Re: Germanic - maran/Gothic -mara

At 6:44:26 PM on Tuesday, November 30, 2010, Ton Sales
wrote:

> Responding to Brian and João:

> Germanic Wigamera (soon contracted into Wigmera) appears
> as "Latin" Vimaranus in Historia compostelana (1586).

In other words, <Wigmera(n)> *isn't* attested; it's
inferred, from such forms as <Wimar> 688, 697, <Vimara> 841,
<(Lucidii) Vimarani> 870, <Uimaran> 925, <Guimar> 980,
<Guimara> 829, and many others noted in Piel & Kremer.
While I think it likely that it is from some dithematic name
in *wi:g-, this seems to be less than certain.

Brian

Given the Portuguese form, it has to be *Wi(g)maranis, *Wi(g)maranes with intervocalic /n/. The only other possibility would be a scribal error leading to *Wi(g)maralis, *Wi(g)marales. 

There is a Medieval Ibero-Romance form Guiomar, that occasionally crops up as a name in Spanish and Portuguese --but the spelling on this one may suggest *Wilmar (because of Portuguese /l/ > /w/ --although I don't know when that kicked in)