Re: Goths (Was Re: Vandals)

From: george knysh
Message: 59868
Date: 2008-08-26

--- On Mon, 8/25/08, Jonathan Morris <jonatas9@...> wrote:

You may care to refer to I Vandali by Nicoletta Francovich Onesti - who identifies the language as related to Gothic, with quite an extensive analysis of the language based mainly on personal names.

Btw, what are people's views on the possible Scandinavian origin of the Goths - plausible, implausible? ?? categorically rejected.

****GK: Depends on what one means by "Goths" and what time frame one has in mind. That quite a few Goths were of Scandinavian origin is indubitable (on the other hand many "Swedish" Goths had a south of the Baltic linkage:in the last millennium BCE there seems to have been a lot of to and fro movement of people between Poland and Sweden). That their historical ruling dynasty (the Berig clan) came over from the north in the first c. CE is strongly supported in the sources. But it is also true that many Goths were descendants of populations which developed south of the Baltic, including multiple elements picked up "along the way" in various areas of settlement. By the time they reached Italy, they were quite a mixed lot, while sharing the same basic culture (itself syncretic)and East Germanic language.****