Original area.—The water-system of the Upper Danube, probably parts of Bavaria and Thuringian Saxony.
Area in the third and fourth centuries.—The Roman province of Mœsia.
Language.—Partially preserved in the Translation of the Scriptures, by Ulphilas, in the reign of Valens.
Divisions.—1. Ostrogoths (=East-Goths), of which the royal line was that of the Amalungs. 2. Visi-Goths (=West-Goths); of which the royal line was that of the Baltungs.
Current names.—Probably not given till after the occupation of the country by the Getæ.
Native names.—Probably Grutungs and Tervings (Thuringians).
Reasons for believing that the so-called Goths of the Lower Danube were not indigenous to the country in which we find them in the reign of Valens, that they were in no wise descendants of the Getæ, and that they were not known by the name Goth until they took possession of the country of the Getæ, are given in the Transactions of the British Association for 1849, and in The English Language of the present writer.
He now arrives at their probable home in Germany by the method of exclusion, i.e. by determining what portions of Germany were most certainly occupied by non-Mœso-Gothic populations.
These he places in the country, drained by the northern feeders of the Upper Danube, believing that from this point the migration took place by the waters of the Danube rather than by land.