The English word ''Germany'' derives from the Latin , which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. The German term , originally  ('the German lands') is derived from  (cf. ''Dutch''), descended from Old High German  'of the people' (from  or  'people'), originally used to distinguish the language of the common people from Latin and its Romance descendants. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic  'of the people' (see also the Latinised form ), derived from , descended from Proto-Indo-European *'''' 'people', from which the word ''Teutons'' also originates.