[gothic-l] Re: Question about Catualda

[dirk at SMRA.CO.UK]

--- In gothic-l at y..., Alburysteve at a... wrote:
>
> Hi Dirk:
>
> >  Short question: Catualda was a chieftain/noble how toppled
Marbod, the
> >  king of the Marcomanni in around 19AD, with the help of the
Gothones.
> >  Some authors call this Catualda a Goth, while others seem to
regard
> >  him as Marcomannic. As Pohl pointed out, at this time the
Marcomanni
> >  dominated the Celtic Lugians, who in turn dominated the Vistula
> >  Gothones. Thus, by supporting Catualda the Gothones may have
sought to
> >  improve their position in these inter-tribal relations.
> >
> >  Anyway, is there any indication or generally accepted viewpoint
as to
> >  whether Catualda was a Goth or a Markomann. One indication could
be
> >  his name, I thought that male names ending on 'a' are a typical
> >  feature for some East Germanic/Gothic names.
>
>
> I suspect that the name is Celtic, Catu- 'battle' being a common
element
> (e.g. Catubodus has an Old Irish equivalent in Cathbad,
"Battlecrow".  The
> -ualda suffix, I believe, holds the IE root Val- "strength, rule" as
in
> OIrish flaith (rulership), MWelsh gwlad (ruler),  ONorse valda
(rule),
> OEnglish wealdan (rule) and Gothic waldan (rule).   I assume the
name would
> mean something like "Lord of Battle",
>
> But this may not be definitive, since, like Marcomanni, it could
represent an
> amalgamation  of Celtic (Marco=horse) and Germanic (manni = men?).
>
> Oh well,
>
> Steve O'Brien
> Albury, Ontario


Hi Steve,

that is interesting. A 'mixed' Germano-Celtic name would perhaps be a
nice reflection of the 'ethnic' situation in these areas, i.e.
Gothones beeing subjugated by Lugians and Lugians being subjugated by
Marcomanni. But would the final 'a' not tip the balance in favour of a
more Gothic origin of the name and/or its bearer, though?

About the Marcomanni name, I always took 'Marco' to mean 'border'
(i.e. Mark in German), and Mar (Maere) can also mean horse in German.

cheers
Dirk






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/