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- Title
VISIGOTHAE VERSUS OSTROGOTHAE.
- Authors
BLAŽEK, VÁCLAV
- Abstract
In this article, new interpretations of the ethnonyms Visigoths and Ostrogoths are proposed in a wider context of Germanic and Indo-European ethnonyms. The first component of the ethnonym Visigothae is etymologized on the basis of Old High German wisa "meadow, pasture", to express the way of livelihood of its bearers, Goths-Pastoralists. On the other way, the first component of the ethnonym Austrogoti/Ostrogothae may be identified with Old High German ustrī & ustarī "diligence, activity". These etymologies allow us to determine in both the ethnonyms the pair representing the functional opposition: Goths-Pastoralists vs. Goths-Farmers, resembling another pair of Gothic ethnonyms, for this once environmental, Greutungi vs. Tervingi, originally "people from the stony or sandy country" vs. "people from forests", respectively.
- Subjects
GERMANY; GOTHS; ETHNOLOGICAL names; VISIGOTHS; ETYMOLOGY; ETHNOLOGY; INDO-Europeans
- Publication
Graeco-Latina Brunensia, 2012, Vol 17, Issue 2, p17
- ISSN
1803-7402
- Publication type
Article