[gothic-l] more military terms

[lama_nom]

Hails jah heloooo,

My first post, so I wasn't sure whether to reply to this old one or
start a new thread - but I guess I'll find out...


> On Tuesday, April 22, 2003, at 09:05 PM, iainralph wrote:


> > I also play board wargames and am in the process of designing a
game
> > on the Adrianople campaign.  For the sake of authenticity, I would
> > like to use Gothic terminology appropriate to the era of Fritigern
> > and have come up with the following so far:
> >
> > Thiufa       standard military unit
> > Frijai       Gothic Freemen
> > Andbahtos    retainers in the employ of the leader
> > Siponjos     retainers-followers
> > Reiks        "kinglet"  Fritigern and Alaviv's replacement
> > Frauja       other tribal leader
> >
> > Also, can anyone recommend an appropriate word for "hunter"?
> > (actually a Gothic equivalent of the German term "Jaeger" would be
> > most valuable).


Well, here's a couple more I came across:

wardja           guard, sentry
*spaiha          scout, spy
*skulka          scout, spy
*skarja          leader of a band of men (Scharfuehrer)
*skara           troop, band of soldiers (cf. German Schar)
ferja            spy, agent, agent provocateur, ambusher?

The evidence for the asterisked ones comes from borrowings from
Gothic into Spanish, Italian, etc.  Koebler suggests "ambusher" as
one meaning for "ferja", which made me think of some sort of
commando - but the context is Luke 20,20 - agents provocateur sent to
catch Jesus out and trick him into saying something blasphemous.  But
it could well mean "ambusher" in a literal sense as well, as it seems
to come from Gothic 'fera' (side), so "someone who sneaks up and
attacks you from the side".

--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, matthew carver <me at m...> wrote:
 A harjis is an army proper, an armed host;
> wairdus
> is a more general term for host (of people or armed warriors).

I think wairdus is "host" in the other sense: someone with guests -
see Romans 16,23 "Gaius, wairdus meins", my host Gaius.  Like German
wirt.

Hope that's of some use,

 - Nom.




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