WWI German helmet, shaped like a ] or ] was the initial impetus for creation, although this is almost certainly ]. One ongoing use of 'jerry' is found in the term ]. | |||
The ] and ] referred to Germans, especially German soldiers, as ''Heinies'', from a diminutive of the common German male proper name Heinrich.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/Heinie#etymonline_v_9111 |title=etymonline, origin of "heinie" |publisher=Etymonline.com |access-date=2014-05-14}}</ref> For example, in the film '']'' the ] character calls a German officer "''Mr Hynee Kraut!''" | |||
Heinie is also a colloquial term for buttocks, in use since the 1920s.<ref>, Merriam-Webster Dictionary</ref> In German, '']'' is a common colloquial term with a slightly pejorative meaning similar to "moron" or "idiot", but has a different origin. | |||
===Fritz/Hun/Heinie (offensive)=== | |||
] soldiers employed a variety of epithets for the Germans. "]" was popular early in the war, with "Jerry" favoured later. According to Brophy, "Hun," a journalistic creation, was used almost exclusively by officers, as was the borrowed French "Boche." The Americans and ] referred to Germans, especially German soldiers as "''Heinies''", from the pet form of the common German male proper ] Heinrich.<ref></ref> | |||
''Heinies'' is actually a common german slang word similar to ''guys'', but usually with a slight degratory meaning similar to ''morons'' or ''idiots'', but it could be of differnt origin. | |||
=== |
=== Jerry === | ||
], said by the British to resemble a ]]] | |||
Boche entered the ] in 1914, from the French slang. In French it meant something close to "]," and was applied by French soldiers to Germans in World War I. Its origins can be traced to the French word "''Allemand''" meaning "''German''" in eastern French dialects, close to the German border the variant was "''Al(le)moche''", altered contemptuously to Alboche by association with "''caboche''", a slang word for "head," which literally meant "''cabbage''" (compare. "''tête de boche''", French for "''German''" in an 1887 French slang ]).<ref></ref> | |||
''Jerry'' was a nickname given to Germans mostly during the ] by soldiers and civilians of the Allied nations, in particular by the British. The nickname was originally created during ].<ref name="etym-jerry">{{cite web|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Jerry |title=etymonline, origin of "Jerry" |publisher=Etymonline.com |access-date=2014-05-14}}</ref> The term is the basis for the name of the ]. | |||
The name may simply be an alteration of the word ''German''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=17uHAgAAQBAJ&q=jerry%20helmet%20chamber%20pot&pg=PA119|title=Shorter Slang Dictionary|last1=Beale|first1=Paul|last2=Partridge|first2=Eric|publisher=Routledge|year=2003|isbn=978-1-134-87952-6|page=119}}</ref> Alternatively, Jerry may possibly be derived from the ] introduced in 1916, which was said by British soldiers to resemble a "jerry" (]).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o11EBgAAQBAJ&q=jeroboam%20helmet%20chamber%20pot&pg=PA102|title=Laindon in the Great War|last1=Porter|first1=Ken|last2=Wynn|first2=Stephen|publisher=Pen and Sword|year=2014|isbn=978-1-4738-4801-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.radiotimes.com/news/2014-02-18/dont-mention-the-jerries-bbc-changes-world-war-one-programme-title/|title=Don't mention the Jerries: BBC changes World War I programme title|last=Dowell|first=Ben|date=18 February 2014|work=Radio Times|access-date=24 November 2018}}</ref> | |||
===Teuton (poetical)=== | |||
=== Kraut (pejorative) === | |||
In a more poetical sense Germans can be referred to as "''Teutons''". The usage of the word in this term has been observed in English since 1833. The word originated via an ancient Germanic tribe, the ].<ref></ref> - see also ] and the ]. | |||
{{More citations needed section|date=February 2024}} | |||
] is a German word recorded in English from 1918 onwards as a derogatory term for a German, particularly a German soldier during World War I. The term came up after the ], which followed the ] and had resulted in the food trade stop for Germany through neutral states. The analogy of this term is the starving soldier of World War I, who ran out of supplies for a long war-period and needed to eat wild cabbage. | |||
Before the Second World War the term was used in relation to cabbage, because anti-German boycotts and ''de facto'' trade limitations hit Germany's food imports. Early American war propaganda used the language in such a manner that 'Kraut' and 'Krauthead' gave the Germans less dignity. | |||
==Other countries== | |||
===]=== | |||
====Piefke (offensive)==== | |||
The Austrian ] for a German is ''Piefke''. Like its Bavarian counterpart ''Saupreiß'' (literally: ]-Prussian) the term ''Piefke'' historically characterized the people of ] only. Its exact origin is unclear, but it was meant to be derogatory most notably because of the term’s Polish roots: Referring to every Prussian as ''Piefke'', which is a typical example of a ] Polish family name (''Piwka''),<ref>Anton Karl Mally: "Piefke". Nachträge. In: Muttersprache. Zeitschrift zur Pflege und Erforschung der deutschen Sprache , Vol. 94, 1983/84, number 3-4, pp. 313-327.</ref> suggested that all Prussians were merely Germanized Poles. The term increased in usage during the 19th century because of the popularity of the Prussian composer ]. Since Prussia and its eastern territories ceased to exist, the term nowadays refers to the cliché of a pompous (] northern) German in general and a ]er in particular. However, the citizens of the free ] cities and the former northern duchies of Oldenburg, Braunschweig and Mecklenburg are quite offended by the terms ''Piefke'' and ''Saupreiß'' (offense for every German who is not native Bavarian), since they take some pride in having staunchly resisted Prussian expansionism as independent (federal) states and have no Prussian history at all. In 1990, Austrian playwright ] wrote and co-directed a TV mini-series, ''Die Piefke-Saga'', about Germans on holiday in ]. | |||
In the 18th century, poor Swiss German immigrants to the US were described as Krauts because they consumed ]. Sauerkraut was also a common food served on German ships to fight ], while the British used lime and got called ]. In Switzerland it was a food preserved for hard winters that could go on for half a year. | |||
===] (Southern Germany)=== | |||
====Saupreiß (offensive)==== | |||
While commonly put on a level with ''Piefke'' (thus thought of as being used for every German who is not native Bavarian), ''Saupreiß'' actually only refers to people born north of the river ], and therefore especially not to people from ] (western neighbour of Bavaria) or further south (], ], ]). | |||
In this context, the river Main, as border between ''Saupreißen'' and Bavaria, is referred to as ''Weißwurstäquator'' (Bavarian-German spelling: ''Weißwurschtäquator''; Weißwurst is a Bavarian, white veal sausage, literally: white sausage equator). | |||
''Saupreiß'' litararily means 'prussian pig', but the term is frequently used as an actually endearing nickname to germans not from the southern region. | |||
The stereotype of a sauerkraut-eating German appears in ]'s depiction of the evil, German industrialist Schultze, who is an avid sauerkraut eater in '']''. Schultze's enemy is an ] who hates sauerkraut but pretends to love it to win his enemy's confidence. | |||
===]=== | |||
==== Švabe (offensive)==== | |||
from ]—see ] for more | |||
The rock music genre ] has been commonplace in ] since the early 1970s and is of English invention. | |||
===]=== | |||
=== Nazi (pejorative) === | |||
''Nazi'', a shortening of ''Nationalsozialist'' (National Socialist) (attested since 1903, as a shortening of ''national-sozial'',<ref name="Etymonline">, , Etymology Online, citing Friedrich Kluge, Elmar Seebold, ''Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache'', 24. Auflage (Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/New York 2002, {{ISBN|3-11-017473-1}})</ref> since in German the ''nati-'' in ''national'' is approximately pronounced ''Nazi''. A homonymic term ''Nazi'' was in use before the rise of the NSDAP in Bavaria as a pet name for Ignaz and (by extension from that) a derogatory word for a backwards peasant, which may have influenced<ref name=GottliebMorgensen2007>{{cite book |editor=Henrik Gottlieb |editor2=Jens Erik Morgensen|year=2007|title=Dictionary Visions, Research and Practice: Selected Papers from the 12th International Symposium on Lexicography, Copenhagen 2004|edition=illustrated|location=Amsterdam|publisher=J. Benjamins Pub. Co.|isbn=978-9027223340|pages=247–249|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UaggHAJ7jToC&pg=PA247|access-date=22 October 2014}}</ref> the use of that abbreviation by the Nazis′ opponents and its avoidance by the Nazis themselves.<ref name="Etymonline" /><ref name="Sourcebook">{{cite book |editor=Anson Rabinbach |editor2=Sander Gilman|year=2013|title=The Third Reich Sourcebook|location=Berkeley, California|publisher=California University Press|isbn=978-0-520-95514-1|page=4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XhDakMp55i0C&pg=PA4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Chapin|first=Sasha|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/05/magazine/americans-are-confronting-an-alarming-question-are-many-of-our-fellow-citizens-nazis.html|title=Americans Are Confronting an Alarming Question: Are Many of Our Fellow Citizens 'Nazis'?|date=2017-09-05|work=The New York Times|access-date=2020-03-07|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> | |||
