German, a.2 and n.2
(ˈdʒɜːmən)
Also 6 germayne, 6–7 germaine, germane.
[ad. L. Germān-us, used, as adj. and n., as the designation of persons belonging to a group of related peoples inhabiting central and northern Europe, and speaking the dialects from which the ‘Germanic’ or ‘Teutonic’ languages have been developed.
The name does not appear to have been applied to these peoples by themselves, or to be explicable from Teut. sources. A view widely held is that it was the name given by the Gauls to their neighbours; the Celtic derivations suggested are from OIr. gair neighbour (Zeuss) and from Irish gairm battle-cry (Wachter, Grimm). According to Müllenhoff, Germani was originally the name of a group of Celtic peoples in north-eastern Gaul, was transferred from these to their Teutonic conquerors, and afterwards extended to all the Teutonic peoples.]
The pronunciation (ˈdʒɑːmən), for which cf. clerk, sergeant, Hertford, was formerly fashionable, but now survives only as dial. or vulgar.
In English use the word does not occur until the 16th c., the n. appearing in our quots. earlier than the adj. The older designations were Almain and Dutch Dutchman); the latter, however, was wider in meaning.
A. adj.
1. Of or pertaining to Germany or its inhabitants.
The precise signification depends on the varying extension given to the name Germany.
German Ocean: transl. of Ptolemy's Γερµᾱνικὸς Ὠκεανός, the sea to the east of Great Britain, the North Sea; also German Sea.
| 1552 Huloet, German or of germanye, Germanus. 1581 Mulcaster Positions xxxviii. (1887) 168 The Germaine or French gentlewymen. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. iv. v. 70 They..set spurres, and away; like three Germane-diuels, three Doctor Faustasses. 1618 Owle's Alman. 7 The German Fencer cudgell'd most of our English Fencers now about a moneth past. 1635 J. van Langeren Direction for Eng. Traveller, ‘Northfolke’ Germain-sea-N[orth]. a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1662) I. 317 Essex hath..the German Ocean on the East. Ibid. II. 307 This had..the German-Sea at the same distance. 1658 Sir T. Browne Hydriot. ii. 26 That burning the dead was..the old Germane practise is also asserted by Tacitus. 1685 Cooke Marrow Chirurgery (ed. 4) i. §1. i. 2 [Some instruments are] of Horn, as Cups used at German Baths. 1705 W. Bosman Guinea 190 They are as Impertinent and Noisie as the..German Jews at their Synagogue at Amsterdam. 1786 Burns Twa Dogs 165 Then bouses drumly German water, To mak himsel look fair and fatter. 1814 [see ocean n. 2]. 1816 Keatinge Trav. (1817) II. 143 Fitted up with German stoves, the only powers of heat sufficient for..this climate. 1845 S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. I. 11 It would be impossible to speak of a German nation, in the proper sense of the word, during the preceding ages. 1879 Escott England I. 53 We at last reach the point where it discharges itself into the German Ocean. 1882 Freeman in Longm. Mag. I. 94 ‘German’, which people used to sound ‘Jarman’—as in the memorable story of the Oxford University preacher who wished the ‘Jarman theology’ at the bottom of the ‘Jarman Ocean’. |
b. with limiting word as in B. 1 b; the combination indicating the dialect or language spoken by the persons in question.
| 1726 Amherst Terræ Fil. viii. 39 His fingers..will not suffer him to keep any money between them, as he once told an High-German artist. 1887 Skeat Princ. Eng. Etym. Ser. i. ii. §9 Taking English to represent the native speech of the Low-German conquerors of England. |
2. transf. a. Marked by the characteristics of a German; German-like.
b. Friendly to the Germans, biased in favour of German interests.
| 1861 M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 47 Peace and order were maintained by police regulations of German minuteness and strictness. 1864 Ld. Malmesbury Mem. II. 318 As Lord Bath was there and is very German, of course Lord Derby did not feel himself on safe ground. |
3. As the designation of a language (see B. 2). Hence of words, etc.: Belonging to the German language. Of literary compositions, etc.: Written or spoken in the German language.
