Theodiscus

Theodiscus (the Latinised form of a Germanic word meaning "vernacular" or "of the common people") is a Medieval Latin adjective referring to the Germanic vernaculars of the Early Middle Ages. It is the precursor to a number of terms in West Germanic languages, namely the English exonym "Dutch", the German endonym "Deutsch", and the Dutch exonym "Duits".

The word theodism, a neologism for a branch of Germanic neopaganism, is based on the Old English form of the word.

Etymology

It is derived from Common Germanic *þiudiskaz. The stem of this word, *þeudō, meant "people" in Common Germanic, and *-iskaz was an adjective-forming suffix, of which -ish is the Modern English form. The Proto-Indo-European root *teutéh₂- ("tribe"), which is commonly reconstructed as the basis of the word, is related to Lithuanian tautà ("nation"), Old Irish túath ("tribe, people") and Oscan touto ("community"). The various Latin forms are derived from West Germanic *þiudisk and its later descendants.

The word came into Middle English as thede, but was extinct in Early Modern English (although surviving in the English place name Thetford, 'public ford'). It survives as the Icelandic word þjóð for "people, nation", the Norwegian (Nynorsk) word tjod for "people, nation", and the word for "German" in many European languages including German deutsch, Dutch Duits, Yiddish דײַטש daytsh, Danish tysk, Norwegian tysk, Swedish tyska, Spanish tudesco and Italian tedesco.