c. 1300, "region of continental Europe inhabited by Germanic peoples," in a broad sense, from Latin Germania, a Roman designation (see German (n.)). In Middle English the place also was called Almaine (early 14c.), later Almany (16c.-17c.); see Alemanni. Middle English writers, following Latin, sometimes wrote of two Germanies, distinguishing the Alps and the region below the Danube from the region above it.
