CHAPTER I
Summary
§1. ZamolxiV, SAMOLSES in our scrolls. To him are related the beginnings of the paternal laws and the defence of that truth. Who is he and where comes from? He belongs to the Getae, who are the same with Goths and Scythians. §2. The ones being called Getae are also called SVEONES. §3. Some deny they are called Svions from Svidur: their argument can easily be overthrown. §4. Before ODIN, there is no reference of that word in the writings of the old ones. §5. Sueons’ power extended once all over. §6. Whether the country is called Svia from Svidia, a region apart from Goths’ land. Why Svidia? §7. Why the inhabitants are not called rather Gautae than Svions from Odin: SVIFDAGR was born to Odin The Svif. §8 It is quite ridiculous believing that the name of SUEONIA could be related to the place and forest (VEDEN?), idem from ZWEI REICHE (two empires / a double empire). §9. SVIPIOD has a different meaning, while the name of Svions, who are also called Ingueones or Ingevones (in both cases they are spelt correctly); it is the same name with Ingi, Ingve and Ingemundr. §10. Those who have been called Scythians, thereafter called Sueons (Sueones). Where does the name of Scythians come from? For they come from the Elysium Fields, hence their name. §11. Who are the Hyperboreans? So do the foreign writers call them. Where comes the name of Wgugih (Oghiughie). The earliest authors mean by t hat word the trajectory of terrestrial days.§12. Once in our homeland, heredity was considered by the number of bows and arrows. What is the meaning of ARS and ARSDOBOLKAR in the earliest legislation rules. §13. The number twelve, of arrows, was deemed by the ancient peoples to be ordained by the gods; the number of nine days also had the same interpretation. §14. The Gothic SKUTA matches the Latin verb sagittare (“to take very well aim with an arrow”).
§1. The waxed tablets together with the other manuscripts, where they talk about the origin of paternal (national) laws, they are referring to SAMOLSE. It is not known quite exactly about him whether he was a real man and when he was born. However, most authors assert, with greatest levity, that he was born somewhere in the Thracian Land. About that time, the Getae were living there, “Qreikwn andreiotatoi kai
dikaiotatoi ” (Hdt., IV, XCIII, to the end), that is “the most brave and pious of the Thracians”, in Herodotus’ words. Among the praiseworthy virtues, no doubt by right, that of undefeated is added, with which Procopius (IV, Hist. Goth., 419) has adorned the Goths.
The ones who in Thrace were called Getae, later in Procopius’ (a Greek historian that died in 562 AD) time were called Goths and in older times they were called Scythians. Such authors we owe a due trust, since they are among the best ones; beside them, through his ancient dignity and authority, brilliant Messenius imposed, too (Foreword to a versified edition of the laws, signed Ragvaldus) who, in a few words, has shown with so much clarity and perspicacity that the first laws of the Svions and Goths (Getae) have been made up by Samolse. In order for such conclusion to necessarily be most correct, he clothed it with the word infallible. Subsidiary, if needed anymore, opinions have thereafter recorded, of certain brilliant scholars like BOXHORNIUS (Hist., VII, in the year 101), LOCCENIUS (Antiquit. Sveog., lib. I, chap.1), SCHERINGHAM (De orig. Angl., chap.IX, X. XI), HACHENBERGIUS (De orig. Sved., §XII, ff.), IACOB GISLON (in foreword and Chron. p.m.5 to the end) and in however other passages where the same opinion on the Getae, Goths and Scythians based on different proofs also in the mind of doctrine disciplines writers, such writers being among the most enlightened: that truth is perfectly confirmed by uncounted evidence. It is worthy retaining that unique truth, namely the Getae and the Goths were one and the same people and they were also called with the name of Scythians (Joh. Magn. Hist., S. 4, lib. I, chap.IV, f.f. Schol. Antiq. In Adam N. LXXXVII and authors next chapter) §2. Therefore, they are called GETAE, GOTHONES, GOTHINI, GETAR, GETTAR, JETTAR, JOTTAR, GAUTAR2, GOTAR3, like with the natives, attrâ from GA, GE, which is the same thing with GAU, GO, JO, GIO, GOJA, i.e. TERRA from the verb GIETA, meaning to give birth, develop, spread open-handed (others have a quite different opinion, namely their names would come from GAUT or ATTYS, the son, loved by Cybele, of the Sangarius river). SVIONES, SVEVI, SVIDAND, SVAND, SVEAR, SVIANAR would come from Attys, more recently; who is also called ODIN, SVIDUR, SVIUR, SVIFR, FTOLSVIDUR, SVIDUDUR, SVIDRIR, SVIDI, from SVIDIA, meaning to devastate through fires. The following add, too: SIGFADUR, SIGTHYR, SIGMUNDUR, SIGTHER, SIGTHROOR, SIGI; and also GAUT, GAUTE, GAUTUR and WALGAUTUR, an assembly of administrative (business) names, which were en vogue at that time, designating both courage and wiseness and a charming finesse in every victorious people; a destruction of enemies’ fields, fires, sieges, has been also called havoc, ruin. Why not also Thràsàr (meaning more vulnerable to cruelty of cutting and burning, not rarely attacked to be publicly exposed). That is yet also name and cult object of the ancestor Attys through most useless games (caprices) and witchcraft; after that superstitions have invaded him, as we learn from the Eddic monuments (it is about two collections of mythological and legendary poems of ancient Scandinavian peoples, T.’s N.) at the location and with the inhabitants SVITHI-OD, SVI-THOD, it is transmitted to us that a new and perpetual name has been given from itself, that just mentioned.
