Gothic language

Gothic
Region	Oium,Dacia,Pannonia,Dalmatia,Italy,Gallia Narbonensis,Gallia Aquitania,Hispania,Crimea,North Caucasus
Era	attested 3rd–10th century;related dialectssurvived until 18th century in Crimea
Language family	Indo-European Germanic East Germanic Gothic
Dialects	Crimean Gothic† Gepid?† Ostrogoth† Visigoth†
Writing system	Gothic Alpha bet
Language codes
ISO 639-2	got
ISO 639-3	got
Glottolog	goth1244
Linguasphere	52-ADA

Expansion ofearly Germanic tribesinto previously mostlyCelticCentral Europe:

Settlements before 750BC

New settlements by 500BC

New settlements by 250BC

New settlements byAD1

Some sources also give a date of 750 BC for the earliest expansion out of southern Scandinavia and northern Germany along the North Sea coast towards the mouth of the Rhine.

Gothicis anextinctEast Germanic languagethat was spoken by theGoths.It is known primarily from theCodex Argenteus,a 6th-century copy of a4th-centuryBible translation, and is the only East Germanic language with a sizeabletext corpus.All others, includingBurgundianandVandalic,are known, if at all, only from proper names that survived in historical accounts, and fromloanwordsin other, mainlyRomance,languages.

As a Germanic language, Gothic is a part of theIndo-European languagefamily. It is the earliest Germanic language that is attested in any sizable texts, but it lacks any modern descendants. The oldest documents in Gothic date back to the fourth century. The language was in decline by the mid-sixth century, partly because of the military defeat of the Goths at the hands of theFranks,the elimination of the Goths in Italy, and geographic isolation (in Spain, the Gothic language lost its last and probably already declining function as a church language when theVisigothsconverted fromArianismtoNicene Christianityin 589). The language survived as a domestic language in theIberian Peninsula(modern-day Spain and Portugal) as late as the eighth century. Gothic-seeming terms are found in manuscripts subsequent to this date, but these may or may not belong to the same language.

A language known asCrimean Gothicsurvived in the lowerDanubearea and in isolated mountain regions inCrimeaas late as the second half of the 18th century. Lacking certain sound changes characteristic of Gothic, however, Crimean Gothic cannot be a lineal descendant of the language attested in the Codex Argenteus.

The existence of such early attested texts makes Gothic a language of considerable interest incomparative linguistics.

History and evidence

A leaf of theCodex Ambrosianus B

Only a few documents in Gothic have survived – not enough for a complete reconstruction of the language. Most Gothic-language sources are translations or glosses of other languages (namely,Greek), so foreign linguistic elements most certainly influenced the texts. These are the primary sources:

• The largest body of surviving documentation consists of variouscodices,mostly from the sixth century, copying theBible translationthat was commissioned by theArianbishopUlfilas(Wulfila, 311–382), leader of a community ofVisigothicChristians in theRomanprovince ofMoesia(modern-daySerbia,Bulgaria/Romania). He commissioned a translation into the Gothic language of theGreek Bible,of which translation roughly three-quarters of theNew Testamentand some fragments of theOld Testamenthave survived. The extant translated texts, produced by several scholars, are collected in the following codices and in one inscription:

• Codex Argenteus(Uppsala), including the Speyer fragment: 188 leaves

The best-preserved Gothic manuscript, dating from the sixth century, it was preserved and transmitted by northernOstrogothsin modern-day Italy. It contains a large portion of the fourgospels.Since it is a translation from Greek, the language of theCodex Argenteusis replete with borrowed Greek words and Greek usages. The syntax in particular is often copied directly from the Greek.

• Codex Ambrosianus(Milan) and theCodex Taurinensis(Turin): Five parts, totaling 193 leaves

It contains scattered passages from the New Testament (including parts of the gospels and theEpistles), from theOld Testament(Nehemiah), and some commentaries known asSkeireins.The text likely had been somewhat modified by copyists.

