"The Germanic peoples (from Latin: Germani)[note 1] are a category of Northern European ethnic groups, first mentioned by Graeco-Roman authors.[note 2] They are also associated with ...
[Read more]
Germanic languages, which originated and dispersed among them, and are one of several criteria used to define German ethnicity.[note 3]
The terms Germanic peoples and Germani are used to avoid confusion with the inhabitants of modern day Germany, including the modern German people and language.
Julius Caesar (100–44 BCE) described them as peoples who were moving south and west in his time, threatening Gaul and Italy. Later Roman authors defined Germania roughly between the Rhine in the west and the Vistula in the east. They distinguished them from other broad categories of peoples better known to Rome, especially the Celtic Gauls to their west, and "Scythian" Sarmatians to their east and southeast. Greek writers, in contrast, consistently categorized the Germanic peoples from east of the Rhine as Gauls. And with the possible exception of some groups near the Rhine, there is no evidence that "Germanic" was an endonym. Latin and Greek writers report centuries of historical interactions with Germanic peoples on the Rhine and Danube River border regions, but from about 400, several long-established Germanic peoples on the Middle Danube were replaced by newcomers migrating from the further north or east of Europe, and after this the term "Germanic" was mainly restricted to groups in the Rhine region, especially the Franks, and sometimes also the Alamanni." - (en.wikipedia.org 06.07.2021)