§3. They are not even experts in old literary works that would deny such designation of ODIN. At first, for grammar reasons, his name should have been spelt that way, as coming from SVIDRIR, SVIDRISTHIOD and not SVITHIOD; those are some kind of sophisms, like some enigma that nobody can clear up. Yet the mass of scholars is too big for their boots, looking for vain glory, like our own ignoramuses, out of vanity, consider them admirable. Since not so much SVIDRIS, but at the same time under other flexional titles of names, Odin can be recognised, as already set forth above. In the case of such words in disorder it is always more clear if not expressed but in the case of a multitude of expressions relating to such word. Thus it is reasonable from GAUT or GAUTUR – GAUTLAND, from SIGI or SIGTYR – SIGTUNA, from SEMMINGUR – SEMMIING – HUNDRA, from RAUMUR, RAUMELF, RAUMARIKE, from INGI – INGLINGAR, from SKIOLDUR – SKIOLDUNGAR, and so we may find, of that type, with the thousands, where the second case, not clearly, but precisely, towards they incline, is to be preferred. See also moreover other historical documents – Thorstiens viikings soanr saugu (chap.I), where just the following words can be read: pad eru Kallader Alfheimar, er Alfur Konungar ried fyri. Afheimo from the king name of Alfo. What does it mean? That the assailant, in his opinion, would need rather to prove an alibi; for a similar reason, the word SVITHIOD popularly reads SVEON and moreover, and the whole matter, in itself, in such a manner it is said, that it can be carried through with a sword only.
§4. Then, that ODIN word seems to be much older than his coming into the world. Here it is, on what rely those claiming such a thing: sure thing is that that name has never been mentioned before Odin would appear, neither by foreign writers, nor by the native ones. They endeavour to impose the contrary with ability and through trifles, as resulting from the Eddic writings. that such is the state of things, As so it is in the foreword of the Eddic writings, where, in both books written with great care, they call DROTZET of the High Praetorian Tribunal, the heroine of the all-heavenly and companion, master, GREAT GABRIEL of Gardie, whom the Academy in Uppsala has since long: “… thadan for Othin i Svithiod, thar var sa Kongur er Gylsi het: oc er han fretti til Asia manna er Aesir voru Kalladir, for han i moti theim, oc baud seim i fit riki en fatimi fylgdi ferd theirra. Hwar sem their dvol thust i londum, ja thar par ar oc trutho men artheir voru theßradandr thui ar rikis menn sa tha olika flestum mannum othrum at segurd oc vitj. Thar thotti Othin sagrit vellir, oc Landzkostir godur, oc Kaus fier thar Vorgarstadt sem nu heitir Sigtun.” Odin left there for Sveonia, the king of which was Gylso. At him arrived the fame of the Asians’ names, which one called AESIR who, upon his throne mounting, invited them all: they complied with the invitation without delay. Wherever your eyes may have looked, you only could see but thriving crops, as everywhere peace was flourishing, among the local people of good faith, there were accepted with them those things that were well thought-out, while for others, the science and the excellence of the form were more alluring. Odin, where he saw the crop thriving and the soil being fertile, chose a location for the stronghold, which the local people call now Sigtuna, thadan, says the author, for Othin et Svithiod. From there, Odin came to Sueonia, as it is called today. With such name does it show off, but, except that, it was called before Svithiod as it is confirmed by the Eddic writings, as printed by the most deliberated Ressenius, in question being an edition resulted from a collating of a few more copies: Efftr thad for han nordut that sein nu heiter. Words that are completely the same, the Danish interpret assures us; it also tallies with the Latin version of the Icelander Olaus Magnus of 1629. Therefore, it is in question the same place that is called now Svithiod, that is Svecia. Of the same opinion also is Stephanus The Icelander Olaus when in 1646, he proves, the adorned interpretation of Haunia. However, about that and many other words, I deem as useless appealing to more precepts than it has been done before – it’s simple enough.
