[gothic-l] Re: William Morris' _Markamannans_

[llama_nom]

Hails Reikahardus!

Using Wulfila's spelling, this is how I would reconstruct them with 
what I hope are the etymologically "correct" stem-vowels that would 
be expected in biblical Gothic, but it could be that any of the 
forms you suggest would be appropriate for later Gothic where 
unstressed vowels seem to have become confused, e.g. in the Calendar 
we find Friþa- in a name, instead of *Friþu-.  Sometimes even in 
biblical Gothic, compounds were formed without any stem vowel, or 
occasionally even with an unexpected/incorrect one, but I don't know 
of any rules to predict that.  Still, these are what I think would 
be the normal forms:

1) *Wulfiggs (gg = ng, cf. gadiliggs "cousin" = OE gædeling; 
*Gardiggs, a Visigothic aristocratic title recorded as 
Latin 'gardingus').
2) *Mairqiwidus ('mierce' is a ja-stem in OE)
3) *Þiudawulfs (just as you have it)
4) *Widuahva, -flodus, -rinno, -wato, -lagus (BUT SEE BELOW)
5) *Midjamarka? (or maybe *Midjunmarka?, as in Midjungard = OE 
Middangeard).

I would Gothicize William Morris's river Mirkwood-water as 
Mairqiwidaus ahva "Mirkwood's River".  Reasoning: The river Jordan 
is called Iaurdane ahva.  The rivername ending -ava in eastern 
European placenamed is sometimes derived from Gothic *ahva, although 
I gather this isn't always the case.  The Old Norse poem Hlöðskviða 
(preserved in the Saga of Hervor and King Heidrek) uses a genitive 
construction for a placename related to Mirkwood: Myrkviðar 
heiðr "Mirkwood's Heath".  This poem is thought to be based on very 
old traditions concerning the heyday of the Goths, and their wars 
with the Huns.

Re. WATER: Go. 'ahva' "river, flowing water, flood" = Gk. 
potamos; 'flodus' "river, flood" = Gk. potamos; 'rinno' "mountain 
stream, brook, torrent" = Gk. xeimarrous; 'wato' = Gk. hudwr & 
derivatives, and is used of water for drinking and water in 
general.  *lagus is not attested in the Gothic bible or other 
fragments, but accurs as one of the letter/rune names in the Vienna-
Salzburg codex, spelt 'laaz'.  For usage you'd have to look to 
cognates like OE lagu, ON lögr (I can think of one placename with 
this: Lögrinn "the water" is the Old Icelandic name for Lake Mälaren 
in Sweden).  Also: marei, marisaiws 'lake, sea', e.g. that of 
Galilee.  Where was St. Paul shipwrecked, the Agean?  That's 'marei' 
as well.  'saiwe', gen.pl., strangely enough, translates 
Latin 'paludes' "marshland(s)" in the Deed of Naples.

Llama Nom





--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "galadhorn" <galadhorn at t...> wrote:
> 
> Heils, Friónds!
> 
> I am just trying to reconstruct the Gothic names in William 
Morris' 
> book "The Tale of the Wolfings...". He has presented the names in 
> the Anglicized forms, e.g. _Mark-men_, _Wolfings_, _Mirkwood_. I 
> would like to ask you for your help in giving theim 
their "original" 
> forms in Gothic. Can you help me?
> 
> Today I have questions concerning:
> 
> (1) E. _Wolfing_ : Go. *_Wulfungs_ or *_Wulfings_?
> 
> (2) E. _Mirkwood_ : Go. *_Merqawidus_ or *_Merqiwidus_ or 
> *_Merqwidus_? (Go. *_merqs_ 'dark' + Go *_widus_ 'wood' < Germanic 
> *_merkwa-widuz_)?
> 
> (3) E. _Thiodolf_ : Go. *_Thiudawulfs_?
> 
> (4) E. _Wood-water_ : Go. *_Widahva_? or *_Widuahva_?
> 
> (5) E. _Mid-mark_ : Go. *_Medjunmarka_?
> 
> Izwar
> 
> Reikahardus





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