Re: When Germani?

--- In cybalist@..., malmqvist52@... wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I'm a biologist with a genuine interest in prehistory and
> linguistics, but I'm rather new in the subject.
> However this post really intrigued me, but I'm uncertain if I
> understand it correctly.
> --- In cybalist@..., "Joseph S Crary" <pva@...> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Tor
>
> It's the first time I encounter this theory and it find it quite
> amazing, so forgive me if my questions migth be a little stupid.

That's alright. I made the theory and it's also the first time I see
it in print. Sometimes I think it looks a little stupid.

> Does this mean that before 120 BC (- AD 45) germanic languages were
> only spoken two areas: In sweden (Nordic german) and around Vistula
> (gothic german)? (As I understand it the goths had at this time

been

> on the continent for more than a thousand years)
>
> To me this sounds like germanic then was spoken by two amazingly
> small groups of people(relatively). Is this correct?
> Or is this illusitory -I'm thinking Sweden-sparse populated-

continent-

> dense populated as the situation is today( I'm living in the small
> town 'Geatburg';-) myself) .
> Was the Scandinavian peninsula perhaps even overpopulated at this
> time, as the migration path might suggest?
>
> Best whishes
>
> Anders Malmqvist
>

Some people have gotten into the habit of calling me Tor. My name is
Torsten. The English-Dutch-Swedish nickname-system doesn't exist in
Danish-Norwegian-German. Tor is actually a separate name. (This
sounds pedantic to some, but can actually be a problem. Lasse is the
nickname of Lars in Swedish, which comes as a surprise to Danes when
in Sweden who are baptized with the name of Lars or Lasse, and don't
see any connection between the two names.)
As for population density, at that time it was conditioned in this
part of the world on how to get food in the winter, or how to
preserve it. Agriculture was low-yield. This means that the coasts of
the Baltic were relatively densely populated, and the inner continent
wasn't. Jordanes calls Scandinavia "vagina gentium", the womb of
nations, since so many peoples came to the continent from Scandinavia.

I'm pretty sure Denmark, at least Jutland, at that time was Celtic-
speaking. What was the case in Sweden before that is still a mystery
to me. But I'm working on it.

Torsten