That's a misnomer for a start.
But when I was doing a thing for one of our 'continental' members yesterday, I thought - WHY?
The whole of the UK - & most of its close neighbours - end in sh or ch.
Then we have the ans, ese, ians. And the latter 2 are in the Far East.
So - any obvious reason?? = Tim
I guess its because its easy (ish :) ) to say. Think how difficult it would be if they all ended in 'ph' or 'th' for instance. ... Engliph ... Frenth (OK, that's not so bad) ...
I suspect it's from the germanic form - isch, meaning, well, ish or ich. Most of our words derive from German, French or Latin words.
Ironically, though, Germans are German, not Germanisch!
Aha!
Yes - I had noticed the exception.
So, think one up for the eses of SE Asia? = Tim
Tim - it occured to me on the way home yesterday that the German for German is Deutsch, which fits back into my theory.
I think Dutch is an English corruption of Deutsch.
I don't know much about Asian languages, though. I could make up an answer, but it would be entirely fabricated!
I'm half Maltese - which should really be in Asia by your theory!
Fascinating!
It obviously isn't exclusive - but shows some coincidence? = Tim
Tim,
Belgian and Portugese are in Europe and Japanese and there's Taiwanese...
Is that what you mean? It's late, I"m off for a quick pint or two.
Maybe there's a listing in Schott's Miscellany???
Hmmm.