[gothic-l] Re: Balkan

[Nenad Mitovski]

| A very smart question. "Slawan" means in Gothic "to be silent, to be
| still". This reminds me the name given by the Slavs to the Germans:
| Russian "nemec" and related words in other Slavic languages, being
| derived from O.Slav. nemu "dumb". Indeed, someone can be regarded as
| silent or dumb by people speaking another language.

        That was exactly what triggered and attracted my attention :), but
afterwards I figured that "slawan" could also mean something closer to
"peaceful", "obedient", "submissive" which could explain position of Slavs
beside Goths in some parts of history.
        As I put some pieces together, I think that there is great possibility
that Goths and Slavs were beside and together for centuries with Goths in power
over Slavs and that disappearance of Goths and appearance of Slavs on Balkans
(or records of Balkans) was matter of Byzantine political decision.

        Beside that, Slavic name for Germans as "nem*" (mute, dumb) might be of
later origin, since it is not present in all Slavic languages.

        Of course, this is just a brain storm... My primary thoughts were
exactly like yours.

| But as far as I know, the name of Slavs comes from their own
| designation: Slovene, being derived from slovo "word".

        May be, but may be not. Even in some modern Slavic languages "slava"
means "glory" and also "celebration" (especially orthodox Christian form of
pagan Slavic annual celebration). That may be irrelevant, but "slovo" version
surely isn't without doubt.

        *

        What about words like "snaga"?
        That exact word for "clothes" in Gothic today means "power" in
South-Slavic languages.





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