Re: [tied] Question re a Germanic Name (Suartuas)

Hi, John,

It's Grimm, not Verner, that would get violated. The Gothic suffix was <-þwa> (*-þwo:). It was feminine and I've never seen it used in masculine PNs, even with any sort of "gender correction". I think it's a safe bet that Suartuas is *swart- 'black' plus something (there are ON names like Svertingr or Svartho:fði with this element). Since *swart-o:n- is a plausible and attested name (Swarto, ON Svarti), I'm inclined to think that the reflex of *-o: in the nom.sg. *swarto: may have been a high vowel in the dialect in question, hence the -u- [y] (plus a Greek extension). Note that the Slavic languages routinely identified Germanic weak stems with their own *u:-stems (nominatives in *-y).

Piotr

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Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2002 3:22 AM

Subject: [tied] Question re a Germanic Name (Suartuas)

In the 6th century, I believe, the Byzantines send one of the Herulians living in Byzantium to lead a leaderless group of Herulians living north of the Danube. This is according to Procopius, who gives the fellow's name as "Suartuas." There is a question as to what Suartuas could mean and what it origin may be. This is one of those circumstances where coeval Indo-European languages of the dim past may offer alternative explanations. One explanation given by someone else was: ----"Swerting" looks pretty probable. The "-as" suffix often does in Greek what it often does in Germanic, i.e. it forms a patronymic adjective. This makes the _-u-_ rather problematic, but it could easily be epenthetic, helping to attach the Greek suffix to the Germanic stem.---- This doesn't look right to me. -uas in Greek is rare. there is no need for a -u- to attach -as to -t- ending (Goth <swart>), at least not in Greek where -tas is a common occurence. I'm wondering if the -tuas- is not the Gothic suffix -<th>wa, rendered in Procopius' Greek. Making a substantive out of Goth. <swaran>, to swear, take an oath, pledge. But does this violate Verner's Law. I.e., would it be Swari<th>wa-s (>Suratuas). This assumes that "Herulian" is East Germanic and just like Gothic. And what about the -s ending? Is it a gender correction?