§5. Stress is being laid on the same issue: it is, undoubtedly, astonishing why resorting to other regions, the names of which did not come from the same name, on the contrary, their names read with those names with which they have remained since long. As it is quite easy for such an objection to be rejected. If in that passage of the Eddic writings so it was understood to be reproduced, where, in clear words, it is proved as more suitable that the reign of Sueonia should begin with Odin and where, after so many errors a reliable place can be finally set and, to the fęted person’s fame, it can still be invested with monumental names, which can be legally transmitted to the descendants. To conclude, by the name of Svithiod it was meant all that was in sight in the north; the other reigns were called at other times tractus (“vast country”), it meaning a reunion of lands of a very vast empire – at the level of the universe. In fact, it was replaced by the old ones with Manheim, Gudheim, Alsheim, Jotnaheim or Risaland / Vanheim, oc oll thau titi thar til halda (every reign that had to be haunted by the majesty of Sueonic Empire, as clearly asserted by Snorrus, accord. to Snorrus, in the version of Johannes Martinus, Slangerup p.1). The book, published in 1594, gives us the following information: “Norden for palude Maeoti ot swarte hass/ kalde de paa gammel Norske Svithiode. Det nafn haswe de paa alle diße kalde land som ligge mod norden/ oc erre somme af diße land öde fot fraast oc snee” (as author mistranslated the Gothic text in Latin, I dare to translate it, conveying in fact the essence: “Svithiod land being located north of Azov Sea, just in its most northern point, it has a very severe climate, the region being exhausted by frosty weather and snow”, T.’s N.) Let’s add to that source also Iordanes, the chapters (De Getarum sive Gothorum origin et rebus gestis, IV and V) in which we can find very clearly and well substantiated, from where and how arrived there for the first time the Goths (the Getae), that they have settled in Scythia, next to Black Sea and he describes already a number of settlements of theirs; from the notes of other writers, cited by Nicolaus Ragvaldus, in his speech (Herod., lib. IV), never praised enough. And it is in question not only the native writers, but to such also add some of other nations, in the words of whose we should trust with the power of truth comprised in them, having the strictness of purely scientific works: these are Herodotus (chap.IV), Xenophon (chap.11, Memoriale), Plato (Timaeus and Kritias) and many others nearer, among which one rises above all. This is Cl. Olaus Rudbeck (Atlant., chap.VII, §VIII). Let’s go back however to Lucan, chap.II of De bello civili, from which we learn that our ancestors have roamed Europe, Egypt and Etruria and “have reached with their boats also Scythia Minor, at Lacus Maeotis, a black swamp full of all kinds of peoples.” §6. So, in vain some endeavour to convince us that Svialand, the Sveonia region apart from Gothia, derives from Svidia, which means “to ravage”, “to burn.” Also, to destroy through iron and fire villages and forests, as in spite of the fact that the field, attacked inside, was, according to the custom, seeded and harrowed, everything was turned into graves, nothing having been sifted from the crop. The first to come to these lands called Sviar, which cannot yet be proved by any written document, worthy of being noticed.
§7. Although the name came into common use, yet the people wander why not GAUTA would rather be called the inhabitants, instead of SVIONES from Odin, as many centuries before the emergence of Odin, such name was given to those populations, like I set forth above and this historical truth can be easily proved through different peoples’ and nations’ history. Why then tarrying about this one? If however would anyone doubt the legend of the nomenclature, then one argument would suffice: why did not that ethnic group usurp that name before Odin. Lang fedgatal yet does not doubt that ethnic group having borrowed its name from Odin’ son, called Svifdage.
