Reidgotaland

Reidgotaland, Hreidgotaland or Hreiðgotaland was a land in Scandinavian sagas, which usually referred to the land of the Goths. Oddly, "hreiðr" meant "bird's nest" and perhaps it was a kenning for the Goths tradition of moving and "nesting" in new territories. Another possibility is that it was originally "reið" "ride, journey" (see Raidô). The use of the prefix is simple as the same tribal name was used for the Gotlanders, the "gutar" or "gotar". The identification of the territory varies between the sources. This is the list of meanings given by Nordisk familjebok:

#The Island of Gotland.
#Götaland.
#The land of the Goths, i.e. Gothiscandza and their later territories. In Hervarar saga, it was the same as Oium and bordered the land of the Huns from which it was separated by Myrkviðr.
#The territories of the Goths in southern Europe, according to Anglo-Saxon sources.
#Denmark and Sweden (according to Snorri's Edda it was the earthly kingdom of Odin).
#Denmark.
#Jutland.

The second edition of Nordisk familjebok explains that Hreidgoths was originally applied to the Ostrogoths in south-eastern Europe. It appears as "hraiðgutum" on the Rök Stone in Östergötland. In Hervarar saga, the name "Hreiðgotaland" is applied to the territories of the Ostrogoths in south-eastern Europe. In Snorri's Edda, it is either applied to Jutland or to Scandinavia as a whole, while the islands are called "Eygotaland". [citation|url=http://runeberg.org/nfcb/0655.html |title=Nordisk Familjebok |year=1915 |contribution=Reidgotaland] In the Legendary sagas however, Eygotaland is used only for the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea.

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