Emigration av Goths

[David Kiltz]

On 01.03.2006, at 11:07, Wilhelm Otto wrote:

> Goth’s heritage.

Hello all,

in the context of this discussion I would like to draw your attention  
to a short paper by Frederik Kortlandt (University of Leiden) on the  
subject. It's available as a free PDF download here:
http://www.kortlandt.nl/publications/

Two notes: Unlike Mr. Kortlandt, I think it is generally unadvisable  
to (too easily) dismiss stories or legends of origin transmitted  
within a people (or a conglomerate of tribes). While they're often a  
mixture of various accounts and/or contain distortions, it is my  
experience that they generally prove to be remarkably accurate where  
it is possible to ascertain their historicity.

As for the linguistic proximity of Gothic vis-à-vis other Germanic  
dialects my point would be the following: There are clear  
correspondances with North Germanic but they're not overwhelming.  
There are some similarities to more southern dialects. Overall,  
Gothic seems to have seperated rather early from other dialects and  
shows some very distinct traits not shared with any other dialect  
(partly archaisms). Iordanes account may very well contain some  
truth, I think. We may just have to adjust our chronology.

Finally, a remark on two phenomena that Kortlandt adduce to 'prove'  
Gothic's close contact with Allemannic.
1) He claims that Gothic _akêt, akeit_ derive from some Allemannic  
source. I really don't see how this cannot just be a loan from Latin.  
Viticulture existed along the Danube river.
2) K. claims words as _Krêks_ 'Greek' and _marikreitum_ (dat. pl.)  
"betray the influence of an Upper German dialect without voiced  
obstruents". Firstly, I think it's notable that we have a sequence _k- 
r_ in both cases. Secondly, K. puts the contacts into the 1st - 2nd  
century A.D. However, our first attestations of those 'Upper German  
dialects' K. refers to date from many centuries later. K.'s  
assumption that a sound phenomenon found in those dialects existed  
_tel quel_ also at a much earlier time is just that, an unwarranted  
assumption.

Looking forward to your comments,

David





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