The "Gutones" is a simplification of two manuscript variants, "Guttonibus" and "Guionibus", which would be in the nominative case "Guttones" or "Guiones", the Goths in the main opinion. The second major manuscript variant is either "Mentonomon" (nominative case) or "Metuonidis" (genitive case). A number of etymologies have been proposed but none very well accepted. Amber is not actually named. It is termed the "concreti maris purgamentum", the "frozen sea's leavings" after the springtime melt. Diodorus used "ēlektron", the Greek word for amber, the object that gave its name to electricity through its ability to acquire a charge. Pliny presented an archaic opinion, as in his time amber was a precious stone brought from the Baltic at great expense, but the Germans, he said, used it for firewood, according to Pytheas.