YouTube linguist RobWords traces the etymological origins of European country names

Language YouTuber RobWords has released two videos explaining the etymological origins of European country names, focusing on how English names like Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom's constituent nations came to be. In the first video, he notes that the Romans called Germany the land of the Germani, their term for the gibberish-speaking peoples east of the Rhine, while other languages use Alemanni, a confederation of Germanic tribes. Deutschland means 'land of the Dutch,' from an old Germanic word for 'popular' or 'people.' Belgium's name derives from the Belgae, a Latin term for a tribe adopted by southern Low Countries inhabitants during their 16th-century independence struggle from Spain. The second video covers the United Kingdom, explaining that 'Great' in Great Britain is not a boast but a distinction from a part of France. RobWords breaks down the names of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England, and Britain itself. The videos are hosted on Open Culture, written by Colin Marshall, based in Seoul.