Difference between Deutsch and Dutch
Deutsch and Dutch are two words that are similar in their meanings and in their written forms. Both terms are used to refer to objects, people and languages from a particular geographical area, but the nations that they refer to are different.
The similarity between these two words has led to some confusion between them, particularly in the past. In the United Kingdom, for example, clocks marked with the word "Deutsch" were once erroneously believed to have originated in the Netherlands rather than in Germany, where they were actually manufactured. Some people still refer to German clocks as Dutch clocks today.
Country
Deutsch and Dutch are both terms that refer to the people, language and items originating in a particular country. However, the countries that are referred to by these terms are different. The word Deutsch is a German word that refers to Germany and German objects. The word Dutch is an English word, derived from a word used in certain European countries. Dutch refers to the Netherlands and to objects from this country. While the word Dutch is an English one, the word Deutsch is one that is actually used in German, and in English, the equivalent word is German.
The term Pennsylvania Dutch is used to refer to Pennsylvanian German settlers and to the particular variety of German which they speak, which adds to the confusion of the terms.
Etymology
The words Deutsch and Dutch are derived from the same origin, which has contributed both to their similarity and to the confusion between them. The two words have the same origins, in a variety of terms that were used by certain people in the Germanic regions of Europe to refer to themselves and to their own languages. Both words essentially mean "people" or "the language of the ordinary people", so they have been used to separate "us" from "them".
The German word Deutsch originates from the old High German word "diutisc", which stems from the word "diot", meaning people. It was originally used to differentiate the German language, which was the language of the people from the foreign Latin language. The meaning of the term later came to mean the people who spoke the language, as well as to the language itself.
The word Dutch originated as a variant form of Deutsch, although its meaning has now become different. Various people from the region have used slightly different forms of the word Deutsch, with different spellings and pronunciations, to refer to themselves and to the language that they speak.
Pronunciation
Although the words Deutsch and Dutch appear similar in their written form, they differ significantly in their pronunciation. Dutch is pronounced as it is written. Deutsch is pronounced "Doich" or "Doy-ch" (where doy rhymes with boy).
Summing Up
- Deutsch and Dutch are two country-specific terms, which are used in the German and English languages, respectively, to refer to the people, language and other items that are related to a particular country.
- Deutsch refers to items of German origin.
- Dutch refers to items from the Netherlands.
- The term Deutsch has sometimes mistakenly been believed to have the same meaning as Dutch.
