[gothic-l] Re: Gothic word for King

[keth at ONLINE.NO]

>When I asked about the word for King I was thinking of a word similar to the Cyng in OE.

Hello Le Bateman!

Snorri says that before a certain date the ON kings were not called "konungr", but "dróttinn". Here "drótt" means the group of armed men that follow a king. It is said that the suffix -inn is used to form the name of the leader from that which he leads. Thus in Gotic, the "people" was called þiuda (Thiuda*) and by adding the suffix -ans, you get the word þiudans (Thiudans), which means "leader of the people", hence king.

Best regards
Keth

*) Does my <thorn> come through all right? When I look in the yahoo archives, it looks okay to me. That is why I've assumed that it came through in email as well.



------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Small business owners...
Tell us what you think!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/vO1FAB/txzCAA/ySSFAA/wWMplB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

You are a member of the Gothic-L list.  To unsubscribe, send a blank email to <gothic-l-unsubscribe at egroups.com>. 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/