[gothic-l] A Few Placenames on Got-, Goet-

[keth at ONLINE.NO]

Hi Dirk!
What you write below is of course very interesting!
I do not for a moment believe that "Gautvík"
in Iceland has anything to do with the ancient Goths.
But it was rather created by the same name-producing
mechanism that created the many other similar names.
If Gautvík in the Iceland saga is the same as the port
of the same name in East Iceland, just South of the
characteristic Reydarfjord (see map of E. Iceland),
then that became one of the important ports for
the North-Atlantic trade in the 14th century, and
it *could* have received that name because men from
Gautland/Gotland used to trade there. But it can
also have had a more simple local reason, such as
simply being named after a person with the name "Gauti".
"Gauti" was quite a common man's name in West Norway in
the middle Ages. And I assume that it was therefore
common in Iceland too, simply because most of the
immigrants did in fact come from West Norway.
Thus it appears that such generalizing statements as
"everything points to Gaut" evaporate upon closer
invetigation.

As another example from Iceland, we might take a look at
the Landnámabook which gives us detailed records about
the details of the settlement process on Iceland. 
The existence and preservation of Landnámabók then 
causes the naming process that led to the various
place-names, to become a historic process in which the
records can tell us and names of the persons who were involved,
rather than, as in mainland Scandinavia, being a prehistoric
process.

The interesting thing about the Icelandic naming process
is that it resulted in place names of exactly the same type
as exist in West Norway. Therefore, I think the Icelandic
naming process throws a lot of light on the corresponding
but earlier naming processes on mainland Scandinavia.

If I read through the Landnámabók, I do indeed find that 
there was a man whose name was "Gaut" who settled in
the Laxá-valley in the Eastern Húnaþing area, and called
his settlement by the name "Gautsdal". In fact there were
3 men called Gunsteinn, Audolfr and Gauti, who accompanied
their relative Ævar, son of Ketill helluflagi, son of
king Harald goldbeard from Sogn in W. Norway, to Iceland.
Ævar called his own land Ævarskard, while Gunnsteinn
called his land Gunnsteinsstad, Karli called his land
Karlastad, Torð called his land Mikilsstad, Audolfr
Audolfsstad and finally Gaut called the place *he*
built for himself "Gautsdal".

Here is another example from West Norway:

  GAUDLAND -- pronounced "gau'dlann". In records
  from 1567 it is spelled Gudelannd. Guddelannd
  1616. Goudeland 1668. Goudland 1723. One
  here assumes an original form *Gautland.
  It is near the place where a little river
  runs out of a lake.  Another explanation
  that deviates from the topographic explanation
  (river mouth) has been indicated by P.A.Munch
  who in 184x guessed on Gautaland, from the man's
  name Gauti.

There are quite a few examples of this kind in Norway.





>--- In gothic-l at y..., keth at o... wrote:
>> In Iceland there is also "Gautvík".
>> Don't know why it has that name.
>> Maybe people from Gautland used to go
>> there. I can try to look it up. 
>> 
>> In Norway also Gaustad, Gautestad,
>> Gautsjøen, Gautåa, Gausdal, Gausel,
>> Gauslå, Gaustad and I am sure there
>> are more.
>> 
>> Some of these names are related to the
>> verb "gjósa" which means to stream forward.
>> Especially some of the river names.
>> This is not the same verb as gjóta btw
>> Keth
>
>
>
>
>Hi Keth,
>
>In Germany we have many river names like the Gose, Gaute, Gause, 
>Geese, Geete, etc.  Possibly all those river/ and placenames are 
>related via a common Germanic or even indogermanic root meaning to 
>pour or to stream forward. 
>
>As for old placenames with Got-,Goet- that may in some cases may be 
>related or derived from those river names, I found among many others:
>
>Gautinga (Gauting, Bavaria)
>Gotelare (Goslar, L.Sax)
>Gothaha (Gotha, Thur.)
>Gotewiccus (Goettwick)
>Gotinga/Goddinga/Gutinga (Goettingen, L.Sax.)
>Gottorpia (Gottorp, S.H.)
>Gotsgaugia (Guetskow, Bran.)
>Gotesecke (Goseck, Sax.)
>Gotesleben (Kutzleben)
>Gudiningen (Guettingen, Baden-Wuert.)
>
>plus many
>Goete-, Gote-, Gaute-, and Gutes- dorfs,- torps, -heims etc.
>
>
>Overall, I think that there is some Common Germanic or even 
>Indogermanic root of gaut-, got-, goet- etc., which accounts for many 
>of the river names and probably some of the placenames as well.
>

Yes, that is exactly the point !
If you write an essay trying to prove that the
Goths came from Scandinavia and then mention
all the Scandinavian placenames on Gaut-/Got-/
Göt- as "evidence". Then that is a very biased
way of going about things, if you do not at
the same time *also* mantion the many place
names on Gaut-/Got-/Gaus-/Goet-/Göt-, etc 
in *other*  European countries. Because if
it should turn out that there are relatively
*more such names in non-Scandinavian countries,
then *that particular evidence rather points
to the opposite conclusion. But if you are
suppressing the non-Scandianavian evidence,
then you are conducting your investigation 
in a biased manner.

Best regards
Keth





>Dirk
>
>
>
> 
>
>
>
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> >Vaestergoetland
>> >
>> >Goetabrunnen (a spring) in Vaesterplana.
>> >
>> >Goetene is probably the name of a stream
>> >or river passing Goetene. There is also
>> >a sacrifical spring in Goetene.
>> >
>> >Goessaeter (probably a sacrificial
>> >spring) and the village Goeteve.
>> >
>> >Goetala outside Skara (Old Swedish
>> >*al which could be connected to
>> >Gothic alhs (temple). There are
>> >around 50 ancient monuments around
>> >Goetala. There is also Goetala in
>> >Oestergoetland.
>> >
>> >Denmark
>> >
>> >Some sources indicate that Vejle
>> >river in Denmark had the name
>> >*Goeta (from the older *Gaution).
>> >
>> >Norway
>> >
>> >In Norway there is Gaute with (a landslide)
>> >in Hauke Valley in Sunnfjord. Also there
>> >is the lake Gautsjoen.
>> >
>> >Gotland/Gutland
>> >
>> >On Gotland Gautstaede, Gautalver and Gothem
>> >connected to *gaut (outflow).



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/