Re: Torsten's theory reviewed

From: Torsten
Message: 66667
Date: 2010-09-30

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott" <bm.brian@...> wrote:
>
> At 6:19:44 AM on Sunday, September 26, 2010, Torsten wrote:
>
> > --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott"
> > <bm.brian@> wrote:
>
> >> At 5:00:52 AM on Saturday, September 25, 2010, Torsten
> >> wrote:
>
> >>> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott"
> >>> <bm.brian@> wrote:
>
> >>>> At 4:24:33 AM on Thursday, September 23, 2010, Torsten
> >>>> wrote:
>
> >>>> [...]
>
> >>>>> Another -gist for -gast
> >>>>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runic_inscriptions
> >>>>> 'Schretzheim case:
> >>>>> arogisd / alaguþleuba : dedun
> >>>>> ("Arogast / Alaguth [and] Leubo (Beloved) made it")'
>
> >>>> (I realize that you're just quoting your source, but
> >>>> that should obviously be <Leuba>, not <Leubo>.) That's
> >>>> one possible interpretation, but there are others, even
> >>>> taking <arogisd> as a single name or word. However,
> >>>> most of the interpretations that I've seen divide it as
> >>>> <arogis d>. The first element is then the dithematic
> >>>> masculine name <Arogi:s> (Langob. <Arogis>, OHG
> >>>> <Arugis>), which is found as <arugis> in the runic
> >>>> inscription on the disk fibula from Kirchheim unter
> >>>> Teck, also in the south. The <d> can then be
> >>>> interpreted as an abbreviation for <deda>, a usage
> >>>> found elsewhere. The interpretation still depends on
> >>>> that of <leuba>; one possibility is 'Arogis m(ade)
> >>>> (and) Alagu(n)th (and) Leuba made (the gift)'.
>
> And I just found another example, Langob. <Aruchis>, cited
> at
> <https://www2.hu-berlin.de/sppedia/index.php5/Mittelalter_im_Labor:Arbeitsforum_C/IV.4.2_Violentia_und_potestas_in_germanischen_und_r%C3%B6mischen_Personennamen>
> from Codice diplomatico longobardo, Bd. 1, Nr. 111, 321. In
> fact, a bit is worth quoting:
>
> Mit über 40 Lemmata stark vertreten sind die Bezeichnungen
> für Waffen und Rüstung, die als Namenelemente Verwendung
> fanden. Mit 2,6 % des Datenmaterials am häufigsten ist
> *<gaiza-> M. ‚Speer‘ (ahd. <gÄ"r>), die vielleicht auch
> bekannteste Bezeichnung für eine germanische Waffe.
> Germanisch *<gaiza-> ist sowohl als Erst- als auch
> Zweitelement von Personennamen überaus beliebt,
> gemeingermanisch verbreitet und spätestens ab dem Beginn
> des 4. Jahrhunderts nachzuweisen. Zu den bekanntesten
> Namenträgern dürfte der Vandalenkönig <Gaiserich> (geb.
> 389, gest. 477) (*<gaiza-> + *<rīka->) zählen. Ein schönes
> Beispiel für die Verwendung des Namenelements im Kontext
> einer langobardisch-romanischen Mischfamilie, in der auch
> ansonsten Elemente aus dem semantischen Bereich von ‚Kampf
> und Gewalt‘ gerne zur Namenbildung genutzt wurden, ist der
> für 754 im Original bezeugte <Ghairip(er)t> (*<gaiza-> +
> *<berhta->) mit seinen Brüdern <Hildp(er)t> (*<hildi-> +
> *<berhta->) und dem Träger des romanischen Namens
> <Uitalianus>; diese sind die Söhne des <Aruchis> (*<arwa->
> Adj. ‚bereit‘ + *<gīsa-> ‚Pfeilschaft, Speer‘, s. weiter
> unten). In Übersetzung des Namenkompositums <Altger>
> (*<alda-> Adj. ‚alt, erwachsen‘ + *<gaiza->) wurde dieses
> von Walahfrid Strabo als <vetus sagitta> interpretiert.
>
> Unter den sogenannten Fernwaffen spielen auch Pfeil und
> Bogen eine wichtige Rolle. Hierzu gehört unter anderem das
> mit 0,7 % am Gesamtmaterial vertretene Element
> *<gīzla-/gīsla-> M. (lgb. <gīsil> ‚Pfeilschaft, Stab‘,
> anord. <gīsli> ‚Pfeil, Strahl, Stab‘). Interferenzen
> können sich hier gelegentlich mit *<gīsla-> M. ‚Geisel‘
> (ahd. <gīsal>) ergeben, auch wenn dieser Begriff für die
> Namengebung semantisch schwierig war. Gleichbedeutend mit
> *<gīzla-/gīsla-> ist *<gīsa-> M. (0,5 % des
> Gesamtmaterials); die zwei Formen wurden auch, wie
> gelegentliche Gleichsetzungen nahe legen â€" z. B. der bei
> Gregor von Tours im 6. Jahrhundert genannte <Chardegisilus
> (…) cognomento Gyso> â€", als Varianten desselben Namens
> interpretiert.
>
> >>> Thanks, nice to know. What is the received
> >>> interpretation of the two elements of Arogi:s?
>
> >> The first element is derived from PGmc. *arwa-; attested
> >> reflexes are OSax. <aru> 'ready (for reaping)' (in the
> >> nom./acc. pl. <aroa>) and ON <örr> 'swift; ready;
> >> open-handed' (acc. <örvan>), neut. <ört> 'fully, quite'
> >> as an adverb. There is also evidence for an OE <earu>
> >> 'quick, active, ready', and <earwunga> 'gratis' may
> >> belong here as well. Pokorny, de Vries, and Köbler derive
> >> this from *or-wo-, extended o-grade of *er- (i.e.,
> >> *h1er-) 'to move, to set in motion'. The name of the
> >> river Arrow in Warwickshire (<Arwan stream> 11th cent.
> >> [in a copy of unkn. date], <Ar(e)we> 13th cent.) also
> >> goes here and can be compared with the Arve
> >> (Haute-Savoie), Avre (Eure, <Arva> ~965), Auve (Marne,
> >> <Arva> 1132), Erve (Mayenne, <Arvam> 1060), and Arvo
> >> (Calabria). These of course need not be Germanic. Beyond
> >> that the best-looking non-Germanic cognates in Pokorny
> >> are Skt. <árvan-, árvant-> 'eilend, Renner' and Av.
> >> <aurva-, aurvant-> 'schnell, tapfer'.
>
> >> The second element is familiar enough, but there's some
> >> question as to whether it's related to the Gmc. 'pledge,
> >> hostage' words (ON <gísl>, OE <gi:s(e)l>, OSax. <gi:sal>,
> >> OHG <gi:sal>, Langob. <gi:sil>) or to the 'spear' words
> >> (ON <geisli> 'sunbeam', <geisl> 'snow-skater's staff;
> >> ray, beam', <gísli> 'Stab, Stock', OHG <geis(i)la>
> >> 'Geissel, Peitsche, Stab, Rute, Gerte', Langob. <gi:sil>
> >> 'arrow-shaft'.
>
> > Ready-spear?
>
> Or possibly 'swift-spear'.
>
> > Can't be worse than Shakespeare, I suppose.
>
> > But "arogis deda / alagu þleuba dedun" with two sparate(?)
> > meanings of "do" sounds contrived.
>
> Not separate meanings; the first instance is (on this
> reading) merely pleonastic.

