[gothic-l] Re: Gaut/Gapt (Tyr)

[keth at ONLINE.NO]

Hi Francisc,
You wrote:
>I don't think that the Gothic patron could be Tyr.
>Tyr is the Scandinavic form of Gmc. *tiwa-z or *teiwa-z (from the IE
>root *deiwo-s, whence also Sanskrit deva, Avestic daeva-, Latin deus
>and divus, OHG zio, etc.)
>In Gothic, *tiwa-z would become *tius, and *teiwa-z > *teiws.
>This Angantyr is mentioned only in "The Battle of the Goths and Huns"
>and some ther Norse sagas, and not in historical sources. So it's
>doubtful if this was the name of a real Gothic person.


I am not sure if the concept of "national patron" is valid.
It seems like a modern assumption. Of course it could be so,
but need not be so. For example Adam of Bremen describes
the sanctuary in Uppsala as having a triplicity of statues,
and Thor in the middle, I think it said!

In the 14th century Icelandic story "Hervarar saga ok Heidreks",
you find that the Berserker Arngrim grows up on the island
Bolm in Hålogaland (=Northern Norway). He has 12 sons, all
Berserkers, the eldest and strongest of whom is Angantyr.
Anganyr also dies in a duel on the island Samsø between
Denmark and Sweden. His invincible sword Tyrfing is buried
with him on Samsø. But his daughter Hervor, who is born in
Denmark after he has died, becomes an amazone and recovers
the sword from his mound. Hervor later marries and has the
son Heidrek, and it is he who due to killing his brother
is banned from his home. His mother does however give him
Tyrfing as parting gift, and he travels South and becomes
king of the Goths. These persons are clearly all legendary.
That does of course not prevent similar persons from having
lived. But the real story cannot have been the same story as
the legend. Legends rarely work that way. (my opinion)
Nevertheless, I find it an interesting story, that tells
us many things on different levels. But I will not take
it more literally than other adventure stories, e.g.
stories such as were written by Alexandre Dumas, Jules
Verne and other good authors.

Best regards
Keth



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