Greutungi and Tervingi as farmers

[Thorgeir Holm]

Hi group,

I have some new thoughts about the etymology of the Greutungi and Tervingi.

The Germanic root greut-, while basically meaning 'stone', is also found 
in greutiôn 'kettle, pan'. Now, we know that pans like these were among 
the first forms used for baking bread. Considering that the OCS hlebu is 
regarded to be a loan-word from Gothic (hlaib-), it seems that bread, or 
at least some special type of bread, was characteristic for the Goths in 
comparison with other peoples in the area, notably the Slavs who 
borrowed this word. The name Greutungi (or griutungôs) then could mean 
"those who make bread in pans", comparable to e.g. the Rugii "those who 
grow / eat rye".

Even more comparable to the Rugii may the name Tervingi be, considering 
that terwôn is the ancestor of Dutch tarwe 'wheat' and English tare 
'ryegrass'. This divergence in meaning makes it difficult to say exactly 
  what kind of crop the Tervingi were growing that could give them their 
name. I guess "wheat growers" is not exactly any strong identity marker, 
but if they brought with them the habit of growing rye from the Vistula 
region, the appellative "grass eaters" could be given to them by others 
who didn't know this seed as anything other than a weed.

Thus, the names of these Gothic groups might come from agricultural 
practices, reminding us that their war-like records were indeed seen 
with the eyes of outsiders, and did not reflect the way of the common man.

Regards,
Thorgeir

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