Is Poland Germanic or Slavic?

You can check your gens. There are some that are more common for Germans. Otherwise ask yourself if your parents were speaking German to you. If none of that is true, then answer is no.

I'd say quite the opposite. I think that eastern Germans can call themselves Slavs because the east Germany territories were settled by Slavic people in early Middle Ages and were gradually germanised by

tribes from north and west. Some Slavonic dialects could be heard in there as late as in XIX century, and currently only Sorbs retain their slavonic language (upper and lower sorbian).

See this map:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:West_slavs_9th-10th_c..png

or the entire articles in Wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polabians
wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavs

Cinek

You are very smart, theguythatstart. You ask if Gorzów Wielkopolski is in Silesia, but you know perfectly well that it is not in Wielkopolska!!!

The adjective "Wielkopolski" was added to the name of the town in 1946. Between 1945 and 1946 the city was re-named "Gorzów nad Wartą", reflecting in part its former German name of "Landsberg an der Warthe".

Yes. Something doesn't ring true.

Am I the only one who hears the word 'fol-de-rol' floating in the air?

I know but if Eastern Germans can call themselves Slavic, that means Western Poles can call themselves German.

Only if they actually are. Do people in Detroit call themselves Canadians?

As said before, they can call themselves Susan if they want to, doesn't mean that they are Susans.
Now that I think about it, the number of Poles from western Poland I've met who call themselves German is exactly, and I do mean 100% precisely, the same as the number of Poles I've met who call themselves Susan! What were the chances of that happening?!

German and Germanic mean two different things. When I read the OP's title, I was assuming he meant do the majority of Poles descend from the Germanic tribes.


Eastern Germans call themselves Slavic? Since when?

Sure, some eastern Germans have Slavic ancestry and some western Poles have Germanic/Celtic ancestry.

But that doesn't change the fact that eastern Germans are still Germanic linguistically and western Poles are Slavic linguistically.

One thing to ask yourself...if Poland was Germanic...what would history be like? Different than it was? There's your answer to "Is Poland Germanic?"

Obviously NO.

Yes. Even Iceland and most of Ireland are linguistically Germanic.Not to mention the US (including most Pol-Ams here), Australia and New Zealand. But that's just language.


They don't, however many have surnames which suggest the Slavic world and the place-name Berlin suggests there were once Slavic residents. Doesn't make them Slavic though, any more than it makes a Yorkshireman a Viking.

LOL

Luckily the broders between nations and people are not as rigid as some like to suggest, so yes, a Western Pole would probably find more in common with an Eastern German than a Russian would. Still, we are definitely Slavic and the language is the best proof. The fact that there are some words in Polish that are of Germanic origin doesn't change anything. You can take any sentence or even a longer text in Russian and translate it word for word into Polish or Czech and it would make perfect sense, because there are so many deep grammatical similarities between the languages. Try doing the same between Polish and German and you'd see how Germanic Polish is, lol

[*********************** doing the same between Polish and German and you'd see how Germanic Polish is, lol[/quote]

indeed, gramatically Polish is nothing like German.

[********************** are definitely Slavic and the language is the best proof.[/quote]

By saying, "we are Slavic," you mean Poles speak a Slavic language, right? Or are you trying to say more?

Why is this question even being asked. The modern people of Poland are Slavs and nothing else. Of course i am very sure mixing occured in Poland. Before the Slavs of arrived in Poland for example Celtic Germanic and sarmatian tribes lived in what is now poland. These tribes were either killed of or ran away from polish lands during the hunnic invasians making Poland a very unpopulated land until the Slavs arrived in large numbers. While a Germanic mixture in some poles is beyond doubt the ethnic base of every pole is Slavic. Are we to call Germans Slavic because some of them may be mixed with poles?

Merged: Are Poles really more Germanic or Slavic?

I was reading a thread, and it said that poles were more Germanic than Slavic. Is that true, or have other studies said it's hogwash?

The thread in question is called: "Poles have more Germanic Genomes than Germans!"

Poles are Slavic with Germanic admixtures.


Well, if you count Asian and African immigration in Germany then it might be the truth :-)

ha ha, not yet, but soon ;)

Germans are genetically Slavs. Those Slavs were Romanized and then Germanized. German ethos was born, from within Romanized Slavs, in the Roman province of Germania.

But, mega trends suggests that would many more Poles and many more other Slavs become Germans. That is what suits to the interests of the west of Europe and USA.

The west draws them away from their home to turn them into Germans? Are Slavs remote controlled?

Having German genes does not make someone German. The same goes for Slavic genes not making anyone Slavic. In a complex society reducing someone to their ancestors' DNA is largely an irrelevance - people and the culture they live in is much more complex than that and is furthermore constantly changing.

I am from Lubuskie, Zielona Góra. I have nothing in common with Germans. I dont use any germanic dialect and "germanic dialects" do not exist in this part of Poland. Ive been taught German in school but since i didnt like how it sounds i know only basics. I still dont like it but regret i dont know it better. Never heard anyone calling him/herself a German. Actually it would be considered rude to call Poles grom Lubuskie like that.

You're of the similar opinion as the devine Dante in his work De vulgari eloquenita:

"He compiles a map of the geographical position of the languages he knows, dividing the European territory into three parts: one to the east, with the Greek languages; one to the north, with the Germanic languages, which he believed included Magyar and Slavic languages; one to the south, separated into three Romance languages..."

Germans are germanized Slavs, particularly northern Serbs (ie Sarmats).

I wouldn't put my word on it ;)

I'd think that Germans are a mix of Slavs and Germanics. After all, the ruskies did impreginate a lot of German women in ww2 ;)

there was nice thread on this forum where one Serbian apologized for all German crimes on Poles, considering that are Germans in fact Serbians with error. you know, i wouldn`t be surprised if it was me who initiated that thread

Oh really? No need to apologize, my Slavic brother: it should be the Slovaks who apologize, not the Serbs. After all, they betrayed us.

What Slovaks have with Germans now? It is we Serbs that were holding Baltic-Balkan line since time immemorial. No, you are confusing things here. i insist that we Serbians needs to apologize. If our northern brethren (that now consider themselves to be Germans) didn`t fall in heresy of romanization and germanzition many nasty things would be avoided. If just their faith in ways of ancients was stronger

Please back to the discussion about Poland.