§8. From all these considerations is clearly resulting that somebody is nevertheless asserting that Sueonia can be inferred from Veden’ lake and forest (“se lacu et veden sylva”) – words mentioned above – an opinion which one could rather wonder about than reject. No less valid an opinion would be, that it would come from zwei Reiche (two reigns/empires), ideas about which Messenius claimed (Spe. Suec. et Goth, chap.VIII) they “render callous their errors by right and in fact.”
§9. From all stated above, it clearly results how much the concept of svithiod, I mean Sueons’ power or empire had to “suffer.” To thwart such a saying‚ a man (now passed away to join the happy ones) not a profane in homeland and ancient history, comes with an argument supporting the Sueons, Goths (Getae) and Odin; upon returning to the concept of Scandia everything getting mixed: undoubtedly Svealand is something different from Svearik or Sviavelldi, as moreover, other literary monuments of our ancestors, there are also homeland laws, under which it is asserted, in clear words, the following development: “Swerikis Rzjke a aff Hedhna Warld samankomit/af Swealand oc Götha”, chap.1 main Konungz Valter, e.e. (“The Kingdom of Sveonia, according to the last memory of the profane religion, has coagulated from the Sveonic and Gothic regions”). Same are the things in the case of the proper name of Svithiod instead of Svealand that clearly differs from GOTHALAND. accord. to the 1egend of Vilkina (p. d. 76): “Vilkini kunungr eignadist med rikinu, oc hernadi thad land er kallad var Vilkinaland en thad heitir nu Svithiod oc Gautland, oc alt Sviavelldi, Skaney, Sialand, Jutland, Vinland, oc oll thau riki er par til halda.” (“King Vilkinus, by the force of weapons, appropriated the Kingdom of Vilkinaland, which is today made out of Sveonia, Gothia, Scania, Selandia, Jutia, Vinlandia (Vandalsa) and all regions bounding that empire”). Thus, to spade a pikestaff, Svithiod differs from Gautland and Sviavelldi. And let’s us rely on the same history: af heiti ens, fyrsta haufdingia tekr hans riki‚ nafn, oc su thiod er han stiornar (from the name of its first prince the kingdom took its name, and not from the people the prince reigned over. It is entirely worthy being trusted, according to what is said above. So, from Ingve, or Inge comes the word Sueones and Ingveones. Ingveones, according to Plinius (lib. IV, C. XIII), and even Tacitus (De mor. Germ., chap.12); yet they do not call by something obscure or hidden, but even by something more open and clear, I mean they are those citizens who have been under the domination and authority of the Ingons. Ingi or Ingve, Inge or Ingemunder designate one and the same thing, as we can read in most documents dedicated to such name.
§10. But they also called Scythians, which thereafter called Sueoni, accord. to an old manuscript titled Chronicon. As Iaphet dre komne Skyter oc Geter, som langt epter Kalladis Gother / oc nu Swenske. (“Scythians and Getae were born to Iaphet who later, after the Goths, called also Sveons.”) But in no hand written laws collection that order is wrongly written. Even Isidorus (the beginning of that Chronicle and the next chapter) begins his chronicle as follows: the reign of the Goths (undoubtedly it reads Getae’s – T.’s N.) is the oldest, as it was born from the reign of the Scythians. Scythians truly are brilliant archers, they raising a lot above other nations, as that kind of weapons was specifically proper to them – just for that reason Herodotus (IV, 27) called them ARIMASPOI, “the ones who pointed at very well with the arrow” (although the legend says the Arimasps had one eye only, T.’s N.); they were mounted archers (ippotoxotai, Thuc. 11, 139); Laurentius Valla gave the same interpretation that later was also recognised by Henricus Stephanus. Moreover, Herodotus (I, 73) called that skill of wielding the bow and arrows tenhn twn toxwn, i.e. “the art of pointing at with arrows”, and Xenophon (On Socrates’ acts and words, I, III, the Latin translator being Cardinal Nicenus), where it is said that, unlikely other nations, the Scythians and Thracians are naturally gifted with that net superiority in wielding a bow and arrows. Yet, unlikely the Spartans, who wield a sword and shield, the Scythians and Thracians do not dare to also conversely handle them, Spartans refuse to fight the first using their weapons – bow and arrows.