Can't be, it's the same verb
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleonasm


> > Now if the scrabble rules allow me to subtract a
> > consonant, I think I'll pick a -t- instead of an -l-.
>
> They don't allow you to do so arbitrarily. Both <Gis-> and
> <-gis> are very well attested Gmc. name themes; <-gist> is
> not. Moreover, there was a fairly common <l>-suffix by
> which themes could be extended, so it would not be very
> surprising if an inherent final <-l> were sometimes lost.
>
> For that matter, it's not clear that anything has to be
> lost: the 'arrow-shaft, beam, staff' word may be an <-l>
> diminutive of an ablaut variant of the 'spear' word, in
> which case the theme *gīsa- may simply continue the variant
> itself.
>
> > Put differently, it might be plausible, but so is the
> > -gist interpretation, given the facts at hand.
>
> A rune carver's error for an unattested <Arogast>

Your claim. You forget the 'd' is actually there.

> does not
> seem to me as plausible as a reading that uses only attested
> elements. Support for a genuine <-gist> theme is nil.

You wish.

Sylvia Huntley Horowitz
The Ravens in "Beowulf"
The Journal of English and Germanic Philology,
Vol. 80, No. 4 (Oct., 1981), pp. 502-511
'The gæst, a variant of gist, is Beowulf the guest, and it suggests gæst the variant of gast, a ghost or spirit.'


Signe M. Carlson
The Monsters of Beowulf: Creations of Literary Scholars
The Journal of American Folklore,
Vol. 80, No. 318 (Oct. - Dec., 1967), pp. 357-364
'An examination of the manuscript in the second edition of Zupitza's facsimile and a sampling of scholarship on the manuscript and scribal errors provide convincing evidence that some disputes may never be settled. One example affecting Grendel, his mother, and the dragon is the varied spellings of the words gaest and gest as gest, giest, gist, gyst, and gast, which contribute to the difficulty of deciding whether a meaning of "stranger" or "spirit" is intended.'

Oliver F. Emerson
Legends of Cain, Especially in Old and Middle English
PMLA, Vol. 21, No. 4 (1906), pp. 831-929
page 880, note 3:
'In view of this frequent use of gast (gæst) for Grendel I question whether we should not read gæst 'spirit, demon' for gæst 'guest, enemy' in lines 02, 1331, 1995, 2073. Possibly also it might be regarded as the correct reading for gist in line 141. In such case it would be explained as late West Saxon for Anglian gest (i. e. gest, giest, WS. gest), which was misunderstood by the scribe. The Toller-Bosworth dictionary suggests that gæst means 'spirit' in wælgæst of 1331, and also in 1995.'


Torsten