I often see a certain set of tropes applied to Germanic culture such as lacking a concept of future and believing that it is night which signals the start of a new day. Where do these notions come from, how can we be sure of their validity, and was their practical effect on Germanic society?

by Betrix5068

I see claims like this fairly regularly when works touch on pre-roman Germanic cultures but never really see a source. These notions also seem like something which would significantly impact the functioning of society yet such impact is never elaborated upon. Are these just misconceptions that ended up on popular consciousness or am I missing something?

chorda_godri

The lack of a concept of future might be a misunderstanding of the fact that Germanic languages lack a distinct future tense compared to other Indo-European languages. Technically they have a past and non-past tense, and form the future periphrastically. This is why in English we say: "I will do that tomorrow".