Germanic tribes

The term Germanic tribes (or Teutonic tribes) applies to the ancient Germanic peoples of Europe.

Related Topics:
Ancient Germanic peoples - Europe

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The Germanic tribes spoke mutually intelligible dialects and shared a mythology (see Germanic mythology) and storytelling, as is indicated by Beowulf and the Volsunga saga. One example of their shared identity is their common Germanic name for non-Germanic peoples, *walhaz (plural of *walhoz), from which the local names Welsh, Wallis, Walloon, and Wallachia were derived. A second example of a recognized ethnic unity is the fact that the Romans knew them as one and gave them a common name, Germani, the source of our German and Germanic. As the Germanic tribes never called themselves so, but the Romans first knew them as allies of the Celts, Germani is thought to be the Celtic name for them.

Related Topics:
Mutually intelligible - Dialect - Mythology - Germanic mythology - Beowulf - Volsunga saga - Walha - Welsh - Wallis - Walloon - Wallachia - Celt - Celtic

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In the absence of large-scale political unification, such as that imposed forcibly by the Romans upon the peoples of Italy, the various tribes remained free, led by their own hereditary or chosen leaders.

Related Topics:
Romans - Italy

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