I don't know about the rest, but Göta
definitely derives from ON gaut- and thus (if it has anything to do with
pouring) presumably from the PGmc. root *geut- < *g^Heud-, i.e. PIE *g^Heu-
with the extension *-d-, as in Lat. fundo, fu:di: (*g^Hund-, *g^Houd-). The
Germanic derivatives of *g^Heud- are quite numerous, and include first and
foremost the strong verb *geut- 'pour, flow; melt, cast (metal)' with the
complete apophonic paradigm (OE ge:otan, ge:at, guton, goten, ME yeten, =
Ger. giessen, Goth. giutan, etc.). Eng. gut (OE gutt < *guttuz <
*g^Hud-nu-s) also belongs here, as do, more interestingly for this
thread, terms for 'stream, channel, watercourse': Eng. (dial.) gote, OHG
(u:z-)koz < *gutaz < *g^Hut-o-s. I have not found *gaut- with the meaning
'mouth of a river'; OHG u:zkoz 'outflow' is close semantically, but based on a
different grade of the root.
I think the idea that the names *gaut- and
*gut- could be connected with metallurgy deserves to be taken seriously. Old
English has ge:ota 'founder' (in <le:ad-ge:ota>) <
*geut-o:n-, synonymous with ge:otere (cf. Ger. Giesser),
both derived directly from the present-tense stem of the verb, but such
productive formations are of late origin. *gut-i-z 'pouring out, casting'
(OHG guz > Ger. Guss, OE gyte) might have produced its own derivatives,
and *gaut-a-z might easily represent a pre-Germanic substantivised adjective
*g^Houd-ó-s 'one who founds' (the type of Skt. bodHá- 'conscious, understanding'
< *bHoudH-ó- or Gk. loipós 'left over; descendant' < loikW-ó-, cf. ON
-leifr, OE -la:f [in nouns] < *laibaz 'survivor, heir').
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, October 03, 2002 1:49 PM
Subject: [tied] Re: More Pliny's "Guthalvs"
I was puzzled by
all these river names beginning in *gH-wdH- "pour" (Göta Älv, Gud-en-å,
God-acrus (=Warnow), Guthalus (=Oder?). How about: the reflexes in Germanic of
this root in Germanic meant "river" or "mouth of river" (-ujscie, -münde,
-mouth), thus the names are River This or That or The Other, and *gaut- etc were
"peoples of (mouths of) rivers"?