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 (e.g. ) and Greek (γόθοι). and cites the examples collected by Schönfeld in 1911 (p.120–p.123). Within medieval Germanic languages, the Goths are attested as Gotan (plural) in Old English and as Goti (singular) in Old Norse.
A Germanic an-stem variant of the name, *Gutan- (Goth), 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 (pl. *Gutōz), 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- (in place names) 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 (Old Norse pl. Gutar ~ Gotar < *Gutōz), 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(n) (pl. *Gutaniz) observable in such forms as Gutones and gutani. The adjective gutniskr ~ gotniskr ('Gothic, Gutnish'), derived from an earlier *gutan-iskaʀ, along with the noun gutnar ~ gotnar ('men'), from an earlier *gutaniz, also give evidence of this an-stem formation.
The ethnonym Geats (or Gauts; Old Norse gautar) stems from Proto-Germanic *Gautōz (sg. *Gautaz), 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 (homeland of the Geats/Gauts), as well as in the mythic progenitor *Gaut (PGmc *Gautaz), 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' (cf. Goth. giutan), itself derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵʰewd- ('to pour'). It is not clear, however, whether the name *Gutaz stems from *Gautaz or the other way around, or whether both forms stem directly from *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 (Proto-Germanic: *Gaut). 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.: "Goths—or Gutones, as the Roman sources called them... The Gutonic immigrants became Goths the very moment the Mediterranean world considered them "Scythians"... The Gothic name appears for the first time between A.D. 16 and 18. We do not, however, find the strong form Guti but only the derivative form Gutones... Hereafter, whenever the Gutones and Guti are mentioned, these terms refer to the Goths.". "Goths are first mentioned occupying territory in what is now Poland in the first century AD... The history of people labelled "Goths" thus spans 700 years... [T]he Wielbark culture.... took shape in the middle of the first century AD... in Pomerania and lands either side of the lower Vistula... [T]his is the broad area where our few literary sources place a group called Goths at this time... Tacitus Germania 43-4 places them not quite on the Baltic coast; Ptolemy Geography 3.5.8 locates them east of the Vistula; Strabo Geography 7.1.3 (if Butones should be emended to Gutones) broadly agrees with Tacitus... The mutually confirmatory information of ancient sources and the archaeological record both suggest that Goths can first be identified beside the Vistula. It is here that this attempt to write their history will begin." 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., Book VII, Chap. 1. Sec. 3 Most scholars believe this name should be corrected to Gutones (Greek: Γούτωνας)., Book VII, Chap. 1. Sec. 3. "For “Butones” it is fairly certain that Strabo wrote “Gutones” (the Goths).". "During the first century and a half AD, four authors mention a people also normally identified with 'the Goths'. They seem to appear for the first time in the writings of the geographer Strabo... It is normally assumed that [the Butones/Gutones] are identical with the Goths... It has been taken for granted that these Gotones were identical to the Goths... Finally, around 150, Klaudios Ptolemaios (or Ptolemy) writes of certain [Gutones/Gythones] who are also normally identified with 'the Goths'... Ptolemy lists the [Gutae], also identified by Gothic scholars with the Goths..." Thorsten Andersson, Peter Heather and Wolfram considers Strabo as the first writer to have mentioned the Gothic name.: "The Gothic name appears for the first time between A.D. 16 and 18. We do not, however, find the strong form Guti but only the derivative form Gutones... They were first mentioned by Strabo."
Decades after Strabo, in his Natural History, Pliny the Elder mentions the Gutones as one of the peoples of Germania., Book IV, Chap. 28 In an earlier chapter, Pliny writes that the 4th century BC traveler Pytheas encountered a people called the Guiones in Germania., Book XXXVIII, Chap. 11 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., XLIV In a later work, The Annals, Tacitus again mentions the Gotones., 62 The name Gotones/Gothones mentioned by Tacitus is generally considered the same as Gutones.. "In the period of Dacian and Sarmatian dominance, groups known as Goths – or perhaps 'Gothones' or 'Guthones' – inhabited lands far to the north-west, beside the Baltic. Tacitus placed them there at the end of the first century, and Ptolemy did likewise in the middle of the second, the latter explicitly among a number of groups said to inhabit the mouth of the Vistula. Philologists have no doubt, despite the varying transliterations into Greek and Latin, that it is the same group name that suddenly shifted its epicentre from northern Poland to the Black Sea in the third century."
In his work Geography, the 2nd-century geographer Ptolemy mentions the Gutones/Gythones as one of the peoples of Sarmatia., 3.5 He also mentions the Gutae/Gautae/Goutai of southern Scandia., 2.10 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 (Latin: Gothi) 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 (Gordian III) 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 (Goths) and the Greek Gouththon ("of Goths").