Gaut
Gaut is in the beginning, the principal God of the Goths. Scandinavian God of the War, his name is probably at the origin of the name of their people. According to the Oral tradition of the Visigoths and Ostrogoths, he is the ancestor of two principal Gothic chalk-linings: the chalk-lining of the Amales for Ostrogoths and, “of less importance” (according to Jordanès, of ostrogothic origin), the chalk-lining of the Balthes for the Visigoths.
Although the Christianity, and especially the Arianisme, begin little-with-little to touch Goths as from the year 341, these two chalk-linings resulting from this pagan God preserve nevertheless until the medium of the 6th century at least, their prestige and their side crowned, mythical.
The significance of the name of this God is perhaps identical to the significance of the name of “goth”: “pourer of seed”, “parent”, i.e. the “Man”.
See too
- Goths of Scandinavia
- List of the names of Odin