same origin as Romanian "Neamţ" (see below). | |||
=== Ted === | |||
"Ted", and "Teds", from ''Tedeschi'', the Italian word for Germans, became the term used by Allied soldiers during the ] of ].<ref>NZ Army Board (1946) ''One More River: With the Second New Zealand Division from Florence to Trieste'' p42 Army Board Wellington (ISBN none)</ref><ref>Bob Pearson (2014) ''A Peg Leg Hero'' Australian Self-Publishing Group {{ISBN|9781925011760}} p.111</ref> | |||
medieval term, originally meaning "the one who came from the hills". In medieval times, German inhabitants in Czech-German borderlands often lived in hilly, mountainous areas, and when they came to lowland Czech towns to buy and sell their wares, they were adressed as "those who came down from hills". "From hills" is "s kopců" in Czech, thus "skopčáci" (plural). | |||
When English language books and movies concerning WWII are translated to Czech, "Skopčák" is often used to translate "Jerry" or "Kraut". | |||
=== |
=== Teuton (poetic) === | ||
In a more poetical sense Germans can be referred to as ''Teutons''. The usage of the word in this term has been observed in English since 1833. The word originated via an ancient Germanic tribe, the ]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=teuton&searchmode=none |title=etymonline, origin of "teuton" |publisher=Etymonline.com |access-date=2014-05-14}}</ref> (see also ] and the ]). | |||
====Pølsetysker (offensive)==== | |||
In ] '''pølsetysker''' (''Sausage German'') is a term for the stereotypical overweight smug German without good manners. | |||
====Prøjser ==== | |||
Referring originally to people from ], it is used in ] as slang for any German. The term is not necessarily offensive, but it is certainly not endearing either. | |||
=== <span id="Boche">Boche (pejorative)</span> === | |||
===]=== | |||
Pronounced {{IPA|fr|boʃ||}}, ''{{lang|fr|boche}}'' is a derisive term used by the Allies during World War I, often collectively ("the Boche" meaning "the Germans"). It is a shortened form of the ] ] ''{{lang|fr|alboche}}'', itself derived from ''{{lang|fr|Allemand}}'' ("German") and ''{{lang|fr|caboche}}'' ("head" or "cabbage"). The alternative spellings "Bosch" or "Bosche" are sometimes found.<ref> (click "More information")</ref><ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060821033907/http://www.bartleby.com/61/8/B0360800.html |date=21 August 2006 }}, ''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language''</ref> According to a 1916 article in the ''New York Times'' magazine '']'', the origin is as follows: | |||
====Boches (offensive, historical, associated with Nazis)==== | |||
Apheresis of the word ''Alboche'', from ''Allemoche'', slang for ''allemand'' (German) since the end of 19th century. Used mainly during the ] and ], directed mainly at the invading German soldiers. | |||
====Fritz (offensive, historical)==== | |||
From the German Christian name, used since ]. | |||
''Frisés'' and ''Frigolins'' are variations of ''Fritz''. | |||
====Chleuh (slightly offensive)==== | |||
From the name of a North African ethnicity, racial connotations. It was used mainly in ] but is also used now in a less offensive way like in the film '']''. | |||
====Teutons==== | |||
Relative to the ] and is still used occasionally in a non-official way, to designate Germans. | |||
{{quote|''{{lang|fr|Boche}}'' is an abbreviation of ''{{lang|fr|caboche}}'', (compare ''{{lang|fr|bochon}}'', an abbreviation of ''{{lang|fr|cabochon}}''). This is a recognized French word used familiarly for "head," especially a big, thick head, ("slow-pate"). It is derived from the Latin word ''{{lang|la|caput}}'' and the suffix ''{{lang|la|oceus}}''. ''{{lang|fr|Boche}}'' seems to have been used first in the underworld of Paris about 1860, with the meaning of a disagreeable, troublesome fellow. In the ] of 1870 it was not applied to the Germans, but soon afterward it was applied by the Parisian printers to their German assistants because of the reputed slowness of comprehension of these foreign printers. The epithet then used was ''{{lang|fr|tête de boche}}'', which had the meaning of ''{{lang|fr|tête carrée d'Allemand}}'' (German ] or ''{{lang|fr|imbécile}}''). The next step was to apply ''{{lang|fr|boche}}'' to Germans in general.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/currenthistoryfo04newyuoft#page/524/mode/2up |title=Current History |work=The New York Times |date=April–September 1916 |page=525 |access-date=31 March 2014}}</ref>}} | |||
===]=== | |||
====Fritz, Fritsi (colloquialism)==== | |||
From the first name ''Friedrich''. This name is considered as colloquial, not very polite, but not offensive either | |||
=== |
=== Squarehead (pejorative) === | ||
"Squarehead", a generic derogatory term for people from Germany and Scandinavia;<ref> at ]</ref> Commonly used for Germans during the First and Second World War, but found in a collection of slang from 1906 relating particularly to German military style.<ref> at OED</ref> | |||
Literally ]. Extremely derogatory, containing allusions to ] and sack of ]. | |||
The term ], commonly used after World War II within the British Armed Forces in the former West Germany is derived from this.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} | |||
====Niksmanni (offensive)==== | |||
From ] negative word ''nichts'' (not!) and ''-manni'' for "man". | |||
=== |
=== Erics === | ||
First came to prominence in the English 1983 television show '']''. It was a term used by the English and Irish when referring to Germans without them knowing it was them being talked about. | |||
From the Finnish word ''Saksa'', meaning ] (originally ]). ''Saku'' Is a Finnish male name; ''Saksmanni'' is a combination of "Saksa + ''-manni'', referring to "man". | |||
== Other countries == | |||
===]=== | |||
====Crucco (offensive)==== | |||
The common (especially Northern) Italian ethnopaulism for a German is ''crucco'', which roughly translates as pighead. Etymologically, the term most likely derives from the Serbo-Croatian word ''kruch'', which means bread. In ] Italian soldiers originally referred to the ] combatants as ''crucchi'' and the North-Eastern war zone was dubbed ''terra crucca''. In the course of the war the term underwent a shift of meaning: During the German invasion the Italian ] called the German soldiers ''crucchi''. Today it’s a disrespectful way to address people from all German speaking regions in general (''cruccolandia''), even the German-speaking population of the province of ], who are Italian citizens themselves. | |||
=== |
=== Austria === | ||
A popular but albeit tongue-in-cheek way to address the Germans is ''barbari'', alluding to the numerous historical invasions of Germanic tribes during the time of the ]. | |||
==== |
==== Piefke (pejorative) ==== | ||
The ]n ] for a German is ''Piefke''. Like its Bavarian counterpart ''Saupreiß'' (literally: ]-Prussian), the term ''Piefke'' historically characterized only the people of ], and not people of other Germanic states. There are two hypotheses on how the term developed; both of them suggest an origin in the 1860s. One theory suggests that the term came from the name of the popular Prussian composer ], who composed some of the most iconic German military marches, for example '']'' and the '']'' – particularly since Piefke and his brother conducted the Prussian music corps in the parade in Austria following the Prussian victory of the ] in 1866. The second theory suggests an origin in the ] in 1864, where Prussians and Austrians were allies. A Prussian soldier with the name ''Piefke'' and a stereotypically ''Prussian'' gruff and snappy manner made such a negative impression on his Austrian comrades that the term came to refer to all Prussians.<ref>Peter Wehle. "Die Wiener Gaunersprache", 1977, p. 79</ref> | |||
Translated as ''potato eaters'', this slightly offensive term refers to the alleged German habit of eating potatoes at every meal. | |||
