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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle

Why are there so many words for ‘German’?

The national flag is waved following Germany's World Cup final victory in 2014
What's the word? The national flag is waved following Germany's World Cup final victory in 2014. Photograph: David Goldman/AP

The words for most nationalities remain reasonably constant across different languages – most words for English begin Eng- or Ang-, most words for French begin Fra-. But the words for “German” appear random: allemand (in French), Deutsch (German), nemetski (Russian), tedesco (Italian). Why so?

Richard Williams, Kingston upon Thames

• Post your answers – and new questions – below or email them to nq@theguardian.com. Please include name, address and phone number

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