The Germanic nation is one of the ancient nations in Europe. Since the 5th century BC, it has been distributed in northern Europe around the North Sea and Baltic Sea in the form of tribal groups, which the ancient Romans called Germanic. About half a century BC, most Germanic people began to settle in the vast area between the east of the Rhine, the north of the Danube and the North Sea, which was called "Germania".
Germanic people are the general names of some ethnic groups with similar languages, cultures and customs. From 2000 to about the 4th century, these people lived in northern and central Europe. Germans do not call themselves Germans. In their long history, they may not consider themselves the same nation. After the great national migration, Scandinavians, Britons, Frisian and Germans evolved from Germans, and later these people evolved into Dutch, Swiss Germans, Canadians, Americans, Australians and South Africans. There are also many Germans in Austria. Today, many of these new ethnic groups are mixed with other ethnic groups.
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The earliest records about Germanic people came from classical writers in the 2nd century and 1 century. About 200 years ago, Germans began to use their own characters. The previous history can only be verified by means of archaeology and linguistics (comparative linguistics).
Linguists can basically reconstruct Germanic languages (also known as "pre-Germanic languages" or "pan-Germanic languages") by carefully comparing various Germanic languages (Gothic, Old Standard German, Old English and Old Scandinavian) and comparing Germanic languages with other Indo-European languages. The main results of these comparisons are:
* Germanic language belongs to Indo-European language family, which belongs to its western branch.
* Among Indo-European languages, Germanic is closest to Celtic and Old Italian. These three languages together constitute the old European language. In the first three or two thousand years, that is, in the early Bronze Age, Old European was the language of Central Europe. However, its exact location and time have not been verified or disputed today.
* Germanic languages are very similar, which probably means that they have co-evolved for a long time. Most linguists set the time when pre-Germanic language was separated from Celtic and ancient Italian as the first half of 2000.
* Germanic language is still in contact with Celtic after separation. Some Celtic words are borrowed from Germanic. In addition, Germanic also has an influence on Finnish. Some Germanic words appear in Finnish (such as King, kunningaz in Germanic, kuningas in Finnish, or Ring, ringaz in Germanic, ringas in Finnish, etc.). ).
The word "Germanic" was first used by the Greek historian Boshidoni. He first used this word about 80 years ago. Perhaps he heard this word when he was in contact with a small ethnic group in Central Europe, which cannot be verified today, and used it to address all Germanic peoples. It is possible that the name of such a small ethnic group later became the name of the whole ethnic group.
The origin and significance of the word "Germanic" is still inconclusive. The word "Rier" cannot be verified in Germanic language. Are Germans likely to call themselves Germans themselves?
Before 5 1, Caesar used the name Germanic in his Gaul War. Caesar called all ethnic groups east of the Rhine Germanic here. So far, the Romans have called people in western Europe Celts, while people in eastern Europe have called them Skettians. The Romans realized that the Germans were not Celts, but an independent nation.
Tacitus, a Roman historian, called "Germanic" a relatively new name in his Chronicle of Germanic. At first, only Tongel people were called Germans, and later all Germanic peoples were called Germans. Tacitus said that Gauls called the people east of the Rhine "Germans". Later, these peoples called themselves Germans. According to this statement, the word may come from Celtic.
Tacitus lists in detail the settlements of Germanic tribes from the Rhine River to the Vistula River, from the Danube River to the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.
Seriously speaking, only from this time on can we call these peoples Germans. In the past, there were many studies to infer the ancient Germanic people in the Stone Age and Bronze Age through archaeological research. After World War II, this research was completely abandoned.
Today, similar research has resumed in a very detailed academic scope, with the goal of using archaeological and linguistic research to obtain a whole image that is not inherently contradictory. Accordingly, people who study the Bronze Age in Northern Europe are almost certainly Germans. The relationship between the so-called Tomahawk people (2800-2200 BC) and the Germans is still controversial. Before the Stone Age (about 3500 BC to 2800 BC), the relationship between agricultural culture and Germanic people could almost be completely denied.
The latest theory, through the study of rivers and place names, holds that the Germans originated in the northern part of the mountains in central Germany today. But most scholars are skeptical about this theory.
In the past, scholars believed that Germanic was separated from other western Indo-European languages about 500 years ago because of the phonetic changes of Germanic. In this phonetic transition, for example, k becomes h through ch, or p becomes f and t becomes th.
