Editing Geats (section)

==Goths==
{{Main|Goths}}

[[File:Chernyakhov.svg|right|250px|thumb|
{{legend|#A6D96A|Traditional [[Götaland]]}}
{{legend|#D01C8B|The island of [[Gotland]]}}
{{legend|#D7191C|[[Wielbark culture]], in the early 3rd century}}
{{legend|#FDAE61|[[Chernyakhov culture]], in the early 4th century}}
{{legend|#C2A5CF|[[Roman Empire]] at its greatest extent, 117 AD}}]]
''Geatas'' was originally [[Proto-Germanic]] *''Gautoz'' and ''Goths'' and ''[[Gutar]]'' (''Gotlanders'') were *''Gutaniz''. *''Gautoz'' and *''Gutaniz'' are two ablaut grades of a Proto-Germanic word *''geutan'' with the meaning "to pour" (modern Swedish ''gjuta'', modern German ''giessen''). The word comes from an Indo-European root meaning ''to pour, offer sacrifice.''<ref>"god" in ''The Oxford English Dictionary Online.'' (2006).</ref> There were consequently two derivations from the same Proto-Germanic ethnonym.<ref>cf. [[Serbs]] and [[Sorbs]], [[Polans (western)|Polans]] and [[Polish people|Poles]], [[Slovenes]] and [[Slovaks]] in [[Slavic language]]s.</ref>

It is a long-standing controversy whether the Goths were Geats. Both Old Icelandic and Old English literary sources clearly separate the Geats (Isl. ''Gautar'', OEng ''Geatas'') from the Goths/[[Gutar]] (Isl. ''Gotar'', OEng. ''Gotenas''); but the Gothic historian [[Jordanes]] wrote that the Goths came originally to [[Dacia]] from the island of [[Scandza]]. Moreover, he described that on this island there were three tribes called the ''Gautigoths'' (cf. ''Geat/Gaut''), the ''Ostrogoths'' (cf. the Swedish province of ''[[Östergötland]]'') and ''Vagoths'' ([[Gutar]]?) ‒ this implies that the Geats were Goths rather than vice versa. The word ''Goth'' is also a term used by the Romans to describe related, culturally linked tribes like the [[Tervingi]] and the [[Greuthungs]], so it may be correct to label Geats as Goths.

Scandinavian burial customs, such as the [[Stone circle (Iron Age)|stone circles]] (domarringar), which are most common in Götaland and [[Gotland]], and [[menhir (Iron Age)|stelae]] (bautastenar) appeared in what is now northern Poland in the 1st century AD, suggesting an influx of Scandinavians during the formation of the Gothic [[Wielbark culture]].<!-- these pages are very cautious about migration --><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.muzarp.poznan.pl/archweb/gazociag/title5.htm |title=The Goths in Greater Poland |language=pl |publisher=Muzarp.poznan.pl |access-date=14 June 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010630011348/http://www.muzarp.poznan.pl/archweb/gazociag/title5.htm |archive-date=30 June 2001 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.arkeologi.uu.se/publications/opia/gothicabstract.htm |title=Gothic Connections {{!}} Abstract |access-date=21 August 2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040821091243/http://www.arkeologi.uu.se/publications/opia/gothicabstract.htm |archive-date=21 August 2004 }}</ref> Moreover, in [[Östergötland]], in Sweden, there is a sudden disappearance of villages during this period.<ref>Oxenstierna, Graf E.C. : Die Urheimat der Goten. Leipzig, Mannus-Buecherei 73, 1945 (later printed in 1948).</ref> Contemporary accounts beginning in the fourth century further associated these groups with the earlier ''[[Getae]]'' of Dacia, but this is now disputed.