The Latin root theodiscus is actually just the latinised form of the Old High German thiutisk from Indo-European teuta and means “people”. Similarly, Alemanni means “all men”. The Saxons were named after their typical sword or fighting knive, the Seax or Sax. It’s still discussed where the term “German” originates from.

Just to add one more sidenote: France is of course named after the Franks, a German people who lived next door to the Alemanni and the Saxons.

Any idea about how English came to call it Germany?

I’m guessing saksa is more like the others and based on the Saxon people that once lived there rather than the modern region named for the same

the “Alemanni” who lived in modern day Germany and bordered modern day france.

Alemans still live in Baden-Württemberg, parts of Bavaria, Switzerland and I think there’s also a splattering in Austria. Basically, High Germans which aren’t Austro-Bavarian (same culture, different kingdoms) are Alemans.

“Saksa” is derived from the German region “Saxony”.

That one can be a bit misleading: The modern state of Saxony has nothing to do with the Saxon tribe, the place the title was applied to slowly drifted over the ages. They’re much more related to Prussians and Thuringians and even Franks, going all the way over to Flanders and Holland, than Saxons proper. (Holland, not Netherlands).

Here’s a rough splotch of where Old Saxon was spoken, which you can consider “core Saxony”. At least linguistics-wise it spread quite a bit especially during the days of the Hanse (becoming a minority language as far up as Estonia), but it definitely stops before arriving at a place where “goose meat” means “could you please”. Utter gibberish.

thiutisk/ theodisk is from a Germanic/ old high German root meaning “belonging to the people”

As is the root of most self descriptions, the name of a group for themselves means “we” or “the people” or “humans”.

Also the Dutch angle in cinema, named after the expressionist German film of the early 20th cinema (think Nosferatu)

You mean the heiliges römisches Reich deutscher Nation?

Tyksland it is! Thank you, @cholesterol.

Yeah, it’s always so confusing

Nobody talks about the Dutch :(

That’s nobodie’s business but the Turks Danish Netherlands

Or English speakers calling München Munich.

Also why the Nederlanders are called Dutch by English speakers. Since the Dutch descent from a bunch of Germanic tribes.

Das heilige römische Reich deutscher Nation has entered the chat.

Goes all the way back to at least Proto-Germanic *finnaz for Sami, possibly from “to travel by foot, walk”. Not terribly unrealistic given the semi-nomadic lifestyle of Sami, Sami and Suomi might just be the same word via general Uralic relatedness (and sound the same to Germanic ears anyway) also what’s now considered Finns was back then a rough assemblage of tribes consisting of multiple Uralic immigration waves known to Swedes as “Forest Finns”, as supposed to the herding Finns (ie. nowadays Sami) further north.

Which I guess makes Estonians Swamp Finns (in so far as Finland-Finns aren’t claiming that one for themselves with their swamp forests) and Hungarians… Paprika Finns.

Same with Hungary and Greece

I posted a few European Polandball comics here, I think it fits the mood

Polandball on a world scale might need some heavy moderation due to potential political debates

So that’s where all these god damn Voke people come from

Japan is Japan everywhere except Japan.

Without thinking much about it, my guess would be the United States of America.

Edit: my reasoning was that most countries translate USA verbatim to their language, as most replies here demonstrate.