Gothic/East Germanic words for Life Guard or Royal Guard?

ualarauans ualarauans at YAHOO.COM
Sat Mar 24 17:40:13 UTC 2007


Hailai,

In the fragment kindly linked to by Llama I noted Latinized 
_tiuphadus_ for "the commander of a thousand men, corresponding to our 
colonel". Is it really *þiufaþs, lit. "commander of servants, slaves 
(þiwos)"? (And why not the attested þusundifaþs?) If it is indeed so, 
then the people under command of a colonel were called þiwos as well, 
probably in the sense "service men" or so – cf. German Knecht, 
Landsknecht and English knight. Were it a big speculation to think of 
a composite like *stolaþiwos pl. or *þiudanaþiwos pl. for Daniel's 
searched item, namely "warriors closest to the king"?

Another thing that could have happened is borrowing the prestigeous 
term from Latin: *bukkaillareis, pl. *bukkaillarjos (cf. attested 
daimonareis and Kaballarja). BTW, could there be in late Gothic a word 
like *kaballareis for "chivalry man", "knight"?

Finally, citing publisher's note (ibid.): "... Division by means of 
the decimal system, popular among all semi-barbarian races on account 
of its simplicity, and the facility of arrangement it affords, was 
universally employed. The commander-in-chief, styled in the Code, 
prupositus hostis, was usually a dux, or duke; the lieutenant-general 
a comes, or count. The commander of a thousand men, corresponding to 
our colonel, was denominated tiuphadus; next in rank came the 
quingentarius, who had charge of a battalion of five hundred; then the 
centurian, and the decurion, in command of a company of a hundred, and 
a squad of ten men, respectively. The conscription officers were 
called compulsores exercitos, and the quartermasters or commissaries, 
annonarii". Could someone suggest the Gothic equivalents?

Ualarauans

--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "llama_nom" <600cell at ...> wrote:
>
> --- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "daniel_lans" <daniel_lans@>
wrote:
> >
> > I was wondering if there is a Gothic/East Germanic term
describing the
> > warriors closest to the King. I understand that the Latin term
> > Buccellarii seems to be in use describing free retainers and
elite
> > soldiers close to a potentate among the Visigoths, so I am
seeking an
> > equivalent in Gothic. Perhaps Theodoric the Great used another
term..?
> >
> > Rgds,
> > Daniel
>
> There is a term 'gardingus' mentioned in the Visigothic laws [
> http://libro.uca.edu/vcode/vg9-2.htm ], which I think describes a
kind
> of palace official or court retainer.  The word is presumably
derived
> from Gothic 'gards' "house, home", rather than 'wardja' "guard".  -
us
> is the Latin nominative singular ending.

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