Lucan (Lib. III) also calls the Gelons sagittiferi volucres, i.e. “from the hands of which the arrows fly like birds”, and the Gelons are a Scythian nation. As Lucan (chap.II) claims, the Masagets are Scythian too, like the Gelons occurring about the Maeotis Lake, i.e. the Azov Sea, driving Scythian wagons or riding horses that flew like birds, like arrows. Through the art of wielding the bow and arrows our ancestors have stood out from other peoples, as our national history confirms it to us. Since they knew how to send an arrow with a perfect precision, they went to war or fights, their bodies bare, to show the enemy how expert are they in pointing at by piercing with their arrows exactly the targeted point. For their skill in wielding the bow and arrows e.g. Magn. Sigurdar. Sigurdar., Magnusa Barfots and the legend of Olof Trygfars (Flot. Lb., III, chap.8) and many other passages. So, the Scythians were among the first of our ancestors. The handling of the bow and arrows with the Scythians was learned since the early childhood; Florus (Lib. III, chap.VIII) recounts that a child would refuse the food given by his mother until she did not show him, through her self example, how is she hit by arrows. All their hopes were those arrows, as Tacitus (De mor. Germ., to the end) recounts. They roamed with their herds, herds of horses, goats and sheep through forests and untilted deserts, hence they were called Nomads, Shepherds, by Homer, Strabo and, among others, also by Silius (I, III). They did not have any houses, living in wagons, roaming over the plains, and wandering as they did, they always had around the penates. Strabo locates them to the north, where the north wind blows, and Diodorus Siculus (Bibl. Hist., chap. p.m. 209) recounts that they were living on an island called Basilea out of which, in bad weather, came out a kind of very bright amber, which could not be found in any other part of the world: this was also called electrum. Urania, daughter of the skies, upon her father’s death, accepted to reign over Basilea and afterwards gave birth to dia docouV thV basileiaV, the devisees of the reign, Hyperions (Diod. Sic., Bibl. Hist., chap.III, chap.7, 9, 10, 13 and 14). Solinus adds that from the islands inhabited by the Germans, Scandinavia is the biggest and nothing in that island is more valuable than the glassware that offers both the crystal, yet also the amber, which the Germans call with a native word GLAESUM (STICLA). Plinius calls it glassware (XXVII, 1, 2). And just in our Sveonia, in the region of Helsingia, there was such a valley called ELYSIA [(the valley of glass = Glysisdal, Elysisdal, LIUSDAL), according to Ovid, Champs-Elysees according to Virgil, Glysis hed, Elysis hed, i.e. LIUSHED] (See also Tacitus, De mor. Germ., XLV; Tibull., I, 3, In Messal.) According to illustrious D. Gustavus Rosenhanus, who in 1658 chaired that province, he talked me about the places where the merchandise was exported from, like coming from the Elyzeens and Naharvals,who formerly would have inhabited those lands; Tacitus (De mor. Germ., XLIII) recounts about the Manimos [Manheimos] Elyzieni and Naharvali. Quoting Plutarch who, in his turn quotes Homer, asserts that in the Champs-Elysees is the end of the Earth, since there the shadow becomes visible putting an end to the Globe; there, where the light is prevented, and the descending sun just doubles the growing shadows, Radamantes’ kingdom, i.e. the Inferno begins.
Why from the Gothic lysa, and this, in its turn, from lius, liusis or lysis? Its origin is unclear, since in the summer those fields, as their name tells, are always seen to be bright; hence poets invented the wording “at the happy places of the righteous people”, “in the happy islands”, “where neither the winds blow nor the clouds drop their rain” and “the sky is always clear and laughs with a generously spread light” (Lucret., De rerum natura, chap.III, about the beginning) or in Horatius, Epoda XVI:
“The Planetary Ocean leaves us, we are surrounded by fields
we arrive at the happiest fields, at rich islands:
look, the field unploughed for so many years is being given back to us –
Ceres gives it us now flourishing and loaded with grape clusters.
the olive trees pull out their buds and every tree is adorned with buds;
the resin springs out of the high mountain oaks
and trickles through the bark down to earth.
