Chapter CXCVIII: Section VII: Ghernot

Ghernot was Gunther’s second brother, who was free from the guilt of the murder of Siegfried, and greatly displeased with Haghen for depriving Chriemhilt of the treasure; but he shared the fate of his brothers, being killed early in the encounter by the Markgraf Rudiger.

Perhaps, necessity of war, or spear compulsion, would be the best sounding translations of this remarkable name.

Ghere, the same as the northern Gejr and German Kero, is the messenger sent to invite Siegfried and Chriemhild to Wurms, when they paid the visit that had such fatal consequences; and _gher_ or _gjer_ is one of the most frequent of the component parts of names. Its right and original meaning is a spear, the same as that of the Latin _quiris_ and Keltic _coir_. Thence the Anglo-Saxons called all other weapons _waren_, and the battle _war_, a word we still use, just as the French do _guerre_, and the Spaniards _guerra_.

_Gar_ is _quite_ in modern German, and _gher_ has dropped out of the language, and thus most of the German names commencing with it have been misinterpreted to mean _all_, but it is impossible to compare them with their northern cousins without tracing the same spear in both.

The chief favourite amongst these spear titles seems to have been once a Valkyr name Gêrdrûd, or Geirthrud, the spear maid; for, alas! the pretty interpretation that has caused so many damsels of late to bear it, as meaning _all truth_, is utterly untenable, unless they will regard themselves as allegorically constant battle-maids, armed with the spear of Ithuriel.

The ancient popularity of this name was owing to a daughter of one of the great Pepins, in their _maire du palais_ days. She founded the abbey of Nivelle, and was intensely revered by the Franks and Germans, chiefly on account of the miracles imputed to her. At old heathen feasts, the cups quaffed in honour of gods or demi-gods were prefaced by the words “_Wuotansminne, Thorsminne_,” meaning in Woden’s or Thor’s memory; but the Christian teachers changed these toasts to be in the memory of the saints, such as Michelsminne for the guardian angel. _Johannisminne_ was the special favourite, and was supposed to be a charm against poison, because the Evangelist was thought to have experienced the fulfilment of the promise, “If ye drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt you,” as typified by the dragon in his cup. The royal nun, Gertrude, was almost as great a favourite as the Apostle with the Germans, and the regular toasts at their banquets came to be _Johannisminne_ and _Gerdrutsminne_, till drinking to St. John and St. Gertrude were almost a proverb for revelry.

Let us observe, _en passant_, that _minne_, lately in honour of Minna Troil erected into a lady’s name, is from the Gothic _munan_, to remember, from the Saxon form of which we take our _mind_. Minnie has lately become a favourite name, and must be referred to this source.

A second St. Gertrude, of noble blood in Saxony, was abbess of Heldelfs, had an exceedingly high reputation for sanctity, and died in 1334, leaving her name doubly popular.

┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ Portuguese. │
│Gertrude │Gertrude │Gertrude │Gertrudes │
│Gatty │ │Geltruda │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Bavarian. │ Netherlands. │ Danish. │
│Gertraud │Traudl │Drutje │Gertrud │
│Trudchen │Traul │Trudje │Jartrud │
│ │ │Trudel │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Slovak. │ Lettish. │ Esth. │ Polish. │
│Jera │Gêrde │Kert │Giertruda │
│Jerica │Gerte │Truto │ ———————— │
│Jedert │Gedde │Truta │ Lithuanian. │
│Jra │ │ │Trude │
│ │ │ │ ———————— │
│ │ │ │ Hungarian. │
│ │ │ │Gertrud │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘

There is great confusion between Gerwald and Gerhard; the one meaning spear power, the other firm spear.

Though _gar_ was not a common English prefix, the first Saint Gerhold was Anglo-Saxon. He migrated to Ireland, received the cowl in the monastery of Mayo, founded that of Tempul Gerald, died in 732, and became the subject of one of the Irish legends of saints. It declared that the wife of Caomhan, king of Connaught, turned him out of the fort of Cathair Mhor, with his 300 saints, who thereupon joined him in one of the peculiar prayers of Irish saints, that there never should be another king of the same race for ever. However, he afterwards relented, and only cut off from the throne the offspring of the lady herself, while to those of the king’s former wife he granted the right of sitting first in the drinking house and of arraying the battle. The Irish call him Garalt, and have confused his name with the Keltic Gareth, one of the knights of the Round Table, so that Garrett and Gerald are regarded as identical.