Since Prussia no longer exists, the term now refers to the cliché of a pompous northern ] German in general and a ]er in particular. However, the citizens of the free ] cities and the former northern duchies of Oldenburg, Brunswick and Mecklenburg are also quite offended by the terms ''Piefke'' and also by ''Saupreiß'' (a slur for any German who is not native Bavarian). In 1990, Austrian playwright Felix Mitterer wrote and co-directed a TV mini-series, ''Die Piefke-Saga'', about Germans on holiday in ]. Sometimes the alteration "Piefkinese" is used. Some Austrians use the playful term "Piefkinesisch" (Pief-Chinese) to refer to German spoken in a distinctly northern German – that is, not Austrian – accent. | |||
===]=== | |||
====Preiss (offensive)==== | |||
Derived from the local name for ]n. Used to describe any German since the establishment of a Prussian Garrison in Fortress Luxembourg in ]. Still commonly used today but most popular with WWII survivors. | |||
==== Marmeladinger (pejorative) ==== | |||
The term ''Marmeladinger'' originated in the trenches of World War I. It is derived from the German word "Marmelade", which is a ]. While Austrian infantry rations included butter and lard as ], German troops had to make do with cheaper ] "Marmelade". They disdainfully called it ''Heldenbutter'' "hero's butter" or '']''. This earned them ridicule from their Austrian allies who would call them ''Marmeladebrüder'' (jam brothers) or ''Marmeladinger'' (-''inger'' being an Austrian ] describing a person through a characteristic item or action).<ref>Anton Karl Mally: „Piefke". Herkunft und Rolle eines österreichischen Spitznamens für den Preußen, den Nord- und den Reichsdeutschen, in: Muttersprache. Zeitschrift zur Pflege und Erforschung der deutschen Sprache, 1984, number 4, pp. 257-286.</ref> Germans would conversely call Austrians ''Kamerad Schnürschuh'' "comrade lace-up shoe" because the Austrian infantry boots used laces while the German boots did not. This term has survived, but it is rarely used. | |||
=== China === | |||
===]/]=== | |||
====Mof (offensive)==== | |||
In ] the most common term for ], after the regular/official one, is "''mof''". It is regarded as a derogative term, used exclusively for Germans and reflected Dutch resentment of the ] of the Netherlands during the ].<ref>Prisma Etymologisch woordenboek, ISBN10: 9027491992. "''Mof heeft historisch gezien niet de huidige betekenis (die van een verwijzing naar de Duitsers en hun acties tijdens de Tweede wereldoorlog) maar ...''"</ref> The use of the word has been gradually fading since the late ]. | |||
==== Jiamen (colloquial) ==== | |||
In the late 16th century the area now known as ] and ] and the people that lived there were referred to as ""''Muffe''". At the time that the Netherlands were by far the ] in the whole of Europe, and these people were looked down upon greatly by the Dutch. The area of Western ] was at that time very poor and a good source for many Dutch people looking for cheap labour. The inhabitants of this region were known to be rather reserved and were often described as "''grumpy"'', "''rude''" and "''unsophisticated''" by the Dutch. Later the term was used to describe the whole of Germany, which, at the time, wasn't much better of ] than Western Lower Saxony, mainly due to the various wars waged on its territory by foreign powers. The term seemed to have died out around 1900 but returned following the ] in 1940. <ref> (])</ref>. | |||
In ], a German can be colloquially called a ''Jiamen'' (茄門/茄门), which is an adaptation of the English word "German". | |||
This word carries a somewhat negative meaning of a stereotypical German being proud, withdrawn, cold and serious. Today, this phrase, when pronounced as "Ga-Men", can mean "disdainful, indifferent, or uninterested in someone or something". | |||
A popular humorous (but false) etymology of the word "''mof''" by the ] is that it is actually a ] abbrevation meaning "''Menschen ohne Freunde''" ("''people without friends''"). | |||
=== |
=== Chile === | ||
Among the ] of ] in southern Chile, ] are known as ''leupe lonko'' or blond heads.<ref name=Salvador2020>{{Cite thesis|title=Gallito Catrilef: Colonialismo y defensa de la tierra en San Juan de la Costa a mediados del siglo XX|last=Rumian Cisterna|first=Salvador|date=2020-09-17|degree=M.Sc.|publisher=]|url=|language=Spanish}}</ref> | |||
In the ] the word "Oosterbuur" (Eastern neighbour) nearly always refers to the German people or Germany itself as ] and the ] are located to the East of ] and ]. Similarly, the ] refer to the Dutch as "Noorderburen" (Northern Neighbours) and the Dutch use "Zuiderburen" (Southern neighbours) for the ]. | |||
=== |
=== Finland === | ||
During the ] between ] and Germany, the terms ''saku'', ''sakemanni'', ''hunni'' and ''lapinpolttaja'' (burner of ], see: ]) became widely used among the Finnish soldiers, ''saku'' and ''sakemanni'' being modified from ''saksalainen'' (German). | |||
====Pølsetysker (offensive)==== | |||
'''Pølsetysker''' is also used in Norway with the same meaning as in Denmark. | |||
=== |
=== France === | ||
====Szwab (offensive)==== | |||
''Szwab'' (plural ''szwaby''; literally ]), is derogatory when referring to any Germans instead of just the inhabitants of Swabia. The origin of this usage remains unclear, as Swabia and Poland are relatively far apart. | |||
====Helmut (offensive)==== | |||
''Helmut'' (plural ''Helmuty'') from popular ] Helmut. | |||
==== |
==== Boches (pejorative, historical) ==== | ||
''Boches'' is an ] of the word ''alboche'', which in turn is a ] of ''allemand'' (French for German) and ''caboche'' (slang for ''head''). It was used mainly during the ] and ]s, and directed especially at German soldiers.<ref>{{Cite Americana|wstitle=Boche|year=1920}}</ref> | |||
Another, similarly derogative term is ''szkop'' (original, now obsolete meaning: "castrate ram"); during ], it was first used for German soldiers and later for any German. | |||
====Fritz (offensive)==== | |||
The name "Fritz" (short for Friedrich/Frederick), widely considered as typically German, is sometimes used as a noun for Germans, then often spelled ''fryc''. | |||
==== Casque à pointe (historical) ==== | |||
===]=== | |||
] era]] | |||
====Boche (offensive)==== | |||
''Casque à pointe'' is derived from the ] name for the traditional ] worn by German soldiers from the 1840s until ]. In modern ] the word for Germany continues to be an index finger pointed to the top of the forehead, simulating the Pickelhaube.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The sign for Allemagne in LSF on video – Sématos |url=https://www.sematos.eu/lsf-p-Allemagne-8751-en.html |access-date=2022-04-23 |website=www.sematos.eu}}</ref> | |||
In Portugal, the term ''Boche'', a word derived from ], is popular as a slang term to refer to Germans, nearly always in a derogatory way. | |||
=== |
==== Chleuh (pejorative) ==== | ||
''Chleuh'' derives from the name of the ], a ] ethnic group in ]. It also denotes the absence of words beginning in Schl- in French. | |||
====Neamţ (colloquialism)==== | |||
The formal term is ''german'' (plural ''germani''). The traditional term, still widely used in common language, is ''neamţ'' (plural ''nemţi''). The root of the term is originally ], meaning "mute", because of the incomprehensibleness between the languages. The original meaning was not passed into Romanian, and the word is generally not used in a derogatory sense, although its colloquialism in contrast to the formal alternatives for "German" (''german'', pl. ''germani'') and, rarely, "Austrian" (''austriac'', pl. ''austrieci'') was used in certain offensive or polemic contexts. | |||
It appears in placenames like ] ("The German rock"). | |||
=== |
=== Germany === | ||
Other names for existed for specific german minorities, usually in relation with their place of origin. Transylvanian Saxons (immigrated starting from the XII century), were called "saşi". Germans in ] were called "şvabi", in reference to ], even though only few of the immigrants came from there. | |||
==== Ossi/Wessi ==== | |||
The term ''Ossi'', derived from the German word ''Osten'' which means east, is used in Germany for people who were born in the area of the former ]. | |||
The term ''Wessi'', derived from the German word ''Westen'' which means west, is used in Germany for people who were born or live in the ] (those that formed the Federal Republic or "West Germany" before reunification). Sometimes it is also modified to "Besserwessi", from the German word ''Besserwisser'' which means ], reflecting the stereotype that people from the Western part of Germany are arrogant. | |||
