|
Götaland (, also ''Gothia'', ''Gothland'',〔 (Gothland is also used for Gotland).〕〔 (Gothland is also used for Gotland).〕 ''Gothenland'', ''Gautland'' or ''Geatland'') is one of three lands of Sweden and comprises ten provinces. Geographically it is located in the south of Sweden, bounded to the north by Svealand, with the deep woods of Tiveden, Tylöskog and Kolmården marking the border. Götaland once consisted of petty kingdoms, and their inhabitants were called ''Gautar'' in Old Norse. It is generally agreed that these were the same as the ''Geats'', the people of the hero Beowulf in England's national epic, Beowulf. == Etymology == The earliest possible mentions of the ''götar'' is Ptolemaios (2nd century AD) who mentions the ''goutai''. Later, ''Beowulf'' (8th–11th century) partially takes place among the ''Géatas''. Norwegian and Icelandic sources sometimes use ''Gautar'' only for the people of Västergötland, but sometimes as a common ethnic term for both the people of Västergötland and those of Östergötland.〔.〕 Västergötland appears in medieval Icelandic and Norwegian sources as ''Gautland'' (Götland), a form which is not etymologically identical to ''Götaland''. The name ''Götaland'' replaced the old ''Götland'' in the 15th century, and it was probably to distinguish the wider region it denoted from the traditional heartland in Västergötland.〔.〕 The name Götaland probably originally referred only to Västergötland and Östergötland, but was later extended to adjoining districts. The name ''Götaland'' is probably a plural construction and means the "lands of the Geats", where ''Göta-'' is the genitive plural of the ethnonym Göt (Geat). The interpretation that the neuter noun -''land'' is a plural and not a singular noun is indicated by Bo Jonsson Grip's will in 1384, where he stated that he donated property in ''Swerige'' (Sweden, i.e. Svealand), ''Österlandom'' (Finland) and in ''Göthalandom'' to monasteries. Here Götaland appears in the plural form of the dative case.〔 For the etymology of the element Geat/Gaut/Göt and Goth, see Geat. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Götaland」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|