Partly an
attrib. use of the
n.: as in
German grammar,
German master (
= one who teaches the language), etc.
| 1748 Chesterfield Let. 1 July (1892) I. 124, I desire that you will not fail to write a German letter, in the German character, once every fortnight, to Mr. Grevenkop. ― Let. 5 Sept. I. 139 You will also desire your German master to teach you [etc.]. 1755 Johnson Dict. Pref., Of words undoubtedly Teutonick the original is not always to be found in any ancient language, and I have therefore inserted Dutch or German substitutes. 1817 Coleridge Biogr. Lit., Satyrane's Lett. (Bohn) 266, I inquired..concerning the history of German poetry and the older German poets. 1817 Sir J. Sinclair Corr. (1831) II. 324, I received several communications from him, chiefly written in the German language. 1888 H. A. Strong tr. Paul's Princ. Hist. Lang. iv. 85 The correspondence of the function fixes the name in the German word feder for ‘steel pen’. Ibid. xii. 260 This is the origin of the German possessive pronoun ihr. |
b. with limiting words as in B. 2 b.
| 1872 Morris Hist. Outl. Eng. Accid. i. 5 The Low German dialects of the Continent are yielding to its [High German] influence. 1891 Trechmann Hist. Gram. Germ. Lang. i. v. 34 A person who understands Hochdeutsch is..less able to understand the Low German than the Middle and South German dialects. |
4. In names of things of actual or attributed German origin (sometimes written with a hyphen), as
German band, an instrumental band of street musicians, properly of German extraction;
German bezoar (see
bezoar 2);
German bit,
chest (see
quots.);
German Catholic: see
catholic n. 3 b;
German clock, in 16–17th c. chiefly one of elaborate construction, often containing automatic figures of persons or animals;
German collie (see
quot. 1933);
German congreve, a kind of lucifer match;
† German devil [
cf. quot. 1598 in 1], ? a sort of screw-jack or similar contrivance;
German duck (see
quot.);
German flute (see
flute n.1 1);
German gamba,
gold,
hone (see
quots.);
† German Lombard, a kind of paper;
German mile, a distance of between 4 and 5 English miles;
German paste,
process,
sarsaparilla (see
quots.);
German sausage, a large sort of sausage, the stuffing of which is meat spiced and partly cooked; usually sold in portions by weight;
German sheep-dog,
shepherd (dog), a strong breed of dog, originally from northern Europe, frequently used as a guard-dog and for police work;
= Alsatian a.
and n. B. 2;
German sheet, a kind of sheet-glass;
German sixth Mus., a chord consisting of a note with its major third, fifth, and augmented sixth;
German steel,
stitch (see
quots.);
German text, a black letter resembling old English or modern German; also
attrib.;
German tinder = amadou;
German watch (
cf. G. clock);
German wool = Berlin wool (see
berlin 4). Also
German silver.
| [1830 Lady Williams Wynn Let. 27 July (1920) 377 The *German Band is all disbanded..& throughout His Household he has dismissed every Foreigner.] 1851 J. D. Lewis Across Atlantic 100 Immediately after dinner, an excellent German band, of a dozen performers, plays for a couple of hours. 1898 H. G. Hutchinson Golfing Pilgr. 25 The German bands of our Margates and our Ramsgates. 1906 B. Kennedy Wander Pict. 190 At first I thought it was a Salvation Army band, but it turned out to be an awful German band that was making the town hideous. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *German-bit, a wood-boring tool adapted to be used in a brace. |
| Ibid., *German-chest (Metallurgy), a long box into which the slimes are carried gradually by a stream of water. The heavier portions settle near the head of the box, and the lighter towards the lower end. |
| 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iii. i. 192 A woman that is like a *Germane Cloake [i.e. clock], Still a repairing; euer out of frame. 1609 B. Jonson Sil. Wom. iv. ii, Shee takes her selfe asunder still when shee goes to bed..and about next day noone is put together againe, like a great Germane Clocke. a 1643 W. Cartwright Ordinary i. v. (1651) B iij, Let us try To win that old Eremit thing, that, like An Image in a German clock, doth move, Not walke. |
| 1933 L. G. D. Acland in Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) 21 Oct. 15/7 *German collie, a variety of sheepdog which is blue (black and white spots). He usually has one or both wall eyes. 1934 J. Lilico Sheep Dog Mem. 3 She was what is known in New Zealand as a German collie but on the Borders they were called ‘Bilton Blues’. |
