[gothic-l] Gaut/Gapt (Tyr)

[sunburst]

Hails!

>Heidekr was once engaged in a contest of intellect
>with the disguised Odin (Gestumblindi), and even dared
>attack him with Tyrfingr. This may be interpreted as the
>memory of a struggle between Tyr and Odin.


Exept that the Hervararsaga also states that "Heithrekr placed his faith in
Freyr."  If anything, "The Battle of the Goths and Huns" portion of the saga
preserves a memory of the struggle between AEsir and Vanir, both in the
contest between Heidrekr and Gestumblindi, or in the actual struggle between
Angatyr (Goths) and Hlothr (Huns).  There do seem to be mythological
connections.  Mirkwood was said to separate the land of Goths from the land
of Huns, while elsewhere, it separates the worlds of Gods and ettins.
Hlothr may be connected with Lothr, who along with Hoener travels with
Othinn in Norse myth.  Lothr can thus also be identified with Ve, or Othin,
Ville and Ve, who are probably Isc, Irmin and Ing in Tacitus.  Thus it would
not be surprising of the Norse god Lytir, who was pulled in a wagon, Vanic
style, was the same god as Lothr and Ing.

Humli, the king of the Huns, Hlothr's fosterfather, seems to be the same as
Danish Humble, Gothic Hulmul, and may be connected to Heimdal and Hama.
Thus the Huns, in this saga, seem as though they may represent than Vanir.

Angatyr appears in the OE poem Widsith, as do Heithrekr, Hlothr, Ormarr,
etc.  There, he is called Incgentheow.  It is only in the Norse that we have
"-tyr" instead of "-theow," and the Gothic name probably would have been
something like *Onganthius?  Then Gizurr (who is mentioned both as the king
of the Gauts, and as fighting under Angatyr in the Gothic army, and is
probably Othinn) incites and leads Angatyr's troops to battle the Hunnish
army.

Also, there is only a case to be made that Tyr was the patron of the
Tervingi, whereas the Greutungi are clearly associated with Gizurr (Gaut).
This makes sense when applied to the historical situation, because the
Greutungi formed the greater body of Ostrogoths, who were led by the Amali,
and thus descended from Gaut.  On the other hand, the Tervingi were the bulk
of what became the Visigoths, and were led by the Balthi (Bold).  What
better patron god for the Balthi than Teiws, the god of battle?
Turville-Petre says in his translation notes to the saga that Tyrfingr (the
sword, which is obviously a poetic representation of the people) is probably
associated with "turf," and thus designates those who worship the god
represented by the sword which is thrust in the ground, as the Goths did
after the old Scythian ritual related in Herodotus as being the ritual of
"Aries," (probably Mithras to the Scythians).  As Anþanareiks recently
pointed out, Wolfram says something about this as well.

As for a connection between the Tervingi and the Vanir, it was among the
Tervingi that Aþanareiks had the image in the wagon drawn around, that all
Goths may sacrifice to it to prove they were faithful to the old religion,
and had not become Christians, as related in _The Passion of St Saba_.

The Tervingi-Visigoths seem to have been a breakaway group from the old
united Goths, under Amal leadership.  Before that time, I think it is safe
to say that the patron of the Goths was Gaut.  After that time, I think we
can no longer speak of one patron for all the Goths: each Kuni seems to have
had its own patron, with the Greutungi retaining the old nobility and patron
of the Goths.

Albareiks


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