[gothic-l] Gothic and/or Cothic/Cotthi?

[dirk at SMRA.CO.UK]

I have several Roman coins (so called antoniniani) of the Emperors
Claudius Gothicus and Tacitus. Both emperors celebrated their
victories  over the Goths and other Germanic people on their coins.
However, especially the coins of Tacitus seem to read "VICTORIA
COTTHI" instead of "VICTORIA GOTTHI". But also on my coins of Claudius
Gothicus the inscription reads "VICT COTHIC", while on an other coin
of the same Emperor the inscription clearly reads "VICTORIA GERM" for
GERMANICA, spelled properly with a 'G'. Is there any suggestion in the
literature that the Romans initially called the Goths the Coths, or
is there a linguistic interpretation, for example was G and C fairly
interchangealbe in latin so that the die-sinker didn't need to bother?


Especially the spelling of COTTHI on the Tacitus coins reminded me of
a Greek source which mentioned a tribe called the Cotti north of the
Danube as early as 250BC (but I cannot remember the source right now).
 I think that could be an important question, as the interpretation of
the name of the Goths is still uncertain. So if anybody has any
suggestions lets hear it?

thanks
Dirk


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