Link Centre Dictionary

Visigoth

vi·si·goth

UK/ˈvɪz.ɪ.ɡɒθ/ US/ˈvɪz.ɪˌɡɑθ/ uncommon

noun

1.

a member of the western group of Goths who sacked Rome and created a kingdom in present-day Spain and southern France

Origin

Borrowed from Late Latin Visigothus, from Gothic. 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".

Related words

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.