--- In cybalist@..., tgpedersen@... wrote:
> What do you make of the names of the early Rus rulers (he said with
> his nose in mr. Galster's book): Rurik, Oleg and Igor, supposedly
> Rørek, Helge and Iver (which he even call Scylding, thus Danish
> names)?
>
> Torsten
Germanic philology is not my string point, but what if we
recinstruct, eg, Gothic forms of these names (Old Russian R'urikU,
OlIgU, OlIga, IgorI:IngUvarI)? Please note also: it's sometimes hard
to distinguish persons of RusI origin from persons of Varingian (Old
Russian vare,zI) origin. Other Germanic name mentioned in Russian
chrinicles are SfinUkelU (RusI), AskolIdU, DirU (Varangians),
SveNIlIdU (?). Varangians well might be Danes (among others), your
mention of Danes in Kiev is absolutely right (but there were large
colonies of Jews, Khazars, Greeks etc. in Kiev as well). Constantine
Porphyrogenetes enumerates 'Rho:~s'ish (='RusI'ish) names of Dnieper
rapids which are certainly Germanic, but AFASK some interpret them as
Scandinavian, some doubt. I'll try to post the names ASAP.
Sergei