Was the word "kunig/kunigas/kunigur" a gothic word?

[Ingemar Nordgren]

Hi Ualarauans,

You wrote:
> Isn't it *þeuðanaz (Go. thiudans, ON þjo:ðann, OE þeoden, OS thiodan
etc) which was the true PG name for "king" as the "head of a >tribe
(*þeuðô)"? It has a transparent IE word-forming pattern: >"collective
noun" + suffix –ano-/-ino- expressing more or less the >meaning "head
of ..." We have a number of Germanic terms shaped in >this way: 
> *druxtinaz (ON dro:ttinn, OE dryhten, OS druhtin, OHG truhtin 
> etc) "military leader", lit. "head of a *druxtiz (host of warriors, 
> cf. Go. gadrauhts "warrior", lit. "member of the same *drauhts F.-i 
> < *druxtiz)"; *kinðinaz (represented solely by Go. kindins, if it's 
> not a Gothic new-making after the known pattern) "head of a
>*kinðiz" (< PIE *gentis, cf. Lat. gens; there must have been a
>Gothic word  *kinds F.-i meaning "clan" or the like, as the Swedish
examples cited by Ingemar show); *xarjanaz (ON Herjann, epithet of 
> Odin), "head of a *xarjaz (army)"; and even *Wôðanaz himself, 
> understood as "head of wôða- (if we take it as a collective noun 
> meaning "the furious ones", in the sense of die Wilde Jagd, as
>Emile Benveniste suggested in his Vocabulary of the Indo-European 
> Institutions). Outside Germania, we see Latin dominus ("head of 
> domus, family house"), tribunus ("head of tribus") following the 
> same model. A Germanic ethnonym rendered through a Celtic mediation 
> was Teutoni ("kings"?). And we've got feminine Illyrian tautana in 
> the sense "queen". Summing up, the word Go. thiudans is very very 
> old in its reference to the leader of a tribe.
 
> Then, what about *kuningaz? It is formed from PG. *kunjan "kin" 
> through adding the patronymic suffix –inga-, which is Germanic, not 
> IE. The original meaning of *kuningaz must have been "descendant of 
> a (noble) kin". That is, it didn't necessarily imply a sole
>person's leadership. It could have meant just "nobleman" in the
>beginning. And the term itself could have originated in the
>West-Germanic area,where the word is documented best. ON konungr can
>be a later borrowing from the continent. Surely you know that place
>in Ynglingasaga 20:
> "Dyggvi's mother was Dro:tt, daughter of the king Danp(r), son of 
> Ri:gr, who was the first called konungr in the Danish tongue... 
> Dyggvi was the first of his kinsmen to be called konungr; and
>before that they had been called dro:ttnar, and their wives 
> dro:ttningar..." (the imperfect translation is mine)which reminds
>of Konr ungr (lit. "Konr the Young",hence konungr by
>folk-etymology), son of Ri:gr in Ri:gsðula. Doesn't it suggest that 
> the term konungr as compared to dro:ttinn and þjo:ðann was
>relatively late, which fact was still remembered in mythologized 
> history? Note that in the context of both sources Danr and Danpr
>are mentioned, which is certainly a reminiscence of Don and Dnepr
>known ultimately from the Goths after their adventures in East
>Europe (Go.*Dan(u)s jah *Danapr(u)s, used together in Gothic epic
songs). 
> Didn't the Goths play a role (and what then?) in this shift of the 
> power terminology for the rest of Germania?
> 
> A kind of conclusion so far: the Gothic word *kuniggs originally 
> referred to "nobleman", "one of the elite", "prince", a term
>closely associated with religious-tribal structure of the pagan
>Goths, and that was the reason why Wulfila didn't use it when
>translating Greek BASILEUS and ARCWN. But it happened to get
>borrowed by some peoples with whom the Goths maintained contacts and
>eventually became a part of their power vocabulary. The rise of
>*kuningaz to "king" was exclusively West-Germanic, later spread to
the North, and that was called forth by some social transformations
>in the West-Germanic area...

> Ualarauans

I am not sure I follow your reasoning totally. For a beginning we must
establish a difference between 'people,gentes' and 'tribe' since
normally a people consists of several tribes. Secondly we must se to
the supposed origin of such a tribe, i.e. if it is based on an
original kindred relation with families being kinsfolk in a broad
meaning or if it started with a gathering of people in kind of
Gefolgschaft e.g.

Þiuðans et c. sure means  leader/head of a people -I agree. Also in
the other senses we can suppose it concerns a 'head' person of kind
e.g. leader of warriors et c. That's why I see this as an original
title of a sacral king for several tribes, a people, and not a tribal
king. 

Concerning 'kin','kind, 'kuni/kunja' I primarily see a connection with
a tribe - not a people. I however fail to see why kuningaz must only
mean descendant of a tribe, a noble et c. It it for me evident that
this term relates to a tribal leader that as well 'drottin' might do,
but on the other hand 'drottin' is used both to mark a noble and as
well for a ruler and a second in command. Kuningaz, konungr et.c.
however is never used in another sense than 'king' as far as I know.
This is also why I regard 'kind' as related to a tribe of kindred
origin. Since the 'kindins' presided in a council consisting of
several reiks/kuniggs and they had strong influence on his decisions
'kindind' was not a classical king but rather a successor to þiuðans
to perform the functions of the former sacral king of the people.
Since these several kunjas/kinds should be coordinated it is natural
that the person who executes thisis regarded as 'leader of the
kinds/kuni', i.e. 'kindins'. Formally, accordingly, his title implies
kingship and he as well executes just the sacral functions for the
whole Vesigothic people, but his political position is different
because of the presence of the council.

The reiks/kuningas of course, as you imply, also had a sacral function
within the tribe and versus the warriors with the cult of Gaut and
Óðinn, the ancestor cult et c., but the cult of the people, the
fertility cult, was a matter for the 'kindins'and, I in my opinion he
in this way had the overruling duty to guard the ethnicity of the
people which just rested with the cult, reminding them also all the
time of their divine heritage from Gaut. Later, at least in
Scandinavia, 'Svíakonungr' was as well used for a sacral king, and of
possible earlier names we do not know. On the other hand we have no
real knowledge of the influence area for any early ruler referred to
with that epithet. The Inglingar are mentioned but nothing says this
is a dynasty - it could as well be a name of any ruler, maybe several
contemporary, up North claiming to be the reborn sun, which is just
what the name implies (in my interpretation). From the Skilfings and
on they were rather Odinistic kings and hence no real sacral kings and
the sources mentioning Svía konungr are medieval and hence could be
influenced by later language.
To call a tribal king a 'kuningas' hence is natural and I can not see
why this should indicate just only a nobleman of the tribe.Kuningas
means just what you claimed with Woden in Woðanaz- head of the family
related tribe. I recall that Wenskus used just 'kuningas'for tribal
kings when he claimed the different tribes moved south one by one, and
not in a massmovement under a þiuðans. I agree with him that this
scenario is the most likely. You are however correct, I now recall, of
the supposed Celtic origin of 'reiks'. Reiks, as little as kuningas,
is  not a sacral king for a people, but the title can be used for
Odinistic kings like Ermanaric when there is no more an undivided
Gothic people and the Vesigothic reiks were not sacral kings but
rather Odinistic.

Anyhow I think your analysis has made a lot of things more evident and
understandable thanks to your elusion of a lot of linguistic stoff of
grammatical art, that only confuse the explanations in most mails. 

I thank thee brother!

Ingemar






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