In 2010 there was a lawsuit in Germany because a job applicant was denied employment and her application was found to have the notation "Ossi" and a minus sign written on her application documents. A German court decided that denial of employment for such a reason would be discrimination, but not ethnic discrimination, since "East German" is not an ethnicity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/service/diskriminierung-ossi-streit-endet-mit-vergleich-a-723605.html |title=Diskriminierung: "Ossi"-Streit endet mit Vergleich – SPIEGEL ONLINE |publisher=Spiegel.de |date=2010-10-17 |access-date=2014-05-14}}</ref> | |||
===]=== | |||
The term used in official contexts (and widely used elsewhere) is ''nemets'' (single, {{lang-ru|немец}}) or ''nemtsy'' (plural, {{lang-ru|немцы}}). The roots of the term in ] etymology, meaning ''"mute"''. The term initially was used to designate any non-Russian-speaking person (foreigner), but now it is reserved for Germans only. | |||
A derisive ] of ''nemets'', ''nemchura'' ("немчура") is also in use. In general, Russian language abounds in ]es that may bear derisive connotation, so one may also see such forms as "nemchishka", "nemchik", "nemchatina". | |||
====Frits/Hans (historical, unfriendly)==== | |||
Since ] the names "Fritz" and "Hans" (''frits'', ''Hans'') have been widely used for "German". | |||
==== Kartoffel / Alman / Biodeutscher ==== | |||
====Germanets (colloquialism)==== | |||
The term '']'' (German for potato) is a derogatory slang term for Germans without migratory roots. In the 19th century it was used to describe areas of Germany in a need of eating potatoes like "potatosaxons". ] used the term "potatoeater" for Germans, while "spaghettieater" meant migrant Italians and "kebabeaters" Turks. Today the term is often also used ironically by members of the described group for themselves. '']'' and ''Biodeutscher'' ("biological German") are similar terms coming out of the migrant community. ''Biodeutsch'' has also been adopted by some in the ] in Germany to refer to a supposed 'genetic origin' of 'true' Germans. | |||
In the meaning of "citizen of Germany" the word ''"Germanets"'' is also in ] use, together with a ] ''German'' (pronounced with the last syllable accented: "germAn"). | |||
=== |
==== Saupreiß ==== | ||
The term ''Saupreiß'', derived from the German words ''Sau'' (= 'sow') which means female pig and ''Preuße'' which means Prussian, is used in ] for people who were born or live in any German area north of the ], or at least north of the Bavarian border. A number of other terms exist. Similar to the Polish ''Szwab'', the term ''Schwab'' can be pejorative and be used to express ]. Various – more or less good-humoured – nicknames are being used between the different German states or areas, such as ''Gelbfüßler'' ("Yellowfeet") for the inhabitants of ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wochenblatt-reporter.de/oestringen/c-lokales/wie-die-gelbfuessler-zu-ihrem-namen-kamen-oder-auch-nicht_a109483|title=Wie die Gelbfüßler zu ihrem Namen kamen, oder auch nicht (How the Yellowfeet got their name, or didn't)|publisher=Wochenblatt|date=2019-08-18|access-date=2020-06-21}}</ref> | |||
In Spain the official term for Germans is ''alemanes'', originating from a Germanic tribe, the ]. | |||
=== Hungary === | |||
In ] use, Germans are often called ''kartoffen'', from the German word for ]es (''Kartoffeln'') and refers to their, supposed, eating habit/cuisine. | |||
Also ''boches'' (from French) or ''cabezas cuadradas'' ("]s", after the alleged German inclination for fixed rules instead of improvisation). | |||
==== Sváb ==== | |||
''Germanos'' is mostly referred to the ancient tribes found by the Romans. ''Teutones'', also the name of a Germanic tribe, is sometimes used as a literary synonym. | |||
The term ''sváb'' derives from the German word "Schwaben", describing people from ] (ger: Schwaben). The first German-speaking people, ] merchants and miners, later becoming ], first arrived to the ] (then mostly under rule of the ]) in the 12th century, their numbers and territory of settlement were limited, mainly in towns. In the 18th century various German-speaking peasant groups settled in Hungary in large numbers to inhabit the vast territories being depopulated during the Osman rule, they are known as ] (Donauschwaben), though most of their forefathers have ] or ] roots. They settled mainly where the destruction was most severe, especially around ] (now part of ]), ] and southern part of Hungary. Although they have assimilated in large parts until the beginning of the 20th century, they maintained strong cultural identity up to date. These people, and through them German people in general are called ''svábok'' (plural), having a hint of pejorative nature. | |||
==== Labanc ==== | |||
In Early Modern Spanish (for example in '']''), ''tudescos'' (cognate with ''Deutsch'' and the Italian ''tedeschi'') was used sometimes as a general name for Germans<ref name="Don Quixote 2 LIV">'']'', ], ]: ] meets some pilgrims (''alemán o tudesco'') from ].</ref> and sometimes restricted to ]<ref name="DRAE">'''' in the ].</ref><ref name="Don Quixote">''Don Quixote'', ]: ''¿Cuántos son los '''alemanes, tudescos''', franceses, españoles, italianos y esguízaros?'' "How many are the Almains, Dutch, Frenchmen, Spaniards, Italians and Swiss?"</ref>. | |||
{{Redirect|Labanc|the ice hockey player|Kevin Labanc}} | |||
The term ''labanc'' came into use during ]. It was specifically used for the soldiers fighting for the Austrian/German soldiers of the Habsburg rulers, as well as for the Hungarians siding with the Habsburgs. There are multiple theories about where it came from, such as being a strange concatenation of the German term "Lauf Hans!" (Run Hans!) or the French term ''Le Blanc'' (the white one), it might also be a reference to the Hungarian word ''lobonc'' which referred to the large, common wig, which used to be common in the Vienna court at the time.<ref></ref> Now ''Labanc'' is exclusively used for Austrians, but has become rare in usage as there are no tensions between the two countries. The expression describes a mentality or behaviour that is counter to general Hungarian interest and describes persons not content with "true" Hungarian values. | |||
== |
=== Israel === | ||
==== Yekke ==== | |||
*] | |||
For the Jews who came from the German speaking world, there was a word in use for many years : "]", in ] and ]. One of the explanations of the name in Hebrew is "Yehudi Kshe Havana" יהודי קשה הבנה "A Jew who hardly understands" for the so called "stiffness of their mentality".{{citation needed|date=April 2022}} | |||
*] | |||
*] | |||
== |
=== Italy === | ||
<references/> | |||
==== Crucco (pejorative) ==== | |||
] | |||
] | |||
The term ''crucco'' derived from the Croatian and Slovenian ''kruh'' ("bread"). Italian soldiers invented this word during World War I when they captured some hungry Austrian-Croatian and Austrian-Slovenian soldiers who asked for "kruh". Later, during World War II, and still today, applied to all German-speaking people. | |||
==== Tuder / Tudro (pejorative) ==== | |||
''Tudro'' designates Germans as a people lacking flexibility and fantasy, but also ]. It is more widely adopted to describe a sturdy and stupid man. Tudro is mainly used in Northern Italy. ''Tuder'' is the ] usage of the word. | |||
'''Fascia rossa (pejorative)''' | |||
The term ''Fascia Rossa'' is an Italian designation referring to German soldiers and specifically denotes their red armband adorned with a swastika, this term is mainly used in Southern Italy. | |||
=== Latvia === | |||
==== Fricis ==== | |||
''Fricis'' derives from the German name Fritz. | |||
==== Zili pelēkie ==== | |||
''Zili pelēkie'', literally translated, means "The Blue-Grays", from the Prussian war uniforms of the pre-] era. The term appeared in a popular ] wartime song ''Ik katru sestdien's vakaru'' ("Every saturday night") about trouncing the blue-grays after beating up reds (''sarkanos'') or lice-infested ones (''utainos'') – the ].<ref>{{cite book|last=Laima|first=Rita|year=2017|title=Skylarks and Rebels: A Memoir about the Soviet Russian Occupation of Latvia, Life in a Totalitarian State, and Freedom |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=20UwDwAAQBAJ|access-date=11 April 2018|publisher=]|isbn=978-3-8382-1034-6|quote=The Latvian legionnaires did not subscribe to Nazi ideology. They fought solely for their country, Latvia. In their popular wartime song "Every saturday night" (“''Ik katru sestdien's vakaru''”) they promised to beat up the utainos (lice-infested Russians) and then "trounce the blue-grays" (a reference to the Germans and their uniforms).}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Bankovičs|first=Vilnis|translator=Māris Roze|year=2015|title=Driven West, Taken East: A World War Ii Memoir of the Eastern Front |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NrebCgAAQBAJ|access-date=11 April 2018|publisher=]|isbn=978-1-5144-0362-4|quote=When we were tired and fed up with the constant drill, we sang for spite of the Fritzes and for gratification for ourselves: Mēs sitīsim tos sarkanos—arvien, arvien. Pēc tam tos zili pelēkos—arvien, arvien)}}</ref> | |||
