[gothic-l] Question about Catualda

[Alburysteve at AOL.COM]

Hi Dirk:

>  Short question: Catualda was a chieftain/noble how toppled Marbod, the
>  king of the Marcomanni in around 19AD, with the help of the Gothones.
>  Some authors call this Catualda a Goth, while others seem to regard
>  him as Marcomannic. As Pohl pointed out, at this time the Marcomanni
>  dominated the Celtic Lugians, who in turn dominated the Vistula
>  Gothones. Thus, by supporting Catualda the Gothones may have sought to
>  improve their position in these inter-tribal relations.
>
>  Anyway, is there any indication or generally accepted viewpoint as to
>  whether Catualda was a Goth or a Markomann. One indication could be
>  his name, I thought that male names ending on 'a' are a typical
>  feature for some East Germanic/Gothic names.


I suspect that the name is Celtic, Catu- 'battle' being a common element
(e.g. Catubodus has an Old Irish equivalent in Cathbad, "Battlecrow".  The
-ualda suffix, I believe, holds the IE root Val- "strength, rule" as in
OIrish flaith (rulership), MWelsh gwlad (ruler),  ONorse valda (rule),
OEnglish wealdan (rule) and Gothic waldan (rule).   I assume the name would
mean something like "Lord of Battle",

But this may not be definitive, since, like Marcomanni, it could represent an
amalgamation  of Celtic (Marco=horse) and Germanic (manni = men?).

Oh well,

Steve O'Brien
Albury, Ontario

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