839: vandal Mar 26, 2017

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When people say 'vandal' now, or any of its derivatives, it refers to someone who destroys or defaces something, especially public property more often than the historic Germanic tribe. This does come from the name of the group which in AD 455 sacked Rome, though. Many other names for the various European tribes whose original names were Latinized or simply disregarded completely by the Romans, which is why the Welsh for 'Welsh' ('Cymraeg') or the German for 'German' (Deutsch') are so different from the English, explored more here. The Latin name for the Vandals, however was 'Vandalus', as well as the Old English, 'Wendlas', came from the tribe's name for itself. It is supposed that this comes from a Proto-Germanic root for, 'wanderer', which you can see more about here with 'vagabond' or here with 'wind'.

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