Why is Germania, personification of Germany, a woman, but Germany the "father land"?

by _Endriago

Shouldn't there be some correlation? Father land is a term mostly connected with Germany after all.

Noble_Devil_Boruta

No, why? Germania is portrayed as a feminine character because both Latin and German have gendered nouns and 'Germania' is feminine (it is also a proper name and thus fitting for an anthropomorphic representation). The word 'fatherland', present in most European, Asian and Middle-Eastern languages does not mean 'Father Land', but rather 'land of (our) fathers', or is a noun derived from the word 'father', as in the case of Greek 'patrida' or Latin 'patria'. The idea of 'land of the fathers' and associated word gained prevalence in the wake of nationalism, generally associated with mid-19th century, but it was present earlier, for example in the Polish patriotic poetry of early 17th century.