[gothic-l] Heyerdahl, the Goths and the Aesir

[keth at ONLINE.NO]

>Esteemed listmembers and all who contributed
>on my latest mail.
>
>We will have to see what result comes out
>of the research of Dr. Heyerdahl and his
>group working with the Academy of Sciences
>in Baku. It certainly has bearing on the
>migration of the Goths and Gepids from
>south Scandinavia. Meanwhile a refresher
>on the Ynglinga Saga, for those who might
>not have it at hand. The Aesir is the
>English word for Scandinavian aser or asar.
>


Hello Bertil,

Since it is so long ago, I think there are many possibilities.
Recall that I initially said "there should be an "n" there".
But I think "Ans-" is only one of the possibilities.
(I think it was Edgar Polomé who compared with Hittite,
and found the oldest form of the name on record in that language)

Another possibility would be in the name "azur", which
is the name of a blue color that derives from a certain
stone found in Persia. We know the sky is sometimes called
"azure blue", and in India there was also a class of gods
called "Asuras". (the conception of which later became negatively charged)

There was also talk about some group of peoples called "Ossetes",
also in the Kaukasus. There are presently around 5oo ooo Ossetes
and it is a people of Iranian origin. The Ossetes are a group
of tall people, dark and blond, brown-eyed and blue-eyed intermixed.

Also, in Old Norse there is not only the form "áss, ásar/áss, æsir",
but also the alternative form "óss" (m.)

I am in particular thinking about the phenomenon of "attraction",
i.e. how two words of similar meaning and sound, but of different
origin, may become assimilated because of folk-etymological thinking
that identifies them as the same.

So the question is to what degree we can trust etymology alone
when there is very little data available, because we have entered
far into pre-literary time epochs. It seems to me that etymology
then needs support from other facts.

Best regards
Keth




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