Help with translation please

[Mary E. Leveille]

I have been to the island of Gotland and loved it. What exactly does Gotland translate to. Is it good land or godland?

[Heikki Särkkä]

It is the Land of the Goths, ancient Germacic tribe.

[Mary E. Leveille]

Heikki,
 
Thank you so much.  Some other relatives of mine come from Öster Gotland, would that be Western land of the Goths?

[Ann Little]

Hi Mary,
 
Öster or Öst means East and Väster or Väst means West. I hope that Heikki doesn't mind that I answer your question.
 
Best regards,
Ann

[Åke Bjurström]

Mary
 
I guess you are looking for Östergötland.
If you look at Swedish map you fing a long lake Vättern in the central, south part of Sweden. West of the lake is Västergötland and east of the lake, Östergötland.
 
Best regards, Åke

[Yvonne Carlsson]

Mary,
 
Gotland is the largest Swedish island and it is also a province of Sweden. Östergötland and Västergötland is also provinces of Sweden and they are situated on the Swedish mainland. So the question is if your relatives come from Östergötland or the east part of Gotland?
 
/Yvonne

[Mary E. Leveille]

Yes I meant Östergötland the second time, I also have ancestors from Gotland.  Does Östergötland mean Eastern land of the Goths?  Thank you all for your help.

[Ann Little]

Mary! Östergötland means ' the land of the East Goths' as they are also known.
 
Ann

[Anna-Carin Betzén]

The southern part of Sweden is known as Götaland (up to a bit south of Stockholm), as the people in the area was called Göte (pl. Göter or Götar) of old. They seem to have lived in the Västergötland area originally, and then spread to Östergötland and some of the surrounding provinces. So I think it's a matter of eastern and western Götaland, rather than East and West Goths.  
 
The Ostrogoths or East Goths lived in Russia or Ukraine, and the Visigoths or West Goths in Germany or so.

[Ann Little]

I grant that, stricktly speaking Anna-Carin is correct in what she says; but a person who comes from Öster-or Västergötland, especially someone with deep roots in either of these provinces, is known as a 'Östgöte' or 'Västgöte' i.e. 'Eastgoth' or 'Westgoth'.
 
Here is an extract from a book called  Sweden-Ancient and Modern:
 
 The other principal Swedish tribe, the Goths (Sw.Götar), whose lands lay south of those of the Svear, is first mentioned under the designation Goutoi by the Greek geographer Ptolemy (circa 150 A.D.). These Goths who inhabited what is today Västergötland, Östergötland and the Island of Gotland, emigrated in great numbers, probably as early as the 3rd century B.C., to the estuaries of the Oder and the Vistula.
 
Ann

[Anna-Carin Betzén]

You're absolutely right, and I could probably have phrased it better than I did.  
 
The point I tried to get across was that the people probably got their name from the province rather than the other way around, and that when East Goths are mentioned in litterature, it doesn't mean 'Östgötar'. I'll try to be clearer next time!