Etymology
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1580, from Latin Teutonicus, from Teutonēs, Teutonī (“the Teutons”, name of a Germanic tribe that inhabited coastal Germany and devastated Gaul between 113–101 B.C.), equivalent to Teuton + -ic.[1]
Adjective
Teutonic (comparative more Teutonic, superlative most Teutonic)
- Relating to the ancient Germanic people, the Teutons.
- Having qualities that are regarded as typical of German people.
Teutonic exactitude
1886, Henry James, The Princess Casamassima, volume 3, London: Macmillan and Co., page 190:He waited and waited, in the faith that Schinkel was dealing with them in his slow, categorical Teutonic way, and only objurgated the cabinetmaker for having in the first place paltered with his sacred trust. […]
1998 August 17, Adam Gopnik, “Man Goes To See a Doctor”, in The New Yorker:My disorderliness was anathema to his Teutonic soul. “Here, I will write it down. Oh, you are so chaotic. Hand me the telephone.”
- (archaic) Relating to the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family.
Translations
relating to the ancient Germanic people
having qualities regarded as typical of German people
Noun
Teutonic (plural Teutonics)
- An ancient Germanic, or modern German, individual.
References
Teutŏni, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press