Editing Germanic peoples (section)

==Modern reception==
The rediscovery of Tacitus's ''Germania'' in the 1450s was used by German [[humanism|humanists]] to claim a glorious classical past for their nation that could compete with that of Greece and Rome,{{sfn|Donecker|2020|p=68}} and to equate the "Germanic" with the "German".{{sfn|Beck|2004|pp=25–26}} While the humanists' notion of the "Germanic" was initially vague, later it was narrowed and used to support a notion of German(ic) superiority to other nations.{{sfn|Donecker|2020|pp=67–71}} Equally important was [[Jordanes]]'s ''[[Getica]]'', rediscovered by [[Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini]] in the mid-15th century and first printed in 1515 by [[Konrad Peutinger]], which depicted Scandinavia as the "womb of nations" ({{langx|la|vagina nationum}}) from which all the historical northeastern European barbarians migrated in the distant past.{{sfn|Donecker|2020|p=75}} While treated with suspicion by German scholars, who preferred the indigenous origin given by Tacitus, this motif became very popular in contemporary Swedish [[Gothicism]], as it supported Sweden's imperial ambitions.{{sfn|Donecker|2020|p=76}} Peutinger printed the ''Getica'' together with [[Paul the Deacon]]'s ''History of the Lombards'', so that the ''Germania'', the ''Getica'', and the ''History of the Lombards'' formed the basis for the study of the Germanic past.{{sfn|Steinacher|2020|p=40}} Scholars did not clearly differentiate between the Germanic peoples, Celtic peoples, and the "Scythian peoples" until the late 18th century with the discovery of [[Indo-European]] and the establishment of language as the primary criterion for nationality. Before that time, German scholars considered the Celtic peoples to be part of the Germanic group.{{sfn|Donecker|2020|pp=80–84}}

The beginning of [[Germanic philology]] proper starts around the turn of the 19th century, with [[Jacob Grimm|Jacob]] and [[Wilhelm Grimm]] being the two most significant founding figures. Their oeuvre included various monumental works on linguistics, culture, and literature.{{sfn|Brather|Heizmann|Patzold|2021|pp=5–6}} Jacob Grimm offered many arguments identifying the [[Germans]] as the "most Germanic" of the Germanic-speaking peoples, many of which were taken up later by others who sought to equate "Germanicness" ({{langx|de|Germanentum}}) with "Germanness" ({{langx|de|Deutschtum}}).{{sfn|Beck|2004|pp=26–27}} Grimm also argued that the Scandinavian sources were, while much later, more "pure" attestations of "Germanness" than those from the south, an opinion that remains common today.{{sfn|Beck|2004|p=27}} German [[nationalism|nationalist]] thinkers of the [[völkisch]] movement placed a great emphasis on the connection of modern Germans to the ''Germania'' using Tacitus to prove the purity and virtue of the German people, which had allowed them to conquer the decadent Romans.{{sfn|Mosse|1964|pp=67–71}} German historians used the Germanic past to argue for a [[liberalism|liberal]], democratic form of government and a unified German state.{{sfn|Brather|Heizmann|Patzold|2021|p=11}} Contemporary [[Romantic nationalism]] in Scandinavia placed more weight on the [[Viking Age]], resulting in the movement known as [[Scandinavism]].{{sfn|Derry|2012|pp=27, 220, 238–248}}

In the late 19th century, [[Gustaf Kossinna]] developed several widely accepted theories tying archaeological finds of specific assemblages of objects. Kossina used his theories to extend Germanic identity back to the [[Neolithic period]] and to state with confidence when and where various Germanic and other peoples had migrated within Europe.{{sfn|Todd|1999|pp=251–252}} In the 1930s and 40s, the [[Nazi Party]] made use of notions of Germanic "purity" reaching back into the earliest prehistoric times.{{sfn|Todd|1999|p=9}} Nazi ideologues also used the "Germanic" nature of peoples such as the Franks and Goths to justify territorial annexations in northern France, Ukraine, and the Crimea.{{sfn|Halsall|2007|p=14}} Scholars reinterpreted Germanic culture to justify the Nazis' rule as anchored in the Germanic past, emphasizing noble leaders and warlike retinues who dominated surrounding peoples.{{sfn|Brather|Heizmann|Patzold|2021|pp=11–12}} After 1945, these associations led to a scholarly backlash and re-examining of Germanic origins.{{sfn|Todd|1999|p=9}} Many medieval specialists have even argued that scholars should avoid the term ''Germanic'' altogether since it is too emotionally charged, adding that it has been politically abused and creates more confusion than clarity.{{sfn|Kaiser|2007|p=379}}