Of Goths and Gotland

[viper37]

Questions for the Swedes!
I'm reading an historical novel were the action takes place (currently) in Sweden, ca 1100-1150 maybe; no dates are given, just that Christinization is under way, the King and his advisors are Christians and not on good terms with Pagans.
The King advisor refers to people of Gotland as Goths.  Later, he switches to Gottlander to describe a pagan character from there.
The author says that whenever possible he tried to keep the names and spelling as they would be in old norse.
So my question is twofold:1) Were the people of Gotland called Goths by other Swedes during the middle ages?
2) Were these people that last hold out of pagan traditions in Sweden or among the first Christians to rise in these times?
Thanks!
[/i]

[The Brain]

1) Gotlanders (people from the island of Gotland) were normally called gutar. Worth remembering of course that there were also götar (modern spelling), who lived in Götaland (the area of mainland Sweden between the old Swedish core around Uppsala and the then Danish provinces of what is now southern Sweden). But locals at the time (just like today) would never confuse the two. At least later during the Middle Ages the götar were associated by Swedes with the ancient Goths of continental fame. It's also worth remembering that Gotland (the island) didn't really become a part of Sweden until the 17th century.
2) I don't think many details are known, but evidence suggests that Gotlanders were Christian before say the Swedes of central Sweden. Which would make sense for an island so intimately connected by trade to the Continent. By the 12th century (if that's when the story takes place) Gotland would have been fully Christian (remnants of paganism in folk belief etc would of course still exist). If it's in the early or mid 11th century (when the Swedish king was normally Christian but the pagan temple at Uppsala still was in operation) the gutar would at least be more Christian than the svear (core Swedes), and so would the götar.

Everything crystal clear?

[viper37]

Crystal clear!

I had completely forgotten about Götaland

The more I read the book, the more it seems the author is simply some Viking fan boy, with no real research.  Disappointing.

[Admiral Yi]

Is the correct pronounciation really yotaburry?

[Jacob]

Is the correct pronounciation really yotaburry?

I can sort of see how the Swedish would be transliterated into "yotaburry"... but I can also see "yotaburry" pronounced in a way that'd be completely off 

[Eddie Teach]

For Gotland? 

Is the last part a direct translation? 

[Jacob]

For Gotland? 

For Göteborg (aka Gothenburg in English), one of the cities of Götaland.

You can listen to the pronunciation here, courtesy wikipedia: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/En-Gothenburg.ogg

(... though the end g is harder than what I was taught as a 6-year old Danish lad visiting... but then again, I wouldn't take my childhood memories as authoritative on Swedish pronunciation )

[Eddie Teach]

Ah, that makes more sense.

[Admiral Yi]

That sounds nothing like yotaburry to me.

It sounds like Gotenburg.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Where do the Geats in Beowulf fit in?

They and Beowulf himself are Goths too I believe; despite it being an English poem.

[Maladict]

That sounds nothing like yotaburry to me.

It sounds like Gotenburg.

That was the English pronunciation, this is the Swedish one:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Sv-G%C3%B6teborg.ogg

[Threviel]

Where do the Geats in Beowulf fit in?

They and Beowulf himself are Goths too I believe; despite it being an English poem.

The Geats of Beowulf are the same as the Götar in Väster- and Östergötland. West and east geataland. Brainy will know more.

[The Brain]

Where do the Geats in Beowulf fit in?

They and Beowulf himself are Goths too I believe; despite it being an English poem.

IIRC they are considered to be the same as götar.

Beaten by Threviel, but I don't really know more.

[Admiral Yi]

That was the English pronunciation, this is the Swedish one:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Sv-G%C3%B6teborg.ogg

yotaborry!! 

[mongers]

That was interesting, thanks.