Meanings
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1
noun
one's native country, especially regarded with patriotic emotion
The exiles longed to return to their fatherland.
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Etymology
A compound of 'father' + 'land', a calque of Dutch 'vaderland' or German 'Vaterland'. 'Father' is from Old English 'fæder', from Proto-Germanic '*fadēr', from Proto-Indo-European '*ph₂tḗr' ('father'); 'land' from Old English 'land'.
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