Etymograph

English

Visigoth

Visigoth comes from Late Latin Visigothus ‘a Visigoth’.

  1. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEVisigothus‘a Visigoth’
  2. EnglishtodayVisigoth

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Late Latinc. 200–600 CEVisigothus‘a Visigoth’
  2. EnglishtodayVisigoth

The story

According to Mallory & Adams, possibly a tribal name derived from Proto-Germanic *wesuz (reflected in personal names such as Old High German *wisu), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁wésus (‘good, excellent’). If so, related to Proto-Celtic *wesus (found in personal names), the Italic goddess Vesuna, and Sanskrit वसु (vasu, “good, excellent”). The term was coined by Cassiodorus under the misapprehension that it meant "west Goths".

Every English word from Late Latin Visigothus

Today it means

noun Any member of an ancient East Germanic tribe, one branch of the Goths (the Ostrogoths being the other), which participated in several wars with Rome and established a kingdom with Toulouse for its capital.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Late Latin Visigothus / Visigoth

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