On 2007-09-04 00:40, squilluncus wrote:
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...>
> wrote:
>> ... different apophonic grades of the same root *g^Heud-:
>> *g^Houd-o- > *Gauta- and *g^Hud-(on-) > *Gut-(an-), respectively.
>
> Interesting. Nobody considered that possibility in Lidköping. That
> can sure make a change.
I'm not sure _what_ change it could make, but both formations can be
agentive, so they could even mean the same. The names are usually
regarded as connected, and often interpreted as 'semen-pourers', which
is a little on the fanciful side, as far as I'm concerned.
The underlying verb (Goth. giutan, OE ge:otan, OHG giozan, ON gjóta) can
mean 'pour, spawn' as well as 'found, cast (metal)' (cf. Lat. fundo:
from the same root), so I would speculate that the name may have had
something to do with metallurgical skills. OE le:ad-gota* (MS
<leodgotan>) is actually attested with the meaning 'lead-founder'.
Piotr