• Codex Gissensis(Gießen): One leaf with fragments ofLuke23–24 (apparently a Gothic-Latindiglot) was found in an excavation inArsinoëin Egypt in 1907 and was destroyed by water damage in 1945, after copies had already been made by researchers.
• Codex Carolinus(Wolfenbüttel): Four leaves, fragments ofRomans11–15 (a Gothic-Latindiglot).
• Codex Vaticanus Latinus5750 (Vatican City): Three leaves, pages 57–58, 59–60, and 61–62 of theSkeireins.This is a fragment ofCodex Ambrosianus E.
• Gothica Bononiensia(also known as theCodex Bononiensisor "Bologna fragment" ), apalimpsestfragment, discovered in 2009, of two folios with what appears to be a sermon, containing besides non-biblical text a number of direct Bible quotes and allusions, both from previously attested parts of the Gothic Bible (the text is clearly taken from Ulfilas's translation) and from previously unattested ones (e.g.,Psalms,Genesis).
• Fragmenta Pannonica(also known as theHács-Béndekpuszta fragmentsorTabella Hungarica), which consist of fragments of a 1 mm thick lead plate with remnants of verses from the Gospels.
• The Mangup Graffiti: five inscriptions written in the Gothic Alphabet discovered in 2015 from the basilica church ofMangup,Crimea.The graffiti all date from the mid-9th century, making this the latest attestation of the Gothic Alphabet and the only one from outside Italy orPannonia.The five texts include a quotation from the otherwise unattested Psalm 76 and some prayers; the language is not noticeably different from Wulfila's and only contains words known from other parts of the Gothic Bible.

• A scattering of old documents: two deeds (theNaplesandArezzodeeds, on papyri), Alpha bets (in theGothica Vindobonensiaand theGothica Parisina), a calendar (in theCodex Ambrosianus A), glosses found in a number of manuscripts and a fewrunic inscriptions(between three and 13) that are known or suspected to be Gothic: some scholars believe that these inscriptions are not at all Gothic.Krausethought that several names in an Indian inscription were possibly Gothic.

Reports of the discovery of other parts of Ulfilas's Bible have not been substantiated. Heinrich May in 1968 claimed to have found in England twelve leaves of a palimpsest containing parts of theGospel of Matthew.

Only fragments of the Gothic translation of the Bible have been preserved. The translation was apparently done in the Balkans region by people in close contact with Greek Christian culture. The Gothic Bible apparently was used by theVisigothsin Occitania until theloss of Visigothic Occitaniaat the start of the 6th century,in VisigothicIberiauntil about 700, and perhaps for a time in Italy, the Balkans, and Ukraine until at least the mid-9th century. During the extermination ofArianism,Trinitarian Christians probably overwrote many texts in Gothic as palimpsests, or alternatively collected and burned Gothic documents. Apart from biblical texts, the only substantial Gothic document that still exists – and the only lengthy text known to have been composed originally in the Gothic language – is theSkeireins,a few pages of commentary on theGospel of John.

Very few medieval secondary sources make reference to the Gothic language after about 800. InDe incrementis ecclesiae Christianae(840–842),Walafrid Strabo,a Frankish monk who lived inSwabia,writes of a group of monks who reported that even then certain peoples inScythia(Dobruja), especially aroundTomis,spoke asermo Theotiscus('Germanic language'), the language of the Gothic translation of the Bible, and that they used such a liturgy.

Many writers of the medieval texts that mention theGothsused the wordGothsto mean any Germanic people in eastern Europe (such as theVarangians), many of whom certainly did not use the Gothic language as known from the Gothic Bible. Some writers even referred toSlavic-speaking people as "Goths". However, it is clear from Ulfilas's translation that – despite some puzzles – the Gothic language belongs with the Germanic language-group, not with Slavic.

Generally, the term "Gothic language" refers to the language ofUlfilas,but the attestations themselves date largely from the 6th century, long after Ulfilas had died.

Alphabet and transliteration

Main article:Gothic Alpha bet

A fewGothic runic inscriptionswere found across Europe, but due to early Christianization of the Goths, the Runic writing was quickly replaced by the newly invented Gothic Alpha bet.

Ulfilas's Gothic, as well as that of theSkeireinsand various other manuscripts, was written using an Alpha bet that was most likely invented by Ulfilas himself for his translation. Some scholars (such as Braune) claim that it was derived from theGreek Alpha betonly while others maintain that there are some Gothic letters ofRunicorLatinorigin.

A standardized system is used for transliterating Gothic words into theLatin script.The system mirrors the conventions of the native Alpha bet, such as writing long/iː/asei.The Goths used their equivalents ofeandoalone only for long higher vowels, using the digraphsaiandau(much as inFrench) for the corresponding short or lower vowels. There are two variant spelling systems: a "raw" one that directly transliterates the original Gothic script and a "normalized" one that addsdiacritics(macronsandacute accents) to certain vowels to clarify the pronunciation or, in certain cases, to indicate theProto-Germanicorigin of the vowel in question. The latter system is usually used in the academic literature.

