What is "german"

German \Ger"man\, a. [OE. german, germain, F. germain, fr. L. germanus full, own (said of brothers and sisters who have the same parents); akin to germen germ. Cf. Germ, Germane.] Nearly related; closely akin.

Wert thou a leopard, thou wert german to the lion.
--Shak.

Brother german. See Brother german.

Cousins german. See the Note under Cousin.

German \Ger"man\, n.; pl. Germans[L. Germanus, prob. of Celtis origin.]

1. A native or one of the people of Germany.

2. The German language.

3. 1. A round dance, often with a waltz movement, abounding in capriciosly involved figures.

   2. A social party at which the german is danced.

      High German, the Teutonic dialect of Upper or Southern Germany, -- comprising Old High German, used from the 8th to the 11th century; Middle H. G., from the 12th to the 15th century; and Modern or New H. G., the language of Luther's Bible version and of modern German literature. The dialects of Central Germany, the basis of the modern literary language, are often called Middle German, and the Southern German dialects Upper German; but High German is also used to cover both groups.

      Low German, the language of Northern Germany and the Netherlands, -- including Friesic; Anglo-Saxon or Saxon; Old Saxon; Dutch or Low Dutch, with its dialect, Flemish; and Plattdeutsch (called also Low German), spoken in many dialects.

German \Ger"man\, a. [L. Germanus. See German, n.] Of or pertaining to Germany.

German Baptists. See Dunker.

German bit, a wood-boring tool, having a long elliptical pod and a scew point.

German carp (Zo["o]l.), the crucian carp.

German millet (Bot.), a kind of millet ( Setaria Italica, var.), whose seed is sometimes used for food.

German paste, a prepared food for caged birds.

German process (Metal.), the process of reducing copper ore in a blast furnace, after roasting, if necessary.
--Raymond.

German sarsaparilla, a substitute for sarsaparilla extract.

German sausage, a polony, or gut stuffed with meat partly cooked.

German silver (Chem.), a silver-white alloy, hard and tough, but malleable and ductile, and quite permanent in the air. It contains nickel, copper, and zinc in varying proportions, and was originally made from old copper slag at Henneberg. A small amount of iron is sometimes added to make it whiter and harder. It is essentially identical with the Chinese alloy packfong. It was formerly much used for tableware, knife handles, frames, cases, bearings of machinery, etc., but is now largely superseded by other white alloys.

German steel (Metal.), a metal made from bog iron ore in a forge, with charcoal for fuel.

German text (Typog.), a character resembling modern German type, used in English printing for ornamental headings, etc., as in the words,

Note: This line is German Text.

German tinder. See Amadou.

"Teuton, member of the Germanic tribes," 1520s (plural Germayns attested from late 14c.), from Latin Germanus, first attested in writings of Julius Caesar, who used Germani to designate a group of tribes in northeastern Gaul, origin unknown, probably the name of an individual tribe. It is perhaps of Gaulish (Celtic) origin, perhaps originally meaning "noisy" (compare Old Irish garim "to shout") or "neighbor" (compare Old Irish gair "neighbor"). The earlier English word was Almain (early 14c.) or Dutch. In Finnish, Germany is Saksa "Land of the Saxons."\n\nÞe empere passede from þe Grees to þe Frenschemen and to þe Germans, þat beeþ Almayns.

[John of Trevisa, translation of Higdon's Polychronicon, 1387]

"of the same parents or grandparents," c.1300, from Old French germain "closely related" (12c.), from Latin germanus "full, own (of brothers and sisters); one's own brother; genuine, real," related to germen (genitive germinis) "sprout, bud," dissimilated from PIE *gen(e)-men-, from root *gene- "to give birth, beget" (see genus). Your cousin-german (also first cousin) is the son or daughter of an uncle or aunt; your children and your first cousin's are second cousins to one another; to you, your first cousin's children are first cousin once removed.

Etymology 1 a. 1 (context obsolete except in set terms English) Having the same mother and father; a full (brother or sister). 2 (context obsolete except in set terms English) Being born to one’s blood aunt or uncle, a first (cousin). 3 (context obsolete English) Closely related, akin. n. (context obsolete English) A near relative. Etymology 2

n. 1 An elaborate round dance, often with a waltz movement. 2 A social party at which the german is danced.

Germán ( - 'g' pronounced as 'h') is a male given name in Spanish speaking countries. It is a cognate to French Germain, and is a variant of Latin Germanus.

German is a parish in the sheading of Glenfaba in the Isle of Man. It formerly included Peel, where St German's Cathedral is located. It includes most of the village of St John's (part of the village being in the parish of Patrick), where the Tynwald ceremony is located. It is a mainly hilly area, apart from a small coastal plain near Peel.

German is a village in northeastern Republic of Macedonia in Rankovce Municipality.

Category:Villages in Rankovce Municipality

German ( Bulgaria and , ) is a South Slavic mythological being, recorded in the folklore of eastern Serbia and northern Bulgaria. He is a male spirit associated with bringing rain and hail. His influence on these precipitations can be positive, resulting with the amount of rain beneficial for agriculture, or negative, with a drought, downpours, or hail. Rituals connected with German included making a doll intended to represent this personage. This effigy of German, made of rags, fired clay, or dried fruits, was rather large, usually with a distinct representation of the male genitals. It was produced and used in rituals exclusively by girls or young women.

In eastern Serbia, when a drought developed, girls would make such a doll, and bring it to a river bank. Depending on the regional custom, they would either bury it by the river, or put it in a little casket and let it flow down the river. Two of the girls would then start lamenting for the doll. Asked by the others why they were crying, they would answer, “We are crying for German; because of the drought German has died for the rain to fall.” If the amount of rain would become excessive after that, the doll was dug out. In northern Bulgaria, the rituals with German usually followed immediately after the Dodola rituals, but could be performed independently from them. In some villages they were carried out on the Feast of Saint Germanus. Girls would make the doll, 20 to 50 cm long, and lay it on a slate or in a little casket. Having adorned it with flowers, they would bury it with funeral observances. After three, nine, or forty days, the doll was dug out, and thrown into water.

People tried to prevent destructive summer hailstorms by placating German with a ritual performed on Christmas Eve. This ritual was recorded in the area around Pirot at the beginning of the 20th century. Immediately before the start of the Christmas Eve dinner, the head of the household would go out to his woodpile, to invite German to dinner. He would take with him a loaf of bread called "good luck", prepared particularly for this ritual, slivovitz, wine, and a wax candle. At the woodpile, he would shout three times, “German, German, wherever you are, come to dinner right now, and in the summer do not let me see your eyes anywhere!” He would then light the candle, take a sip of slivovitz, taste some bread, drink wine, and go back into his house. Asked what happened with German, he would answer, “He came, so we dined and drank amply of slivovitz and wine, and then we parted.”

German, who dies so that the nature may regenerate with the falling of rain, can be understood as a spirit of vegetation, dying and then resurrecting with the revival of vegetation. His distinctly represented male genitals symbolize fertility. The doll of German is presumably a metaphorical replacement of the former human sacrifice. It can be included among the Slavic sacrificial dolls, together with the dolls of Yarilo, Kostroma, and Morena.

In Christianized folk beliefs German is identified with Saint Germanus. This saint is associated with the protection from hail, and occasionally from lightning, though the latter was generally ascribed to Saint Elijah.

German is a given name, often the Slavic form of Herman. For the Spanish given name pronounced with stress in the second syllable see Germán.

People with the name German include:

German or Germán is the surname of the following people: