Visborg on Gutland and the Visi-Goths

[Tore Gannholm]

Hi,

Vi is holy place where the gods were worshipped.

Tore

On Jul 10, 2006, at 6:31 PM, akoddsson wrote:

> Regarding the element 'visi-' in english 'visigoths', I am not sure
> that there is a general scholarly consensus as to what its actual
> form would be in Gothic. It is often thought to mean something like
> 'famous/renowned'. I have never seen any references to this element
> being used in germanic languages, personal- or place-names in
> general. It seems isolated, and thus likely the questions about what
> its Gothic form would have been, if it is indeed Gothic. However, I
> noticed that it could be related to the name Visborg on Gutland,
> which is mentioned in Gutasaga and in Gutland inscription #100
> (rundatabase). What struck me here is that the element occurs, of
> all places, on Gutland ;) Now, as is known, Visborg is a major
> historical location on Gutland. Now, it would certainly be
> interesting if the so-called 'visi-goths' of later, continental fame
> had this 'visi-' element due to an historical origin in or around
> Visborg. Judging from the changes into the later Gutlandic, an
> earlier form might have been something like *weisibaurgs in
> Wulfila's spelling. Anyway, the fact that the only other possible
> instance of the 'visi-' element that I could find was on Gutland,
> and then for a major location, really struck me.
>
> Regards,
> Kunjareths.
>
>
> 



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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