The following table shows the correspondence between spelling and sound for vowels:

Gothic letter ordigraph	Roman equivalent	"Normalised" transliteration	Sound	Normal environment of occurrence (in native words)	Paradigmatically alternating sound in other environments	Proto-Germanic origin
𐌰	a	a	/a/	Everywhere	—	/ɑ/
		ā	/aː/	Before/h/,/hʷ/	Does not occur	/ãː/(before/h/)
𐌰𐌹	ai	aí	/ɛ/	Before/h/,/hʷ/,/r/	i/i/	/e/,/i/
		ai	/ɛː/	Before vowels	ē/eː/	/ɛː/,/eː/
		ái	/ɛː/	Not before vowels	aj/aj/	/ɑi/
𐌰𐌿	au	aú	/ɔ/	Before/h/,/hʷ/,/r/	u/u/	/u/
		au	/ɔː/	Before vowels	ō/oː/	/ɔː/
		áu	/ɔː/	Not before vowels	aw/aw/	/ɑu/
𐌴	e	ē	/eː/	Not before vowels	ai/ɛː/	/ɛː/,/eː/
𐌴𐌹	ei	ei	/iː/	Everywhere	—	/iː/;/ĩː/(before/h/)
𐌹	i	i	/i/	Everywhere except before/h/,/hʷ/,/r/	aí/ɛ/	/e/,/i/
𐌹𐌿	iu	iu	/iu/	Not before vowels	iw/iw/	/eu/(and its allophone[iu])
𐍉	o	ō	/oː/	Not before vowels	au/ɔː/	/ɔː/
𐌿	u	u	/u/	Everywhere except before/h/,/hʷ/,/r/	aú/ɔ/	/u/
		ū	/uː/	Everywhere	—	/uː/;/ũː/(before/h/)

Notes:

• This "normalised transliteration" system devised byJacob Grimmis used in some modern editions of Gothic texts and in studies ofCommon Germanic.It signals distinctions not made by Ulfilas in his Alpha bet. Rather, they reflect various origins in Proto-Germanic. Thus,
  • aíis used for the sound derived from the Proto-Germanic short vowelseandibefore/h/and/r/.
  • áiis used for the sound derived from the Proto-Germanicdiphthongai.Some scholars have considered this sound to have remained as a diphthong in Gothic. However, Ulfilas was highly consistent in other spelling inventions, which makes it unlikely that he assigned two different sounds to the same digraph. Furthermore, he consistently used the digraph to represent Greekαι,which was then certainly amonophthong.A monophthongal value is accepted byEduard Prokoschin his influentialA Common Germanic Grammar.It had earlier been accepted byJoseph Wrightbut only in an appendix to hisGrammar of the Gothic Language.
  • aiis used for the sound derived from the Common Germanic long vowelēbefore a vowel.
  • áuis used for the sound derived from Common Germanic diphthongau.It cannot be related to a Greek digraph, sinceαυthen represented a sequence of a vowel and a spirant (fricative) consonant, which Ulfilas transcribed asawin representing Greek words. Nevertheless, the argument based on simplicity is accepted by some influential scholars.
• The "normal environment of occurrence" refers to native words. In foreign words, these environments are often greatly disturbed. For example, the short sounds/ɛ/and/i/alternate in native words in a nearlyallophonicway, with/ɛ/occurring in native words only before the consonants/h/,/hʷ/,/r/while/i/occurs everywhere else (nevertheless, there are a few exceptions such as/i/before/r/inhiri,/ɛ/consistently in thereduplicatingsyllable of certain past-tense verbs regardless of the following consonant, which indicate that these sounds had become phonemicized). In foreign borrowings, however,/ɛ/and/i/occur freely in all environments, reflecting the corresponding vowel quality in the source language.
• Paradigmatic alterations can occur either intra-paradigm (between two different forms within a specificparadigm) or cross-paradigm (between the same form in two different paradigms of the same class). Examples of intra-paradigm alternation aregawi/ɡa.wi/"district (nom.) "vs.gáujis/ɡɔː.jis/"district (gen.) ";mawi/ma.wi/"maiden (nom.) "vs.máujōs/mɔː.joːs/"maiden (gen.) ";þiwi/θi.wi/"maiden (nom.) "vs.þiujōs/θiu.joːs/"maiden (gen.) ";taui/tɔː.i/"deed (nom.) "vs.tōjis/toː.jis/"deed (gen.) ";náus/nɔːs/"corpse (nom.) "vs.naweis/na.wiːs/"corpses (nom.) ";triu/triu/?? "tree (nom.) "vs.triwis/tri.wis/"tree (gen.) ";táujan/tɔː.jan/"to do" vs.tawida/ta.wi.ða/"I/he did";stōjan/stoː.jan/"to judge" vs.stauida/stɔː.i.ða/"I/he judged". Examples of cross-paradigm alternation are Class IV verbsqiman/kʷiman/"to come" vs.baíran/bɛran/"to carry, to bear",qumans/kʷumans/"(having) come" vs.baúrans/bɔrans/"(having) carried"; Class VIIb verbslētan/leː.tan/"to let" vs.saian/sɛː.an/"to sow" (note similar preteriteslaílōt/lɛ.loːt/"I/he let",saísō/sɛ.soː/"I/he sowed" ). A combination of intra- and cross-paradigm alternation occurs in Class Vsniwan/sni.wan/"to hasten" vs.snáu/snɔː/"I/he hastened" (expected *snaw,compareqiman"to come",qam"I/he came" ).
• The carefully maintained alternations betweeniuandiwsuggest thatiumay have been something other than/iu/.Various possibilities have been suggested (for example, high central or high back unrounded vowels, such as[ɨ][ʉ][ɯ]); under these theories, the spelling ofiuis derived from the fact that the sound alternates withiwbefore a vowel, based on the similar alternationsauandaw.The most common theory, however, simply posits/iu/as the pronunciation ofiu.
• Macrons represent longāandū(however, long i appears asei,following the representation used in the native Alpha bet). Macrons are often also used in the case ofēandō;however, they are sometimes omitted since these vowels are always long. Longāoccurs only before the consonants/h/,/hʷ/and representsProto-Germanicnasalized/ãː(h)/< earlier/aŋ(h)/;non-nasal/aː/did not occur in Proto-Germanic. It is possible that the Gothic vowel still preserved the nasalization, or else that the nasalization was lost but the length distinction kept, as has happened withLithuanianą.Non-nasal/iː/and/uː/occurred in Proto-Germanic, however, and so longeiandūoccur in all contexts. Before/h/and/hʷ/,longeiandūcould stem from either non-nasal or nasal long vowels in Proto-Germanic; it is possible that the nasalization was still preserved in Gothic but not written.

