Re: Guts and River Mouths

--- In cybalist@..., x99lynx@... wrote:

>
> The original OED gives <gat> in English, ON, Danish and Swedish

as "an

> opening between sandbanks; a channel, strait; in Kent, a opening,

natural or

> artificial, in the cliffs, serving as a landing-place." Naturally

it is

> assocaited with "gate" and as such the Oxford Etym. Dictionary

recontructs it

> to a "Gmc. z:atam" and to have meant any kind of a hole,

meantioning such

> meanings in continental German.

Erh, "continental" as opposed to what kind of German?

>
> Another obvious application of the "gut" pour words or "gat"

channel words

> might be expected for falls or rapids -- presenting the same sort

of problem

> for river transport. These were key points in shipping on rivers

(the

> original highways) because baggage would have had to be unloaded

and portaged

> around the falls or rapids. Control of these portages have always

been a

> source of economic power, often protected by threat of force. The

falls at

> Trollhättan mentioned in earlier posts might be an good example,

being a

> potentially monopolistic "bottleneck" between the Swedish interior

and the

> Baltic that was the location of intense activity and settlement

from before

> the iron age. An excellent opportunity to tax goods and overcharge

for

> portage services. Control of such a location could turn a local

chieftain

> into a king. And such folks could have been called "those found at

or who

> control the 'gut' or 'gat'."

Re your description of the intense portage activity at the
Trollhättan falls in the 1500's; you should bear in mind that at the
time Denmark comprised both sides of the Øresund and that we levied
hefty sound dues and that the mouth of the Göta Älv was Sweden's only
access to the seas outside the Baltic: the activity was part of the
well-organized efforts of a centralized state. A local chief in
Pliny's time would have ben able to do much less.

>
> Regards,
> Steve Long

Torsten