A STARTLING, THOUGH ASTONISHINGLY SIMPLE THEORY ON THE NATURE OF THE GEWISSEI

For some time (see Richard Coates' "On Some Controversy Surrounding Gewissae / Gewissei, Cerdic and Ceawlin", Nomina 13 (1989–90), 1–11) it has been known that the tribal name Gewissei was from Old English ge-wis and meant 'the sure, certain or reliable ones.' It has been assumed they were given this name because they were Celtic allies the English could depend on, as opposed to the Welsh, the 'foreigners' or 'strangers' and, hence, enemies.

However, while reading through different MSS. of THE ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE and related early sources, I happened to notice that the name Cerdic, which belongs to the founder of the Gewissei, is often spelled CERT-. A /t/ for /d/ substitution is common for the period, so such a change need not seem at all surprising.  But what was surprising is that I happened to think of Latin

certus, certa, certi, etc.  

For certi, we have the following in William Whitaker's WORDS:

cert.i               N      2 2 GEN S N                 

cert.i               N      2 2 LOC S N                 

certum, certi  N  N   [XXXBO]  

that which is fixed/regular/definite/specified/certain/fact/reliable/settled;

cert.i               ADJ    1 1 GEN S M POS             

cert.i               ADJ    1 1 GEN S N POS             

cert.i               ADJ    1 1 NOM P M POS             

cert.i               ADJ    1 1 VOC P M POS             

certus, certa -um, certior -or -us, certissimus -a -um  ADJ   [XXXAO]  

fixed, settled, firm; certain; trusty/reliable; sure; resolved, determined;

What I'm going to propose, here and now, is that Gewissei was a term conjured by the English, who instead of interpreting Cerdic's name properly, as deriving from

caredig, ceredig [GPC] 

[bôn y f. caraf: caru+-edig: < Clt. *karatīcos] 

kind, loving, friendly; beloved, dear; diligent. 

beloved one, kinsman; lover, friend, benefactor. 

itself from

câr [GPC]

[Crn. car, ll. kerens, Llyd. kar, ll. kerent, H. Wydd. car(a)e ‘cyfaill’: < Clt. *karants o’r gwr. *kā- ‘annwyl, trachwantus’]

 *kar-o- 'love' [Vb] [Matasovic's ETYMOLOGICAL DICTIONARY OF PROTO-CELTIC]
GOlD: OIr. caraid, -eara; cechraid [Fut]; carais [Pret.]
W:MWcaru
BRET: MBret. caret, MoBret. kared
CO: Co. care
GAUL: Caro- [PN]
CELTIB: Kara [PN]
PIE: *keh2-ro- 'love' (IEW: 515)
COGN: Lat. ciirus, OHG huor 'prostitute', Latv. kiirs 'lustful'
SEE: *karant- 'friend'
ETYM: This is a deadjectival verb formed from unattested *karo- 'dear,
beloved' < PIE *kh2-ro-. The root is PIE *keh2- (Skt. kdma- 'love', etc.).
REF: LEIA C-36, GPC I: 422, LIV 306, Ellis Evans 1967: 162, Delamarre
107,Deshayes 2003: 370, MLH V.l: l60f.

they related it to Latin certus.

If this is so - and I'm pretty sure (pun strictly intended) it can't be merely a coincidence - then we can no longer view the Gewissei as "allies" based on nothing more than an applied meaning of their name.  Instead, the Gewissei are the descendants of Cerdic/Certic, and can no no longer be defined as allies of the English.  At this point I'm not certain (sorry!) what they were, exactly.

Via private communication, Dr. Richard Coates responded to this idea by saying:

"I hadn’t thought of that but it’s intriguing."  

I will do some more thinking on my new theory on the Gewissei when I have a moment.