[gothic-l] Continued Review of _Odin in Azov_

[Bertil Haggman]

Heinrich Sevin has expressed the case for the Gepids
being Goths well in his book _Die Gebiden_:

At the beginning of the Christian era the Goths
and Gepids lived at the mouth of the Vistula.

They did not come from there, but according to
their own historians, their forefathers came by ship,
they migrated from Scandinavia on the other side.
Pointing in that direction is also their language,
which is closest to the North Germanic. In South
Sweden there are still names close the Gothic:
Goetarike (Gotenreich), Vaester- and Oestergoetland
(West- and East Gothland) as well as Gotland and
Gotska Sandoen. In Goetarike long after the
Goths had migrated the Gauts lived.

The defining difference came seemingly, in my
opinion,  when the Gepids came under the rule of
the Huns, where they formed their own ethnic union.
But in 454 AD the Gepids were at the head of a
coalition against the Huns.

Personally I think Per Lilliestrom is correct when
depicting the Gepids in the third century AD as
of Gothic stock.

This supports the argument that the Gepids, at least
before they were subjugated by the Huns, could be discussed
on this list, as has been the Eruli, as a Gothic people.

Gepidically

Bertil Haggman




Yet, Jordanes called the Gepids a Gothic people.

The only way in which the Gepids may be labled a Gothic (speaking)
people in a meaningful way might be in linguistic terms. As East
Germanic people they probably spoke a language that was close or even
identical to Gothic.





------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Plan to Sell a Home?
http://us.click.yahoo.com/J2SnNA/y.lEAA/MVfIAA/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/