[gothic-l] Re: To Dirk and Tore

[sunburst]

Hails!

>Could you, just briefly, hint or discuss what evidence they give for
>their theories on the words god and Gaut?

Well, I was reading the book in New York City a few weeks ago, which means
it is now more than 4000 miles away, and all I have is my notes.  However, I
remember that they don't present much evidence other than related words on
other IE languages; they present their information as if it was accepted
fact.  I feel confident that they know more about it than I do.

The Proto-Germanic root of Gaut is *Gautaz, (Gothic ‘Gáuts’ OE Geat, ON
Gautr or Gauti, OHG Kóz.  *Gautaz is “to pour forth” or “flowing” or
“flooding;” surviving in the Gothic language
as giutan (of which gaut is the pret. 3rd sing.); OE géotan, and OHG
giozzan, all of which
mean “pour” or “flow,” and ON gjota, “throw (young).”

The Encyclopedia of IE Culture states that these words derrive from the
Indo-European root *gheud- “pour,” which is an expansion of *gheu- “pour,
libation,
priest, one who performs a sacrifice,” OInd juhóti- “sacrifices, pours a
libation into the
fire,” hótar- “priest, one who performs a libation,” Lat fútis “water
vessel, pitcher,”
TochB kwalne “libation,” and it is noted “widespread attestation assures PIE
status.  The
religious associations around this verb in Indo-Iranian are striking.”

That considering, I find it strange that *Gautaz is almost always associated
with the flowing of rivers or with biological function.  If Ingemar Nordgren
is right, and I believe he is, that the Goths and Gautic peoples were a
religious confederation of tribes, it seems more natural that *Gautaz might
have refered rather to the pouring of libations, and/or also the flowing and
pouring of the blood in sacrifice which was so popular among the ancient
peoples.  Grimm says that OHG coz refers to a vessel.  If *Gautaz could mean
the pouring, that which is poured, and the vessel into which something is
poured, considering that the old sacral kings were blood descended from
Gaut, and also the high priests of their tribes, thus the officiators of the
sacrifice, a new picture of potential interconnected multiple meaning for
*Gautaz begins to emerge, which seems more in line with Ingemar's theory.
At least that is the idea that came to me when examining the IE roots and
related words in other IE languages.

Albareiks



You are a member of the Gothic-L list.  To unsubscribe, send a blank email to <gothic-l-unsubscribe at egroups.com>.

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/