[gothic-l] Balkan

[Bertil Haggman]

Mr. Mitovsky,

The East Germanic people of the Goths originated
in Scandinavia.

For encyclopedias on Germanic personal names and
peoples names there is Schoenfeld, _Woerterbuch der
altgermanischen Personen und Völkernamen nach der
Ueberlieferung des klassischen Altertums_ (1912) and for
instance Winfried Lehmann's _A Gothic Etymological 
Dictionary_ (1986) and a number of newer encyclopedias.

The Slavs came after the Goths but there were certainly
interarriages between Goths and other peoples for instance
Sarmatians. Also in on the Crimea and in Ukraine the
Goths were eventually becoming absorbed by the Slav
population. 

There is a number of descriptions. One is Tacitus _Germania_:
(20.1) "In every home they grow up...into those long limbs
and large bodies that amaze us". I would guess Jordanes may
have a description.

Where in the Balkans would the name Scandza appear? (compare with
Scandinavia).

It is not probable that there are any remains of Gothic people
on the Balkans.

Gothically

Bertil Haggman

>         I became attracted to Gothic culture while I was trying to find out
> origin of some geographic names in mountains of central Balkan peninsula...
> Although there were numerous matches for "Gabar" (name of one village), that
> word and similar words in Gothic language had to draw my attention since name
> of that somehow hidden mountain is "German" (it is placed in north-east of
> Macedonia among other larger mountains). It seems like name of that village
> could have been "Gabaur" or something close to that. Name of that mountain most
> likely was some old non-Germanic description of some Germanic people living
> there. They could have been Saxon miners, but there are no mines. Maybe some
> crusaders? Why would they get off of all roads and climb mountains?
>         Is it possible that some names survived since Gothic times?
> 
>         Looking through Gothic dictionaries, I've found some very interesting
> interactions with Southern-Slavic languages known to me and it could be an
> interesting subject.
>         What is the connection between Gothic word "slawan" with the name of
> Slavs?
>         Did Goths and Slavs mix?
> 
>         Are there any descriptions of details in physical appearance of Goths
> and comparison with other tribes of their times?
> 
>         Is there some list of Gothic personal names?
> 
>         I am still trying to find origin of one (personal/family) name common
> in central Balkan, "Scandza" :) (Sweden) and maybe some other parts of Europe:
> "Velin"/"Welin"/"Wellin", which doesn't sound like it is from any of present
> Balkan languages. There are more "mysterious" names, of course.
> 
>         History runs very slow and sometimes weird in hidden mountains.
> 
>         Is it possible that there are some remains of Gothic culture in
> mountains of central Balkan?



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