Re: [tied] Re: "Irmin" and Hermes

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 13736
Date: 2002-05-17

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 -----
From: tgpedersen
To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com
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)?