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 432 The ‘*German congreves’ were soon after introduced. |
| 1670 Evelyn Sylva (1679) 23 That small Engine, which by some is call'd the *German-devil, reform'd, after this manner, and duely applied, might be very expedient for this purpose [the extirpation of Roots]. |
| 1796 Grose's Dict. Vulg. Tongue (ed. 3), *German Duck, half a sheep's head boiled with onions. |
| 1754 Chesterfield in World No. 101 (end), Upon the same shelf with their *German flute, their powder-mask and their four-horse-whip. |
| 1880 C. A. Edwards Organs (1881) 157 Viol-di-Gamba. This stop is not to be confounded with the German Gamba... The *German Gamba, or Gamba proper, is a stop of louder intonation and somewhat larger scale. |
| 1889 Century Dict., *German gold, an inferior gold powder prepared from gold leaf. |
| 1893 Funk's Stand. Dict. s.v. Hone, *German hone, a soft, smooth, yellow slate especially adapted for razor-setting. |
| 1712 Act 10 Anne in Lond. Gaz. No. 5018/3 For all Paper called..*German Lombard 1s. per Ream. |
| 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 56 A comon *Germaine mile Conteyninge in it 32 Furlonges. 1594 Blundevil Exerc. ii. (ed. 7) 110 Foure Italian miles do make but one Germane mile. 1838 Murray's Hand-bk. N. Germ. 465/1, 3½ German miles = 17 English miles. |
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, *German-paste, a food sold for..cage birds..made of pea-meal, hemp-seed, maw-seed, lard, and honey or treacle. |
| 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., *German process, in copper smelting, the process of reduction in a shaft-furnace, after roasting, if necessary. |
| 1882 Ogilvie, *German-sarsaparilla, a name given to the roots or rhizomes of Carex arenaria, C. disticha, and C. hirta, from their being occasionally used in Germany as a substitute for sarsaparilla. |
| [1837 Dickens Pickw. xxxi. 334 The ham (which was also from the *German sausage-shop round the corner).] 1839 C. Sinclair Holiday House xv. 334 Perigord pies, German sausages, cold fowls, pastry, and fruit. 1850 German sausage [see sausage 1]. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, German-sausage, a polony, a bladder or cleaned gut stuffed with meat partly cooked. |
| 1823 P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 421 *German Sheet is another species of glass much esteemed. |
| 1922, 1926 *German sheepdog, Shepherd Dog [see Alsatian a. and n. B. 2]. 1959 H. Neilsen Fifth Caller i. 17 A man..decided to take his German shepherd for a walk. |
| 1825 Danneley Encycl. Mus., *German sixth. 1875 Ouseley Harmony xi. 127 We produce a discord, which has been called..the ‘German sixth’. |
| 1799 Nicholson's Jrnl. Nat. Philos. II. 65 The steel obtained immediately from the ore by simple fusion, is called natural steel. It is likewise distinguished by the name of *German steel, because it comes principally from Germany. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., German-steel, a metal made of charcoal-iron obtained from bog-iron or the sparry carbonate. |
| 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 30/1 *German stitch, this is a stitch formed from a tapestry and a tent stitch being worked alternately in a diagonal line across the canvas. |
| 1861 M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 45 Over each [gateway] was an inscription in the *German text. 1763 W. Massey Origin Letters ii. 28 A neat and correct alphabet of the german text capitals. |
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 433 At one time, indeed, they were announced as ‘*German tinder’. 1866 Treas. Bot., German tinder, the Soft Amadou, Polyporus fomentarius. 1611 Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girl H j b, Here take my Germane watch, hang't vp in sight, That I may see her hang in English for't. |
| 1847 A. Brontë Agnes Grey vii. 103 The elder girl..was trifling over a piece of canvas and a basket of *German wools. 1858 Geo. Eliot Scenes Clerical Life II. 88 Beaded urn-rugs and chair-covers in German wool. |
b. In the names of various plants, as
German camomile,
German iris,
German ivy (see
ivy n. 2),
German knotgrass,
German larch,
German lilac,
German madwort,
German millet,
German rice,
German tamarisk (see
quots.);
German wallflower (see
wallflower).
