Re: [tied] Re: Language - Area - Routes

On Mon, 5 Feb 2001 21:12:42 +0100, "Piotr Gasiorowski"
<gpiotr@...> wrote:

>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-.

What else do we know about this "urb[s] Gyddanyzc" (Bräuer,
Einführung, I 113, mentions it as: "Gelegentlich lassen sich
reduzierte Vokale noch in slav. Glossen in nichtslav. Texten belegen,
so in der Vita S. Adalberti (nach 999): <Gyddanysc>"). The final -U
is not rendered, but was it lost in (West-)Slavic already? Did the
author understand or speak any Slavic at all? What was his native
language and orthography (e.g. why the spelling <dd>)? Could it be
that *gUta- was assimilated to gda- even at a stage where the <yer>'s
had not quite vanished completely but led a shadowy existence
comparable to the French e-muet?


=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv@...