Don't forget to check out my podcast, A.D. history, where me and my co-host Paul are retelling and evaluating world history,
from 1 A.D. all the way up to the present day, decade by decade.
You'll be able to find it wherever you choose to listen to podcasts.
We have the Romans to thank for the name "Germany", in fact, none other than the most famous Roman himself,
Julius Caesar.
In one of his writings, he spoke of a tribal people he called the Germani.
People the Romans had come into contact with who resided in modern-day Germany.
And because of these people, the Romans dubbed their land "Germania",
which transformed into the name Germany we have today.
Though it wasn't just the Germani people who lived in this land,
all kinds of different tribes of people lived in the lands that would become Germany,
and all these tribes had different names.
Because of this, different outsiders gave the land different names,
depending on what Germanic tribe they first met, or had to deal with most.
In example, the French dealt a lot with the Allemani tribe,
so to them, the country became Allemagne.
Meanwhile, Finnic speakers in Finland and Estonia interacted more with the Saxon tribes, so named the land Saksa, after them.
While all these other people were giving their land a name, the actual people of the land thought themselves as just people,
so named the land after their word for "of the people", which was Thiudisc,
which eventually evolved into the German name for Germany, Deutschland.
Now, while this video isn't really about how the nation as a whole got a selection with many names,
I feel it's only right to start with this, as the many names of Germany kind of explains to us just how important the various regions of Germany are.
Germany really is a country built on its regions, for the longest time in history, there was no nation called Germany,
but just a collection of Germanic states that shared very little in common, other than languages that all sounded somewhat similar.
And it stayed this way, all the way up till the 18th of January, 1871,
where after war with the French, the various Germanic states were unified, simply into the single nation of Germany.
This was all done under the guidance of Otto von Bismarck,
a statesman who went to become the first chancellor of Germany, and luckily enough was an incredibly German-looking man himself.
What a coincidence.
Because for so long, Germany was little more than an un-unified set of states, many of these states built strong images for themselves,
and are perhaps just as well known as the nation as a whole.
A name like Bavaria conjures up a strong image in one's mind of greenery, castles, and beer,
whereas Berlin conjures up an image of modern history, and a much more modern design.
At least for me it does anyway.
And Bavaria and Berlin are both states of Germany.
Except you may have noticed that one is a huge ?, and one is just a single city.
This is because the states of Germany really do vary in size like this, which you will see as we look into them.
And Germany has an incredibly rich history, in that many states have disappeared, or only come into existence in the last 30 years or so.
I really don't think there are many countries that have changed their borders as much as Germany has.
Just look at maps of Germany throughout history.
Today however, we're looking to the here and now,
and today Germany comprises of 16 states, so it's these 16 names we'll be looking into.
And as for their names, it's their English names we'll be checking out.
Whilst as we mentioned, the country itself has really different names in English and German,
the names of it's states aren't as different.
On the whole, they aren't completely different names with different meanings for the states between languages,
it's just that in their English names, words we have in English, are spelt in English
I'm rambling now.
This will make more sense as we go along.
And let's start up in the north of Germany with the state of Schleswig-Holstein.
This state, as mentioned, is the most northern point of Germany,
and it's northernmost border is Denmark's southernmost border.
Because of how close in land it is to Denmark, there have been wars and arguments over which country owns the land,
and has even belonged to both countries.
Because of this there's a very mixed population of Germans and Danes living in this land.
It is also nicknamed the land between two seas,
as to it's east is the Baltic Sea, and to it's west is the East Sea, which saying out loud is pretty weird.
But we live on a globe, one person's east is another's west.
The name of this state is of course from joining up the two historic states of Schleswig and Holstein.
The name Schleswig comes from the Schlei, an inlet from the Baltic Sea in this land.
And the Wick/Wig suffix means "Bay" in Old Norse,
so the name means "The bay of the Schlei".
The Holstein part of the name is believed to come from a tribe of people who lived here called the Holcetae,
which is believed to mean "Dwellers in the wood".
