When writing about Rosamund’s people, I faced a threshold question–what should they be called? Today, they are commonly known in English as the Gepids, but their ethnonym has come down to us in many forms. Greek and Latin sources name them Ghpaides, Gibidi, Gibites, Gepidae, Gebidae, Gebodi, etc. The Origo Gentis Langobardorum refers to them variously as Gyppidos and Gibidos. In the Old English poem Widsið, they are the Gefðum; in Beowulf, they are the Gifðum (both names in the dat. pl.)

Taken together, these variations do offer certain clues as to the Gepids’ true name. It seems safe to say that it began with a voiced velar plosive (-g-) sound, with the second consonant being a bilabial plosive (-b- or -p-). B and P seem relatively fluid in names from this period (this is likely due to phonetic shifts underway at the time). For example, the Thuringian king Bisin is named as Pisin in some sources. But even if we can guess what their name sounded like, what did it mean?

The 6th century historian, Jordanes, wrote that the Gepids were cousins of the Goths and provided a rather defamatory explanation of their name. In his telling, Berig, the legendary king of the Goths, led his people out of Scandza (Scandinavia) and across the sea to settle new lands. The first two ships to leave Scandza contained the Goths. A third ship arrived later and contained the laggards of the expedition–the Gepids. And while the intrepid Goths soon set off in search of greener pastures, the Gepids lingered near the place where they landed, in the “province of Spesis on an island surrounded by the shallow waters of the Vistula. This island they called, in the speech of their fathers, Gepedoios.” Gepid, he claims, therefore derives from the Gothic word gepanta, meaning “slow” or “sluggish.”

Of course, Jordanes himself was of Gothic descent, and he clearly had a pretty dim opinion of his people’s rivals. It’s fair to say his explanation of their name and history is not to be fully trusted. In fact, the only thing I find credible in his account is the relation between the Goths and the Gepids, since why would he otherwise admit any connection to a people he so clearly disliked.

Isidore of Seville, an Iberian bishop of the 6th century, suggested an even more fanciful etymology. He claimed that the second element of “Gepid” derived from the Latin pedes, meaning “feet.” This, he opined, was because they were known to fight on foot, as opposed to mounted–a conjecture that is both linguistically and factually inaccurate.

So, where does the name Gepid really come from? Most likely, it is related to the Gothic words giban (to give) and giba (gift), and meant either “the gifted ones” or “the giving ones.” In other words, the Gepids were declaring themselves rich and generous. The original form of their name would have been something like Gíbidos.

In my story, I have chosen to call them Gibids instead of the more familiar Gepids, mostly to underscore the fact they (and Rosamund) see themselves as the heroes of their own story. They call themselves–and think of themselves–as gifted and distinct.