From: Torsten
Message: 68601
Date: 2012-02-23
>I used to think so too. However
>
>
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "stlatos" <stlatos@> wrote:
> >
> > --- 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
>
> 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.
> > Also, assuming conn. w hætt OE; hat E; there could also haveThe words appears, as
> > been a variant related to:
> >
> > cassis cassidis (g) = helmet L;
>
> 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.
>
> > 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.