=== Netherlands and Belgium === | |||
==== Mof (pejorative) ==== | |||
In ] the most common term for the ], after the regular/official "Duitse", is ''mof''. It is regarded as a pejorative term, used exclusively for Germans and reflecting Dutch resentment of the ] during the ] and the respective German actions.<ref name="ReferenceA">Prisma Etymologisch woordenboek, {{ISBN|90-274-9199-2}}. "''Mof heeft historisch gezien niet de huidige betekenis (die van een verwijzing naar de Duitsers en hun acties tijdens de Tweede wereldoorlog) maar …''"</ref> | |||
In the late 16th century the area just beyond the current northeast border between the Netherlands and Germany now known as ] and ], as well as the people that lived there, used to be referred to as ''Muffe''. Some time later it evolved into an informal designation, still not a pejorative, of someone from Germany in general; however the term seemed to have died out around 1900. Then it was revived to a far greater use and with negative connotations ever since ] in 1940.<ref name="Why Germans are called moffen"> (])</ref> | |||
A popular humorous (but false) etymology of the word ''mof'' by the ] is that it is a ] abbreviation meaning ''Menschen ohne Freunde'' ("people without friends"). | |||
Germany was known as ''Mofrika'', an amalgamation of ''mof'' and ''Afrika'', during WW2.<ref>, Enne Koops, ''Historiek'', 19 October 2019</ref> | |||
==== Pruus(j) ==== | |||
''Pruus'' or ''Pruusj'', is a friendly but somewhat mocking term, used in the south eastern part of The Netherlands as part of the '] dialect'. | |||
==== Poep ==== | |||
''Poep'' is a term used in the northern eastern part of The Netherlands, in the province of ], referring to a German from nearby ]. It is said that the etymological reference points to the German word ''Bube'' (=boy) yet this is unconfirmed. | |||
* A ''blaaspoep'' is a German playing a brass instrument | |||
* ''blaaspoepenmuziek'' is German brass band music | |||
* ''Poepenland'' refers to Germany | |||
<ref>{{cite web|url=https://etymologiebank.nl/trefwoord/poep4|title = Zoekresultaten}}</ref> | |||
=== Poland === | |||
==== Fryc (pejorative) ==== | |||
Means ], and comes from the German name ], which is a diminutive of Friedrich. German trade and settlements acquainted Poles with this name. German coming to Poland was actually a novice hence was called ''Fryc''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://pl.wikisource.org/Encyklopedia_staropolska/Fryc |title=Encyklopedia staropolska – Fryc |publisher=pl.wikisource.org |access-date=2020-06-09}}</ref> | |||
==== Pluder (pejorative) ==== | |||
A pejorative and historical term that came from ] being the part of wardrobe.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sjp.pl/pluder |title=Słownik języka polskiego – Pluder |publisher=sjp.pl |access-date=2020-06-09}}</ref> | |||
==== Prusak (pejorative) ==== | |||
A Polish term for an inhabitant of ] and for the species of bugs called ], and it is also a contemptuous term for a German.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sjp.pwn.pl/slowniki/prusak.html |title=Słownik języka polskiego PWN – Prusak |publisher=sjp.pwn.pl |access-date=2024-08-09}}</ref> | |||
==== Szkop (pejorative) ==== | |||
Contemptuous term for a German soldier of the ''Wehrmacht'' during World War II as the word ''szkop'' in ] meant a wether, or castrated ram.<ref>{{cite web |title=szkop |url=https://sjp.pwn.pl/poradnia/haslo/;4856 |website=Poradnia językowa PWN |access-date=10 August 2024 |language=pl}}</ref> | |||
==== Szwab (pejorative) ==== | |||
Derives from ], a historical Germanic tribe. Used extensively during and after World War II. | |||
=== Russia === | |||
Kolbasnik, {{lang|ru|колбасник}} – an outdated (used mostly before 1940s)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://translate.academic.ru/%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B1%D0%B0%D1%81%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BA/ru/de/ |title=колбасник – с русского на немецкий |publisher=Translate.academic.ru |date= |accessdate=2022-04-12}}</ref> pejorative term, which verbally meant "a sausage-maker". | |||
=== Spain === | |||
==== Tudesco (historical) ==== | |||
In ] (for example in '']''), ''tudesco'' (cognate with ''deutsch'' and the Italian ''tedesco'') was used sometimes as a general name for Germans<ref name="Don Quixote 2 LIV">'']'', ], ]: ] meets some pilgrims (''alemán o tudesco'') from ].</ref> and sometimes restricted to ].<ref name="DRAE">'''' in the ].</ref><ref name="Don Quixote">''Don Quixote'', ]: ''¿Cuántos son los '''alemanes, tudescos''', franceses, españoles, italianos y esguízaros?'' "How many are the Almains, Dutch, Frenchmen, Spaniards, Italians and Swiss?"</ref> | |||
=== Switzerland === | |||
==== Gummihals (pejorative) ==== | |||
German for ''rubber-neck''. The term has been verified to be in use since the 1970s at least. Its actual meaning is subject to debate. Theories include the stereotype of Germans talking too much or nodding their heads endlessly when listening to superiors.<ref>Bruno Ziauddin: Grüezi Gummihälse. Warum uns die Deutschen manchmal auf die Nerven gehen. Rowohlt, Reinbek 2008, {{ISBN|978-3-499-62403-2}}</ref> | |||
==== Schwab (pejorative) ==== | |||
The ordinary (non-pejorative) meaning is people from ] (roughly Baden-Württemberg) in South Germany, neighbouring Switzerland, but in Switzerland it is used for any German. A strengthening is Sauschwabe. | |||
=== Turkey === | |||
Hans and Helga, the German names. ] or Alamancı, often used pejoratively, refers to Germans of Turkish origin. | |||
== See also == | |||
<!-- New links in alphabetical order please --> | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
== References == | |||
{{reflist}} | |||
{{ethnic slurs}} | |||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Terms Used For Germans, List Of}} | |||
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Latest revision as of 04:37, 16 December 2024
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There are many terms for the Germans. In English the demonym, or noun, is German. During the early Renaissance, "German" implied that the person spoke German as a native language. Until the German unification, people living in what is now Germany were named for the region in which they lived: examples are Bavarians and Brandenburgers.
Some terms are humorous or pejorative slang, and used mainly by people from other countries, although they can be used in a self-deprecating way by German people themselves. Other terms are serious or tongue-in-cheek attempts to coin words as alternatives to the ambiguous standard terms.
Many pejorative terms for Germans in various countries originated during the two World Wars.
English
Hun (pejorative)
Hun (or The Hun) is a term that originally refers to the nomadic Huns of the Migration Period. Beginning in World War I it became an often used pejorative seen on war posters by Western Allied powers and the basis for a criminal characterisation of the Germans as barbarians with no respect for civilisation and humanitarian values having unjust reactions.
The wartime association of the term with Germans is believed to have been inspired by an earlier address to Imperial German troops by Kaiser Wilhelm II. What is dubbed the "Hun speech" (Hunnenrede) was delivered on 27 July 1900, when he bade farewell to the German expeditionary corps sailing from the port of Bremerhaven to take part in suppressing the Boxer Rebellion. The relevant part of the speech was:
Kommt ihr vor den Feind, so wird derselbe geschlagen! Pardon wird nicht gegeben! Gefangene werden nicht gemacht! Wer euch in die Hände fällt, sei euch verfallen! Wie vor tausend Jahren die Hunnen unter ihrem König Etzel sich einen Namen gemacht, der sie noch jetzt in Überlieferung und Märchen gewaltig erscheinen läßt, so möge der Name Deutsche in China auf 1000 Jahre durch euch in einer Weise bestätigt werden, daß es niemals wieder ein Chinese wagt, einen Deutschen scheel anzusehen!
When you meet the enemy, he will be defeated! No quarter will be given! No prisoners will be taken! Those who fall into your hands are forfeit to you! Just as a thousand years ago, the Huns under their King Etzel made a name for themselves which shows them as mighty in tradition and myth, so shall you establish the name of Germans in China for 1000 years, in such a way that a Chinese will never again dare to look askance at a German.
