Use of Gothic language in Spain (baurgs, Burgos, burgus)

[llama_nom]

--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, Michael Erwin <merwin at ...> wrote:
>
> I think it more likely that Gothic baurgs comes from Latin burgus,  
> than vice-versa, from Greek either way.

That's a new idea to me.  Could you elaborate?  Is there any evidence
that speaks against the traditional view that Go. 'baurgs' and its
Germanic cognates were inherited from Proto-Germanic *burgz, perhaps
related to the verb *bergan- with the notion of protection/shelter. 
Incidentally, what do you think of the arguments mentioned here
against derivation of Lat. 'burgus' from Greek PURGOS [
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/2001/2001-10-14.html ]?  I've seen
'burgus' described as Late Latin.  The review I linked to mentions an
inscription of AD 151.  Is it attested earlier?  One reason for
thinking that Go. 'baurgs' is either inherited, or at least not a
recent loanword, is the "breaking" (lowering) of the root vowel before
/r/, a Pre-Gothic sound-change.  Another reason for thinking that it's
not a recent loan is the fact that it belongs to the rare (in Gothic)
consonant stem declension, whereas more recent loans of Latin and
Greek masculine 2nd declension words are generally declined as Gothic
u-stems (except in the nominative and genitive plural where they
usually behave as i-stems).  Admittedly there isn't much evidence to
date those sound changes that set Gothic apart from Proto-Germanic, so
I don't know if any of this necessarily rules out the possibility you
suggest.

Thinking about the place name though: maybe the root vowel is a clue
that it comes from Latin after all, since it doesn't exhibit breaking.
 If the name had come from Gothic wouldn't we expect to see Buergos? 
Or was Visigothic /o/ closer to local Lat. /u/ than Lat. /O/?  Or are
there Spanish dialectal factors that I'm not taking into account here?
 Another thought: maybe if the name *Baurgs had been given by the
Goths, Romance speakers would naturally have substituted their own
word 'burgus', similar in sound and meaning.

LN

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