section_path: Etymology
section_name: Etymology
paragraph_text: Etymology
  
  The English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. The German term Deutschland, originally diutisciu land ('the German lands'), is derived from deutsch (cf. Dutch), which descended from Old High German diutisc 'of the people' (from diot or diota 'people'), originally used to distinguish the language of the common people from Latin and its Romance descendants. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic * þiudiskaz 'of the people' (see also the Latinised form Theodiscus), derived from * þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European * tewtéh₂- 'people', from which the word Teutons also originates.