From: dgkilday57
Message: 68594
Date: 2012-02-22
>I do not find this explanation convincing. It requires a tribe to give up its native name in favor of a clumsily Latinized form of the name. That would be like Americans calling themselves Melicans after the Chinatown pronunciation.
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "dgkilday57" <dgkilday57@> wrote:
> >
> > Equating the medieval and modern Hessen with Tacitus's Chatti involves three phonological problems. The latter presumably represents Germanic *Xatto:z, which has the wrong declension, the wrong internal consonantism, and nothing to umlaut the /a/. If Tacitus had actually known about any ancient Hessen, and their name was native, his term should have been *Chationes.
> >
> > Modern <Kassel> apparently continues Latin <castellum> 'fortress'. The local development -st- > -ss- suggests that <Hessen> could similarly continue Lat. *hastio:ne:s 'spear-men', from <hasta> 'spear'. A parallel Gmc. borrowing is seen in Old English <cempa> 'soldier, warrior' from Lat. <campio:> '(battle)field-man', in turn from <campus> 'field'.
> >
> > Kassel, of course, is well beyond the Rhine. What I propose is that Roman colonization was under way in Augustan times, and a fortress was established there. Local warriors were hired as elite guards for the Roman officials in the area, and were known as *Hastio:ne:s, since they carried spears. Then Arminius's attack changed everything, and Augustus in panic ordered the withdrawal of Romans from farther Germany. But the *Hastio:ne:s remained in a privileged position among the native military, and quickly established themselves as the ruling class of the Kassel area after the Romans left.
> >
>
> There are many problems w what you wrote. First, see:
>
> http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/36534
> Also, assuming conn. w hætt OE; hat E; there could also have been a variant related to:No such variant is found in the Latin and Greek sources. Of course, nothing prevents you from pulling whatever you desire out of your own hat.
>
> cassis cassidis (g) = helmet L;
> There's a lot that could complicate the search, but I don't think much does, certainly not what you said.Of course not. I am only a fool, ignorant of opt. soundlaws.