--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "andelkod" <andelkod@...> wrote:
>
> Is it possible to link Varyags and Varangians with varg?
Varangi (the word was medieval Greek) are "Franks", with Franks being a
general term used in the rest of the greater European and Mediterranean
area for "western" (catholic at the time) Europeans during the middle
ages (Arabic Franji?).
This was not a terribly unclear description at the time, as western
Europe was fairly clearly defined by religion and political links. It
was the remnant of the Western Roman empire.
Today we would retrospectively call this particular group of "western"
European people (the Varangians) ethnically germanic. (The Varangians
were not necessarily all East, North or South Germanic. The Varangian
guard had people from all over the Germanic world including England.)
But the Greeks were not naive to the fact that the aristocracy of all
catholic Europe was basically Germanic, with the key political players
being the Franks. The term Frank is also not really ethnic but
political - it refers to groups of allied Germanics who had basically
taken over control of the Western Roman Empire after knocking out
competitors.
Best Regards
Andrew