Why do Germans use "fatherland".


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My kneejerk response would be that Germany is refered to the fatherland cause in German, Germany is masculine the same way that France in French is female

But it turns out that Germany isn't masculine in German. In fact Germany seems to refer to most countries as neuter

So in that case I'm rather confuzzled

[edit] Woot, 500 posts :happy: ... only took 1.5 years :p

I think it's just a communist thing. Like with Russia and with (what was) East Germany.

Either way, it's just a difference in culture between the two countries.

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They were calling it the Fatherland long before Germany became split into East and West. Besides which, capeche is right, it is "Mother Russia".

It should also be noted that the German word "Vaterland" is much older than Germany - it's from the 12th century, maybe even older. The country's official name was "Holy Empire" back then, "Holy Roman Empire" in the 13th century, and "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation" in the 16th century...

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