[gothic-l] Re: America - Almarich

[Francisc Czobor]

Hy, Sunny,

I knew the fact that the name "America", first used in 1507 by the 
German cosmographer Martin Waldseemüller (1470-1522) is derived from 
the name of the Italian navigator and explorer Amerigo Vespucci 
(latinised: Americus Vespucius), who lived between 1454-1512 (and not 
in the 12th century, as you state), and that the name Amerigo is of 
Germanic (not necessarily Gothic) origin. It is possible that it 
ultimately derives from Amalrich (which is obviously a Gothic name, 
attested in the 6th century as Amalaricus, cf. Köbler's "Gotisches 
Wörterbuch", 1989; in Wulfilan Gothic it woud be *Amala-reiks). But I 
knew that Amerigo is in fact a variant of the Italian name Emerico, 
wich is also of Germanic origin, but related rather to the German 
name "Heinrich".
There is also another hypothesis, that "America" could be derived 
from "Amerrique" (probably from a Native American language), the name 
of a mountain range in Nicaragua, used by early explorers for the 
newly discovered land (cf. Webster's New World College Dictionary, 
1994).

Francisc


--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "sunnytjatsingh" 
<sunnytjatsingh at y...> wrote:
> Hi Francisc, 
> 
> "Ghaddafi, trying to demonstrate the superiority of the Arab 
culture, 
> among other arguments, derived the name "America" from a certain 
Arab 
> called "Emir Kah"! This is not far from Jat=Get=Goth."
> 
> Let's examine a fun-fact suggested by Kephart who claims that the 
> Goths were PARTLY responsible for the name of America?
> 
> The name Amerigo showed up in Italian around the 12th Century and 
was 
> introduced by the Goths in the 6th century – Amal.  Hence, the 
> etymology
. Amalrich "work ruler" [German] – Amerigo [Italian] – 
> America.    Therefore, it may be possible that America was named 
> after Vespucci, an Italian, with a Gothic name?   
> 
> For a detailed explanation behind this name see Calvin Kephart.  
> Regards,


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