[gothic-l] Re: Gaut, an additional view

[dirk at SMRA.CO.UK]

--- In gothic-l at y..., Bertil Häggman <mvk575b at t...> wrote:
> Keth,
> 
> Gapt/Gaut is a common progenitor of a number
> of Royal families and there is no reason
> to doubt that also the Langobards were
> connected to this. Parallels can even be drawn to
> the Germanic good Mannus, which could be
> traced back to an Indo-European god with
> the same name. IE *manu- (man, ancestor of humankind). 
> Their correspondance confined however to Germanic and 
> Indo-European, appears both phonologically and 
> structurally sound.
> 
> There is generally not much in the ancient literary
> sources on religion of the Germanic peoples. 
> Mannus is for instance only mentioned by Tacitus in 
> _Germania_. In an Old Indic account Vivasvat couples 
> with Savarna, a double of his wife Saranya, and 
> begets Manu=man. Manu initiates human sacrifice 
> and human laws, the Law of Manu.
> 
> It is not only the royal Langobard family and the Gothic,
> which look upon Gaut as progenitor . Anglo-Saxon,
> Jutish, Danish, Vandalic - all claim origin in Gaut.


Not to forget the continental Saxons and Thuringians. Rothari, the 
Langobardic king who claimed decent from the 'Gausen' was said to 
have been of Saxon-Harudic origin while the pagan Langobards otherwise 
seem to have seen Wodan and Freyer as their main gods.

This claim to originate from a god like Gaut/Gaus is analogous to 
medieval royal geneologies which often claimed decent from Julius 
Caesar or other unlikely figures, while people like Julius Caesar 
would claim origin from Greek heroes and demi-gods. 

cheers,

Dirk




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