Why do Romanians call Germans “the mute ones”?

The dictionary: what the word says about itself

The insult you use every day

What the dictionaries say

1. DEX '09

   “NEAMȚ, nemți, s. m. German or Austrian man. – From Slav. němĩcĩ.”

2. Șăineanu, 1929

   “Slav. NIEMITI, from NIEMU, mute: the Slavs considered as «mutes» their German neighbours whose language they did not understand.”

3. DER

   “Sl. němĭcĭ, from němŭ «barbar», cf. Greek némtzis, Bulg. němec, Alb. nemets, Hung. nemet, Pol. niemiec.”

Three dictionaries say the same thing: the word comes from Slavic and starts from “mute”. DER glosses němŭ as “barbar”, the foreigner, not the speechless man.

An everyday word today

The insult is audible only in the etymology. In today's dictionary neamț is a neutral word, and DEX marks as colloquial only some set phrases built on it. This page is about the history of a sound, not about people today.

The mirror pair: the other half of the story

“We speak, they are mute”?

In the traditional story — told here as a traditional story, not as settled fact — the Slavs called themselves “the speaking ones”, from slovo, “word”, while the neighbours stayed “the mutes”. The “mutes” half is certain: for the “speakers” half, linguists have not agreed for over a century.

Three candidates, no winner

The Britannica wrote as early as 1911 that the name of the Slavs had been derived “from slovo, a word, or slava, glory”, but “no explanation is satisfactory”. Today's lexicography prefers a third lead, a water name, and files slovo and slava under obsolete or alternative etymologies.

1. slovo, “word”TRADITIONAL STORY

   The lovely story: the Slavs, “the speaking ones”. Traditional, not proven.

2. slava, “glory”HYPOTHESIS

   The old rival of slovo, cited since 1911. It commands no consensus either.

3. a water nameHYPOTHESIS

   Today's preferred lead: a hydronym such as *Slovǫta, an old name of the Dnieper. Not certain either.

From here on: wherever “the speaking ones” appears, read “in the traditional story”.

The mechanism: everyone names their neighbours by sound

Everyone does this

The Slavs invented nothing. Every people baptizes its neighbours after the sound of incomprehension, and two examples survive in words we still use.

The story of walhaz, from “foreigner” to Vlachs and Welsh →

The evidence: who saw it and what survived

The witnesses, from Jordanes to the Saxons

Jordanes, sixth century

“Beginning at the source of the Vistula, the populous race of the Venethi dwell… yet they are chiefly called Sclaveni and Antes.”

The next passage describes their extent, from Noviodunum and Lake Mursian to the Dniester and the Vistula. Mierow's translation is in the public domain and is quoted word for word.

Procopius, paraphrased

Procopius distinguishes the Antae from the Sclaveni, but says both peoples spoke the same language and were formerly called Spori. The account comes from the 1911 Britannica; this page paraphrases it rather than quoting it directly.

What stayed in the ground

Three objects from the centuries of contact: handmade pots and dress fittings.

The guests of Transylvania

The colonization of Transylvania by Germans, later known as the Transylvanian Saxons, began under King Géza II of Hungary, between 1141 and 1162. The settlers guarded the borders; the fortified churches still carry their name.

The double inheritance: a Roman name, a Slavic insult

The Romanian paradox

Romanian kept Rome's name for itself and the Slavic insult for Germans. The neighbours kept their share too: the Germanic word for foreigners reached, through Slavic, the Romanians themselves — the Vlachs.

The story of the self-name, from Roman to Romanian →

The word, taken apart

Old Slavic němьcь means, piece by piece, “one who does not speak [Slavic]”: němъ, “mute”, plus the suffix -ьcь. A rival theory ties it to the name of the Germanic Nemetes tribe, with folk etymology from němъ — this page notes it and moves on with the “mute” sense, which the Romanian dictionaries support.

Five cognates, after DER

The Romanian etymological dictionary lists, beside the Slavic form, the cognates of five languages:

• Greek némtzis
• Bulg. němec
• Alb. nemets
• Hung. nemet
• Pol. niemiec

Find a cognate

Pick a language: the map flies to it, the rest dim, and the link to Old Slavic draws itself.

Old Slavic němьcь, from němъ, “mute” RECONSTRUCTED

Test yourself: five questions

Whose ears are these?

Five questions from this page. The score stays here, on this device, until you clear it.

1. 1 What did Slavic němъ mean?

   EnemyMuteGuestMerchant

   question 1 of 5

2. 2 Who called whom “the mutes”?

   The Germans named the SlavsThe Greeks named the RomansThe Slavs named the GermansThe Romans named the Dacians

   question 2 of 5

3. 3 What do we know for sure about “the Slavs, the speaking ones”?

   It is the proven etymologyAll linguists reject itIt comes from LatinIt is the traditional story, disputed

   question 3 of 5

4. 4 How did the Greeks hear foreign tongues?

   As musicAs silenceAs babble: barbarosAs command

   question 4 of 5

5. 5 Where did Germanic walhaz, “the foreigner”, end up?

   With the Greeks: barbarosWith the Romanians: Vlach, WallachiaWith the Slavs: slovoWith Rome: romanus

   question 5 of 5

Sources

Dictionaries first, then the old witnesses and modern etymologies. Every risky claim points at its source.

Dictionaries

• neamț: DEX '09, MDA2, Șăineanu, DER
• němьcь: the Proto-Slavic reconstruction, with descendants
• slověninъ: the Proto-Slavic reconstruction, with the three leads

Old witnesses

• Jordanes, Getica, transl. Mierow 1915
• Procopius, in the 1911 Britannica's account: the Slavs
• The Saxon settlement under Géza II, 1141–1162

Modern etymologies

• barbaros: from *barbar-, the echo of foreign speech
• walhaz, through Vlach, to the Romanians and Wallachia

Neighbouring stories

• From Roman to Romanian: rumanul-rob
• From walhaz to Vlachs and Welsh: valahul-galez

Type: Fraunces, Newsreader and Atkinson Hyperlegible, under the SIL Open Font Licence.