Majaran antuk dadalan punika, Goffart ngawedarang kawentenan Jermanik punika patut samian kaimpasin mangda "kasar" sajabaning arti linguistik, miwah sejarawan sekadi  Walter Pohl taler ngawedarang mangda  kawentenan punika prasida kaimpasin  utawi katlantarang sabeciknyane.
For such reasons, Goffart argues that the term Germanic should be avoided entirely in favor of "barbarian" except in the linguistic sense, and historians such as Walter Pohl have also called for the term to be avoided or used with careful explanation.