Name 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 writers in the 3rd century AD, although names that are probably related appear earlier. Derived from Proto-Germanic *Gutōz ~ *Gutaniz, it is closely related to and probably means the same as the names of both the Geats of southern Sweden and Gutes of Gotland. The implications of these similarities, and the actual meaning of the Gothic name, are disputed in scholarship.
Endonym and exonym
In the Gothic language, the Goths referred to themselves collectively as the *Gut-þiuda "Gothic people", attested as dative singular Gutþiudai. Gutthiuda could also mean "Land of the Gothic people".The name of the Goths was probably first recorded by Greek and Roman writers as Gutones, an exonym referring to a people dwelling in the Vistula region during the 1st–2nd century AD. Gradually, forms written with "o" instead of "u", and "th" instead of simple "t", came to dominate in both Latin and Greek. Within medieval Germanic languages, the Goths are attested as Gotan in Old English and as Goti in Old Norse.
A Germanic an-stem variant of the name, *Gutan-, is inferred from a genitive plural form gutani, found on the Pietroassa inscription and possibly equivalent to Biblical Gothic Gutanē, and from the aforementioned Germano-Latin form Gutones ~ ''Gotones.
Another group of related ethnonyms is believed to be attested in Scandinavia, where the oldest forms of the name of the Geats were built from a root Gaut-. This could be an ablaut form of Gut-, although it has also been proposed that this was the normal stem corresponding to *Gutans'', despite the different vowel.
Etymology
The Proto-Germanic form of Goth is reconstructed as *Gutaz, which subsequently developed into Old English Gotan. The form *Gutaz was also borrowed into Proto-Baltic as *Gudaz, attested in the Old Prussian prefix gud- and in the Lithuanian ethnonym Gùdas, meaning 'Polish' or 'Belarusian', here transferred to the peoples that supplanted the Goths south of their territory. These forms are identical to the reconstructed Proto-Germanic name of the Gutes, a North Germanic tribe inhabiting the island of Gotland. Scholars have noted that Old Norse sources do not distinguish between Gutes and Goths.It co-existed with an an-stem variant *Gutō observable in such forms as Gutones and gutani. The adjective gutniskr ~ ''gotniskr, derived from an earlier *gutan-iskaʀ, along with the noun gutnar ~ gotnar, from an earlier *gutaniz, also give evidence of this an-stem formation.
The ethnonym Geats stems from Proto-Germanic *Gautōz, which shares the same etymology and possibly the same meaning as *Gutōz ~ *Gutaniz. The root gaut- is also preserved in several Swedish toponyms, such as the river Göta älv and the region Götaland, as well as in the mythic progenitor *Gaut, attested by Jordanes as Gapt, whom he presents as an ancestor of the Goths. The root gut- may also be reflected in Guthalus, a river of Germania mentioned by Pliny the Elder, possibly meaning 'Gothic river'.
The roots gut- and gaut- are generally considered be related to the Proto-Germanic verb *geutanan, meaning 'to pour', itself derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵʰewd-. It is not clear, however, whether the name *Gutaz stems from *Gautaz or the other way around, or whether both forms stem directly from the *geutanan.
In any case, as Wolfram explains, the recurrence of this name among various groups does not necessarily imply large-scale migrations of a single unified people: "not entire peoples, but small successful clans, the bearers of prestigious traditions, emigrated and became the founders of new gentes''".
Meaning
Though the etymology of the Gothic name connects to words for pouring, its actual meaning remains uncertain. Various interpretations have been suggested: the pouring could refer to a river or a flooded homeland, the name could mean "people" in the sense of being "seed-spreaders" or "progenitors", or else refer to the name of an ancestor.Wolfram interprets the Gothic name as meaning "men", and suggests that it might have meant "out-pourers" in the sense of "seed, the progenitors, the men". Some, including Peter Heather, have also suggested that Goths meant "the people". In Old Norse, Goti can mean "Goth" or "man", and gotnar signifies "men".
Another theory is to interpret Goths as the "seed-spreaders", hence the "stallions", "horses", or some other impregnating animal which may have been a deity. The term goti is used in Old Icelandic for "horse". The root gut- is also found in an Old Norse and later Scandinavian verbs meaning "to give birth". On this account, Icelandic linguist Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon suggested that the Gothic name may have referred to those "born and bred" in the north.
