Re: [tied] Goths: IE Languages vs Germanic

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 10394
Date: 2001-10-18

In fact, the Goths (Ostrogoths as well as Visigoths) are mentioned quite often in OE sources (e.g. in Widsith and Deor), always as Gota (N.sg.), Gotan (N.pl.), Gotena (Gen.pl.), Gotum (Dat.pl.) -- forms that unequivocally point out to a weak Germanic stem (*guto:n-). A few typical examples:
 
[We:old] Eormanri:c Gotum ... (Eormanric ruled the Goths)
[Eormanri:c] a:hte wi:de folc Gotena ri:ces. (E. ruled men far and wide in the Goths' empire)
Gotan of Sciððiu mæ:gþe wið Ro:ma:na ri:ce gewin upho:fon... (Goths from the country of Scythia made war on the Roman empire.)
 
Latin influence is not likely, since in the Latin prototypes, where these can be identified, the form is <Gothi> rather than <Got(h)ones>. It's clear that the Anglo-Saxon scribes used their own traditional term rather than a phonetic calque from Latin. The past participle <-gotan> you mention is _not_ a nasal stem (despite it's -an-), so your "analogy" is ruled out as well. <gota> < *gut-o:n- is a well-formed Germanic agent noun.
 
Piotr
 
----- Original Message -----
From: lsroute66@...
To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2001 7:23 AM
Subject: Re: [tied] Goths: IE Languages vs Germanic

The one citation I found (a 9th C. OE of Bede - "gotena") is obviously drawn from Latin histories.  Perhaps the n-stem appeared by analogy with OE <gotan>, poured.  And by the time ON was written down, @1200, the Goths were a matter of long ago and distant history, with much intervening written influence.