Ostrogothn.adj.

Brit.

/ˈɒstrəɡɒθ/, U.S.

/ˈɑstrəˌɡɑθ/

Forms: Middle English ostre gote, 1600s ostrogothe, 1500s (Scottish) 1600s– ostrogoth.

Origin: A borrowing from Latin. Etymons: Latin Ostrogothi, Ostrogothae.

Etymology: < post-classical Latin Ostrogothi, plural (c400), Ostrogothae (6th cent.), earlier Austrogoti (c300) of uncertain origin; probably < the Germanic base of Old High German ōstar , Old Saxon ōstar eastward, in the east or its unattested etymon with the sense ‘brilliant, dawn’ (see east adv.) + post-classical Latin Gothi (see Goth n.). Compare Middle French, French Ostrogot (1534), Spanish Ostrogodos, plural (1385–96), Italian Ostrogoti (1332).Compare Old English Ost-Gotan Ostrogoths, attested as an ethnonym in Old Eng. Martyrol. With a similar formation compare Östergötland, the name of a region in Sweden. Compare Old Saxon ōstarling (Middle Low German osterlink) inhabitant of the East.

A. n.

1. An East Goth; spec. a member of the eastern branch of the Goths which towards the end of the 5th cent. conquered Italy under the leadership of Theoderic and established a capital at Ravenna.

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the world > people > ethnicities > Germanic people > ancient Germanic peoples > [noun] > Goths > person

Gothc900

Ostrogotha1398

Gothian1548

Visigoth1647

Moeso-Goth1815

East German1857

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add.) f. 175^v Þe ostre gotes [L. ostregoti] made þere many burghtonnes.

c1533 Boece viii. i. 246b This tyme the Ostrogothis..began to regre in Italie and Spanȝe.

1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. ii. ii. 456 Normans, Allains, Ostrogothes.

1647 C. Cotterell & W. Aylesbury tr. E. C. Davila Hist. Civill Warres France i. 4 Famous incursions of the Ostrogoths.

1736 A. Pope Dunciad in Wks. IV. iii. 188 See, the bold Ostrogoths on Latium fall.

1780 Encycl. Brit. V. 3349/2 The Romans distinguished the Goths into two classes, the Ostrogoths and Visigoths.

1841 W. Spalding Italy & Ital. Islands II. 54 Four dynasties which successively ruled that country,—Odoacer's, the East-Goths or Ostrogoths, the Lombards, and the Franks.

1876 J. W. Draper Hist. Intellect. Devel. Europe (rev. ed.) I. 353 The conquest of Italy by Theodoric, the Ostrogoth, A.D. 493..presented to the world the anomaly of a heretic appointing God's vicar upon earth.

1946 R. C. Priebsch & W. E. Collinson German Lang. (ed. 2) ii. i. 118 He suspects that Ostrogoths affricated medial t between a.d. 553 and 580.

1992 J. M. Kelly Short Hist. Western Legal Theory iii. 86 His kingdom was taken from him by the eastern Goths, or Ostrogoths, who arrived in Italy from the direction of modern Hungary and northern Yugoslavia.

†2. Applied humorously to a proponent of the theory that Gothic architecture originated in the East. Obsolete.Apparently an isolated use.

ΚΠ

a1859 W. Whewell German Archit. Pref. Some traced the pointed arch to the countries of the East; and these persons were, by their brother antiquaries, playfully termed Ostrogoths.

B. adj.

= Ostrogothic adj.

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the world > people > ethnicities > Germanic people > ancient Germanic peoples > [adjective] > Goths

Gothish1605

Gothic1611

Ostrogothian1684

Moeso-Gothic1735

Visigothic1788

Ostrogothic1815

Ostrogoth1915

1915 H. B. Cotterill Medieval Italy 35 The aged Ostrogoth king Hermanric was slain—or slew himself—and his warriors were enrolled in the Hun army.

1920 H. G. Wells Outl. Hist. 350/1 The adventurous wanderings that ended at last in the Ostrogoth Kingdom in Italy.

1954 C. Arnold-Baker & A. Dent Everyman's Dict. Dates 275/1 Theodoric..became a figure of Germanic legend, and founded an Ostrogoth kingdom in Italy c. 500.

1991 Independent (Nexis) 21 July 40 The Ostrogoth king, Theoderic, restored the Arena, the huge Roman amphitheatre which is today the centrepiece of Verona.

Derivatives

† Ostrogothian adj. Obsolete rare = Ostrogothic adj.

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