[gothic-l] Re: Jutes and Goths

[Francisc Czobor]

--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "sunnytjatsingh"
<sunnytjatsingh at y...> wrote:
> ...
> Just the mere fact that classical writers such as Dexippos,
Orosios,
> Josephus, Cassidorus, Jordanes and Isidore of Seville mention that
> the Goths were  "Scythian" or "Getae" leaves me ample room to
examine
> this aspect.  Best Wishes,

For classical writers, Goths were "Scythian", Huns were "Scythian",
etc. They used the term "Scythian" in a very large sense, as I wrote
before, with the meaning "barbarians coming from north-east". For
them, the languages spoken by all these barbarians did not matter.
The Greeks considered all non-Greeks "barbarians", word which means
literally "stammerer", "stutterer", because for the Greeks any non-
Greek language was not a real language, but a mere stammer
(similarily the Old Indians called "Mleccha" all the tribes speaking
non-Indic languages). So it was of no worth to study the languages of
the "Barbarians". Later, adopting this model, the Romans considered
all non-Greeks and non-Romans as "Barbarians". So for classical
authors it didn't have any importance what languages spoke different
kinds of Barbarians, since all these were in their view stutter,
stammer. So they didn't see the connection between the Gothi and the
Germani, but classifed the Goths as "Scythians" taking into account
only geographic and cultural aspects (it is known that the Goths were
influenced in their material culture by Iranic peoples and Huns).
But today, a very important criterion for classifying peoples is
their languages. And we know that the Goths spoke a Germanic
language. We also know that the Scythians and the Getae did not speak
Germanic languages. So today it is no more acceptable to state that
the Goths were Scythians or Getae. Of course, during their migrations
the Goths might incorporate also foreign elements, including possibly
Scythians and Getae, but these elements were quickly assimiled, since
the Goths kept their Germanic language. The language used by Wulfila
in AD 340-380 for his Bible, taking appart the Greek-Latin loanwords
introduced by Wulfila for biblic terms, was purely Germanic, with a
few probably Slavic elements (2-3 words). No trace of "Scythic"
(Iranic) influence, no trace of "Getic" (Thracian) influence. Only
the laguage of the 16th century's Crimean Goths has some Iranic
influence (3 words out of 80 in Busbecq's list), which is explainable
by the centuries of living together and mixing of Goths and Iranic
Alans in Crimea (the Greek-orthodox bishopric of Crimea was
called "bishopric of Goths and Alans").

With best regards,
Francisc



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