| 1884 Cassell's Encycl. Dict., *German camomile, the flower-heads of Matricaria chamomilla. |
| 1882 Garden 6 May 317/2 The earliest purple *German Iris. |
| 1879 Britten & Holland Plant-n., *German Knotgrass, Scleranthus annuus. |
| 1838 H. Colman 1st Rep. Agric. Mass. 116 The Larch referred to in the text and there called the German Larch, is the common or White Larch. |
| 1877 N.W. Linc. Gloss., *German Lilac, valerian. |
| 1818 Withering Brit. Plants II. 316 Asperugo procumbens..Trailing Catchweed, *German Madwort. 1861 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. IV. 59 (German Madwort)..This little prostrate annual plant..is found more or less all over Europe. |
| 1832 Veg. Subst. Food 115 *German Millet, Sitaria germanica...This variety was..imported from India, and acclimatized in Germany. |
| 1839 Penny Cycl. III. 463/2 Hordeum Zeocriton; also called *German rice, or rice barley. |
| 1882 Garden 22 July 73/3 The *German Tamarisk..a slender upright-growing shrub. |
c. German measles: A contagious disease, resembling measles in a mild form.
| 1875 tr. Ziemssen's Cycl. Med. II. 129. 1890 Syd. Soc. Lex., s.v. Roseola, epidemic, German measles, Rubella... Symptoms, mild headache and chills, muscular pains; there may be some coryza. The rash appears usually on the first day on the face, chest, and afterwards over the body. 1894 Lancet 3 Nov. 1046 The council of the Medical Officers of Schools' Association have issued a circular to the members of the association, asking for their opinions upon the characteristics of measles and German measles. |
Hence
ˈGermanly adv., in a German manner.
| 1799 Southey in C.C. Southey Life II. 19 As fine a Germanly compounded word as you may expect to see. 1854 Geo. Eliot in Life (1885) I. 350 He is a man of real culture, kindliness, and polish (Germanly speaking). |
B. n. 1. A native of Germany.
| 1530 Tindale Practyse of Prelates F vj a, When the empyre was translated vnto the Germaynes..there was moch stryfe. 1545 Brinklow Compl. 37 O noble Germanys, God hath made yow a lyght vnto all rulers in the world. 1691 Hartcliffe Virtues 121 Neither among the old Germans did any one bear Arms until he was honored with a Spear and Target in their State-Assemblys. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. III. 245 The Germans were less corrupt than the Italians. 1855 Motley Dutch Rep. Introd. ii. (1866) 5 The truculent German..considered carnage the only useful occupation. |
b. With limiting word.
High German: one who speaks the High German language.
| 1611 Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girl E iv b, A name which Ide teare out From the hye Germaines throat. |
c. One who is versed in the German language; a German scholar.
| 1809 Southey Lett. (1856) II. 183, I, who am no German, have heard enough read, and seen enough translated by his [Klopstock's] admirers, to be convinced that he is full of buckram and bombast. |
2. The German language.
When used without defining word or contextual indication, the word is understood to denote High German (until the 18th c. called High Dutch).
| 1748 Chesterfield Let. 13 Feb. (1892) I. 84, I am very willing that you should take a Saxon servant, who speaks nothing but German; which will be a sure way of keeping up your German, after you leave Germany. 1798 Coleridge Satyrane's Lett. ii. in Biog. Lit. (1882) 249 See how natural the German comes from me, though I have not yet been six weeks in the country! 1841 Elphinstone Hist. Ind. I. 325 The two idioms are more nearly allied than English and German. 1886 Ruskin Præterita I. 314 At that time it was thought very fine and poetical to study German. |
b. With limiting words.
High German: the variety of Teutonic speech, originally confined to ‘High’ or southern Germany, but now accepted as the literary language throughout the whole of Germany; its chief characteristic is that certain consonants have been altered by what is called the ‘second sound-shifting’ from their original
Teut. sounds, which the other dialects in the main preserve.
