Re: Carniola et al.

Tommy Tyrberg writes:

"Vend" is an old Germanic term for Slavs. The Swedish Kings called
themselselve "svears, göters och venders konung", however despite the fact that parts of Pomerania (part of the old Vendish area) was Swedish 1648-1814 the use of the title was due to rivalry with Denmark. Sweden and Denmark/Norway was in Union in the fifteenth century and the Danish Kings kept calling themselves Kings of Sweden long after this, so to retaliate Swedish kings took over part of the Danish Kings traditional title as King of the Vends! By the way this title goes backto the 12-13th century when the Danes conquered parts of the North German Coast, including Rügen.

The Slavs had colonized this area back in the 6th-7th centuries when it was probably partially depopulated since the previous East Germanic inhabitants (Goths, Vandals etc) had removed themselves. A few Vends apparently even crossed the Baltic and settled on the Danish island of Lolland to judge from a group of place-names there (e. g. Tillitse).

As for Ostrobothnia, this is "Österbotten" in the original Swedish, it means simply "East Bottom", it is the country east of Bottenviken (the Bay of Bothnia, literally "Bottom Bay"). Opposite is "Västerbotten" (West Bottom). The name Norrbotten ("North Bottom") for the area north of Bottenviken is a much younger name formed by analogy.

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I've learned something!

I had never associated Wends with Slavs. I had always sort of assumed it meant 'Vandal'. I'm wrong. Learning to get your ethnonyms straight is useful. Thank you.

As for the etymology of 'Bothnia', I have wondered about this one. If the Gulf of Mexico is named after Mexico, and the Persian Gulf is named after Persia, what was the Bothnia the Gulf of Bothnia named after? The answer, it seems, is there really isn't a Bothnia. The Gulf is named after itself: The Gulf of Bottom [Bay]. This is not as bad a bilingual redundancy as "the La Brea Tar Pits" (literally, 'the the tar tar pits') of Los Angeles. It might even logical, though I have trouble thinking that a bay can also be a gulf. Anyway: such things happen when toponyms, hydronyms and the such cross languages.

As for Ostrobothnia, this is the name of a Finnish province (several actually; there is a South Ostrobothnia). The center is the port city of Vaasa (any relation to Gustav Vasa?).

Mark.