ABSTRACT
The names applied to nations and national languages, being so largely a product of historical accident, are hardly of prime importance to linguistic geography. What this subject requires is clarity of reference, and terms however partial or defective at the point of origin tend in this semantic area to acquire a clear definition through time. The names Deutsch and Dutch, though originally one, are today unambiguous; the role of the Franks in the formation of French language and civilisation may be controversial, but the application of the word French is not. Gael may well reflect a form of Welsh Gwyddel in the sense ‘wild’; Welsh and Slav may show a close connection with words for ‘slave’; but what these three names denote today is not in doubt.
