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Larry_Sanger (talk)
Trying to make this more NPOV. I'd like to see evidence that this is anything other than original research, however.
Larry_Sanger (talk)
m Trying to make this more NPOV. I'd like to see evidence that this is anything other than original research, however.
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<b>Fatherland</b> is a word used, most generally, to refer to the nation of one's "fathers" or "forefathers." It can be viewed as a [[nationalism|nationalist]] concept, insofar as one sees the nation to which one belongs as a [[patriarchy|paternal]] figure (compare to [[motherland]] and [[homeland]]); strictly speaking the word need not be, and in many languages is not, used with such associations.
<b>Fatherland</b> is a word used, most generally, to refer to the nation of one's "fathers" or "forefathers." It can be viewed as a [[nationalism|nationalist]] concept, insofar as one sees the nation to which one belongs as a [[patriarchy|paternal]] figure (compare to [[motherland]] and [[homeland]]); strictly speaking the word need not be used with such associations.





Revision as of 19:51, 8 December 2001

Fatherland is a word used, most generally, to refer to the nation of one's "fathers" or "forefathers." It can be viewed as a nationalist concept, insofar as one sees the nation to which one belongs as a paternal figure (compare to motherland and homeland); strictly speaking the word need not be used with such associations.


Groups that refer to their homeland as a "fatherland" (or rather, cognates of this English word in their languages), or, arguably, associate it primarily with paternal concepts include:


  • the Germans, as das Vaterland
    (Note, however, that "das" is grammatically neuter; das Vaterland is "the land of my father," not "the land that is my father." Die Heimat (the homeland) is grammatically feminine, as is "die Muttererde" (Mother Earth). The german "Vaterland" has been used since the 12th century with the meaning "native country". An adjective "vaterländisch" is used since the 18th century, meaning something like patriotic or nationalistic. The German "Mutterland" (motherland) refers to a mother country in contrast to its colonies.


/Talk