The following table shows the correspondence between spelling and sound for consonants:

Gothic Letter	Roman	Sound (phoneme)	Sound (allophone)	Environment of occurrence	Paradigmatically alternating sound, in other environments	Proto-Germanic origin
𐌱	b	/b/	[b]	Word-initially; after a consonant	–	/b/
			[β]	After a vowel, before a voiced sound	/ɸ/(after a vowel, before an unvoiced sound)
𐌳	d	/d/	[d]	Word-initially; after a consonant	–	/d/
			[ð]	After a vowel, before a voiced sound	/θ/(after a vowel, before an unvoiced sound)
𐍆	f	/ɸ/	[ɸ]	Everywhere except before a voiced consonant	/b/[β]	/ɸ/;/b/
𐌲	g	/ɡ/	[ɡ]	Word-initially; after a consonant	–	/ɡ/
			[ɣ]	After a vowel, before a voiced sound	/ɡ/[x](after a vowel, not before a voiced sound)
			[x]	After a vowel, not before a voiced sound	/ɡ/[ɣ](after a vowel, before a voiced sound)
		/n/	[ŋ]	Beforek/k/,g/ɡ/[ɡ],gw/ɡʷ/ (such usage influenced byGreek,comparegamma)	–	/n/
	gw	/ɡʷ/	[ɡʷ]	Afterg/n/[ŋ]	–	/ɡʷ/
𐌷	h	/h/	[h]	Everywhere except before a voiced consonant	/ɡ/[ɣ]	/x/
𐍈	ƕ	/hʷ/	[hʷ]	Everywhere except before a voiced consonant	–	/xʷ/
𐌾	j	/j/	[j]	Everywhere	–	/j/
𐌺	k	/k/	[k]	Everywhere except before a voiced consonant	–	/k/
𐌻	l	/l/	[l]	Everywhere	–	/l/
𐌼	m	/m/	[m]	Everywhere	–	/m/
𐌽	n	/n/	[n]	Everywhere	–	/n/
𐍀	p	/p/	[p]	Everywhere except before a voiced consonant	–	/p/
𐌵	q	/kʷ/	[kʷ]	Everywhere except before a voiced consonant	–	/kʷ/
𐍂	r	/r/	[r]	Everywhere	–	/r/
𐍃	s	/s/	[s]	Everywhere except before a voiced consonant	/z/	/s/;/z/
𐍄	t	/t/	[t]	Everywhere except before a voiced consonant	–	/t/
𐌸	þ	/θ/	[θ]	Everywhere except before a voiced consonant	/d/[ð]	/θ/;/d/
𐍅	w	/w/	[w]	Everywhere	–	/w/
𐌶	z	/z/	[z]	After a vowel, before a voiced sound	/s/	/z/