Low German: properly
= ‘Plattdeutsch’, the general name for the dialects of Germany which are not High German; but also applied by philologists to all the West Germanic dialects except High German (including,
e.g. English, Dutch, Frisian); and formerly in a still wider sense including also Gothic and Scandinavian.
| 1838 Penny Cycl. XI. 192 The German or Teutonic language may be divided into two great branches..the High German, or the language of Southern Germany; and the Low German, or Saxon. 1872 Morris Hist. Outl. Eng. Accid. i. 5 Luther..made the High German the literary language of all German-speaking people. 1887 Skeat Princ. Eng. Etym. Ser. i. vi. §55 The West Teutonic branch includes..Saxon or Low German. 1897 Nation (N.Y.) 9 Dec., Of versions earlier than Chaucer's two into High German and French are of the greatest linguistic importance. |
3. In various senses resulting from elliptical uses of the
adj. a. Short for
German cotillon (see
cotillion n. 1); also, a dancing party where this is the chief dance.
| [1860 Motley Netherl. (1868) I. ii. 36 If I am ever caught dancing the German cotillon.] 1863 A. D. Whitney Faith Gartney x, Who danced with who at the ‘German’ last night. Ibid, xiii, It was very agreeable..to dance the German with the nicest partner in the Monday class. 1879 Scribner's Mag. XIX. 683/1 It is a dance they call the German. 1881 Howells Fearful Respons. (1882) 153 In the German..there was a figure fantastically called the symphony. 1886 Ogontz Mosaic Jan. 7/1 Tuesday evening a German was given in the amusement room by Prof. Asher's dancing class. |
b. pl. Articles (defined by context) imported from Germany.
| 1891 Daily News 20 Oct. 2/7 Eggs..There has been a rise of 6d. on second Italians..and 1s. on Germans. |
c. = German sausage.
| 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. I. ii. viii. 240 Circumstances..interpose obstacles between yourself and small germans. 1883 Greenwood Odd People 220 The sausage-eater may..continue to munch his ‘german’ with a relish. |
d. Coal-mining. (See
quot.)
| 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal Mining, German, a straw filled with gunpowder to act as a fuze in blasting operations. |
C. Comb. as
German-built,
German-made,
German-occupied,
German-owned,
German-speaking adjs.; also
German-Italian a.,
German-Jewish a.,
German-Swiss a. and n.;
German-American, an American of German ancestry; also
attrib. or as adj.| 1824 I. Candler Summary View Amer. 333 Natives of Germany all told the *German Americans of their bad language. 1880 Harper's Mag. Sept. 567 A German-American School..is kept over a disreputable little grog⁓shop. 1919 Mr. Punch's Hist. Great War 134 Perhaps he over-estimated the strength of the German-American and Pacifist elements. 1941 Wyndham Lewis Let. Jan. (1963) 284 You, as a German-American, can feel little sympathy for poor old England. |
| 1897 Daily News 7 Dec. 5/3 This *German-built, German-owned steamer has easily eclipsed all previous performances. |
| 1936 H. Nicolson Diary 4 July (1966) 268 The French foresee and dread a *German-Italian alliance. |
| 1876 Geo. Eliot in Life (1885) III. 290 Part of the scene at the club is translated into Hebrew in a *German-Jewish newspaper. |
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 361 The tools..are sometimes displayed on a small barrow, sometimes on a stall, and are mostly *German-made. 1896 Westm. Gaz. 25 Sept. 3/1 German manufacturers, who..‘improve the occasion to offer other German-made wares’. |
| 1940 W. S. Churchill Into Battle (1941) 169 In German-occupied Poland the most hideous form of terrorism prevails. 1964 M. Gowing Britain & Atomic Energy vi. 180 Outside German-occupied Europe, the main source of supply open to Germany was Portugal. |
| 1872 *German-speaking [see B. 2 b]. |
| 1919 C. Mackenzie Sylvia & Michael i. 31 She asked if the other two women spoke English, and Miss Savage told her that one was a *German-Swiss. 1934 E. Waugh Ninety-two Days v. 119 The monk was a German-Swiss. 1955 J. Thomas No Banners xx. 190 Two elderly German-Swiss gentlemen. |