[gothic-l] Godheimar

[Bertil Häggman]

Keth,

The form -theud (people), was introduced for the
Gothic name Gut-thiuda, which in Old Norse
developed into Goththjod > Godthjod, the last
being the form used in the epic lay, The Battle
of the Goths and the Huns (Tolkien, _The Saga
of King Heidrek the Wise_ (1960), pp. 49,50,
53).

Now there developed the new stem *God- (<Got-),
from which the forms God-heimar/God-heimr and God-lond
were derived. Snorra Edda preserved the original
form Gotland as the epic name for Denmark. Edda 
Smorra Sturlusonar, ed. F. Jonsson (1931), p. 135.

Gothically

Bertil


The reason is of
> course that if Goths were involved, it would begin with
> Göt- in Sweden and with Gaut- in Norway  :  everything ought
> to be nicely in agreement with the vowel table I set up
> some days ago.

> >The name "Home of the Goths" appears in Heimskringla.
> >"This [kind] of Svithjod they called Mannheimar (Sw.
> >Manhem); but Sweden the Great (Svithjod in mikla) they called
> >Godheimar. About this Godheimar many stories are told.
> 
> That is, he claims that the name "Godheimar", as it occurs in
> Snorri Sturlason's "Heimskringla", refers to the Goths.
> However, in addition to looking at the spelling of the name, one
> should also look at the context in which it is mentioned, and
> the above sentence is taken from the very beginning of Heimskringla,
> from the Ynglingasaga at the very end of Chapter 8 (short chapters!).
> The story then continues in Chapter 9, where  it is told how
> Odinn dies in Svitiod, and says to those he is leaving behind
> that he is now going to "Goðheimar", which due to the context
> must now be read as "the home(s) of the gods".
> 
> 
> The name Goðheimar occurs a couple of times in Heimskringla,
> but all mentionings are in the (short) Chapters 8, 9, 11 and
> 12 of Ynglingasage. And I believe that if one reads the text,
> one will see that all occurrences of the name must be given the
> same meaning.



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