The theme of Hunnic savagery was then developed in a speech of August Bebel in the Reichstag in which he recounted details of the cruelty of the German expedition which were taken from soldiers' letters home, styled the Hunnenbriefe (letters from the Huns). The Kaiser's speech was widely reported in the European press at that time.
The term "Hun" from this speech was later used for the Germans by British and other Allied propaganda during the war. The comparison was helped by the spiked Pickelhaube helmet worn by German forces until 1916, which would be reminiscent of images depicting ancient warrior helmets (not necessarily that of actual historical Huns). This usage, emphasising the idea that the Germans were barbarians, was reinforced by the propaganda utilised throughout the war. The French songwriter Théodore Botrel described the Kaiser as "an Attila, without remorse", launching "cannibal hordes". By coincidence, Gott mit uns ("God is with us"), a motto first used in the Kingdom of Prussia and later the German Empire, may have contributed to the popularisation of 'Huns' as British Army slang for Germans by misreading 'uns' for 'Huns'.
The usage of the term "Hun" to describe Germans resurfaced during World War II, although less frequently than in the previous war. For example in 1941, Winston Churchill said in a broadcast speech: "There are less than 70,000,000 malignant Huns, some of whom are curable and others killable, most of whom are already engaged in holding down Austrians, Czechs, Poles and the many other ancient races they now bully and pillage." Later that year Churchill referred to the invasion of the Soviet Union as "the dull, drilled, docile brutish masses of the Hun soldiery, plodding on like a swarm of crawling locusts." During this time American President Franklin D. Roosevelt also referred to the German people in this way, saying that an Allied invasion into Southern France would surely "be successful and of great assistance to Eisenhower in driving the Huns from France."
Fritz
British soldiers employed a variety of epithets for the Germans. Fritz, a German pet form of Friedrich, was popular in both World War I and World War II.
Heinie (pejorative)
The Americans and Canadians referred to Germans, especially German soldiers, as Heinies, from a diminutive of the common German male proper name Heinrich. For example, in the film 1941 the Slim Pickens character calls a German officer "Mr Hynee Kraut!"
Heinie is also a colloquial term for buttocks, in use since the 1920s. In German, Heini is a common colloquial term with a slightly pejorative meaning similar to "moron" or "idiot", but has a different origin.
Jerry
Jerry was a nickname given to Germans mostly during the Second World War by soldiers and civilians of the Allied nations, in particular by the British. The nickname was originally created during World War I. The term is the basis for the name of the jerrycan.
The name may simply be an alteration of the word German. Alternatively, Jerry may possibly be derived from the stahlhelm introduced in 1916, which was said by British soldiers to resemble a "jerry" (chamber pot).
Kraut (pejorative)
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Kraut is a German word recorded in English from 1918 onwards as a derogatory term for a German, particularly a German soldier during World War I. The term came up after the American entry into World War I, which followed the Turnip Winter and had resulted in the food trade stop for Germany through neutral states. The analogy of this term is the starving soldier of World War I, who ran out of supplies for a long war-period and needed to eat wild cabbage.
Before the Second World War the term was used in relation to cabbage, because anti-German boycotts and de facto trade limitations hit Germany's food imports. Early American war propaganda used the language in such a manner that 'Kraut' and 'Krauthead' gave the Germans less dignity.
In the 18th century, poor Swiss German immigrants to the US were described as Krauts because they consumed sauerkraut. Sauerkraut was also a common food served on German ships to fight scurvy, while the British used lime and got called limey. In Switzerland it was a food preserved for hard winters that could go on for half a year.
The stereotype of a sauerkraut-eating German appears in Jules Verne's depiction of the evil, German industrialist Schultze, who is an avid sauerkraut eater in The Begum's Fortune. Schultze's enemy is an Alsatian who hates sauerkraut but pretends to love it to win his enemy's confidence.
The rock music genre krautrock has been commonplace in music journalism since the early 1970s and is of English invention.
Nazi (pejorative)
Nazi, a shortening of Nationalsozialist (National Socialist) (attested since 1903, as a shortening of national-sozial, since in German the nati- in national is approximately pronounced Nazi. A homonymic term Nazi was in use before the rise of the NSDAP in Bavaria as a pet name for Ignaz and (by extension from that) a derogatory word for a backwards peasant, which may have influenced the use of that abbreviation by the Nazis′ opponents and its avoidance by the Nazis themselves.
Ted
"Ted", and "Teds", from Tedeschi, the Italian word for Germans, became the term used by Allied soldiers during the Italian campaign of World War II.
Teuton (poetic)
In a more poetical sense Germans can be referred to as Teutons. The usage of the word in this term has been observed in English since 1833. The word originated via an ancient Germanic tribe, the Teutons (see also Teutonic and the Teutonic Order).
Boche (pejorative)
Pronounced [boʃ], boche is a derisive term used by the Allies during World War I, often collectively ("the Boche" meaning "the Germans"). It is a shortened form of the French slang portmanteau alboche, itself derived from Allemand ("German") and caboche ("head" or "cabbage"). The alternative spellings "Bosch" or "Bosche" are sometimes found. According to a 1916 article in the New York Times magazine Current History, the origin is as follows:
Boche is an abbreviation of caboche, (compare bochon, an abbreviation of cabochon). This is a recognized French word used familiarly for "head," especially a big, thick head, ("slow-pate"). It is derived from the Latin word caput and the suffix oceus. Boche seems to have been used first in the underworld of Paris about 1860, with the meaning of a disagreeable, troublesome fellow. In the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 it was not applied to the Germans, but soon afterward it was applied by the Parisian printers to their German assistants because of the reputed slowness of comprehension of these foreign printers. The epithet then used was tête de boche, which had the meaning of tête carrée d'Allemand (German blockhead or imbécile). The next step was to apply boche to Germans in general.
Squarehead (pejorative)
"Squarehead", a generic derogatory term for people from Germany and Scandinavia; Commonly used for Germans during the First and Second World War, but found in a collection of slang from 1906 relating particularly to German military style.
The term Boxhead, commonly used after World War II within the British Armed Forces in the former West Germany is derived from this.
Erics
First came to prominence in the English 1983 television show Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. It was a term used by the English and Irish when referring to Germans without them knowing it was them being talked about.
Other countries
Austria
Piefke (pejorative)
The Austrian ethnic slur for a German is Piefke. Like its Bavarian counterpart Saupreiß (literally: sow-Prussian), the term Piefke historically characterized only the people of Prussia, and not people of other Germanic states. There are two hypotheses on how the term developed; both of them suggest an origin in the 1860s. One theory suggests that the term came from the name of the popular Prussian composer Johann Gottfried Piefke, who composed some of the most iconic German military marches, for example Preußens Gloria and the Königgrätzer Marsch – particularly since Piefke and his brother conducted the Prussian music corps in the parade in Austria following the Prussian victory of the Austro-Prussian War in 1866. The second theory suggests an origin in the Second Schleswig War in 1864, where Prussians and Austrians were allies. A Prussian soldier with the name Piefke and a stereotypically Prussian gruff and snappy manner made such a negative impression on his Austrian comrades that the term came to refer to all Prussians.
Since Prussia no longer exists, the term now refers to the cliché of a pompous northern Protestant German in general and a Berliner in particular. However, the citizens of the free Hanseatic cities and the former northern duchies of Oldenburg, Brunswick and Mecklenburg are also quite offended by the terms Piefke and also by Saupreiß (a slur for any German who is not native Bavarian). In 1990, Austrian playwright Felix Mitterer wrote and co-directed a TV mini-series, Die Piefke-Saga, about Germans on holiday in Tyrol. Sometimes the alteration "Piefkinese" is used. Some Austrians use the playful term "Piefkinesisch" (Pief-Chinese) to refer to German spoken in a distinctly northern German – that is, not Austrian – accent.
Marmeladinger (pejorative)
The term Marmeladinger originated in the trenches of World War I. It is derived from the German word "Marmelade", which is a fruit preserve. While Austrian infantry rations included butter and lard as spread, German troops had to make do with cheaper ersatz "Marmelade". They disdainfully called it Heldenbutter "hero's butter" or Hindenburgfett. This earned them ridicule from their Austrian allies who would call them Marmeladebrüder (jam brothers) or Marmeladinger (-inger being an Austrian derivational suffix describing a person through a characteristic item or action). Germans would conversely call Austrians Kamerad Schnürschuh "comrade lace-up shoe" because the Austrian infantry boots used laces while the German boots did not. This term has survived, but it is rarely used.
