At 2:49:42 PM on Tuesday, June 10, 2003, alex wrote:
> I got the book which George recomaned ( The world of the
> Huns by Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen) me and I have a question.
> Which is the linguistic evidence that the "-ila" is a
> Germanic suffix before III century AC and after V or VI
> century AC?
It's well-attested as a Kosesuffix in Hispano-Gothic names
at least down to ca.1000 CE, both as masculine <-ila> and as
feminine <-ilo>. (Toward the end of that period these are
often interchanged under Romance influence.) As <-ilo>
(masc.) and <-ila> (fem.) it is found in Frankish names of
the same general period. It is found in OE <Hiddila> --
according to Bede this man was active in the late 7th
century -- and as <-el> (from earlier <-il>) in names like
<Dyddel> (9th century), a pet form of <Dudd(a)>.
Brian