[gothic-l] Re: "Eruli", "Goths", "Danes" and wherefrom the runes

[Troels Brandt <trbrandt@post9.tele.dk>]

--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "konrad_oddsson 
<konrad_oddsson at y...>" <konrad_oddsson at y...> wrote:

Hi Konrad

I have no objections against the first part of your mail which George 
have not mentioned except for some unimportant comments about the 
runes. The runes have primarily been used in the earlier discussion 
as an indication of Scandinavians in the Gothic regions. But:

> One thing that is for certain is that there never was
> a "man" named "Odin", regardless 
> of what Heyerdahl or Snorri Sturluson or any old kingly geneology 
> might say. It´s simply a folk story that some important chieftains  
> availed themselves of at the point in their ancestral lineage where 
> memory failed and no older names could be remembered. The "children 
> of Abraham" did the same where memory failed....and who was before 
> Adam? Well....uh....you know. Food for thought for what its worth.

As far as I can see you have just argued that Odin could easily be a 
king/chieftain/ancestor like Abraham. You forgot by the way to 
mention, that "ansu" beside "god" also could mean "ancestor" (notice 
the English word for it). Maybe Wothan's name in Norse spelling later 
covered or replaced the original name of the first remembered king in 
the lineage - he became a god or a kind of a divine ancestor - an 
Augustus. Maybe that is why you can find Wothan both in Scandinavia 
and in England as the first at some of the lists of kings. Maybe 
authors like Saxo and Thorolf later due to political reasons filled 
up some of the lists in order to make the dynasties older than their 
competitors.  

There is not much which "is for certain" in Scandinavian history 
before Christianity.

Troels


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