But the Gothic variant of "irmin" was
<ermana->, which does not look like "immensus". "Immensus populus"
(*ermana- þiuda-) must have been formulaic in Germanic, since it pops up in
various far-off places, being one of the most typical collocations involving
"irmin". The OE equivalent are <eormen-þe:od> and
<eormen-cynn> (both attested), also glossed as 'populus/gens
immensus/permagnus'. I don't think this irmin/erman element was really
unfamiliar. Its attestation is ample in OE (where the list of "eormen"
things is quite long) and Old Saxon, and there are examples of its use in
OHG, ON and Gothic as well.
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, May 17, 2002 1:10 PM
Subject: [tied] Re: "Irmin" and
Hermes
How about this: Jordanes "populus immensus" is a later
emendation of an unfamiliar "populus irmenus", and then that epithet stuck and
spread (since it was approximately accurate)?