Yes, I thought about the Niemen too, given
the directionality of Pliny's listing. Plus, one ancient name for the
lower Oder was Ptolemy's Ouiadou(as), convincingly etymologised as *wi-adu-
'forking channel'. As for Guthalus, with a single attestation of the
name and the uncertain identification of the river I simply can't propose a
good etymology (<th> suggests Germanic, but the form may be garbled to an
unknown extent, or reported through a Germanic medium, or
whatever). Guthalus doesn't resemble "Old European" hydronyms, but
I'll have a look at the old hydronymy of the eastern Baltic region and return to
the topic if there's anything worth reporting.
Piotr
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, September 28, 2002 4:59 AM
Subject: [tied] Re: Pliny's "Guthalus"
Why look for a
Germanic etymology?
My Grosser Historischer Weltatlas identifies Guthalus
with the
Niemen or Memel. That's maybe just a guess, assuming Pliny is
listing rivers east to west, but seems a reasonable one. This is
getting close to Baltic territory, but anyway isn't the game with the
major rivers of central Europe "Alteuropaische hydronymik",
looking for a vague I.-E. meaning but pre- any known languages.
Or am I
forty or fifty years out of date?
Dan Milton