Re: [tied] Re: Hermunduri as Border Merchants

The vowels of <-duri> and Gk. <-doroi> point unambiguously to PGmc. *dura- (pl. *duro:z). A really early loan (before the post-PGmc. lowering of *u in some dialects/environments) would have ended up with *-aro:z (Lat. *-ari, Gk. *-aroi).

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> If the second part of

Hermodorus is -odorus, then what could that mean in that particularly close name?  The answer I've been given is <hodouros>, conductor, escort, guide (L-S says also waylayer and gives <hodoureo:> which meant "keep, watch of the roads.") Apparently the thinking is that Hermodorus as a Greek name meant "conducted or escorted by Hermes."  Which in a figurative way might mean nothing more than that you are allowed to get pass the border guards and through the gates.  Like a passport.

<...-o-do:ros> names (Athenodorus, Apollodorus, Theodore, etc.) mean "a gift of ..." (from <do:ron> 'gift'). Hermodorus means "given by Hermes". <do:ro-> is derived from the verb "give"; no connection with gates.

> So,

if those ermen were "immensus", meaning boundlessly large beyond measure or boundlessly fat beyond measure, they should not be able to get through the doors.  Maybe the same would be true if there egos were that immeasurable, too.

Quite seriously, it occurred to me that *ermun-dura- interpreted as 'having immense/wide/multiple gates' would have been a perfect kenning for the Germanic Hall of the Dead (if I saw anything like *eormendor in Old English that would be my first association) -- or else for anything having a large entry, or accessible from all directions. Cf. also Old English fi:feldor '(sea)monster-door' = the River Eider.

 

Piotr