[16] Ermann—Prichard, vol. iv. p. 346.
[17] The details of this theory are given in the author’s “Germania of Tacitus, with Ethnological Notes,” § Goths.
[18] “The Ethnology of the British Islands.”
[19] Island undersögt fra en lægevidenskabeligt Synspunct, af P. A. Schleisner, M.D.
[20] Stockfleth—Bidrag til Kundskab om Finnerne i Norge.—1848.
[21] The “J” is pronounced “Y.”
[22] “The Germania of Tacitus, with Ethnological Notes,” Epilegomena cxxxi.
[23] I may reasonably be charged with finding the name Goth in everything, in Getæ, Gothi, Gothones, Gothini, Jutæ, Vitæ, and Jats. But as I care far more for processes than results a somewhat sharp self-examination acquits me. Starting with the doctrine that nothing is to be considered accidental which we can reasonably investigate, I only demur to those conclusions which are incompatible with undoubted facts. Is this the case with any of the deductions hitherto laid before the reader? First let us look to them in respect to the facts they assume. Of these the most startling is the presence of Lithuanians in the Vithesleth and in India. Yet, if the oldest occupants of the Danish Islands were not Germans, what were they likelier to have been than Lithuanians, considering that Prussia was Lithuanic? “Slavonians,” it may be answered. Granted; but the Slavonic character of the Vithesleth is as much opposed to current notions as the Lithuanic. Besides which, the difference is only one of detail. Then, as to the Lithuanian elements in India. If we hesitate to deduce these from Europe, we must deduce the Indian elements in Lithuania from Asia. There is a difficulty either way. Then, as to the changes in the form of the word. Take the two extremest forms, Goth-, and Vit-. Is this change legitimate? The answer to this lies in the fact of the Russian form for Master being Gosp-odar, whereas the Lithuanic is Visp-ati.
Since the chapter on the ethnology of Scandinavia was printed, Mr. Worsaae has made me acquainted with a remarkable fact connected with the Isle of Laaland, confirmatory of the belief of a Sarmatian population partially, at least, in the Vithesleth. In the southern part of the island some of the geographical terms are Slavonic, and in Saxo there is the statement, that when the other Danes prepared an invasion against their Wend, or Slavonic, enemies, of the continent, the Laalanders were neither allowed to take a part in them, nor yet informed of their being in contemplation; for fear lest they should communicate the news to the Wends (Slavonians).