• /hʷ/,which is written with a single character in the native Alpha bet, is transliterated using the symbolƕ,which is used only in transliterating Gothic.
• /kʷ/is similarly written with a single character in the native Alpha bet and is transliteratedq(with no followingu).
• /ɡʷ/,however, is written with two letters in the native Alpha bet and hence𐌲𐍅(gw). The lack of a single letter to represent this sound may result from its restricted distribution (only after/n/) and its rarity.
• /θ/is writtenþ,similarly to other Germanic languages.
• Although[ŋ]is theallophoneof/n/occurring before/ɡ/and/k/,it is writteng,following the native Alpha bet convention (which, in turn, follows Greek usage), which leads to occasional ambiguities, e.g.saggws[saŋɡʷs]"song" buttriggws[triɡɡʷs]"faithful" (compare English "true" ).

Phonology

It is possible to determine more or less exactly how the Gothic of Ulfilas was pronounced, primarily through comparative phonetic reconstruction. Furthermore, because Ulfilas tried to follow the original Greek text as much as possible in his translation, it is known that he used the same writing conventions as those of contemporary Greek. Since the Greek of that period is well documented, it is possible to reconstruct much of Gothic pronunciation from translated texts. In addition, the way in which non-Greek names are transcribed in the Greek Bible and in Ulfilas's Bible is very informative.

Vowels

Short vowels Front Back Close i(y) u Close-mid Open-mid ɛ ɔ Open a

Long vowels Front Back Close iː uː Close-mid eː oː Open-mid ɛː ɔː Open aː

• /a/,/i/and/u/can be either long or short.Gothic writing distinguishes between long and short vowels only for/i/by writingifor the short form andeifor the long (adigraphorfalse diphthong), in an imitation of Greek usage (ει =/iː/). Single vowels are sometimes long where a historically presentnasal consonanthas been dropped in front of an/h/(a case ofcompensatory lengthening). Thus, the preterite of the verbbriggan[briŋɡan]"to bring" (Englishbring,Dutchbrengen,Germanbringen) becomesbrahta[braːxta](Englishbrought,Dutchbracht,Germanbrachte), fromProto-Germanic*branhtē.In detailedtransliteration,when the intent is morephonetic transcription,length is noted by a macron (or failing that, often acircumflex):brāhta,brâhta.This is the only context in which/aː/appears natively whereas/uː/,like/iː/,is found often enough in other contexts:brūks"useful" (Dutchgebruik,GermanGebrauch,Icelandicbrúk"use" ).
• /eː/and/oː/are longclose-mid vowels.They are written aseando:neƕ[neːʍ]"near" (Englishnigh,Dutchnader,Germannah);fodjan[foːdjan]"to feed".
• /ɛ/and/ɔ/are shortopen-mid vowels.They are noted using the digraphsaiandau:taihun[tɛhun]"ten" (Dutchtien,Germanzehn,Icelandictíu),dauhtar[dɔxtar]"daughter" (Dutchdochter,GermanTochter,Icelandicdóttir). In transliterating Gothic, accents are placed on the second vowel of these digraphsaíandaúto distinguish them from the original diphthongsáiandáu:taíhun,daúhtar.In most cases short[ɛ]and[ɔ]are allophones of/i,u/before/r,h,ʍ/.Furthermore, the reduplication syllable of the reduplicating preterites hasaias well, which was probably pronounced as a short[ɛ].Finally, short[ɛ]and[ɔ]occur in loan words from Greek and Latin (aípiskaúpus[ɛpiskɔpus]=ἐπίσκοπος"bishop",laíktjo[lɛktjoː]=lectio"lection",Paúntius[pɔntius]=Pontius).
