[gothic-l] Athanareiks = Heidrek?

[Frank Kermes]

Hey,
(snip)
>Of course it might be possible that a borrowing occured in nymic custom and
>one tribe, not having in popular use or with exact meaning the cognate
>form,
>substituted it for another. Surely the heritage from germanic unity
>remained
>to govern that custom in some respect so that similar names or names with
>similar ideas or themes would be given pan-germanically -- if the tribal
>interaction of later times was not already enough to inspire such epigony.
>Naturally the names Heidrek and Athanariks exemplify much similarity in
>meaning > . . .
(snips again)

Ah.  That last sentence was exactly my original thought--particularly since
Old Norse seems quite adept at taking names from utterly unrelated languages
and "interpreting" into an ON duo-themic form that actually has meaning (!),
though I can't think of an example at the moment (don't even know where my
notes are; lousy scholar, aren't I?)

My original question was spurred by the fact that many later Germanic
sources of folklore seem to influenced by actual _Gothic_ history--and even
some Germanic history, (though obviously the distinction between the two is
only a modern construction, one certainly not shared by the Goths or their
cousins).

For example, has anyone noticed a similarity between Ammianus Marcelinus'
account of the slaughter of Goths under Fritigern and "Alavivus" by
Lucipinus, and Hengest killing off Vortigern's men in Nennius?  (Granted,
Nennius is closer to folklore and Amm. is quite good history for his time,
by our standards.)  But the Nennius author may have read Amm. Marc., seen
the similarity of a situation and taken a few liberties . . .

Then, in OE Widsith, there's mention of an Alawiw or Alawih, who was a
Danish kings . . .  But if you trust Niels Lukmann, "Dane" could just as
easily mean "Dacian . . ."

Sorry.  Just my ranting on a marginally Gothic topic.  Does this attributing
of other people's literature to the Goths amount to Gothic romantic
Nationalism? ;)

Cheers,
Frank
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