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Germanic Lexicon Project
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Author: Victar Mas
Email: victarmas at hotmail dot com
Date: 2005-09-15 21:07:35
Subject: Re: Etymology of a Gothic name
> > > > Ladies and Gentlemen,
> > > > Can anybody direct me to or suggest the etymology of the Gothic name Valamer (perhaps version: Valamir; Githic king of Pannonia, middle of the 5th ctntury)?
> >
> > My understanding is that it is of Slavic origin, akin to Velimir, from vele "great" and mir "peace".
> >
> > Victar
>
> Interesting. In isolation, from the form alone, it might not be possible to decide which is the more likely explanation. In favour of a Germanic explanation is the predominantly Germanic vocabulary of Gothic, including personal names, and the shared naming practices among the Germanic tribes. *walha- and especially *-mer- are attested as naming elements in other Germanic languages. It follows a familiar pattern. But maybe a Slavonic name was adopted by Goths and perhaps reinterpreted by them according to folk etymology. Or a Slavonic element was combined with a Germanic one. How sure is the etymology of Velimir? Can we tell whether that's a native Slavonic formation, or an assimilated loan from Gothic 'Walamer'. And what do experts think generally about the relationship between other Slavonic -mir names, like Vladimir and their Germanic soundalikes?
>
> Peter
Ha, yes, it is an interesting topic that I'm sure one can discuss at length. When searching for a actual meaning into the Gothic name itself, it is probably better suited to your definition no matter that the true origin may be.
Wal is a very old Proto-Indo-European element meaning "to be strong". In Old Church Slavonic it's vlasti "to rule over" (giving us Vlad), Latin, valere "to be strong, be well, be worth, have power, be able" (giving us valor), Old Icelandic, valdr "a ruler", and in Old High German it's found in many personal name suffixes such as -walt, -wald with the meaning of "power". All this wal talk makes you wonder about the name WalMart (you think I'm joking?).
On a side note, I thought it interesting when you mentioned walha, which is akin to the word Vlach, a peoples from Romania and Moldova who claim to be the descents of the Dacians. Vlach comes from the Old Church Slanonic word vlakhu also meaning "foreigner", which was probably taken from the Germanic walh meaning the same.
The element mir comes from the Old Church Slavonic miru, also meaning "peace" which some people think is of Iranian origin. How that fits in, I don't know.
So this all raises a fascinating question. Were these personal names created independently in their respective languages or do they originate from common Photo-Indo-European names.
Victar