Fwd: Re: Fwd: [gothic-l] Names of Heruls

[dirk at SMRA.CO.UK]

--- In gothic-l at y..., jdm314 at a... wrote:
> I sent the original posting to our former member David Salo, knowing
that he
> would come up with a better answer than I could. Here is what he
said:
>
>
>
> In a message dated 11/26/01 3:34:37 PM, dsalo at s... wrote:
>
> <<
>    At least some of these names are clearly Germanic, and many of
them
> probably so: Alaric = Go. Alareiks "All-ruler", Fara = Go. *Fara
> "Traveller", Fulcharis = *Ful(la)harjis "Full-army", Philemuth =
*Filumods
> "Many-mind", Roduulf = *Hrothawulfs "Glory-wulf" (Rudolf, Rolf),
Sindualt
> perhaps = *Swinthawalds "Strength-power".  Aordus probably includes
-wards
> "guardian" (maybe Aiwwards "Eternal guardian"?), Suartuas certainly
> includes Swart- "black" (but perhaps the second element is Celtic,
cf.
> Welsh gwas < *wassos?), Fanitheus probably includes -thius
"servant".
> Silinga includes the well known tribal suffix -ing (and the Silings
were on
> of the branches of the Vandal tribe).  Of course this only shows
that the
> names are Germanic, not necessarily Gothic.  Others look strange.
E.g.
> Datius -- I don't think Datja or Datjis means anything; Naulobates
-- maybe
> includes nagl- "nail"??  Ochus, whatever it was originally, seems to
have
> been remodelled to resemble the Greek transcription of the Iranian
name
> *Wa(h)ukah.  Uligagus looks awfully like a scribal error for
something
> else.
>
> >
> > Alaric
> > Aluith
> > Aordus
> > Arufus
> > Aruth
> > Datius
> > Fara
> > Fulcharis
> > Naulobates
> > Ochus
> > Phanitheus
> > Philemuth
> > Roduulf
> > Sintvalt (Sindualt)
> > Suartuas
> > Visandus
> > Uligagus
> >
> > Silinga
>


Hi,

that is interesting information. I don't know much about linguistics,
but we heard on an other list -from a well informed member- that
Visandus comes from Wisent, perhaps originally as nickname. The name
was attested into the 13th century in Bavaria. About Uligagus, Felix
Dahn wrote that it may be a form of Ulfgangus (i.e. Wolfgang). BTW,
Dahn regarded Phanatheus as a greek name.

In my view the interesting group of names is the one that Procopius
(and only him) reported for the Illyrian and Thule Heruls. In this
passage Procopius mentioned the names of the Herulic kings:

Grepes (Gretes), Ochos, Datius and his brother Aordos.

I regard these names as very unusual for Germanic kings. This becomes
clear when we look at the naming practice of other roughly
contemporary rulers in this area:

Gepids: Trafstila, Thrasarich,,Turisind, Turismund.
Ostrogoths: Theodemir, Theoderich,,Athanarich, Theodahat.
Rugians: Flaccitheus, Feletheus, Ferderuch, Friderich.
Langobards: Claffo, Tato, Wacho, or the Thuringian Gausen family
started with Audoin, Alboin, Albswinda.


Also, the last commonly attested Herulic king was named Roduulf and a
certain Risiulf, who fled from the Langobardic king Wacho to the
Varnians together with Heruls might, according to Gerhard Hauptfeld,
have been a relative of Rodulf. I think that shows that the Herulic
royal names provided by Procopius stand out significantly against the
nameing practice of all other Germanic rulers.

As far as I know, no etymology for the name Grepes or Gretes has been
suggested. The name Ochos was a common name among Parthian kings. For
the name Datius it has been suggested that Procopius made an error and
that he meant Danus, the Dane. Yet, the name Datius was well known in
Procopius' time. It was the name of two Christian saints, one of whome
was contemporary to Procopius. Thus, a Herulian king from Thule, who
is interpreted as the champion of the pagan faction of the Illyrian
Heruls bears the name of Christian saints. For the name Aordos, some
historians and Germanists stated that it meant something like 'the
Hordalandian'. After all Thule was supposed to be Norway and Hordand
is an area in Norway. (Alhough, Procopius' Thule was apparently
Sweden). At any rate, a classicist told me that Aordos is a known form
of the Persian name Orodos.

If that interpretation is correct and Datius really is the Roman name
Datius, Ochos really is the Persian name Ochos and perhaps Aordos
really is the Persian name Orodos, we have a very peculiar naming
practice for this group of Germanic pagan Heruls, which needs to be
explained. Interestingly, all these names appear in the same context;
are therefore probably from the same original informant and have not
been reported by any other author.


cheers,
Dirk















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