Rosomil, Rosmunda, Rosamunda

[llama_nom]

--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "ualarauans" <ualarauans at ...> wrote:
>
> --- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "llama_nom" <600cell@> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Gerhard Köbler, following Holthausen, derives the names Rosomil,
> > Rosmunda, Rosamunda from a root *rus- found in English 'rust' 
> (perhaps
> > also found in Rosomoni), related ultimately to Go. 'rauþs' "red",
> > 'ga-riudi' "decency".
> 
> I've heard so many weird ideas concerning the etymology of 
> Rosomoni... Basically, all agree that the second element is Go.
> -mans "men" (in codd. Rosomonorum, Rosomanorum, Rosimanorum, 
> Rosomorum). About the first one, I read that roso- is alledgedly 
> from raus "reed" (Marquart?), hence Rosomoni < *Rausa-
> mans "marshlanders"; others state that roso- is from Alanic roxsa- 
> (Oss. rûxs) "light", like in Roxolani "light Alans". And, of course, 
> a connection with "Russians" is asserted every now and then.

Sophus Bugge proposed Go. *Rusmunans "de rødlige" (the ruddy ones),
and this was the idea that I went with in an earlier version of Drus
Griutunge (before they were replaced with other tribes for metrical
reasons...), as it was the most detailed argument that I'd read, and
didn't seem unreasonable.

http://www.heimskringla.no/norsk/AFNF/oplysningeromnordensoldtidhosjordanes.php
http://runeberg.org/anf/1883/

Note especially the name 'rosmu-fjöll' in Atlakviða st. 17.

"Seinat er nú, systir,
at samna Niflungum;
langt er at leita
lýða sinnis til,
of rosmufjöll Rínar
rekka óneissa."

Lex. Poet. has "rödlige fjælde" (red hills) for 'rosmufjöll' and
refers to Bugge's paper. This interpretation of Rosomoni is dismissed
by Chambers as a "not very probable suggestion" (Widsith: A Study in
Old English Heroic Legend, p. 18, f. 2), although he doesn't give any
actual reasons why not! Other ideas he mentions are Russians (an
"unsuccessful" conjecture "though suppported by the great names of
Gibbon and Grimm"), "the doughty" (Koegel, Ltg. I, 1, 148) and
Hrusamans"the men of ice" (Grienberger, Z.f.d.A. XXXIX, p. 159).

> BTW Köbler cites PN Rausimodus. Very interesting.

The "reed" connection is interesting in light of this name Rausimodus
and the mythical ancestors of the Hazdings, Raos and Raptos, mentioned
by Cassius Dio (Epitome 12). The Rosamunda who killed King Alboin was
a Gepid. Now, how does that affect things? Do we have any evidence for
Germanic diphthongs in 6th century Gepidic? But her names is recorded
in sources that presumably derive from Lombard legend. So if this is a
Langobardic form, we'd expect an original diphthong to survive.

> > Roods or Herodis is said to be the name
> > given to the Wild Huntsman in a story from Hannover (1935-6:
> > Handwoerterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens, Vo. VII, p. 776).
> 
> Any connection with Herodes the king?

It would be good to know a bit more about the sources for this. After
all, German peasants telling a folktale in the 19th or early 20th
century would presumably have heard of King Herod, but what exactly
they might have known about the gods of their pre-Christian ancestors
(aside from what eager antiquarians may have told them) is another
matter...
 
> > Looking
> > at other possibilities, I see that Köbler has a Proto-Germanic
> > adjective 'hrôzaz' "nhd. rührig, sich rührend, hurtig; ne. busy,
> > quick; RB.: ae., mnl., as" (e.g. OE 'hrór' "capable of motion,
> > vigorous, strong", a credible naming element, given the female 
> names
> > with the second element -swinþ-, -þrúþ-). This adjective is 
> related to
> > the verb 'hrôzjan-' "nhd. rühren; ne. stir (V.); RB.: an., ae.,
> > afries., anfrk., as., ahd." There is also the Old Norse 
> verb 'hrósa'
> > "to praise". I don't know if this is related to any of the above, 
> but
> > semantically it too seems a reasonable naming element given naming
> > elements such as Hrôþi-.
> 
> ON hrósa is probably from *hróðsa (like heilsa). We don't have cases 
> of þs > ss > s in Gothic, do we? *Hrôza- looks likelier, IMHO.

Aha, I think we're making some progress here! Proto-Germanic "t, d, þ,
d > ss", e.g. Go. ga-qiss : Go. qiþan; Go. wissa : Go. witan. And "ss
> s after long syllables", e.g. Go. un-weis : Go. witan; Go.
guþ-blostreis : Go. blotan (Wright § 138). So maybe Hrôsa- is
likeliest after all?

LN

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