China
Jiamen (colloquial)
In Shanghainese, a German can be colloquially called a Jiamen (茄門/茄门), which is an adaptation of the English word "German".
This word carries a somewhat negative meaning of a stereotypical German being proud, withdrawn, cold and serious. Today, this phrase, when pronounced as "Ga-Men", can mean "disdainful, indifferent, or uninterested in someone or something".
Chile
Among the Mapuche-Huilliche of Futahuillimapu in southern Chile, German settlers are known as leupe lonko or blond heads.
Finland
During the Lapland War between Finland and Germany, the terms saku, sakemanni, hunni and lapinpolttaja (burner of Lapland, see: Lapland War) became widely used among the Finnish soldiers, saku and sakemanni being modified from saksalainen (German).
France
Boches (pejorative, historical)
Boches is an apheresis of the word alboche, which in turn is a blend of allemand (French for German) and caboche (slang for head). It was used mainly during the First and Second World Wars, and directed especially at German soldiers.
Casque à pointe (historical)
Casque à pointe is derived from the French name for the traditional Prussian military helmets worn by German soldiers from the 1840s until World War I. In modern French Sign Language the word for Germany continues to be an index finger pointed to the top of the forehead, simulating the Pickelhaube.
Chleuh (pejorative)
Chleuh derives from the name of the Chleuh, a Berber ethnic group in Morocco. It also denotes the absence of words beginning in Schl- in French.
Germany
Ossi/Wessi
The term Ossi, derived from the German word Osten which means east, is used in Germany for people who were born in the area of the former German Democratic Republic.
The term Wessi, derived from the German word Westen which means west, is used in Germany for people who were born or live in the old states of Germany (those that formed the Federal Republic or "West Germany" before reunification). Sometimes it is also modified to "Besserwessi", from the German word Besserwisser which means Know-it-all, reflecting the stereotype that people from the Western part of Germany are arrogant.
In 2010 there was a lawsuit in Germany because a job applicant was denied employment and her application was found to have the notation "Ossi" and a minus sign written on her application documents. A German court decided that denial of employment for such a reason would be discrimination, but not ethnic discrimination, since "East German" is not an ethnicity.
Kartoffel / Alman / Biodeutscher
The term Kartoffel (German for potato) is a derogatory slang term for Germans without migratory roots. In the 19th century it was used to describe areas of Germany in a need of eating potatoes like "potatosaxons". Gastarbeiter used the term "potatoeater" for Germans, while "spaghettieater" meant migrant Italians and "kebabeaters" Turks. Today the term is often also used ironically by members of the described group for themselves. Alman and Biodeutscher ("biological German") are similar terms coming out of the migrant community. Biodeutsch has also been adopted by some in the New Right in Germany to refer to a supposed 'genetic origin' of 'true' Germans.
Saupreiß
The term Saupreiß, derived from the German words Sau (= 'sow') which means female pig and Preuße which means Prussian, is used in Bavaria for people who were born or live in any German area north of the Danube river, or at least north of the Bavarian border. A number of other terms exist. Similar to the Polish Szwab, the term Schwab can be pejorative and be used to express Schwabenhass. Various – more or less good-humoured – nicknames are being used between the different German states or areas, such as Gelbfüßler ("Yellowfeet") for the inhabitants of Baden.
Hungary
Sváb
The term sváb derives from the German word "Schwaben", describing people from Swabia (ger: Schwaben). The first German-speaking people, Saxon merchants and miners, later becoming Carpathian Germans, first arrived to the Carpathian basin (then mostly under rule of the Kingdom of Hungary) in the 12th century, their numbers and territory of settlement were limited, mainly in towns. In the 18th century various German-speaking peasant groups settled in Hungary in large numbers to inhabit the vast territories being depopulated during the Osman rule, they are known as Danube Swabians (Donauschwaben), though most of their forefathers have Bavarian or Thuringian roots. They settled mainly where the destruction was most severe, especially around Buda (now part of Budapest), Danube valley and southern part of Hungary. Although they have assimilated in large parts until the beginning of the 20th century, they maintained strong cultural identity up to date. These people, and through them German people in general are called svábok (plural), having a hint of pejorative nature.
Labanc
"Labanc" redirects here. For the ice hockey player, see Kevin Labanc.The term labanc came into use during Rákóczi's War of Independence. It was specifically used for the soldiers fighting for the Austrian/German soldiers of the Habsburg rulers, as well as for the Hungarians siding with the Habsburgs. There are multiple theories about where it came from, such as being a strange concatenation of the German term "Lauf Hans!" (Run Hans!) or the French term Le Blanc (the white one), it might also be a reference to the Hungarian word lobonc which referred to the large, common wig, which used to be common in the Vienna court at the time. Now Labanc is exclusively used for Austrians, but has become rare in usage as there are no tensions between the two countries. The expression describes a mentality or behaviour that is counter to general Hungarian interest and describes persons not content with "true" Hungarian values.
Israel
Yekke
For the Jews who came from the German speaking world, there was a word in use for many years : "Yekke", in Yiddish and Hebrew. One of the explanations of the name in Hebrew is "Yehudi Kshe Havana" יהודי קשה הבנה "A Jew who hardly understands" for the so called "stiffness of their mentality".
Italy
Crucco (pejorative)
The term crucco derived from the Croatian and Slovenian kruh ("bread"). Italian soldiers invented this word during World War I when they captured some hungry Austrian-Croatian and Austrian-Slovenian soldiers who asked for "kruh". Later, during World War II, and still today, applied to all German-speaking people.
Tuder / Tudro (pejorative)
Tudro designates Germans as a people lacking flexibility and fantasy, but also emotional intelligence. It is more widely adopted to describe a sturdy and stupid man. Tudro is mainly used in Northern Italy. Tuder is the Lombard usage of the word.
Fascia rossa (pejorative)
The term Fascia Rossa is an Italian designation referring to German soldiers and specifically denotes their red armband adorned with a swastika, this term is mainly used in Southern Italy.
Latvia
Fricis
Fricis derives from the German name Fritz.
Zili pelēkie
Zili pelēkie, literally translated, means "The Blue-Grays", from the Prussian war uniforms of the pre-World War I era. The term appeared in a popular Latvian legionnaire wartime song Ik katru sestdien's vakaru ("Every saturday night") about trouncing the blue-grays after beating up reds (sarkanos) or lice-infested ones (utainos) – the Soviets.
Netherlands and Belgium
Mof (pejorative)
In Dutch the most common term for the German people, after the regular/official "Duitse", is mof. It is regarded as a pejorative term, used exclusively for Germans and reflecting Dutch resentment of the German occupation of the Netherlands during the Second World War and the respective German actions.
In the late 16th century the area just beyond the current northeast border between the Netherlands and Germany now known as East Frisia and Emsland, as well as the people that lived there, used to be referred to as Muffe. Some time later it evolved into an informal designation, still not a pejorative, of someone from Germany in general; however the term seemed to have died out around 1900. Then it was revived to a far greater use and with negative connotations ever since Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940.
A popular humorous (but false) etymology of the word mof by the Dutch is that it is a German abbreviation meaning Menschen ohne Freunde ("people without friends").
Germany was known as Mofrika, an amalgamation of mof and Afrika, during WW2.
Pruus(j)
Pruus or Pruusj, is a friendly but somewhat mocking term, used in the south eastern part of The Netherlands as part of the 'Limburg dialect'.
Poep
Poep is a term used in the northern eastern part of The Netherlands, in the province of Drenthe, referring to a German from nearby Westphalia. It is said that the etymological reference points to the German word Bube (=boy) yet this is unconfirmed.
- A blaaspoep is a German playing a brass instrument
- blaaspoepenmuziek is German brass band music
- Poepenland refers to Germany
Poland
Fryc (pejorative)
Means novice, and comes from the German name Fritz, which is a diminutive of Friedrich. German trade and settlements acquainted Poles with this name. German coming to Poland was actually a novice hence was called Fryc.
Pluder (pejorative)
A pejorative and historical term that came from Hose (clothing) being the part of wardrobe.
Prusak (pejorative)
A Polish term for an inhabitant of Prussia and for the species of bugs called German cockroach, and it is also a contemptuous term for a German.