• The Germanic diphthongs/ai/and/au/appear as digraphs written⟨ai⟩and⟨au⟩in Gothic. Researchers have disagreed over whether they were still pronounced as diphthongs/ai̯/and/au̯/in Ulfilas's time (4th century) or had become long open-mid vowels:/ɛː/and/ɔː/:ains[ains]/[ɛːns]"one" (Germaneins,Icelandiceinn),augo[auɣoː]/[ɔːɣoː]"eye" (GermanAuge,Icelandicauga). It is most likely that the latter view is correct, as it is indisputable that the digraphs⟨ai⟩and⟨au⟩represent the sounds/ɛː/and/ɔː/in some circumstances (see below), and⟨aj⟩and⟨aw⟩were available to unambiguously represent the sounds/ai̯/and/au̯/.The digraph⟨aw⟩is in fact used to represent/au/in foreign words (such asPawlus"Paul" ), and alternations between⟨ai⟩/⟨aj⟩and⟨au⟩/⟨aw⟩are scrupulously maintained in paradigms where both variants occur (e.g.taujan"to do" vs. past tensetawida"did" ). Evidence from transcriptions of Gothic names into Latin suggests that the sound change had occurred very recently when Gothic spelling was standardized: Gothic names with Germanicauare rendered withauin Latin until the 4th century andolater on (Austrogoti>Ostrogoti). The digraphs⟨ai⟩and⟨au⟩are normally written with an accent on the first vowel (ái, áu) when they correspond to Proto-Germanic/ai̯/and/au̯/.
• Long[ɛː]and[ɔː]also occur as allophones of/eː/and/uː,oː/respectively before a following vowel:waian[wɛːan]"to blow" (Dutchwaaien,Germanwehen),bauan[bɔːan]"to build" (Dutchbouwen,Germanbauen,Icelandicbúa"to live, reside" ), also in Greek wordsTrauada"Troad" (Gk.Τρῳάς). In detailed transcription these are notatedai, au.
• The existence of a vowel/y/in Gothic is unclear. It is derived from the use ofwto transcribe Greek υ (y) or the diphthong οι (oi), both of which were pronounced[y]in the Greek of the time.Wis otherwise used to denote the consonant/w/). It may have been pronounced[i].
• /iu/is usually reconstructed as a falling diphthong ([iu̯]:diups[diu̯ps]"deep" (Dutchdiep,Germantief,Icelandicdjúpur), though this has been disputed (seeAlpha bet and transliterationsection above).
• Greek diphthongs: In Ulfilas's era, all the diphthongs of Classical Greek had become simple vowels in speech (monophthongization), except for αυ (au) and ευ (eu), which were probably pronounced[aβ]and[ɛβ](they evolved into[av~af]and[ev~ef]inModern Greek.) Ulfilas notes them, in words borrowed from Greek, asawandaiw,probably pronounced[au̯,ɛu̯]:Pawlus[pau̯lus]"Paul" (Gk.Παῦλος),aíwaggelista[ɛwaŋɡeːlista]"evangelist" (Gk.εὐαγγελιστής,via the Latinevangelista).
• All vowels (including diphthongs) can be followed by a[w],which was likely pronounced as the second element of a diphthong with roughly the sound of[u̯].It seems likely that this is more of an instance of phonetic juxtaposition than of true diphthongs (such as, for example, the sound/aj/in the French wordpaille( "straw" ), which is not the diphthong/ai̯/but rather a vowel followed by anapproximant):alew[aleːw]"olive oil" ( < Latinoleum),snáiws[snɛːws]( "snow" ),lasiws[lasiws]"tired" (Englishlazy).

