[gothic-l] Ravi and Sunny

[Andreas Schwarcz]

On 15 Jul 2003 at 8:23, AElfric and Ursula wrote:

>  Such questions of origin do not surround other
> Germanic tribes like Franks or Saxons the way it does the Goths.  Why is
> this so?  And why are there so many disconnected Indo-European tribes whose
> names have a *G*, vowel, *t*- formation?  Could it be that elements of all
> of these cultures did at some point find their way into the Goths, or could
> it be a reflection of some surviving common Indo-European tradition?
>
I would expect that the moderator of this list should not support unfounded and 
speculative theories and drive away one of the most productive and knowledgeable 
members of this list. To answer your first question cited above, some of us know that 
since the late middle ages there has been  the phenomenon scientifically called 
gothicism, the attempt to draw a connection between one's own time and people and 
the Goths to legitimize political aspirations (See f.i. Svennung on this and the article 
"Gothicismus" in Hoops RGA)) and some of us should know it.
If you want a serious answer on the similarities of ethnic names like Goths, Gauts, 
Gats, and so on, you should bear in mind that according to the linguists these names, 
as far as they are gernanic, are all connected with the protogermanic verb *geutan, "to 
pour out semen", and simply mean "men". That peoples with an indoeuropean 
language call themselves "men" in their own language, should not really surprise 
anyone discussing in a philological list and does have as basis any direct descendence 
or connection between the different peoples besides their linguistic connection. The 
common indoeuropean connection is a philological one, not a common tradition.

Take care
                   Andreas Schwarcz
Ao.Univ.Prof.Dr.Andreas Schwarcz
Institut für österreichische Geschichtsforschung
Universität Wien
Dr.Karl Lueger-Ring 1
A-1010 Wien
Österreich
Tel.0043/1/42-77/272-16
Fax 0043/142-77/92-72



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