[gothic-l] Godheimar/ Got-tjod.

[keth at ONLINE.NO]

Hi Bertil,
I had already done the job of separating the sources
of these 3 terms, and made an exact list of which sources
used which term and where, but now you mix it up again.


>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).

We already established that "tjod" means people.
But I thought it would be better to treat the
words in different threads, thus, here "Godheimar".

>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.

But surely the term "Godheimar" does not occur in the Edda,
neither in the poetic Edda, nor in Snorri's Edda.

It occurs only in Heimskringla, where it isn't related to
the Goths.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let me now, for a change, look in Neckel/Kuhn's Edda,
where they have a good index:


Goðþióð (Gotþióþ) 7, 220, 265, 267 (304) 305, 307.
Gotar 57, 169, 199, 243, 264, 269, 271-273, 302, 307,
309, 311.
Gotþióð s. Goðþióð.
>From the latter entry, you see that the two words
are considered the same. I think perhaps the sound "t"
followed by a "þ" is more difficult to pronounce than a
"ð" followed by a "þ", and that is why the word ended
up as Goðþióð in many cases, instead of the more correct
"Gotþióð". But that is only a guess.
Now I have to look up all the page numbers:

page 7: Volospá 30 = about the valkyries at Ragnarok,
which I quoted before.


p. 220: Hlr. 8
p. 265, 267: Ghv. 8, 16
p. 304, 305, 307: Hunn. 9, 13, 17, 18.

As I said before, these references are all from the poetic
Edda's heroic poems, and I believe all occurrences of the
word there refer to the Goths. The only exception is
Volospá 30, which belongs to the mythological poems of
the poetic Edda, and where the word, as is apparent from
the context, probably does NOT refer to the Goths.
But all the other 7 references are to heroic poems.
As example, let me quote the last two:

Hunnenschlachtlied oder Hloðsqviða 17 u. 18:

17. Scal ec víst ríða     oc rond bera . . .
Gota þióðom     gunni at heyia.'

18. Sunnan em ec kominn     at segia spioll þessi:
sviðin er oll Myrcheiðr,
drifin oll Goðþióð     gumna blóði.

Here you even see exemplified how the spelling varies
in the two verses, according to whether one reads it as
one or two words.

Translation (I am using a Danish translation):
Ormar kvad:  Skal jeg vist ride
             Og Skjold bære,
             For med Goters Folk
             Kamp at holde.

(Ormar quoth: I shall certainly ride and carry my shield.
              to hold battle with the Gothic people.)

Orm sagde:   Søndenfra er jeg kommen
             At sige disse Ulykker :
             Hele Myrkvids Hede
             Er meget sveden,
             Hele Goters Folk
             Er blodbestenk.

(Orm saith : From the South have I come, to say these (bad) news :
             All of Mirkwood's heath is (much) burnt,
             The whole Gothic nation is drenched with blood.)

It continues:
              En Mø jeg saae,
              Heidreks Dotter,
              Søster din,
              Segne til jorden ;
              Hende Hunner
              Have fældet
              Og mange andre
              Af eders Folk.

              Lettere var hun
              Til paa marken
              I Kampfærd at gange,
              End til med en Beiler at tale
              Eller til Bænk at drage
              I Brudegang.


(Sorry for going on two extra verses... Just got a bit caught
up in the drama. If you like Old Danish, you'll know what I mean)

Cheers
Ketþ





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