The great prevalence of the name in Ireland is, however, chiefly owing to the Normans. There had been two Frank saints thus called in the twelfth century, Gerard of Toul, and Girroald of Fontenelle; but it was also a Lombardic name, and the old Florentine family of the Gherardi claims the parentage of one of the many Gerolds who accompanied William the Conqueror, the same whose descendant, Maurice Fitzgerald, was one of the companions of Earl Strongbow, the parent of the Fitzgeralds, or Geraldins, of Kildare, the turbulent race, who disputed with the Butlers of Ormond the supremacy of the island. Lady Elizabeth Fitzgerald, a daughter of this house, was the lady who, in imitation of Beatrice and of Laura, was erected by Surrey into the heroine of his poetry, under the title of the Fair Geraldine, thus leading to the adoption of this latter as one of the class of romantic Christian names. Gerald Barry, the Welsh chronicler who Latinizes himself as Giraldus Cambrensis, may have been rightly Gareth, and the provincial form Jarrett, still common in the North, is probably rather a remnant of the Gareth of Strathclyde, than a version of the Norman Gerald.

Another St. Gerald, bishop of Namur, left his name to be very common in the Low Countries, where we have already shown how curiously the transformation was effected of Gerhard Gerhardson into Desiderius Erasmus. Lastly, a St. Gerhard went on a mission to convert the Hungarians, and the name, or rather the two names, for there is no distinguishing between them, have become universal.

┌───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Provençal. │ Italian. │
│Gerard │Gerard │Girart │Gherardo │
│Garrett │Giraud │Guerart │Gerardo │
│Jarett │Girairs │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ German. │ Netherlands. │ Dutch. │ Frisian. │
│Gerhard │Gerard │Gerhardus │Geerd │
│ │Gerrit │Gerrit │ │
│ │Geert │ │ │
├───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┼───────────────┤
│ Danish. │ Polish. │ Lettish. │ Hungarian. │
│Gerhard │Gieraud │Gerkis │Geller │
│Geert │ │Gêrts │ │
└───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┴───────────────┘

┌────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ English. │ French. │ Italian. │ German. │ Frisian. │
│Gerald │Giraud │Giraldo │Gerold │Gerold │
│ │Guirauld │ │ │Gerelt │
│ │Girault │ │ │Gerel │
└────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┴────────────┘

Gerhardine in German, and Giralda in Italian, are the feminines, besides our own Geraldine. Possibly Giralda may once have been the Valkyr name Geirhilda, which has survived in the North in the form of Jerilla, _jer_ being the northern corruption of _geir_. Jerlau is thus Geirlaug, and Jeruf, or Jerul, Geirolf.

In like manner, though with different pronunciation, we make Jervis out of the old Norman Gervais, which was probably Geirfuss, or warlike eagerness. It used to be explained as _gerfast_, all firm, but this is, of course, wrong; though, as I have not found Geirfuss in the roll of northern names, and it would have been Gerfuns in Germany, where Gerwas is common, as is Gervais in France, and Gervaso in Italy, this must be doubtful.

The Gerberge of French history, the queen of Louis l'Outremer, was the same as the Geirbjorg of the North: Gerwin, or spear friend, made the Guarin of France, whence the Waryn of a few English families, and Guarino of Italy.

The old Spanish-Gothic feminine Garsendis was certainly Garswinth, or spear strength, and the equally ancient Garsias, or Garcia, so common in Galicia and Navarre, must have its commencement from the same source, though the last syllable has lost its individuality on the soft Spanish tongues. It was long a royal name, but was dropped about the thirteenth century, and makes its last public appearance in the person of the Peruvian prince and author Garcilasso de la Vega.

The spear raven, Gerramn, is the old English Jerram, that has become lost in Jerome; and the spear prince, Gerbold, has furnished the family name of Garibaldi. _Gar_ is very rare in native Anglo-Saxon names, whether as a beginning or end, but most frequent in all the other branches of the Teuton stock; and its other form, _gais_, is the most reasonable explanation of the beginning of the name of Geisserich, the king of the Vandals, who has been made into Genserich, and then translated into the Gander king! The remaining forms are:—

┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Ger. Gerbert; It. Gerberto—Bright spear │
│ Ger. Gerfrid—Spear peace │
│ │
│ Nor. German. Neth. Frisian. │
│ │
│ Gierlac │ Gerlach │ Garlef │ Spear sport │
│ │ Gerlib │ Garlaf │ Garleff Spear relic │
│ │
│ Nor. Geirmund, Garmund—Spear hand │
│ Nor. Geirny—Spear fresh; Gierrandur—Spear house │
│ Nor. Geirridur—Spear impulse; Gierstein—Spear stone │
│ Nor. Geirthiofr—Spear thief; Geirvör—Spear prudence │
│ Nor. Geirvart; Fris. Gerber—Spear guard │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