According toTacitus'sGermania (AD 98),Tuisto (orTuisco) is the legendary divine ancestor of theGermanic peoples. The figure remains the subject of some scholarly discussion, largely focused uponetymological connections and comparisons to figures in later (particularlyNorse)Germanic mythology.
TheGermania manuscript corpus contains two primary variant readings of the name. The most frequently occurring,Tuisto, is commonly connected to theProto-Germanic root*twai – "two" and its derivative*twis – "twice" or "doubled", thus giving Tuisto the core meaning "double". Any assumption of a gender inference is entirely conjectural, as the tvia / tvis roots are also the roots of any number of other concepts / words in the Germanic languages. Take for instance the Germanic "twist", which, in all but the English has the primary meaning of "dispute / conflict".[a]
The second variant of the name, occurring originally in manuscriptE, readsTuisco. One proposed etymology for this variant reconstructs a Proto-Germanic*tiwisko and connects this with Proto-Germanic*Tiwaz, giving the meaning "son of Tiu". This interpretation would thus make Tuisco the son of the sky-god (Proto-Indo-European *Dyeus) and the earth-goddess.[1]
Connections have been proposed between the 1st-century figure of Tuisto and the primeval beingYmir in laterNorse mythology, attested in 13th-century sources, based upon etymological and functional similarity.[2][b] Meyer (1907) sees the connection as so strong, that he considers the two to be identical.[3] Lindow (2001), while mindful of the possible semantic connection between Tuisto and Ymir, notes an essential functional difference: while Ymir is portrayed as an "essentially ... negative figure" – Tuisto is described as being "celebrated" (celebrant) by the early Germanic peoples in song, with Tacitus reporting nothing negative about Tuisto.[4]
Jacob (2005) attempts to establish a genealogical relationship between Tuisto and Ymir based on etymology and a comparison withVedic Indian mythology: asTvastr, through his daughterSaranyū and her husbandVivaswān, is said to have been the grandfather of the twinsYama andYami, so Jacob argues that the Germanic Tuisto (assuming a connection with Tvastr) must originally have been the grandfather of Ymir (cognate to Yama). Incidentally, Indian mythology also placesManu (cognate to Germanic Mannus), the Vedic progenitor of mankind, as a son of Vivaswān, thus making him the brother of Yama/Ymir.[5]
Tacitus relates that "ancient songs" (Latincarminibus antiquis) of the Germanic peoples celebrated Tuisto as "a god, born of the earth" (deum terra editum). These songs further attributed to him a son,Mannus, who in turn hadthree sons, the offspring of whom were referred to asIngaevones,Herminones andIstaevones, living near the Ocean (proximi Oceano), in the interior (medii), and the remaining parts (ceteri) of the geographical region ofGermania, respectively.[6]
Tacitus's report falls squarely within the ethnographic tradition of the classical world, which often fusedanthropogony,ethnogony, andtheogony together into a synthetic whole.[7] The succession of father-son-three sons parallels occurs in both Germanic and non-GermanicIndo-European areas.[8] The essential characteristics of the myth have been theorized as ultimately originating inProto-Indo-Europeansociety around2,000 BCE.[9]
According to Rives (1999), the fact that the ancient Germanic peoples claimed descent from an earth-born god was used by Tacitus to support his contention that they were an indigenous population: the Latin wordindigena was often used in the same sense as the Greekautochthonos, meaning literally '[born from] the land itself'.[10] Lindauer (1975) notes that although this claim is to be judged as one made out of simple ignorance of the facts on the part of Tacitus, he was not entirely wrong, as he made the judgement based on a comparison with the relatively turbulent Mediterranean region of his day.[11]
The nameTuisto is also given asTuitsch orTeutsch in its alternative versions and made to derive from the same founding figure calledTuisco (merely as alternate spellings of the same name)[12] who was claimed to have led the Germans from the incident of theTower of Babel into Europe[13] and from whom the Germans themselves derived their name:Deutsch[14][15] and as a consequence that of their land.
In 1498, a monk namedAnnio da Viterbo published fragments known as "Pseudo-Berossus", now considered a forgery, claiming that Babylonian records had shown that Tuiscon or Tuisto, thefourth son of Noah, had been the first ruler ofScythia and Germany following the dispersion of peoples, with him being succeeded by his son Mannus as the second king. Later historians (e.g.Johannes Aventinus) managed to furnish numerous further details, including the assertion byJames Anderson that this Tuiscon was in fact none other than the biblicalAshkenaz, son ofGomer.[16]
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