Re: Language - Area - Routes

From: tgpedersen@...
Message: 5956
Date: 2001-02-07

--- In cybalist@..., tgpedersen@... wrote:
> --- In cybalist@..., "Piotr Gasiorowski" <gpiotr@...> wrote:
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: tgpedersen@...
> > To: cybalist@...
> > Sent: Monday, February 05, 2001 1:07 PM
> > Subject: [tied] Re: Language - Area - Routes
> >
> [snip]
> >
> > I'll leave your Norse etymologies for later (I'd like to check a
> few details first), but I won't let you get away with this one.
> Danzig is a German adaptation of Slavic *gUdan-Isk- (Polish
Gdan'sk,
> first mentioned in AD 997 as "urb[s] Gyddanyzc"). The element *gUd-
> is also visible in the name of the neighbouring city of Gdynia
(*gUd-
> yn-ja); there are other Slavic and Baltic names containing *gUd-
> (Sergei and I discussed them on Cybalist some time ago). The
meaning
> of the element is disputable (it may be ultimately of Germanic
> origin), but the analysis of similar names shows at least that the
> correct division of *gUdan- is *gUd-an-. Gdan'sk has been
> romantically equated with "Gothiskandza", as if it had been a
Gothic
> capital. But there is no indication that Gdan'sk existed as a
> settlement before the 9th century, let alone in Gothic times.
> Besides, *gUd- doesn't quite match Germanic *gut-. No plausible
> connection with *dan- can be established.
> >
> > Piotr
>
>

I don't blame Polish archaeologists for not doing their utmost to
locate Germanic relics in the vicinity of "Gotenhafen" after 1945,
but still: absence of proof...
> Talking of earlier analyses of "Gothiskandza", I've seen one not
> mentioned on this list, namely *Gotisk-skandza with haplology
> (haplogy?). Another one: any connection with the "Sinus Codanus"?
>
> Torsten