There come from itself directly in the chapel’s censer …”
(See also the comments of Acronius Porphyrionus of Rotterdam, as well as of the others concerning the ode in question). Other versions concerning the origin of that region’s name may also be heard; among them, the Plato’s (Gorgias, p.m. 370 ff.) Virgil, for instance, sets against Champs-Elysees, Lacus Stygias (where Plouton, the “god” of the Inferno rules, T.’s N.), nigra Tartara, a place reserved after death those wrongdoers, unfaithful, where people shiver with cold (See also Hesiod, Theogonia, see 682, 721, 736 and Plato, Phaedron, p. 517 ff.) Both Stygii lacus, and Seneca’s Stygiae shadow, come from the Gothic STYG. The verb is styggias formidare (“to be afraid of the styg”); many other words have hence formed in our language. In Greek there is the verb sugew, having the same meaning, although yet the interpreters doubt its Greek origin (I deem it would rather refer to certain old Romanian words: 1. Strigă = “grey coloured owl with orange eyes, also meaning lady vampire, witch”, as well as 2. Strigoi, T.’s N.) (see also Virgil, Aeneis, p. 237 and 251). For good reason even the question is put, just where it has been called by the ancient people GLESARIA after: no doubt it comes from the verb GLA, meaning “to shine”, “to glow”, and hence GLEA, GLIA, GLOA, GLIOSA and LYSA = “to lighten” (It is not excluded it might be linked to the old Romanian GLIE, “ploughed land” and GAIA / GEIA / GE, “mother land” and of course the Greek must have taken it from us and not conversely, as it is too the case of wallach – from German, meaning “castrated horse”, as it is the case too of the West Falls (Westfalen) and the East (Ostfalen) and the Egyptian and Indian fellah, all those nations whose names are related to the land cultivation, agriculture, having their origin in the traditional word Valach, the oldest the Romanian ethnic group attested until now, accord. to Homer, Iliad, II, 739, T.’s N.) Since it is not like the case of the Latin Aquilo,-onis (“north wind”), Boreas in Greek, which asserts Aulus Gellius with serenity (II, 22) must have been formed from boatus, meaning “bellow” (’apo thV bohV), while some erudite men, who devoted themselves long ago to the letters and antiques, cannot approve of such an etymological explanation, believable among babies only.
§11. That is too the case of the toponym BASILIA mentioned by Pytheas of Marseille (a famous navigator and geographer of the 4th century BC, T.’s N.) as the seat of the royal Scythians: basileio V meaning quite “kingly”, “royal” (Plin. XXXVII, II). I call as a witness just Herodotus (IV, 56) in a passage where Gerrhos clearly recounts on the county of nomad Scythians and that of royal Scythians (“tón te tvn Nomadwn cwrion kai ton tvn basilhiwn Skuqewn”). Lacus Maeotis (Azov Sea, T.’s N.) too is inhabited by the Royal Scythians and the Sauromatians (“Maihtin, SkuqaV te touV
basilhiouV kai SauromataV”). This is how far the Sveons’ Empire stretched once, as I already said here above (that is also perfectly valid for the Geto-Dacians, who have lived for centuries, if not even millenniums, mixed with Germanic peoples, both in the Scandinavian Peninsula, and in the southern Russia, T.’s N.) Those Scythians who lived in Asia, it is due to call them Nomads (SkuqaV touV NomadaV, Hdt. I, 73). On the same island – BASILIA – the old ones called it BALTHIA from BALDUR or Apollo or from the bows and belts (baltheis) which the Scythians used, a respect in which it is worth mentioning Herodotus (IV, 11, 19 and 50, VI. 74), where he some times speaks about the bow, and other times about Hercules The Baltic (centurion) and not only about Scytha as Hercules’ son, after whom the Kings Scythian have been called (Plin., 1.chap., Hdt., IV, 8, IX, 10). Apollo himself is called by Virgil The Bow Carrier (Verg., Aen. III). And in the 5th book of the same Aeneid says it explicitly: “Be it now allowed us to explain how it came from the belt to the word Baltic (belte) Sea, as it appears in ancient words. The Scythians called Royal, were also called Hyperborean4, and their seat was in the Hyperborean island, Yswer Norden, in Greek ‘uper, poetic super in Latin, Yser with the Goths and Sveons, letters p and s are used alternately, either instead of the other. „Same way could also be explained SCAN, nowadays SKAN / SKANE, Scania being called in ancient times Scandia. As Scandia, Scanau, Scanorum sive Scandorum island (Scans’ or Scanzs’ Islans), a name under which we have yet another region located beyond the other regions, getting in touch with the Aquilone (the north wind). That is why Lucan mentions them as dwelling in a region located under the Polar Circle or Hyperborean Ursa (De bell. Civil., V, p. m. 121), and Cicero, quoting from Aratus’ poetry, he says: “consequently come the Northern” (De nat. deorum, II, p.m. 47); Seneca calls the North Pole, by the synechdoche Ursas: the icy wagon of the Hyperborean Ursa (Med. Act., II, cor. V, see 315).
