Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 10.djvu/149

 ii s. x. AUG. 22, 1914.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

143

iii. 465, in MS. T). This copy is now at Coimbra. It was not written till the twelfth century, but in addition to yielding Waila, it retains, along with some younger MSS., the very ancient form of Sigericus (MS. -gus), whereas the three oldest MSS. present Searicus.

In the ' Getica ' of Jordanis, ed. Th. Mommsen, 1882, Wallia is mentioned seven times by name. The text is drawn from ten manuscripts. The oldest of all are the Heidelberg (of the eighth century) and the Palatine and the Valenciennes (both of the ninth). These all give uallia or uuallias. Later manuscripts give iialia. That is in- accurate, but Miillenhoff (' Index Nominum,' p. 145, ' M.G.H.,' v. pt. i.) preferred it. It is obvious that the old form uuaila could not be Latin, so some Latin writers, having regard to the stem-form Waili, rejected the Gothic diphthong ai and doubled the liquid in order to mark the length of a. It does not follow even from " Valia " that the stem-vowel was a (cp. alium, " garlic "), and the gemination of I removes all un- certainty.

Wala of ' Widsith* then, is the Galahad of Old Romance i.e., Sir Launcelot du Lake. A Middle High German poet, Ulrik von Zatzikhoven, who flourished in the thir- teenth century, tells us that " Lanzelet " was son of " Pant von Genewis " : cp. " Hector de Maris " and " Percival de Galis " for the ending -is, which I do not understand. " Genew-," the modern Ger- man Genf, is Geneva, and this fact not only helps us to explain why Sir Launcelot is styled " du Lake." but enables us to locate and classify the tribe of the Baningas. Ulrik drew his material from a Romance source, and did not identify " Launcelot " as a Germanic name to wit, Wlanci-lof.* Neither did he hand down " Ban " correctly. Instead of the true Middle High German equivalent Pein (this rimes with our word " main," not with German mein), he gives us an accommodated form " Pant " (a), O.E. Banta ; cp. for the latter Searle, p. 80. We must thank him for " Genewis," however. The country around that lake formed part for six centuries of the Regnum Jnrense, or Kingdom of Burgundy, as


 * Cp. Wlanc-heard, a moneyer under Ethel-

\Vl,mc-J>egn, another under Cnut ; Hlanc-

Avulf. a (liird, under Edward the Confessor; and

Lanc-fer, a Domesday tenant (Ellis, list B). Also

Wincing, son of JElle, the first Bretwalda.

I- 1 "! 1 -lot cp. Guinge-lot (Wade's boat), Un-lot (a Domesday tenant =Hun-lo)>), and Vinovi-loth of the ' Getica.'

distinct from the Duchy and from the Regnum Provincice. Now Widsith links he Baningas and the Burgundians together in 1. 19, and, as Mr. R. W. Chambers has acutely pointed out ('Widsith,' p. 191), the author of the seventh-century tract about the Origo Gentis Langobardorum ' similarly inks together " Bainaib," the land of the Bains, and " Burgundaib," the land of the Burgundians.

There is yet another indication of great- value in connexion with Bains and Bur- gundians : the kings of the latter were of Wisi-Gothic tribe of the Therwingas. This recalls what Pliny tells us about the Bur- ^undians, namely, that they were a part of
 * he race of Athanaric, the judge of the
 * he Windili whom he classed with the

Gutones i.e., the Goths. The combined weight of these details should confirm our inclusion of the Baningas among the Wisi- Goths, and certify the conclusion already come to that Ban and his son Waili, or Vallia, were of that race.

In conclusion, I would turn to my little note on 'Valliaricse' in ' N. & Q.' (11 S, x. 8*). The real object of that note is the lucidation of statements made in Malory and in the ' Merlin ' to the effect that Sir Galahalt (Wallia) was Lord of the Far Out Isles. The Balearic Islands are about 150 miles from Tarragona, the capital of the Wisi-Gothic province in Spain, and in the ' Merlin ' (p. 577) we are informed that " Galehaut " was " sone of the feire geaunt r and lord of the fer oute ylles," and one of those princes who did homage to King Arthur. The latter statement is " favour of poets," and we need not discuss it. But " Far Out Isles " are the Balearic Islands, or " Valliaricse Insulse " ; " feire geaunt " is a misrendering of the titular phrase " Gor Ban," which equates Old Welsh Guor Ban i.e., Banus Prceses, and "Gor' r is not gawr (a giant), as the compiler of the " Merlin ' supposed. The second word was mistaken for the Celtic for " pale," " fair," " blessed " ; cp. colleen bawn, " fair girl."

Wala of ' Widsith,' then, who prospered most of all those princes that Widsith had heard tell of, and whom we have already identified with Wallia, the greatest of all the kings of the Wisi-Goths, is none other than the real Galahad of Old Romance the man of most worship in the world, namely, Sir Launcelot du Lake.

ALFRED ANSCOMBE.

read Sigiric.
 * In both places in this note for " Singiric "