[gothic-l] Scandinavia and Scania No 1

[Bertil Häggman]

1. The Latin Name Scadinavia

The modern name Skandinavien is derived from the
incorrect form Scandinavia in bad manuscripts of Pliny
the Elder's _Historia Naturalis_. The good manuscripts have
Scadinavia. In Mela's _Chorographia_ (43 AD) the name has
been corrupted to Dodanovia through influence from the
word (Codanum) which occurs earlier in the text.
In Antiquity and far into the Middle Ages the Nordic
countries were thought of by people on the Continent
as islands in the Ocean. Later writers generally use more
or less corrupted versions of Pliny's name forms. More
independent is the tradition in the so-called Fredegar,
with Scathanavia, an din Origo Gentis Langobardorum
with Scadan. As early as the late Middle Ages Sca(n)dinavia 
was identified with Skaane, which is now the southernmost
province of Sweden., but previously belonged to Denmark.
Modern philologists have reconstructed a primitive Germanic
form *Skathin-aujo or *Skadhin-aujo, corresponding to the
Scadinavia of the Romans. The latter element of the word
means 'island' or 'land on the water'. It later appears in
Sami placeä-names in the northernmost part of Norway,
e.g. Mahkaravjo (now Mageroy) in which aujo
has become 'petrified'. In the living language it has become
o (Swedish), eg (Old English), ey Icelandic, Aue (German).

Scholars disagree about the first element, Scadin-;
some ten conjectures have been made: It has for instance been
connected with a fish name: English shad, Anglo-Saxon
sceade, Norwegian skadd. Or with Swedish skada,
Old Norse skadhi = damage. in concrete sense=danger,
due to the submarine sandbanks off Skanoer in Skaane 
(Scania), dangerous to sea-farers. This last hypothesis
will be adopted here.

This is based on Professor J. Svennung's _Scadinavia und 
Scandia - Lateinisch-Nordische Namenstudien_ (1963).
I concur with the hypothesis of Professor Svennung.

To be continued.

Scandinavically

Bertil
Attempts to link Scandinavia and Scania may be misguided. Koebler 
suggests the name Gothiscandza < Gutiskandja, i.e. the ends or confines 
of the regions of the Gothic people. If this is so, then Scandinavia 
(of its own origin) would have been corrupted and conflated with 
Gothiscandza in the form of Scandia/Scandza. However unlikely, the 
linguistic reconstruction is truly intriguing.

Matþaius




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