As the word Goth is closely related to the Proto-Germanic verb "to pour", Anders Kaliff has favoured the idea that the Gothic name may mean "the people living where the river has their outlet" or "the people who are connected by the rivers and the sea".
Jordanes writes in Getica that the ancestor of the Goths was named Gapt. In Scandinavia, Gaut was considered to be a manifestation of the Germanic god Odin, and the Geats derived their ethnonym from this name. The Geats and royal Lombards and Anglo-Saxons claimed descent from Gaut. Wolfram notes that the Gothic name may thus mean "sons of Gaut".
Regardless of the meaning of the Gothic name, Herwig Wolfram writes that it is certain that "the tribal name Goths means the same as Gauts". According to Wolfram, this is of bigger importance than its actual meaning. Elias Wessén writes that it is impossible to separate the words Gutar, Götar, Goths, *Gutans and Gauti from each other; they all mean the same.
Attestations
The name of the Goths is generally believed to have been first attested by Greco-Roman writers in the 1st century AD in the form Gutones. This name was applied to peoples located near the lower Vistula. Herwig Wolfram suggests that Gutones may have meant "young" Goths or "great" Goths.The Greek geographer Strabo mentions a people called the Butones, who came under the domination of the Marcomannic king Maroboduus. Most scholars believe this name should be corrected to Gutones. Thorsten Andersson, Peter Heather and Wolfram considers Strabo as the first writer to have mentioned the Gothic name.
Decades after Strabo, in his Natural History, Pliny the Elder mentions the Gutones as one of the peoples of Germania. In an earlier chapter, Pliny writes that the 4th century BC traveler Pytheas encountered a people called the Guiones in Germania. This name is often corrected to Gutones, but several other emendations have been proposed for the text of Pliny.
In the work Germania, published some years after Pliny, Tacitus mentions the Gotones/Gothones as one of the Germani. In a later work, The Annals, Tacitus again mentions the Gotones. The name Gotones/Gothones mentioned by Tacitus is generally considered the same as Gutones.
In his work Geography, the 2nd-century geographer Ptolemy mentions the Gutones/Gythones as one of the peoples of Sarmatia. He also mentions the Gutae/Gautae/Goutai of southern Scandia. The latter are variants of the name of the Geats and closely related to the name of the Goths.
After Ptolemy, the Gothic name is not attested again until the late 3rd century, when the name Goths is explicitly recorded for the first time for a group of peoples living north of the Danube. The Gothic name is attested in Shapur I's famous trilingual inscription at Naqsh-e Rostam, which is dated to 262. According to Shapur, "When first I was come to the imperial throne, Gordian Caesar assembled a force of Goths and Germans from all of Rome and made an inroad into Assyria against the Aryan empire and us." The Middle Persian inscription is damaged at this point, but the Parthian reads Gvt and the Greek Gouththon.
In 269 the Roman emperor Claudius II assumed the name Claudius Gothicus. No ancient sources make a connection between the names Gutones and Goths. Nevertheless, philologists and linguists have no doubt that these are the same names. Historian Arne Søby Christensen on the other hand argues that the similarities between the names are not significant. Historian Peter Heather has argued that while this similar name on its own could be an "accidental resemblance", there are other tribal names which similarly seem to appear first near present day Poland in the 1st century AD, only to reappear centuries later on the Roman frontiers far to the south.
A runic inscription on the Ring of Pietroassa can be read as Gutaniwiheilag, which is usually interpreted as 'the sacred heritage of the Goths'. The name Gutani probably reflects a form of the Gothic endonym *Gutans. Alternatively it reflects a form of the ethnonym of the Gutes.
The name of the Goths was directly borrowed from Gothic into Proto-Slavic as *gъtъ "Goth", "person from Gothland". Although the word was borrowed into Proto-Slavic, the word is attested only in East Slavic family; the oldest attestation is accusative plural gty recorded on an Old East Slavic gramota dated 1189. There was also form suffixed with -in: gtinъ from 13-14th century and relational adjective *gъtьskъ attested as feminine gotьskyja in The Tale of Igor's Campaign and gotskoi beregъ "shore of Gotland".