In ancient times, our ancestors called it Scandia, it being confirmed, among other writings, by the chronicles inclusively. So, in laws fragments, among the oldest are also those prescribed the Sveons and the Goths in 1375, where Sveonia is called YSWERSTOG/OSTWANSTOG and NORDANSTOGH (Diod. Sic., Bibl. Hist., p.m. 91 …) From the tradition of the old ones, as Diodorus shows it, so it has been found to be graphically represented. The inhabitants of that island have been called by the ancient peoples Hyperboreans; all the more it is trustworthy, as such judgement is placed in the beginning of the book. The Hyperboreans have been called after the adverb ‘uper, “over”, “beyond” and BoreaV , “North wind”, therefore the ones who live beyond the whipping north wind (Plin., VI. 1 3), and in his scholar, Adamus (p.m. 149, 111, 83): “the Danes, the Sveons and the Normans, as well as the other Scythian peoples have been called by the Romans, Hyperboreans; those Marcian loaded with praises of all kinds.” The Greek writers (among which Diodorus Siculus, Lib. III, p.m. 132) and Plutarch, De facie in orbe Lunae, p. m. 941), called them western, Atlantic, and Hyperborean populations; Tacitus (De Mor. Germ., CXLV) recounts: “beyond the Svions there is but a tranquil sea, almost still, surrounding and enclosing the Globe.” Among all the other Scythians, the Hyperboreans were some very special people, as RUDBECKIUS emphasises it.
§12. In our laws, both older and more recent, there are not only the arrows mentioned, but also always the bow and the arrows are mentioned together. In inheritance matters, where a succession was to be decided, the one of the sons was deemed more fortunate and hence more powerful at wars, which inherits twelve bows: that one was to be called, in fact, a Scythian. And, as the codices prove, in accord with all the other regulations, he had the title of agent through heredity – ARFDABOLKER, ARF meaning both “arrow”, and “bow.” Since an estate was regarded depending on the number of bows and arrows, a custom transmitted also to our Getae ancestors descending from the Scythians, the true Scythians were only deemed to be those possessing three times twelve bows (“thre tölptir SKUTHA stràng ok bogha”), and by the word ARF it is meant both “arrow”, and “bow.” That way of judging was also reflected in the heredity title – the more the number of bows and arrows a son inherited, the more appreciated he was in the battlefield; here he is, instituted in the context of a hunting: “If someone, in his own forest, therefore, in his own hunting ground, upon having cornered a beast, feels exhausted and wants to have some rest, so discontinuing the hunting, sends on the beasts trail a bow or an arrow; and if that beast is subsequently killed by others, those due is the skin, and that who was the first to shoot an arrow is due the rest of the beast; and should a dispute arise, then they would resort to an arbitration by good faith men (I suspect it isn’t meant a proceedings in court, yet instead a hunters’ association assigned to settle such differences T.’s N.), thus everything is to be settled with an elegance that characterises us” (I wonder if that is neither the ontological-gnoseological root of an old Romanian say “To sell the skin of a bear in the woods”?, T.’s N.)
§13. I have said that, in our laws, by the word ARF it is meant not only an “arrow”, yet also a “bow”, which is called too ARMBORST. The wording ARMBORST ATARS BRESTER has the meaning “the arrow is shot with a bow.”
In our laws, both old and recent, it is only mentioned as weapons the bow and arrows, hence their name of Scythians. According to information supplied by Kongbr (chap.XXIX of Codex Magni Erici and c. XXIV of the general law (Civil Code) of King Christoph), the warriors wore twelve arrows each, to match the number of gods, accord. to Virg. (Georg., I, p. 41): “That is why over the endless earth reigns the sun gilded by those twelve stars of the world.”; in Homer (Iliad. I, p. 2, see 3) we find the digit 9 to be used: “for nine long days the arrows of Zeus flew in the army.”
§14. From the foregoing quoted passages, as well as from other sources, it could be seen that Skyta meant, in our laws, “to shoot by a bow and arrow”; it results more clear from VOSSIUS, SCIOPIUS, CELLARIUS and BORRICHIUS (De variis linguae Latinae aetatibus: Defensione Vossii adversus Sciopium). CAROLUS LUNDIUS – Swedish king advisor 1687