Located east of this, we have Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, which is known as Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in German.
This state seems to take pride in their natural landscapes, almost 2,000 kilometers of coastline on the Baltic Sea,
and the picturesque ancient towns, that look like they've come out of fairytales.
The current chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, has a constituency in this state.
Like with the previous state, this state's name derives from merging the historical regions of Mecklenburg and West Pomerania.
The region of Mecklenburg was named after a castle that once stood here, called Mecklenburg Castle.
And it's believed this name means in Saxon, "Big castle", so despite the fact this castle no longer stands,
we can presume it would have been pretty big.
And of course, West Pomerania comes from the fact that it was the western part of the former region of Pomerania,
with Pomerania being a region that runs across the Baltic Sea, in what is now Germany and Poland.
Because part of Pomerania was Polish, the name comes from the Polish "Po Morze", meaning "By the sea",
as it's by the Baltic Sea.
And yes, a certain species of dog has this region to thank for it's name.
As I mentioned, some of these states are simply just cities, and the city of Hamburg is one of them.
Hamburg is the second largest city in all of Germany.
It's also huge.
Just as many people live in the Greater Hamburg Area as they do in the entire country of Norway,
and Hamburg's harbor is almost as big as Copenhagen.
It's a huge, maritime, industrial city that's a state unto itself.
With Hamburg, you'll once again see the "Burg" suffix, which means castle.
But the "Ham" part is thought to possibly mean bend/angle, as the city was built on a bend of a river.
And of course, a certain type of food has this city to thank for its name too.
The smallest of all of Germany's states is called Bremen,
and it's actually split between two separate land areas, both within another region we'll talk about next.
Not only is Bremen the smallest state, but also the least populated in Germany,
consisting of just the city of Bremen, and Bremerhaven.
The city's name is thought to come from the Saxon "Brem" or "Bremo", which means edge, or brim,
as the city was built on the edge/brim of the river Weser.
As mentioned, the state of Bremen is completely engulfed in another state,
with that state being Lower Saxony, which, in German, is called Niedersachsen.
Lower Saxony is Germany's second largest state in size.
It seems this state is really well known for their horses, so much so there's a horse on their flag and coat of arms.
The "Saxony" part of this name comes from the name of the Saxon Germanic tribe,
who, yes, along with the Germanic Angles, helped form the Anglo-Saxons, who inhabited the island of Britain
Saxon is thought to come from the German "Sachse", meaning "Warriors with knives",
coming from the Old Norse "Sax", meaning knife/sword/dagger.
Now, this of course also explains to us how the region of just Saxony got it's name, which is more in the south of Germany.
Though this brings up the question of why there's somewhere called Lower Saxony, that is more northern than the state of just Saxony.
Well, the "Lower" in Lower Saxony doesn't relate to cardinal directions, but more elevation.
Just Saxony contains some of the Alps, and of course the Alps are rather high, so the Saxons who didn't live in the Alps were lower down, hence why they're Lower Saxony,
despite being more northern.
The name of Saxony also appears in the name of the region of Saxony-Anhalt too, which is east of Lower Saxony.
We know all about the "Saxony" part now, so what about the "Anhalt" part?
It seems the "Anhalt" part originates from a ruined castle called Anhalt Castle.
Though from where the name of this castle comes from we don't seem to know.
In the east of Germany, we have the state of Brandenburg,
and if you're anything like myself, you may be shocked to hear that Brandenburg is more than just a big fancy gate.
While the state may be home to the city of Potsdam, 1/3 of the region is protected land
with mountains, tree-lined roads, and lakes.
We have the "Burg" part once again, meaning castle,
and I read the "Branden" part means burn, so the name means burnt castle,
which is pretty cool, but why this castle is burning, however, I couldn't find out.
And within the state of Brandenburg, we have the state of Berlin,
which like Hamburg and Bremen is a single city that is also a whole state.
And of course, Berlin is the capital of Germany.
It's a city steeped in a huge amount of history, and is one of my personal favorite cities in the world.
Seriously, go to Berlin.
