Talk:Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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Goethe's nationality "German"?

The factbox gives Goethe's nationality as "German". Isn't this anachronistic? No doubt he is regarded by modern Germans as "German", and as the greatest German writer, but since there was no country called "Germany" then, surely he was not a "German national".

59.153.114.235 (talk) 23:50, 23 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Unless someone comments, I'll go ahead and change "Nationality" to "Ethnicity".

59.153.114.235 (talk) 00:02, 27 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

There is no |ethnicity= parameter in Template:Infobox writer; so it'll better stay as it is. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 05:44, 27 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I don't fill para nationality, and suggest to do so here as well. Places of birth and death should suggest sufficiently where to locate him in history. - Will do, please discuss here if you think differently. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:24, 27 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Calling Goethe "German" is anachronistic, and I agree that the "nationality" parameter is better left blank. Carlstak (talk) 11:51, 27 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you. 157.7.194.173 (talk) 12:13, 1 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

There was no German state than but German people and a German nation though Goethe was a German poet like Dante was a Italian poet (though there was no State Italy before 1867.)--Frances K. (talk) 21:19, 13 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

I think that’s an interesting point; he tends to be referred to as German in academic reference materials. I don’t know if there was “German” identity back then, ethno-linguistic, in spite of there being various other state entities. Jukhamil (talk) 23:38, 10 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Amateur Artist

Should mention be made of Goethe's drawings? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.244.137.86 (talk) 02:37, 25 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

ipa

is there a reason the pronunciation is in a footnote not next to his name as usual? Bufobuff (talk) 22:55, 25 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

It's just to make the lead section less cluttered. Kornatice (talk) 00:43, 26 May 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Pronunciation of his name

I'd argue against any "official" English pronunciation of his name. His mother tongue was German and for all I know, he never lived in an English-speaking country, so he certainly never pronounced his name in any of the English ways suggested in this article. Can we just agree on the German pronunciation as the correct one? 2A01:599:32A:32C3:211:5130:9F51:68B3 (talk) 14:27, 10 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]