Watching the first few episodes of outlander (1700s) and a scottish person was confused about the use of "germany" before the primary character clarified "prussia". how historically accurate is this? When was the term german widely accepted?
Prior to the mid-19th century (1800s) there was no single unified "Germany". The different parts of Germany may have to some degree shared a common language, but the German lands were comprised of many different political entities varying in sizes between a city-state and a large kingdom, and everthing in between. Thus in accounts from the 17th and 18th centuries, it's common to see someone described as "A burgher, from the eastern Germanies [plural!]."