As for where the name comes from, we have a few ideas.
Berlin is a city heavily associated with bears.
There's even a bear on their flag.
And the name was thought to come from the name of these animals,
coming from the German "Bär", meaning bear.
But this is now considered something of a folk etymology.
Today, it's thought to come from Slavic sources, meaning things like swamp or marshy place,
as the city was initially founded on a low, marshy, swampland.
In the west of Germany, we have the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
This is Germany's most populated state, and includes many of the nation's well known cities,
including Cologne, Düsseldorf, and Dortmund.
This state was formed in 1946, from the previous provinces of Westphalia and just the northern part of the Rhine province.
The name Westphalia comes from west, as it's in the west, and Phalia comes from a Germanic term meaning flat/level,
so the name means "West flatlands".
Germany also has an Eastphalia, but that name doesn't seem to be used too much in any modern sense.
The "North Rhine" part comes of course from the Rhine river in west Germany,
with the river's name coming from the ancient root meaning to flow.
In central Germany, we have the state of Hesse.
It seems that the name for this state is much like Saxony,
in the fact it is named after settlers of the land, the Hessian tribe,
Though I was unable to find out where their name came from.
Though interestingly for those with knowledge of he American Revolution, the word Hessian may ring a bell,
as the German troops hired by the British to help them in the revolution were also known as the Hessians.
And much like with Hesse, the state of Thuringia is too named after the Germanic people who settled there,
the Thuringii.
Though we aren't too sure how those people got their name either.
South of here, we have the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
The Rhine part we covered earlier with the Rhine river, but what about the Palatinate part of the name?
Well, this has more to do with wine than the Rhine, as it's one of Germany's largest wine-growing regions.
In German, Palatinate is called Pfalz, and this means palace/high official residence.
Saarland is a tiny nook of a state in the Southwest of the country.
It's the smallest state apart from the afore-mentioned city-states.
And i's capital somewhat shares it's name, being called Saarbrücken.
The region is named after the Saar river which runs through not just Germany, but France too.
Baden-Württemberg is Germany's third largest state, and it came into creation in 1952,
when the three smaller states of Württemberg-Baden, Baden, and Württemberg-Hohenzollern merged together.
We've had places named named after people, castles, and rivers, but it seems that the Württemberg part of the name comes from a hill one the same name in the state's capital, Stuttgart,
while the Baden part comes from the name of the spa-town of Baden in the region, and Baden simply means bathing.
Kind of like how here in England, we have a spa-town called Bath.
And finally, we have Germany's largest and perhaps most well known state minus the cities:
Bavaria.
The word conjures up the classic German image of Lederhosen, beers, and beautiful scenery.
Though what about that name?
Well, once again we have a group of people to thank for it.
This time, the Celtic Boii people,
which turned into the Latin Boiaria, and eventually into Bavaria.
So wether you're drinking Beers in Bavaria, or eating hamburgers in - well - Hamburg,
now you have a better idea as to how the states of this wonderful nation got their names.
The states of Germany was suggested by Sebastian.
And thanks to their suggestion, they will now be honored as Name Explain's Patreon Saint of the States of Germany.
Do you have a good idea for somewhere that's name could be covered in a Name Explain video?
If so, then please consider donating on Patreon.
Just one dollar a month helps keep the channel running, and earns you a weekly chance to suggest somewhere to be turned into a video.
And you too can be a Name Explain Patreon Saint.
Thank you to all my Patrons who support Name Explain on a monthly basis.
Name Explain depends on small monthly donations from fans like you to help keep the channel running.
Just a small amount of 2 dollars a month helps in huge way,
grants you Patron-exclusive Name Explain extras, and gets your name here, with all these awesome people
Thank you.
Hello all, thank you so much for reaching the end of the video.
Stick around and check out another video and subscribe to stay up to date on all things Name Explain.
You can follow myself on Twitter @NameExplainYT.
Follow me there and tweet the name Jojo at me so I know you came from this message.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the video, and once again, thank you all so much.