Re: [tied] Re: Kuningaz

There's must have been some finer semantic distinctions once upon a time. Both terms (and more) were current among the Germani. <þiudans> survives in Old English as poetic <þe:oden> 'leader of the people, lord' (applied also to Christ). Tolkien fans will recall the title "Theoden". Then, we have *ri:k- (ultimately from *h3reg^-, but borrowed from Celtic), passed on to the Balts (Old Prussian rikis) and found in Gothic royal names (Ermanari:ks, of course).

Piotr

----- Original Message -----
From: Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2002 2:40 AM
Subject: Re: [tied] Re: Kuningaz

>******GK: Is *kuningaz attested, or reconstructed? I
>checked out a couple of Gothic dictionaries and didn't
>find it there.******

The Gothic for "king" is <þiudans>. Some of the oldest attested forms
are ON <konungr>, OE <cyning>, OHG <kuning>. None quite as
archaic-looking as Finnish <kuningas>, though.

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