Visigothic identity of Spain

Rydwlf mitsuhippon at YAHOO.COM
Thu Nov 30 18:04:15 UTC 2006


Hails, Ualarauans!
   
  Sorry for answering this so late! I've been terribly busy lately. 
  Thank you for your list of reconstructed names for the Visigothic Kings, and your comments about the 'godo' phrases... I'm glad you found them interesting.
   
  >The points 3 and 4 – don't they 
>suggest a chance that the name of the Goths, like one of the Franks, 
>could have persisted and spread over the whole country? In which 
>case we'd probably have "Gothia" over the Pyrenees now.
   
  Interesting... taking into account that the Spanish first reached America in the end of Fifteenth Century, this use of 'godo' in Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia was probably shows that the word 'godo' was used with the meanings of "pertaining to an old nobility". At that time, the end of the Reconquista was taking place. What could be the meanings associated with that word, and the Goths in general, at that time? Here it would be interesting checking if Antonio de Nebrija (1441-1522) mentions the word in his dictionaries. I don't have any means to check that now, but I have the chance I'll post here whatever I find.
   
  Anyway I have found this text, while searching for an e-text of the Nebrija's dictionary http://descargas.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/35727252323249052754491/003278_3.pdf
  It is very interesting... the title is "Royal and Imperial Catalogue", subtitled as "General History of emperors, high priests, kings and lords of Castille, France and other provinces of Europe, from the first of these titles until the year 1532, by Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y de Valdés". In several places of the text, (using the "search" function... I haven't read the 1952 pages the text has!) the author remarks the continuity of the current King at his time as descending directly from the Goth kings. 
   
  Some comments in that text show that the generalized idea on that time was that the royal family was the direct descendant of the Goth kings. Of course this idea was also promoted by the governors themselves. The idea of Spain being born as a nation with the consolidation of the Visigothic Kingdom comres originally from the "Historia Gothorum" by Isidore of Seville. The same appears in the "Historia Gothica" by the archbishop Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada. The concept of the Spanish kings as directly descending in lineage from the Visigothic Kings was probably born in the first years of the Reconquista (sorry, no sources here... probably you know them better than me!). It was used for sure after the Reconquista too, so most probably at that time the word "godo" was used to refer to that old almost mythic lineage of a glorious past.
   
  About the modern use of "hacerse de los godos" or "ser godo", I must recognize I have never listened to anyone using it, although I had the knowledge about the expression before I was interested in Gothic history; so if anyone would have used it, I'd have understood her. I suppose it will become an archaic expression in some years. It may be more frequent in the Canary Islands, though... I'll try to ask that.
   
  >"Ni rahnjand miþ framaþjaim þans riurjandans sidu godana, ak þans 
>izei swe ik gaainanaidai sind." – Gregaurius Pairilmanna
   
  ----> Wow! Sái! Cool :) Thank you for that.

ualarauans <ualarauans at yahoo.com> wrote:
  Hails, Rydwlf

--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, Rydwlf wrote:
>
> There are some translations and definitions, anyway, about 
the "godo" word in
> modern Spanish. According (again) to the DRAE:
> 
> godo, goda.
> (From Lat. Gothus).
> 1. adj. A person of an ancient Germanic people, founder of 
kingdoms in Spain
> and Italy. Can also be used as a noun.
> 2. adj. A wealthy and powerful person, originary from the 
iberian families
> that, confused with the invading goths, formed part of the 
nobility at the time
> when the Spanish nation was formed. Can also be used as a noun.
> 3. adj. (Used in the Canary Islands, despective). A Spanish 
from continental
> Spain. Can also be used as a noun.
> 4. adj. (Used in Bolivia and Chile, despective). Spanish 
(Spaniard, born in
> Spain). Can be also used as a noun. Used with the same meaning in 
other places
> of America.
> 5. adj. (Used in Venezuela). Pertaining to the conservative 
party in the XIX
> century, and also, of conservative ideas. Also used as a noun when 
referring to
> people.
> 6. adj. (germanic). Gothic (noble, distinguished).

A very instructive account. Thanks! The points 3 and 4 – don't they 
suggest a chance that the name of the Goths, like one of the Franks, 
could have persisted and spread over the whole country? In which 
case we'd probably have "Gothia" over the Pyrenees now.

> Expression: "hacerse de los godos". 1. to make ostentation of 
oneself's
nobility arms.
> (translation: "make oneself of the Goths".).
> Expression: "ser godo". 1. To be of old nobility.
> (translation: "to be Goth".).

Yes, I knew exactly these two, and I thought there are some more. 
Are they used in current Spanish as mere phraseologisms, 
irrespectively of the Goths in a narrower sense? I mean, could you 
say, for example, of an English lord or even of an Indian maharaja 
that he "es Godo" or "se hace de los Godos"?

> gótico, gótica.
> (From Lat. gothicus).
> 1. adj. Pertaining or related to the Goths.
> 2. adj. Concerning the artistic forms developed in Europe from 
the XII century
> to the Renaissance. Can be also used as a noun.
> 3. adj. Written or printed in gothic letter.
> 4. adj. Pertaining or related to gothic novelty.
> 5. adj. Noble, distinguished.
> 6. adj. (colloquial). Cutesy, prissy (when referring to a 
person).
> 7. m. Germanic language spoken by the Goths.


> "It is not people who break ethical standards who are regarded as 
aliens. It is
> people like me who are isolated." - Grigori Perelman.

A Gothic version:

"Ni rahnjand miþ framaþjaim þans riurjandans sidu godana, ak þans 
izei swe ik gaainanaidai sind." – Gregaurius Pairilmanna

Ualarauans




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Rydwlf 
  
"It is not people who break ethical standards who are regarded as aliens. It is people like me who are isolated." - Grigori Perelman.

 
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