The new research thinks that this change happened very late, probably before 1 century. The most important evidence is the national name of the Simbri people. In the late 2nd century, Simbri threatened northern Rome with Teutons. The hometown of these two peoples is today's Denmark. In Latin, Simbri's name is cimbri, not chimbri or himbri. Later, Germanic names were written in Latin as ch, such as chatti. Therefore, most scholars today believe that this kind of voice transfer has not yet started or been completed in the late 2nd century. Some place names handed down in the early days show that this theory is correct.
This view has a very important influence on Germanic linguistics. As a result, the so-called "pan-Germanic language" was formed in the first 2 to 1 century, and it split into many Germanic languages of its own in 1 century. Previously, Germanic was similar to Indo-European. This relatively old language has not been handed down, but its basic structure can be reconstructed.
history
The earliest reports about Germans came from their contact with Greeks and Romans.
About 330 years ago, the Greek actor Pythias set out from Marseille to report on the Beihai area and the ethnic groups living there. About 200 years ago, basta Nye, an East German, entered today's eastern Romania and fought Macedonia and other ethnic groups in the Balkans.
Germanic tribe
Germanic tribes living in northern Germany and Scandinavia can be roughly divided into North Germanic, West Germanic and East Germanic.
North Germanic branch
North Germans are Scandinavian Germans. They later evolved into Danes, Swedes, Norwegians and Icelanders. Archaeologists divide North Germanic people into East Germanic people and West Germanic people.
West Germanic people
West Germanic people include:
* Germans on the Elbe, such as Svibi, later evolved into Schwabens, Makamani/Marchman and Quadi/Quadi, and finally became Bavarians.
* North Sea Germans, such as Batavians, Frisian/Fries, Cockens, Saxons/Saxons, Angles, Jutes, etc. , and later formed the Anglo-Saxons.
* Rhine-wiesel Germans such as Cherusi, Cartier (the ancestor of Hesse), Franks, etc.
East Germanic people
East Germans include Goths, Vandals and Burgundy south of the Baltic Sea. Archaeologists have subdivided them into four groups. Due to the great pressure from Hungarians from Asia and Slavs from Eastern Europe, they were forced to move to the west and south, which caused many conflicts between them and the locals.
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economy
Unlike many people's imagination, Germans are mostly settled farmers, and they seldom hunt. Most of them are self-sufficient, but besides agriculture, there are handicrafts such as blacksmiths, potters and carpenters. The time wheel was invented in Indo-European languages. In Germanic, there are two words for wheel. Germans have no money. The trade between them is mainly commodity exchange. The most important commodity (like the Romans) is livestock. Today, fee in English and Vieh in German are of the same root.
The main livestock are cattle, sheep, pigs, goats and horses. In addition, people in Germanic areas are also engaged in beekeeping and weaving. Germans also know how to make cheese. They have a word to describe cheese.
About 1 century, Germans came into contact with pears, but the popularity was very low. The most important grain is barley. Germans often do not cultivate their land to restore their productivity. Besides, they also know how to use fertilizer. Food was mainly made into porridge. Until the Middle Ages, only the rich could afford bread.
The productivity of Germanic areas is much lower than that of Rome. Tacitus wrote: "They have a lot of livestock, but most of them are not so good. Even cows are not as tall as cows, even though their horns are small? ! Beat? Huh? 7⑸? ⒒ mode? What is this? Muscle k? Why are you arrogant? Hey? Yan Xiting @? What happened to Lampe? Joe, are you a glutton? Hey?
daily life
German settlements are similar, right? Mü？ Lucky? What's the matter with you? What's the matter with you? What's the word for chopping wood? 00 residents. There is no systematic plan for these settlements: if a Germanic settled in one place, others would move in. Until today, in Germany and other Germanic cultural areas, you can still see this kind of village composed of many small villages gathered together.
Archaeologists learned through archaeological excavations that Germanic houses were wooden houses. Because the wood has already rotted, we can only examine their construction methods through the holes in the pillars they left on the foundation. The most common Germanic houses are rectangular. People and animals live in the same room, separated only by a wall. There are no other walls in the house. There's a ignition point inside. A hole in the house is used for smoking. Houses in Germany have no windows.
trait
Germans didn't have writing until very late. The only long work in Germanic language is a Bible edited by Ufira in the 4th century. Since the Goths didn't have their own scripts, Uffira made a set of their own scripts in Greek, Latin and Romanian.
Runic characters that began to appear in the 2nd century are mainly used as magic symbols. There are few long articles written in runi characters. Generally only used to mark valuables.
Build a country
During the great national migration, the Germans established many short-lived kingdoms in France, Italy, Spain and Britain. Some Germans even moved to North Africa (Wang Daren). These kingdoms are short-lived phenomena. In their new hometown, they used to mingle with the locals.