Consonants

	Labial		Dental		Alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Labiovelar		Glottal
Nasal	m/m/				n/n/				g, n/ŋ/
Stop	p/p/	b/b/			t/t/	d/d/	ddj/ɟː/?		k/k/	g/ɡ/	q/kʷ/	gw/ɡʷ/
Fricative	f/ɸ/	b/β/	þ/θ/	d/ð/	s/s/	z/z/			g, h/x/	g/ɣ/			h/h/
Approximant					l/l/		j/j/				ƕ/ʍ/	w/w/
Trill					r/r/

In general, Gothic consonants aredevoicedat the ends of words. Gothic is rich in fricative consonants (although many of them may have beenapproximants;it is hard to separate the two) derived by the processes described inGrimm's lawandVerner's lawand characteristic ofGermanic languages.Gothic is unusual among Germanic languages in having a/z/phoneme, which has not become/r/through rhotacization. Furthermore, the doubling of written consonants between vowels suggests that Gothic made distinctions between long and short, orgeminatedconsonants:atta[atːa]"dad",kunnan[kunːan]"to know" (Dutchkennen,Germankennen"to know", Icelandickunna).

Stops

• The voiceless stops/p/,/t/and/k/are regularly noted byp,tandkrespectively:paska[paska]"Easter" (from the Greekπάσχα),tuggo[tuŋɡoː]"tongue",kalbo[kalboː]"calf".
• The letterqis probably avoiceless labiovelar stop,/kʷ/,comparable to the Latinqu:qiman[kʷiman]"to come". In later Germanic languages, this phoneme has become either aconsonant cluster/kw/of avoiceless velar stop+ alabio-velar approximant(Englishqu) or a simple voiceless velar stop/k/(Englishc, k)
• The voiced stops/b/,/d/and/ɡ/are noted by the lettersb,dandg.Like the other Germanic languages, they occurred in word-initial position, when doubled and after a nasal. In addition, they apparently occurred after other consonants,:arbi[arbi]"inheritance",huzd[huzd]"treasure". (This conclusion is based on their behavior at the end of a word, in which they do not change into voiceless fricatives, unlike when they occur after a vowel.)
• There was probably also avoiced labiovelar stop,/ɡʷ/,which was written with the digraphgw.It occurred after a nasal, e.g.saggws[saŋɡʷs]"song", or long as a regular outcome of Germanic *ww:triggws[triɡʷːs]"faithful" (Englishtrue,Germantreu,Icelandictryggur). The existence of a long[ɡʷː]separate from[ŋɡʷ],however, is not universally accepted.
• Similarly, the lettersddj,which is the regular outcome of Germanic *jj,may represent a voiced palatal stop,/ɟː/:waddjus[waɟːus]"wall" (Icelandicveggur),twaddje[twaɟːeː]"two (genitive)" (Icelandictveggja).

Fricatives

• /s/and/z/are usually writtensandz.The latter corresponds to Germanic *z(which has becomeror silent in the other Germanic languages); at the end of a word, it is regularly devoiced tos.E.g.saíhs[sɛhs]"six",máiza[mɛːza]"greater" (Englishmore,Dutchmeer,Germanmehr,Icelandicmeira) versusmáis[mɛːs]"more, rather".
• /ɸ/and/θ/,writtenfandþ,are voiceless bilabial and voiceless dental fricatives respectively. It is likely that the relatively unstable sound/ɸ/became/f/.fandþare also derived frombanddat the ends of words and then are devoiced and become fricatives:gif[ɡiɸ]"give (imperative)" (infinitivegiban:Germangeben),miþ[miθ]"with" (Old Englishmid,Old Norsemeð,Dutchmet,Germanmit). The cluster/ɸl/became/θl/in some words but not others:þlauhs"flight" from Germanic*flugiz;þliuhan"flee" from Germanic*fleuhaną(but seeflōdus"river",flahta"braid" ). This sound change is unique among Germanic languages.
• /h/is written ash:haban"to have". It was probably pronounced[h]in word-final position and before a consonant as well (not[x],since/ɡ/>[x]is writteng,noth):jah[jah]"and" (Dutch, German, Scandinavianja"yes" ).
• [x]is an allophone of/ɡ/at the end of a word or before a voiceless consonant; it is always writteng:dags[daxs]"day" (GermanTag). In some borrowed Greek words is the special letterx,which represents the Greek letter χ (ch):Xristus[xristus]"Christ" (Gk.Χριστός).
• [β],[ð]and[ɣ]are voiced fricative found only in between vowels. They areallophonesof/b/,/d/and/ɡ/and are not distinguished from them in writing.[β]may have become/v/,a more stable labiodental form. In the study of Germanic languages, these phonemes are usually transcribed asƀ,đandǥrespectively:haban[haβan]"to have",þiuda[θiu̯ða]"people" (DutchDiets,GermanDeutsch,Icelandicþjóð> EnglishDutch),áugo[ɔːɣoː]"eye" (Englisheye,Dutchoog,GermanAuge,Icelandicauga). When occurring after a vowel at the end of a word or before a voiceless consonant, these sounds become unvoiced[ɸ],[θ]and[x],e.g.hláifs[hlɛːɸs]"loaf" but genitivehláibis[hlɛːβis]"of a loaf", pluralhláibōs[hlɛːβoːs]"loaves".
• ƕ(also transcribedhw) is the labiovelar equivalent of/x/,derived from Proto-Indo-European *kʷ. It was probably pronounced[ʍ](a voiceless[w]), aswhis pronounced in certain dialects of English and in Scots:ƕan/ʍan/"when",ƕar/ʍar/"where",ƕeits[ʍiːts]"white".

Sonorants

Gothic has three nasal consonants, one of which is an allophone of the others, all found only incomplementary distributionwith them. Nasals in Gothic, like most other languages, are pronounced at the samepoint of articulationas the consonant that follows them (assimilation). Therefore, clusters like[md]and[nb]are not possible.

