The

Onomastics Onomastics (or onomatology in older texts) is the study of proper names, including their etymology, history, and use. An ''alethonym'' ('true name') or an ''orthonym'' ('real name') is the proper name of the object in question, the object of onom ...

of the

Gothic language Gothic is an extinct language, extinct East Germanic languages, 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 Ea ...

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

Goths The Goths were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe. They were first reported by Graeco-Roman authors in the 3rd century AD, living north of the Danube in what is ...

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, often expressed in alliterative verse. Periodisation ...

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, Visigothic Spain or Kingdom of the Goths () was a Barbarian kingdoms, barbarian kingdom that occupied what is now southwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to the 8th centuries. One of the Germanic people ...

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 was a kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula founded by the nobleman Pelagius who traditionally has been described as being of Visigothic stock. Modern research is leaning towards the view that Pelagius was of Hispano-Roman ...

in the 9th and 10th centuries. (Not to be confused with names inspired by the modern-day Goth subculture.)

History

The names of the Goths themselves have been traced to their 3rd century settlement in

Scythia Scythia (, ) or Scythica (, ) was a geographic region defined in the ancient Graeco-Roman world that encompassed the Pontic steppe. It was inhabited by Scythians, an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people. Etymology The names ...

. 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 Goths, Gothic people who lived on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, Pontic steppe between the Dniester River, Dniester and Don river, Don rivers in what is now Ukraine, in the 3rd and the 4th centuries. T ...

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 (; Greek language, Greek: Ιορδάνης), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat, claimed to be of Goths, Gothic descent, who became a historian later in life. He wrote two works, one on R ...

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

Amali dynasty The Amali – also called Amals, Amalings or Amalungs – were a leading dynasty of the Goths, a Germanic people who confronted the Roman Empire during the decline of the Western Roman Empire. They eventually became the royal house of the Ostro ...

: Gapt, Hulmu, Augis, Amal, Athal, Achiulf, Oduulf, Ansila, Ediulf, Vultuulf,

Ermanaric Ermanaric (died 376) was a Greuthungian king who before the Hunnic invasion evidently ruled a sizable portion of Oium, the part of Scythia inhabited by the Goths at the time. He is mentioned in two Roman sources: the contemporary writings of ...

*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 ...

, Valamir, 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''), ( – 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 León. ...

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 Schoo ...

, ''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 A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A person ...

History

List of names

See also

References

External links