The Onomastics of the

Gothic language Gothic is an extinct East Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the ''Codex Argenteus'', a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic language with a sizeable text c ...

(Gothic personal names) are an important source not only for the history of the

Goths The Goths ( got, 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰, translit=''Gutþiuda''; la, Gothi, grc-gre, Γότθοι, Gótthoi) were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe ...

themselves, but for Germanic onomastics in general and the linguistic and cultural history of the

Germanic Heroic Age The Germanic (or "German") Heroic Age, so called in analogy to the Heroic Age of Greek mythology, is the period of early historic or quasi-historic events reflected in Germanic heroic poetry. Periodisation The period corresponds to the Germani ...

of c. the 3rd to 6th centuries. Gothic names can be found in Roman records as far back as the 4th century AD. After the Muslim invasion of Hispania and the fall of the

Visigothic kingdom The Visigothic Kingdom, officially the Kingdom of the Goths ( la, Regnum Gothorum), was a kingdom that occupied what is now southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to the 8th centuries. One of the Germanic successor states to ...

in the early 8th century, the Gothic tradition was largely interrupted, although Gothic or pseudo-Gothic names continued to be given in the

Kingdom of Asturias The Kingdom of Asturias ( la, Asturum Regnum; ast, Reinu d'Asturies) was a kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula founded by the Visigothic nobleman Pelagius. It was the first Christian political entity established after the Umayyad conquest of ...

in the 9th and 10th centuries.

History

The

names of the Goths The name of the Goths is one of the most discussed topics in Germanic philology. It is first recorded by Greco-Roman world, Greco-Roman writers in the 3rd century AD, although names that are probably related appear earlier. Derived from Proto-Germ ...

themselves have been traced to their 3rd century

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building * Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fin ...

Scythia Scythia (Scythian: ; Old Persian: ; Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) or Scythica (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ), also known as Pontic Scythia, was a kingdom created by the Scythians during the 6th to 3rd centuries BC in the Pontic–Caspian steppe. Hi ...

. The names

Tervingi The Thervingi, Tervingi, or Teruingi (sometimes pluralised Tervings or Thervings) were a Gothic people of the plains north of the Lower Danube and west of the Dniester River in the 3rd and the 4th centuries. They had close contacts with the Gr ...

and

Greuthungi The Greuthungi (also spelled Greutungi) were a Gothic people who lived on the Pontic steppe between the Dniester and Don rivers in what is now Ukraine, in the 3rd and the 4th centuries. They had close contacts with the Tervingi, another Gothic ...

have been interpreted as meaning "forest-dwellers" and "steppe-dwellers", respectively. Later on, the terms Ostrogothi and Visigothi have also been understood to mean "Eastern Goths" and "Western Goths", although all four etymologies are not without detractors.

Jordanes Jordanes (), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat widely believed to be of Gothic descent who became a historian later in life. Late in life he wrote two works, one on Roman history ('' Romana'') a ...

gives partly mythological genealogies leading up to historical 4th to 5th century rulers: * Amali dynasty:

Gapt is an early Germanic name, from a Proto-Germanic ''gautaz'', which represents a mythical ancestor or national god in the origin myth of the Geats. Etymology ''Gautaz'' may be connected to the name of the Swedish river Göta älv at the city ...

, Hulmu, Augis, Amal, Athal, Achiulf, Oduulf, Ansila, Ediulf, Vultuulf, Ermanaric *Vultuulf, Valaravans, Vinithariust Vandalarius,

Theodemir Theodemir, Theodemar, Theudemer or Theudimer was a Germanic name common among the various Germanic peoples of early medieval Europe. According to Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel (9th century), the form ''Theudemar'' is Frankish and ''Theudemir'' is Gothi ...

Valamir Valamir or Valamer (c. 420 – 469) was an Ostrogothic king in the former Roman province of Pannonia from AD 447 until his death. During his reign, he fought alongside the Huns against the Roman Empire and then, after Attila the Hun's death, ...

, Vidimer. Another important source of early Gothic names are the accounts (hagiography) surrounding the persecution of Gothic Christians in the second half of the 4th century. Many of the Gothic saints mentioned in these sources bear resemblance to Syrian, Cappadocian and Phrygian names, following in the baptismal tradition of that time. Even though the Muslim invasion of Hispania (715 AD) and subsequent fall of the

in the early 8th century caused most Gothic naming traditions to be lost, a type of Gothic or pseudo-Gothic naming tradition continued in the

, which by that time had become the central driving force behind the Christian reconquest of Andalusia. Thus,

Alfonso I of Asturias Alfonso I of Asturias, called the Catholic (''el Católico''), (c. 693 – 757) was the third King of Asturias, reigning from 739 to his death in 757. His reign saw an extension of the Christian domain of Asturias, reconquering Galicia and Le ...

was originally given the Gothic name ''*Adafuns'' or ''Adalfuns,'' becoming one of the most popular names in the medieval Iberian kingdoms. In France, where remnants of the old Visigothic Kingdom still remained ( Gothic March),Gothic names continued to be common up until the 12th century.Wolfram (199
p. 233

List of names

Gothic names of the 4th to 6th centuries include:

References

Herwig Wolfram Herwig Wolfram (born 14 February 1934) is an Austrian historian who is Professor Emeritus of Medieval History and Auxiliary Sciences of History at the University of Vienna and the former Director of the . He is a leading member of the Vienna Sc ...

, ''Die Goten: von den Anfängen bis zur Mitte des sechsten Jahrhunderts : Entwurf einer historischen Ethnographie'', part I. "Die Namen", pp. 30–46. *Richard Loewe, "Gotische Namen in hagiographischen Texten", ''BGDSL'' 47 (1923), 407–433. *Moritz Schönfeld, ''Wörterbuch der altgermanischen personen- und völkernamen'' (1911).

External links

Gothic names
(infernaldreams.com)
Gothic and Suevic Names in Galicia (NW Spain) before 1200
(celtiberia.net) {{Personal names *Gothic Names

History

List of names

See also

References

External links