If my interpretation of <Vidivarii>
is correct, the name is territorial, approximately = 'wood-dwellers'. By
the way, <Vidigoia> makes sense as *widu-gauja < *widu-gaujo:n-
'woodlander' (I'm positive about '-lander', at any rate, even if the first
element should turn out be something else). The ethnonym <Terwingi> is
based on Germanic *terwa- < *derwo-, meaning 'tar, pitch' in the
historical languages, but its etymology (ultimately from the PIE 'wood/tree'
root) suggests an earlier meaning like 'pinewood (and its products)', cf. Lith.
derva`, which nicely combines both meanings.
Given the semantics of the suffix
<-ing-> (usually 'descendants of ..'), <Tervingi> looks like a
totemic name -- 'the Pinewood Tribe'. Slavic *-(j)an- forms territorial
names ('inhabitants of ..'), so *derv-jan-e is possibly based on the collective
*dervIje 'grove, wooded place' rather than *dervo 'tree' itself (they didn't
live in trees like squirrels, did they?). I suppose the collective suffix could
be ignored in such derivatives, though I can't think of a clear
example.
To sum up, from the typological point of
view *dervjane would be close to *widu-warija-, though etymologically *terw- and
*derw- are reflexes of the same root.
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, August 26, 2002 10:26
PM
Subject: Re: [tied] The
Vidivarii
Thanks for the analysis Piotr. Would you
say that, as to meaning, "Vidivarii", "Tervingi", "Pomezani" and "Drevlani"
represent much the same thing, or are there subtle distinctions involved
(linguistically, of course, since historically the differences are clear
enough)?