Re: Torsten's theory reviewed

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Torsten" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:

>
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@> wrote:
> >
> > --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@> wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > > > The name appears in DB as <Friguist>, <Fredgist>, and
> > > > <Fregist>, in Lancs., Yorks., and Northants. It appears to
> > > > be a borrowing of ON *<Friðgestr>, ODan <Fredegæst>; while
> > > > <Friðgestr> isn't recorded in OWN sources, several other
> > > > names in <-gestr> are. The late <Fred-> spellings are
> > > > influenced by WFrank. names in <Fred(e)->, doubtless
> > > > including <Fredegis>. <Eregist> and <Erithegistus> are
> > > > apparently just errors for <Fregist> and <Frithegistus>.
> > >
> > > That is possible. I'll have to fall back on *harja-gist-
> > >
> > Then I found this. Hm.
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negau_helmet
> >
> > The straightforward interpretation of the inscription
> > 'harikastiteiva\\\ip'
> > is "Harigast god", or (a-hm) "Ariovistus god".
> > That is of course not true.
> >
>
> Another -gist for -gast
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runic_inscriptions
> 'Schretzheim case:
> arogisd / alaguþleuba : dedun
> ("Arogast / Alaguth [and] Leubo (Beloved) made it")'
>

I don't want to open this thread again; I'm adding this posting to the tree since I found an authoritative quote on the subject, and I'd like to be able to locate that quote in the future. And it is:

Harrison & Harrison
Surnames of the United Kingdom:
a concise etymological dictionary
http://tinyurl.com/3al7ffz
'PEND(E)GAST seems to be a compound of
pend- (seen in the name of the famous
7th-cent. Mercian King Penda), and Teut.
gast (O.Sax., O.H.Ger., O.Dut. gast =
Goth. gast-s = O.E. gest, gi(e)st = O.N.
gest-r), guest, stranger. (In purely A.-
Saxon names the form of the second
element was usually -gist, as in the case of
the Friþegist mentioned in the Chronicle,
A.D. 993).

If Pend- is Teutonic it must be the same
word as O.Fris. pend, pand = East Fris.
pand = M.L.Ger. and Dut. pand = O.N.
pant-r (m.) = Ger. pfand, a pledge (O.Fris.
penda = Ger. pfänden); but there are rea-
sonable grounds for assuming that the
stem is Celtic (cp. Chad), viz. the
O.Cymric pend (Wel. pen, Corn. pe(d)n) =
O.Ir. cend (Ir. and Gael, ceann), head,
chief. '


BTW as Harrison & Harrison suspect, pend- is not Germanic. The reason is the initial p- (there is no particular reason to ascribe this (West?) Germanic word to p-Celtic). This predilection for non-Germanic first elements naturally makes one ponder whether -gist/-gast is equally non-Germanic, ie a loan.


Torsten