century, events, deaths

[ualarauans]

--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "Ian Ragsdale" <delvebelow at ...> wrote:
>
> aiws seems to have the connotation of neverendingness or eternity, 
while
> alds seems to refer more to a specific age or generation.  With my 
modern
> bent, I would be inclined to consider any wrapped-up piece of time 
to be an
> ald.  But to the Goth, 100 years was certainly a longer time than we
> consider it to be today, so perhaps aiws is more applicable as it is 
longer
> than any human would be expected to live.

An interesting remark. I, too, think that time ran much slowlier in 
the 5th century CE (in fimftin aiwa afar Xristu gabauranana) than in 
the 21st (subjectively). Though that was also a time of swift change 
in the world – the Roman Empire fell, the Middle Age started, the 
Goths having been despised Barbarians became masters of the West, the 
Huns came from the East etc etc. BTW the famous Ermanaric lived longer 
than 100 years if we believe the legend about him. But that was 
certainly an exception.

Incidentally, Go. aiws as well as Gr. AIWN which it translates
(< *aiwôn), Lat. aeuum etc did originally correlate with the span of 
human life. Go. juggs (< *juwungaz), Lat. iuuenis, Lith. jaunas, Slav. 
junU, Irish ôac, Cymr. ieuanc, OInd. yúvan- - all meaning "young" – 
are derived from the same PIE root. In Germanic, we have *ei(g)wô "yew-
tree" (> OE íw, éow; OHG îwa; ON ýr) coming from this root too. Looks 
like the yew-tree was the Germanic `etz hayyim, "tree of life" (cf. 
Hittitic eia). The word in Gothic would be *eiwa F.-o, compound *eiwa-
bagms "yew-tree" (like smakka-bagms, alewa-bagms, baira-bagms), *eiwa 
also as the name of the elder rune #13/14.

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