Szkop (pejorative)
Contemptuous term for a German soldier of the Wehrmacht during World War II as the word szkop in Polish meant a wether, or castrated ram.
Szwab (pejorative)
Derives from Suebi, a historical Germanic tribe. Used extensively during and after World War II.
Russia
Kolbasnik, колбасник – an outdated (used mostly before 1940s) pejorative term, which verbally meant "a sausage-maker".
Spain
Tudesco (historical)
In Early Modern Spanish (for example in Don Quixote), tudesco (cognate with deutsch and the Italian tedesco) was used sometimes as a general name for Germans and sometimes restricted to Lower Saxony.
Switzerland
Gummihals (pejorative)
German for rubber-neck. The term has been verified to be in use since the 1970s at least. Its actual meaning is subject to debate. Theories include the stereotype of Germans talking too much or nodding their heads endlessly when listening to superiors.
Schwab (pejorative)
The ordinary (non-pejorative) meaning is people from Swabia (roughly Baden-Württemberg) in South Germany, neighbouring Switzerland, but in Switzerland it is used for any German. A strengthening is Sauschwabe.
Turkey
Hans and Helga, the German names. Almancı or Alamancı, often used pejoratively, refers to Germans of Turkish origin.
See also
References
- Nicoletta Gullace. "Barbaric Anti-Modernism: Representations of the "Hun" in Britain, North America, Australia and Beyond". Picture This: World War I Posters and Visual Culture.
- Die Reden Kaiser Wilhelms II, Hg. v. Johannes Penzler. Bd. 2: 1896–1900. Leipzig o.J., S. 209–212. Deutsches Historisches Museum
- Klaus Mühlhahn (2007). Kolonialkrieg in China: die Niederschlagung der Boxerbewegung 1900–1901. Ch. Links Verlag. ISBN 978-3-86153-432-7.
- "Quand un Attila, sans remords, / Lance ses hordes cannibales, / Tout est bon qui meurtrit et mord: / Les chansons, aussi, sont des balles!", from "Theodore Botrel", by Edgar Preston T.P.'s Journal of Great Deeds of the Great War, 27 February 1915
- Original wavelength
- "PRIME MINISTER WINSTON CHURCHILL'S BROADCAST "REPORT ON THE WAR"".
- Churchill, Winston S. 1941. "WINSTON CHURCHILL'S BROADCAST ON THE SOVIET-GERMAN WAR", London, June 22, 1941
- Winston Churchill. 1953. "Triumph and Tragedy" (volume 6 of The Second World War). Boston: Houghton-Mifflin. Ch. 4, p. 70
- "The English expressions coined in WW1". BBC News. 22 February 2014.
- Allen, Irving (1983). The Language of Ethnic Conflict: Social Organization and Lexical Culture. Columbia University Press. p. 57. ISBN 0-231-05557-9.
- "etymonline, origin of "heinie"". Etymonline.com. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
- Heinie, Merriam-Webster Dictionary
- "etymonline, origin of "Jerry"". Etymonline.com. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
- Beale, Paul; Partridge, Eric (2003). Shorter Slang Dictionary. Routledge. p. 119. ISBN 978-1-134-87952-6.
- Porter, Ken; Wynn, Stephen (2014). Laindon in the Great War. Pen and Sword. ISBN 978-1-4738-4801-6.
- Dowell, Ben (18 February 2014). "Don't mention the Jerries: BBC changes World War I programme title". Radio Times. Retrieved 24 November 2018.
- ^ , Nazi, Etymology Online, citing Friedrich Kluge, Elmar Seebold, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 24. Auflage (Walter de Gruyter, Berlin/New York 2002, ISBN 3-11-017473-1)
- Henrik Gottlieb; Jens Erik Morgensen, eds. (2007). Dictionary Visions, Research and Practice: Selected Papers from the 12th International Symposium on Lexicography, Copenhagen 2004 (illustrated ed.). Amsterdam: J. Benjamins Pub. Co. pp. 247–249. ISBN 978-9027223340. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
- Anson Rabinbach; Sander Gilman, eds. (2013). The Third Reich Sourcebook. Berkeley, California: California University Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-520-95514-1.
- Chapin, Sasha (5 September 2017). "Americans Are Confronting an Alarming Question: Are Many of Our Fellow Citizens 'Nazis'?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
- NZ Army Board (1946) One More River: With the Second New Zealand Division from Florence to Trieste p42 Army Board Wellington (ISBN none)
- Bob Pearson (2014) A Peg Leg Hero Australian Self-Publishing Group ISBN 9781925011760 p.111
- "etymonline, origin of "teuton"". Etymonline.com. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
- National Library of Scotland Digital Archive (click "More information")
- Boche Archived 21 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
- Current History. April–September 1916. p. 525. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
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ignored (help) - Squarehead at Merriam-Webster
- Squarehead at OED
- Peter Wehle. "Die Wiener Gaunersprache", 1977, p. 79
- Anton Karl Mally: „Piefke". Herkunft und Rolle eines österreichischen Spitznamens für den Preußen, den Nord- und den Reichsdeutschen, in: Muttersprache. Zeitschrift zur Pflege und Erforschung der deutschen Sprache, 1984, number 4, pp. 257-286.
- Rumian Cisterna, Salvador (17 September 2020). Gallito Catrilef: Colonialismo y defensa de la tierra en San Juan de la Costa a mediados del siglo XX (M.Sc. thesis) (in Spanish). University of Los Lagos.
- Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Boche" . Encyclopedia Americana.
- "The sign for Allemagne in LSF on video – Sématos". www.sematos.eu. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
- "Diskriminierung: "Ossi"-Streit endet mit Vergleich – SPIEGEL ONLINE". Spiegel.de. 17 October 2010. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
- "Wie die Gelbfüßler zu ihrem Namen kamen, oder auch nicht (How the Yellowfeet got their name, or didn't)". Wochenblatt. 18 August 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
- Kuruc or Labanc? Hungary’s Eternal Fault Line — Part I
- Laima, Rita (2017). Skylarks and Rebels: A Memoir about the Soviet Russian Occupation of Latvia, Life in a Totalitarian State, and Freedom. ibidem Press. ISBN 978-3-8382-1034-6. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
The Latvian legionnaires did not subscribe to Nazi ideology. They fought solely for their country, Latvia. In their popular wartime song "Every saturday night" ("Ik katru sestdien's vakaru") they promised to beat up the utainos (lice-infested Russians) and then "trounce the blue-grays" (a reference to the Germans and their uniforms).
- Bankovičs, Vilnis (2015). Driven West, Taken East: A World War Ii Memoir of the Eastern Front. Translated by Māris Roze. Xlibris. ISBN 978-1-5144-0362-4. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
When we were tired and fed up with the constant drill, we sang for spite of the Fritzes and for gratification for ourselves: Mēs sitīsim tos sarkanos—arvien, arvien. Pēc tam tos zili pelēkos—arvien, arvien)
- Prisma Etymologisch woordenboek, ISBN 90-274-9199-2. "Mof heeft historisch gezien niet de huidige betekenis (die van een verwijzing naar de Duitsers en hun acties tijdens de Tweede wereldoorlog) maar …"
- Why Germans are called "moffen" (Dutch)
- Waarom noem(d)en we Duitsers ‘moffen’?, Enne Koops, Historiek, 19 October 2019
- "Zoekresultaten".
- "Encyklopedia staropolska – Fryc". pl.wikisource.org. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
- "Słownik języka polskiego – Pluder". sjp.pl. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
- "Słownik języka polskiego PWN – Prusak". sjp.pwn.pl. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
- "szkop". Poradnia językowa PWN (in Polish). Retrieved 10 August 2024.
- "колбасник – с русского на немецкий". Translate.academic.ru. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
- Don Quixote, Second Part, chapter LIV, Miguel de Cervantes: Sancho Panza meets some pilgrims (alemán o tudesco) from Augsburg.
- tudesco in the Diccionario de la Real Academia Española.
- Don Quixote, Second part, chapter V: ¿Cuántos son los alemanes, tudescos, franceses, españoles, italianos y esguízaros? "How many are the Almains, Dutch, Frenchmen, Spaniards, Italians and Swiss?"
- Bruno Ziauddin: Grüezi Gummihälse. Warum uns die Deutschen manchmal auf die Nerven gehen. Rowohlt, Reinbek 2008, ISBN 978-3-499-62403-2