- Alternative meaning: Fatherland (novel).
Fatherland is the nation of one's "fathers" or "forefathers." It can be viewed as a nationalist concept, insofar as it relates to nations. (Compare to motherland and homeland.)
Groups that refer to their native country as a "fatherland" (or rather, cognates of this English word in their languages), or, arguably, associate it primarily with paternal concepts include:
- Romans, as patria, the rootword for patriotism
- Italians, as patria, too.
- the French, as Patrie (as in the national anthem la Marseillaise)
- Armenians, as Hayrenik (as in the national anthem Mer Hayrenik)
- the Poles, as Ojczyzna (but there is also macierz, that is Motherland)
- the Germans, as das Vaterland (as in the national anthem Das Lied der Deutschen)
- the Russians, as Otechestvo or Otchizna, although Rodina, that is Motherland, is more common.
- the Serbs as otadzbina
- the Finns as isänmaa
Note for German, 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. 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. Mutterland (motherland) means a mother country in contrast to its colonies; a calque on "metropolis".
See also: national anthem
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