Teutonic

Teutonic or Teuton(s) means Germanic. It may refer to

• Germanic peoples
• Germanic languages
• A famous German historical military order, the Teutonic Knights.

The word Teutonic derives at once from both the Latin name for a tribe who were thought by the Romans to be Germanic, die Teutonen, "the Teutons" and, from the Germanic word tiutisch (New High German deutsch = German), originally meaning "belonging to the people". The Romans identified die Teutonen as a Germanic tribe, and therefore Roman writers began to use the term Teutonicus as a synonym for their existing word for Germanic peoples, Germanicus. Today many scholars think that die Teutonen were not a Germanic tribe at all, but rather, that they were a Celtic tribe. It has been suggested that Teutone derives from the Celtic word tuath meaning "the people" or "the tribe" (as in the mythical Irish race, the Tuatha de Danaan, the "tribe of Danaan"). ^[1] Tiutisch is the source of the German word Deutsch, as well as the English word "Dutch". English is considered a Germanic language by linguists. By 900 Germans writing in Latin used Teutonicus, instead of the earlier Theodisca, which was a Latin word form of the Germanic tiutisch, which meant Germanic. It appears they thought it was an alternative form, of the same Germanic derivation, as Theodisca. The words Teutone and tiutisch thus merged into one modern term, Teutonic. The Italian form Tedesco derives from the older Theodisca. The term was used by the economist William Z. Ripley to designate one of the three "races" of Europe which by later writers was called the Nordic race. As a descriptive adjective relating to personal behavior, the term conveys, formidable thoroughness. ^[2]

References and resources

Teutonic Listing in The Free Dictionary Sources for the Word Teutonic

3. www.potterpuppetpals.com