[dp0622]

I thought Russia was “Mother” Russia and Germany was the fatherland.

[stormhill]

Don’t understand German or Russian but Spaniards always refer to “Mother Spain” while speaking of the “patria” which is usually translated motherland. Thing is that patria is based on the Latin root pater which means father so it seems patria should best be translated fatherland.

[silverleaf]

Ditto

Communists love the motherland and fascists go with the manly fatherland thing

[silverleaf]

Ditto

Communists love the motherland and fascists go with the manly fatherland thing

[COBOL2Java]

I thought Russia was “Mother” Russia and Germany was the fatherland.

Spoke with a friend who is a Russian and a German linguist. Here's his response:

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Germans speak of Vaterland, and Russians usually speak of Россия-Матушка (Rossiya-Matushka "Mother Russia") and родина (rodina, "place of birth" in a literal translation, but it's motherland in a better translation), but отчизна (otchizna) means fatherland, and it's used as well, although not as much as rodina is.

Germans also say Mutterland (although that's nowhere near as common as Vaterland) and Heimatland (Homeland): one of the German translations I've seen of "Department of Homeland Security" is "Heimatland Sicherheitsamt."