Re: [tied] Re: Germanic Scythians?

----- Original Message -----
From: "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2003 11:24 AM
Subject: [tied] Re: Germanic Scythians?


> >>> Just for completeness' sake: Armenian Vahagn (also <
> >>> V&r&Tragna), the Germanic tribe Vangiones, the runic
> >>> inscription 'vangijo' on weapons finds in Denmark and
> >>> the Danish given name Vagn.
>
> >> There seems to be no good reason not to see it as
> >> identical with the appellative 'wagon, sledge'.

> Danish va > vo, as in 'vogn' "waggon". But not in the name Vagn.
Obviously they are not the same word.

I'm not sure about the exact conditioning of this change, but ON va- survives as Danish va- in many words (e.g. <varm, vaske, valnøt>). A proper name and its etymological base may develop differently for a number of reasons (English wagon : Wayne, gold : Gould or black : Blake; cf. also William H. Gates : William B. Yeats), so your "obviously" is at best a rhetorical overstatement. The name Vagn existed already in Old Norse times and is attested as <Vagn>, <Vaghn> or <Waghn>, forms indistinguishable from the common appellative. If you believe Danish Vagn is something special, how about showing us how you derive it from a different source?

Piotr