Neanderthal  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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caveman, prehistory

Etymology

From the name of the German valley where Neanderthal 1 was discovered in 1856. The Düsseltal (from Template:Etyl Düssel, a small tributary of the River Rhine + tal, “valley”) itself was renamed (from Das Gesteins (“The Rockiness”) and/or Das Hundsklipp (“The Cliff of Dogs”)) in the early 19^th century to Neandershöhle (“Neander’s Hollow”), and again in 1850 to Neanderthal (“Neander Valley”); both names were in honour of the German Calvinist theologian and hymn writer Joachim Neander (1650–1680). The surname Neander is the Template:Etyl translation of the original Template:Etyl surname Neumann (“New man”), for which reason Homo neanderthalensis is sometimes called New man in English.