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

[dirk at SMRA.CO.UK]

--- In gothic-l at y..., andreas.schwarcz at u... wrote:
> On 8 Feb 2001, at 10:19, dirk at s... wrote:
>
> > 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?
>
> Hello Dirk,
> I suppose the coins are much used ones. In that case the
> difference between G and C tends to become indistinct. As far as I
> know, there is no indication that the Romans called the Goths ever
> Cothi.
>
> Kind regards
>            Andreas



Hello Andreas,

the five coins (four of Claudius and one of Tacitus) are of the
highest possible condition (Extremely Fine), with - for this type
unusually - sharp legends. However, it may just be a particularity of
the die-sinker to engrave a G which is indistinguishable from a C. How
close the two letters have sometimes been rendered by the Roman
engravers is underscored by a recent auction catalogue which described
an extremely rare solidus of Tacitus as having a  'Victoria Cotthi'
legend by the cataloguer. (Note that gold coins have usually the
clearest engravings).

cheers
Dirk









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