Re: Baltic *gud3-

--- In cybalist@..., "Sergejus Tarasovas" <S.Tarasovas@...> wrote:

> Once upon a time Piotr and I discussed the Baltic root *gud- (or,
> more precisely, one of the omonymic roots), found in toponymy,
> ethnonymy and a number of common (apellative) names. Piotr's
> suggested meaning was rather botanical ('bush' etc), mine -
> eventually from an ethnicon meaning 'Goth'. But what we both agreed
> upon was that this Baltic substrate root probably underlies the
> etymology of Gdan'sk (< Baltic *gud-a:n-iSk- with a good real
> parallel in Lithuanian toponymy - eg, Gudonis^ke.s, a village near
> Vilnius).
>
> Interestingly enough, Maz^iulis in his 'Prussian Etymological
> Dictionary' suggests one more semantics for this root (separating

it

> from 'botanical' *gud2- attested in Prussian gude): 'barbar
> (ian)', 'of those speaking gud-gud' (cf. Lith. gudu'oti 'babble',
> also - typologically - Russ. gundo'sit' 'to speak through the nose,
> babble').
>
> Sergei

Or perhaps "speaking like a Goth"? In South America the Spanish are
known as "Godos", so it can obviously be used in a derogatory sense.

Torsten