Deutsch

Language: German

• What it means: Well… German.

• Word origin: There may be more unique and disparate names for German language, people, and things than for any other nationality. ‘Deutsch’, the word used by German speakers, comes from Old High German ‘diutisc’ which meant ‘of the people’. However, in Scandinavia (Danish, Norwegian, Swedish) it’s ‘tysk’, in Italian ‘tedesco’, in French ‘allemand’, in Russian ‘nemetsky’, in Finnish ‘saksa’, and Latvian ‘vāciski’. Oh, and as if none of those choices was good enough: in English, ‘German’.   

• Sample sentence: “Ich bin eine deutsche Kuh.” (I am a German cow.)

• Does it work in English? Not usually, except for proper names (Deutsche Bank). Deutsch as a family name often has alternate spellings, e.g. former CIA director John Deutch, and actress Zoey Deutch (…not related).