From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 16825
Date: 2002-11-21
----- Original Message -----
From: Ben McGarr
To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2002 7:13 PM
Subject: [tied] Quadi
> Thus emboldened, I'll now ask what about the Hermunduri? Heremund-wares?
That would have surfaced in Latinised form as *(C)harimundvarii at that time. Besides, -varii (*-warija-) formed ethnonyms derived from locations ('the inhabitants of ...'), whereas Harimund/Heremund is a personal name. "Hermunduri" certainly one of those Ermun-/Irmin- names we've discussed so many times on this list. The first part means 'vast, immense', and I don't think we have enough data to interpret the second part with anything approaching certainty. It _might_ be *dur- < *dHur- 'door', but if that's correct then we're left with the hypothetical stem *ermun(a)-dura- meaning '(those of) the big door' with some kind of hard-to-fathom ancient kenning.
> Or the Chauci,
The only possibly related thing I can think of without going to the library is *xuka-/*skuka- 'multitude, crowd, heap' < *(s)kugo- (Pokorny's *keu-g-), as in Eng. shock (of corn).
> Chatti,
'The Hoods'? (the same root that underlies Eng. hat < *hattuz)
> my own Anglii even?
This is supposed to derive "illa patria quae Angulus dicitur". "Angul" (*angulaz) 'hook, corner, bend' refers to a district of what is now Holstein. The name *angulija > OE Engle 'Anglii' means 'the people of Angul'
> Narisci, Suiares, ... Angrivarii [angry men?!! ;o)], I remember someone proposing something on the lines of 'Hart' for the Cherusci here a long time ago.
I suspect the name "Narisci" is of Celtic origin (related to that of the Noricae?). "Angrivarii" means 'Grassland-folk' (cf. Ger. Anger 'meadow'). Anything beginning with *swe- (*swei-, *swe:b-, *s(w)eb-, as in Sui:-, Sue:b-, Semno:n-) means roughly 'of ones own kind'. The name "Cherusci" may indeed come from *xerut- 'hart, stag' (OE heorot, still disyllabic) plus the suffix *-ska- 'of the nature of ...'.
Piotr