From: Sergejus Tarasovas
Message: 2057
Date: 2000-04-07
I actually meant *gud-a:n- + -išk but the Lithuanian reflex of *a: slipped in.Rather the standard Lithuanian. You may come to Anyksčiai, Ignalina or Rokiškis and enjoy listening to such things like genuine a: or u<*AN/ON (I think I've already seen this last transformation somewhere, have you?).I've found another Gdów in Poland, some 20 km southeast of Kraków and pretty far from either Northern Polish "Gothiskandia" or the recently discovered later Gothic settlement area near Hrubieszów. I'll check if there is an accepted etymology (mind you, it may turn out to be nothing special, e.g. a dialectal distortion of *wIdow-I (possessive of 'widow'; wdowa may be pronounced gdowa in Polish dialects, and I don't even know if the gen. of Gdów is Gdowa or Gdowia, if I did that would settle the matter).Variant Вдов (Vdov), Овдов (Ovdov) also exists in Russian as a 'folsky' variant to Гдов (Gdov), and the forms вдовскии (vdovskii) 'of Gdov', вдовляне (vdovl'ane) 'inhabitants of Gdov' is mentioned as early as in the XVI c. Pskov district dialects formed on a North Krivichian basis, which in turn shows a srong and consistent relationship to Lechitian dialects. Nevertheless, this was traditionally interpreted as a distortion, the form with g being genuine.I haven't located Gdzew yet (though Mazovia is my country); it's probably an inconspicuous village.I know that this toponym (a FOREST mentioned in XV c.) is mentioned somewhere in Machek's Etymologický slovník jazyka českého.I also can add some anthroponymic examples (Lithuanian last names) to the material on gud-:Gudaitis (about 800 people), note the patronymic suffix -ait- ('a son of thickets' would be too extravagant, don't you think?)Gudas (300) (definitely doesn't mean 'a thicket')Gudašis (10), if not of Polish origin, suffix -aš-, used to form toponyms from anthroponymsGudeika(70), suffix -eik- denoting agent or 'characterized by'Gudelionis (20), diminutive -el- and -on- 'inhabitant of'Gudelis (500), diminutive -el-.Gudeliūnas (100), -ūn- 'having characteristic activity/quality'Gudėnas (110), note characteristic -ėn- 'inhabitant of'Gudgalis (10), ga^las 'end; country (often in toponymy)', cf. žemga^lis, galindas 'a member of an old Baltic tribe'Gudikas (3), suffix -ik- with various functionsGudirgis (10), (?)Gudiukas (3)/Gudukas (50), diminutive -(i)uk-Gudiškis (100), very charasteristic -išk-is 'inhabitant of Gud-'Gudjonis (40), Gudjurgis (5), cf. Jo^nas 'John', Jùrgis 'George', extremely interesting yet hardly explainable examplesGudleikis (20)/Gudliekis (1) ? (cf. lìkti 'leave', but also can be analized as -l-eik-)Gudlenkis (1) ? (cf., nevertheless, lénkas 'inhabitant of Poland' (!))Gudmantas (4), cf. such old Lithuanian names like Mantas, Vydmantas, Skirmantas, Daumantas etc, this very case alone is worth investigating - it shows the stem gud- acts like a genuine one, not borrowed even in the cases where botanical meaning is rather unlikelyGudonis (400), -on- with varoius functions including 'inhabitant of (Gdańsk :))'Gudvalis (5), cf. valià 'will' and toponyms like Pasvaly^s.Gudžis (5), Gudžiukas (5), Gudžius (15), Gudžiūnas (200), note the -j-.Note the highest level of consistency with the toponymy.Hope this helps.Sergei.