[gothic-l] Fwd: Re: [tied] Harii/Hirri into (H)eruli?

[george knysh]

--- "Troels Brandt <trbrandt at post9.tele.dk>"
<trbrandt at post9.tele.dk> wrote:
> To be quite honest. Piotr has solved my
> ErilaR-problem already.
>
> The disappearing Harii and the new Heruls is an
> interesting question,
> but if there is no obvious linguistic explanation
> neither history nor
> language can in my opinion explain the origin of the
> Heruls. In that
> case I agree it is arbitrary speculation unless
> archaeology can bring
> us new information.


*****GK: Let me suggest another possibility. We know
that "Heruli" goes back to an ancient Germanic word
meaning "man of worth". So we have fairly decent
linguistic proof that such a word could become an
ethnonym (possibly there are other examples in
Germanic tradition for this, including Harii,
Hermunduri et sim..)  I can think of an excellent
example from another (Iranic) context, where the term
"rusa" (and other variants) meaning "bright" "white"
et sim. was applied to people deemed
nobles/aristocrats. Originally this was not an
ethnonym, though perhaps already partly performing
that function in the case of the "Rosomoni" of
Jordanes. Adopted as a socio/political designation by
the Norse warlords, it was transformed into an
ethnonym, and eventually became the "Rus" (and
derivatives)we all know so well. In ancient and
mediaeval times peoples were sometimes known by the
designation of their aristocracies (one of the oddest
adaptations of this approach can be found in the Rus
Primary Chronicle, which considered the "Carolingians"
to be a people...). All right then. Let us imagine a
group of warriors who call themselves "men of worth"
(Eruli), a name subsequently used of all those who are
part of the communities they organize. This does not
solve the issue of their ethnicity (or of the
ethnicity of the populations drawn into their
organization) but it does provide an anszwer as to
their emergence. So on that understanding the "Eruli"
could indeed have been part of the old Harii who went
east (and then we would, as mentioned look for them
among the "Vandalic" elements of Chernyakhiv). They
could have been Scandinavian adventurers. They could
have been a mixed lot. What do you think of that? The
only thing certain is that this Maennerbund would have
emerged in the mid-3rd c. in connection with the
Gothic campaigns.******

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