# What do Germans call Germany? Germany vs Deutschland

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 8, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659 "2011-02-08T16:21:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 6

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**Author:** ![Rusalka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecd19e/32.png) [@Rusalka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rusalka)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2011, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659/101 "2011-02-17T21:56:54Z")

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Re-reading your question, I realize I made an error. I assumed you meant “Deutsch” as a cultural identity. Geographically speaking, areas beyond Germany are not identified as “Deutsch”, because as Constanze correctly pointed out, it’s not a geographic term.

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**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2011, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-germans-call-germany-germany-vs-deutschland/570659/102 "2011-02-18T08:40:35Z")

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> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#):
>
> Still, “kalea” looks like “calle” to me. Do you know if the Basque word is a loanword from Latin, directly or through Spanish?

RAE says that “calle” comes from Latin “callis”, I’m assuming callis is also the root for kalea.

But the biggest source of the confusion is the word order, people from the-rest-of-Spain are used to the last word in the street sign being the name. And in the case of avenida/etorbidea, there is no similarity.

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