What did the word goth originally mean?

Answer 1

The word Goth actually was originally used to refer to a group of nomadic Germanic peoples, probably arising from the region of present-day Götland in south Sweden. The word as it is commonly used today is only very distantly and in a roundabout way related to the original Goths.

The Goths were regarded by the Roman Empire as barbarians (with, it must be said, some justice). The style of art and architecture called "Gothic" was labelled such as a perjorative... a "barbarian" style that rejected the classical Latin or Grecian forms. Gothic literature was named that because of the contemporary "Gothic Revival" in art and architecture; Gothic-style ruins suggested the dark ages of the medieval period, and the literature tended to be dark and broody as well. So modern "Goth" subculture is named, ultimately, after a style of literature, named after a style of architecture, named after an earlier similar style of architecture, named (sort of) after the original Goths.