[gothic-l] Re: Possible Non Indo-European substrates in Germanic?

[Ingemar Nordgren]

--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "F.E.J.D. IV" <visigoth at a...> wrote:


 Dear Frithunanths,

You wrote among else:

> Some theorists have suggested that there might have been a people
> called the Aesir (Indo-European speakers) who displaced and or
> intermixed to some extent with a people called the Vanir. In this
> theory, the Vanir are speakers of non-Indo-European languages who
> could have been relatively autochthonous to Central, Northern and
> Western Europe and claimed by such theorists to be the source of the
> non IE substrate of Proto-Germanic. It may be of interest to remind
> readers that the Goths acclaimed their proceres (men of stature) as
> Ansis (demigods).

Please forget those ideas. Vanir and Asir are gods and the Vanir
comparable with Nâsatyas, or Açvins, in the Iranian religion as the
Asir answer to Kshatriya, the warriors, being ruled by the god of war,
Indra, who also has the thunderbolt as a symbol and is said to have
red hair. The top echelon included Mithra and Varuna - Tiwaz and
Wodan/Óðinn. It is just simply a kind of common IE heritage we are
talking of.

Concerning the Ansis they were heroes, which is demi-gods since the
paternal father of the kin is supposed to be a descendant of a god, in
this case most probably Gaut and later Óðinn/Wodan/Mercurius. They are
accordingly humans with divine ancestry.

Best greetings
Ingemar



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