he original form
_Theodereiks_ or _Theoderic_, or even _Theodoric_. Should I have altered
this? I believe not; for it is clear to me that Kingsley had his good
reasons for preferring Dietrich to Theodoric.

He introduces him first to his hearers as 'Theodoric, known in German
song as Dietrich of Bern.' He had spoken before of the Visi-Gothic
Theodoric, and of him he never speaks as Dietrich. Then, why should he
have adopted this High-German name for the great Theodoric, and why
should he speak of Attila too as Etzel?

One of the greatest of German historians, Johannes von Muller, does the
same. He always calls Theodoric, Dietrich of Bern; and though he gives
no reasons for it, his reasons can easily be guessed. Soon after
Theodoric's death, the influence of the German legends on history, and of
history on the German legends, became so great that it was impossible for
a time to disentangle two characters, originally totally distinct, viz.
_Thjodrekr_ of the Edda, the _Dietrich_ of the German poetry on one side,
and the King of the Goths, _Theodoric_, on the other. What had long been
said and sung about Thjodrekr and Dietrich was believed to have happened
to King Theodoric, while at the same time historical and local elements
in the life of Theodoric, residing at Verona, were absorbed by the
legends of Thjodrekr and Dietrich. The names of the legendary hero and
the historical king were probably identical, though even that is not
quite certain {2}; but at all events, after Theodoric's death, all the
numerous dialectic varieties of the name, whether in High or in
Low-German, were understood by the people at large, both of the hero and
of the king.

Few names have had a larger number of alias'. They have been carefully
collected by Graff, Grimm, Forstemann, Pott, and others. I here give the
principal varieties of this name, as actually occurring in MSS., and
arranged according to the changes of the principal consonants:--

(1) With _Th-d_: Theudoricus, Theudericus, [Greek text], Thiodiricus,
Thiodericus, Thiodric, Thiodricus, Thiodrih, Theodoricus, Theodericus,
Theoderic, Theodrich, Thiadric, Thiadrich, Thiedorik, Thiederic,
Thiederik, Thiederich, Thiedorich, Thiedric, Thiedrich, Thideric,
Thiederich, Thidrich, Thodericus, Thiaedric, Thieoderich, Thederich,
Thedric.

(2) With _T-d_: Teudericus, Teudricus, Tiodericus, Teodoricus,
Teodericus, Teodric, Teodrich, Tiadric, Tiedrik, Tiedrich, Tiedric,
Tidericus,