[gothic-l] Re: Are EE Jews half-Goths?

[dirk at SMRA.CO.UK]

--- In gothic-l at y..., keth at o... wrote:
> Dirk wrote :
> >I think that there are a number of problems with your theory. 
Firstly,
> > Yiddish is based largely on Middle High German, i.e. the language
> >spoken in Germany some 600 years ago when the Jews left for Eastern
> >Europe and not on East Germanic/Gothic. Secondly, there is no
> >mentioning in the sources of Gothic raids to Georgia and even if 
there
> >were, why would they have left their offspring behind in Eastern
> >Europe? And finally, I am neither an expert nor Jewish, but is 
Judaism
> >not first and foremost a religion? How do you think these 
decendants
> >of Gothic/Caucasians obtained their Jewish religion?
> >
> 
> 
> Hi Dirk,
> Those arguments make sense to me. I recall that some years ago
> the well known Hungarian author Arthur Kösteler wrote a monograph
> on a theory about the origin of the Eastern European Jews that had
> taken his fancy. Actually, I never got around to reading the book,
> but from reviews recall that its thesis must have seemed 
sufficiently
> provocative to many. What he claims is that there once was a large 
group
> of - not "Goths" - but rather "Khazars" who at one time or another
> converted en masse to Judaism. What reasons Köstler may have quoted
> I am not sure about, but I imagine it must have been political
> reasons. Perhaps an effort not to be culturally absorbed by the
> expanding Islam. The "Khazars", I think, also play an important role
> in Ibn Fadlan's well known account of the life of Scandinavian 
vikings
> in Russian - in the Wolga region I think it was. According to my 
dictionary
> the Khazars are supposed to have been a Mongolian tribe, mentioned
> in history between A.D. 193 and the 12th century. Exactly how the
> Khazars relate to Turks, Tatars and Bulgars I am not sure about.
> But of course, some Goths may have become absorbed by the Huns -
> and who knows, maybe some of these tribes are to some degree 
descandants
> of "Huns". And if you in this way adopt what may be called an
> Asiatic or Eastern European "melting pot" theory, I suppose it is
> possible to argue for any kind of "origin" theory - because it is
> possible to find connections pointing in every possible direction.
> 
> Best regards
> Keth


Hello Keth,

that reminded me that Jordanes basically 'made' the Huns into Goths or 
'Half-Goths' by arguing that the Huns were the offspring of Gothic 
witches. 

cheers
Dirk







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