GEVI´NI
Eth.
GEVI´NI (
Γηουινοί), mentioned by Ptolemy as a population of European Sarmatia (3.5.24) lying to the north of the Carpiani, and the south of the Bodini (
Βωδινοί).
Buchowinia is as likely a place as any for these Gevini.
The name of this locality is generally deduced from
Buch==Beech-tree, so that it==
the land of the beeches. But the word
Buch is German; whereas Buchowinia is Slavonic. Now if we allow ourselves to suppose the root
gevin to be a
geographical term (i. e. the name of a tract of land), we have a better derivation. No habit is commoner with the Slavic populations than to prefix to a noun denoting a locality the preposition
po (
bo)==
on. Hence
Po-morania is the country
on the sea: a population on the Elbe (in Slavonic,
Laba) was called the
Po-labingi. As examples of this kind may be multiplied, the hypothesis that the
Buchowinia is the country of the population on the
Gevin (
po-gevin) becomes allowable.
[
R.G.L]