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[–] 28 points 8 months ago (4 children)

Cause they can't!1!

But for real, for those who are curious: the border between Germany and Poland is effectively the border between western and eastern Europe. So to Slav people Germans lived right over there, and yet spoke something incomprehensible; so we called them "mute" (in Poland at least). If I can't understand you you are mute to me, basically. And the word for "Germans" is the same as for "Germany", so we call the country itself mutes 😅

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  • [–] 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

    For fun with words:

    • Niemcy - polish for Germans
    • Niemcy - polish for Germany
    • Niemy - polish for mute
    • Jadę do Niemiec - "I am riding to Germany"
    • Jadę z niemcami - "I am riding with germans"
    • Jadę z niemcem - "I am riding with a german"
    • Jadę z Niemczech - "I am riding from Germany"
    • Jadę z niemym - "I am riding with a mute"

    I wonder how confusing these are for people not speaking polish xD

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago (2 children)

    Literally it's more like "non-speakers", though, isn't it? Nie + mowić = Not + to speak.

    So, maybe in contemporary Polish the word has been polished to mean "mute", but could be that they were "those damn non-speakers [of our Polish] across that river-thing!"

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  • [–] 1 point 7 months ago (1 child)

    Well, the "mówić" part is not present, the root of the word is more similar to "niemy", meaning "mute"; the Polish word comes from "non-speaker", as in "not speaking at all". but that's just speculation on my part, I'm no linguist or etymologist 🤷‍♀️

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