It does, though it doesn't prove much about
the origin of tribal names. There can be no doubt that all the early Germani
were "boat people". The area encompassing southern Norway and Sweden
(roughly, south of the 61st parallel), the islands in the southern Baltic and
the Danish archipelago, Jutland and Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony,
Mecklenburg and west Pomerania had a relatively uniform culture as long ago as
4300-4000 BC (the emergence of the Northern group of the Funnel Beaker culture,
the oldest phase of the Scandinavian Neolithic). The Skagerrak/Kattegat and the
SW Baltic have always been the inner ("mediterranean") sea of the region,
unifying rather than separating its parts.
For this reason I think it's illogical
to regard the Danish Straits as the natural barrier between the early
Scandinavian and West Germanic dialects -- a view expressed or tacitly assumed
in many handbooks. I doubt if a clear division line existed at all before the
late fifth century; more likely, there was a dialectal continuum extending from
northern Germany to coastal Scandinavia, with "North Sea" and "West Sea"
influences interpenetrating.
On the one hand, several linguistic groups
classified as West Germanic (including the Angles and the Jutes) originated in
the peninsula; on the other hand, the earliest Runic inscriptions from Denmark
to Norway show basically undifferentiated Proto-NW-Germanic traits. In early
historical times there were numerous migrations from the Scandinavian Peninsula
to mainland Europe via the straits and Jutland or across the Baltic. Some
scholars believe that the Danes began to expand from the Oslofjorden area
towards Scania and Blekinge about the 3rd century. Whether that was the case, or
whether they were native to Scania, it's certain that by the 5th-6th c. they
also occupied the islands, Jutland and Schleswig, superseding the Jutes and the
Angles. There was again linguistic uniformity from southern Norway to the River
Eider, but now the expansion of the Danes had disrupted the NW Germanic
continuum, and a clear linguistic boundary appeared at the root of Jutland,
later reinforced by the Danevirke ramparts.
If you say that early Denmark (including
the part that now belongs to Sweden) was "glued together" by the sea, I
certainly agree. If you say the same applies to the Proto-Germanic (or even
pre-Germanic) cultures of the region, I also agree. The local conditions
enforced reliance on boats as the main means of transport. I don't see any
Austronesian connections here -- that's all.
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, January 29, 2001 2:35 PM
Subject: [tied] Re: Language - Area - Routes
... since you are aware of the importance of transport by sea in
Denmark's recent history, how come this geographically determined water-destiny
doesn't apply earlier?