[gothic-l] Olof Skötkonung = skattja-thiudans = money king?

[sig]

Hails!

Need your support. 

 Olof Skötkonung, the first king of the joint Suehans and
Gauti, himself a West Gaut, who reigned @ 1000 - 1020, is
probably mostly remembered for his introduction of money,
minted in Sigtuna, the first Swedish coin. (He also took
part in the battle of Svolder on the Danish side, defeating
Olaf Tryggvasson of Norway and sponsored the first arch
diocese in Skara. In the later years of his reign the
Sueoni/Suehans and the Gauti started feuding again and he
ended up as king of Västergötland only). 

 I have seen quite some learned discussions on the meaning
of Sköt- (pron. shoet/skirt-) over my lifetime. Even as a
Gothics newbie I'd venture to say that it is glaringly
obvious that his name tells what he became reputed for,
namely being the coin king, the money king:

Got. 	skatts	sm.	money	coin	penny.	
Got.	skattja   money-

 I think Dirk wrote this on the minting situation some two
centuries earlier:

 "'Skeatta' (ahd. Skats = nhd Schatz = Treasure). 
 They were minted from  about the 670s, starting with the
Frankish silver denari and continued  by  the Anglo-Saxons
and Frisians from 680s to the 760s. One series 
 (Series X) is called Wodan-Monster type. It shows the head
of a 
 bearded man with radiating hair on the avers and a dragon
(monster) on 
 the reverse. The head has been interpreted as a depiction
of Wodan. A 
  number of these coins have been found at Ribe/Denmark and
from there 
 along the North sea coast to Frisia. However, most skeatta
have 
 borrowed their designs from Roman coins and some authors
have also 
 suggested a Frankish/Merovingian model for the Wodan-Coin."

 I know that St John mentions that Jesus used two 'skatte
hlaibos' for his trick at the lake Genesareth. It may be
mentioned in other contexts too. 

 I'd be happy for any further points of view, etymology,
germanic cognates, contmporary usage etc. 

Seigmundr

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


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