Galindai, Goljade

[Hermann Reichert]

Dear Seelangsnetters,
I am working in ancient Germanic tribal names in Ptolemy; I am no
Balto-Slavist. But the names of the adjacend Baltic and Slavic tribes
are of interest to me. Ptolemy mentions III,5 a tribe 'Galindai',
south of the Ouenedi, neighbours of the Soudinoi. Most people think,
the name is Baltic, from indo-european *guel- '*end', because they
are a border-tribe, next to Slavic tribes; others from ie. *gal-
'strong'; others from the name of a lake, **gal- meaning 'deep'. Some
people, nevertheless, think the name isnt Baltic at all, but Slavic.
Both groups agree in that the name of an other tribe, mentioned 1000
years later, in the 'Hypathius-chronicle, AD 1147, Goljade, should be
etymologically the same name, but of a tribe settling far more east.
Some say this second tribe, according Hypathius-chronicle, settled in
the Eastern Baltic area; some say, it settled near Moscow. If they
settled near Moscow, they should have been Slavic, not Baltic? How
clear and reliable are the geographical references in
Hypathius-chronicle? Or is the location of tribes mentioned in this
chronicle mere guess? Please, help!