• /n/and/m/are freely distributed and so can be found in any position in a syllable and formminimal pairsexcept in certain contexts where they are neutralized:/n/before abilabial consonantbecomes[m],while/m/preceding adental stopbecomes[n],as per the principle of assimilation described in the previous paragraph. In front of avelar stop,they both become[ŋ]./n/and/m/are transcribed asnandm,and, in writing, neutralisation is marked:sniumundo/sniu̯mundoː/( "quickly" ).
• [ŋ]is not a phoneme and cannot appear freely in Gothic. It is present where a nasal consonant is neutralised before a velar stop and is in a complementary distribution with/n/and/m/.Following Greek conventions, it is normally written asg(sometimesn):þagkjan[θaŋkjan]"to think",sigqan[siŋkʷan]"to sink" ~þankeiþ[θaŋkiːθ]"thinks". The clusterggwsometimes denotes[ŋɡʷ],but sometimes[ɡʷː](see above).
• /w/is transliterated aswbefore a vowel:weis[wiːs]( "we" ),twái[twai]"two" (Germanzwei).
• /j/is written asj:jer[jeːr]"year",sakjo[sakjoː]"strife".
• /l/and/r/occur as in other European languages:laggs(possibly[laŋɡs],[laŋks]or[laŋɡz]) "long",mel[meːl]"hour" (Englishmeal,Dutchmaal,GermanMahl,Icelandicmál). The exact pronunciation of/r/is unknown, but it is usually assumed to be atrill[r]or aflap[ɾ]):raíhts[rɛxts]"right",afar[afar]"after".
• /l/,/m/,/n/and/r/may occur either between two other consonants of lower sonority or word-finally after a consonant of lower sonority. It is probable that the sounds are pronounced partly or completely assyllabic consonantsin such circumstances (as in English "bottle" or "bottom" ):tagl[taɣl̩]or[taɣl]"hair" (Englishtail,Icelandictagl),máiþms[mɛːθm̩s]or[mɛːθms]"gift",táikns[tɛːkn̩s]or[tɛːkns]"sign" (Englishtoken,Dutchteken,GermanZeichen,Icelandictákn) andtagr[taɣr̩]or[taɣr]"tear (as in crying)".

Accentuation and intonation

Accentuation in Gothic can be reconstructed through phonetic comparison,Grimm's law,andVerner's law.Gothic used astress accentrather than thepitch accentofProto-Indo-European.This is indicated by the shortening of long vowels[eː]and[oː]and the loss of short vowels[a]and[i]in unstressed final syllables.

Just as in other Germanic languages, the free movingProto-Indo-European accentwas replaced with one fixed on the first syllable of simple words. Accents do not shift when words are inflected. In most compound words, the location of the stress depends on the type of compound:

• In compounds in which the second word is anoun,the accent is on the first syllable of the first word of the compound.
• In compounds in which the second word is averb,the accent falls on the first syllable of the verbal component. Elements prefixed to verbs are otherwise unstressed except in the context of separable words (words that can be broken in two parts and separated in regular usage such asseparable verbsin German and Dutch). In those cases, the prefix is stressed.

For example, with comparable words from modern Germanic languages:

• Non-compound words:marka[ˈmarka]"border, borderlands" (Englishmarch,Dutchmark);aftra[ˈaɸtra]"after";bidjan[ˈbiðjan]"pray" (Dutch,bidden,Germanbitten,Icelandicbiðja,Englishbid).
• Compound words:
  • Noun first element:guda-láus[ˈɡuðalɔːs]"godless".
  • Verb second element:ga-láubjan[ɡaˈlɔːβjan]"believe" (Dutchgeloven,Germanglauben<Old High Germang(i)loubenbysyncopeof the unaccentedi).

Grammar

Morphology

Nouns and adjectives

Main article:Gothic declension

Gothic preserves many archaic Indo-European features that are not always present in modern Germanic languages, in particular the rich Indo-Europeandeclensionsystem. Gothic hadnominative,accusative,genitiveanddative cases,as well as vestiges of avocative casethat was sometimes identical to the nominative and sometimes to the accusative. The threegendersof Indo-European were all present. Nouns and adjectives were inflected according to one of twogrammatical numbers:the singular and the plural.

Nouns can be divided into numerous declensions according to the form of the stem:a,ō,i,u,an,ōn,ein,r,etc. Adjectives have two variants,indefiniteanddefinite(sometimesindeterminateanddeterminate), with definite adjectives normally used in combination with the definitedeterminers(such as thedefinite articlesa/þata/sō) while indefinite adjectives are used in other circumstances.,Indefinite adjectives generally use a combination ofa-stem andō-stem endings, and definite adjectives use a combination ofan-stem andōn-stem endings. The concept of "strong" and "weak" declensions that is prevalent in the grammar of many otherGermanic languagesis less significant in Gothic because of its conservative nature: the so-called "weak" declensions (those ending inn) are, in fact, no weaker in Gothic (in terms of having fewer endings) than the "strong" declensions (those ending in a vowel), and the "strong" declensions do not form a coherent class that can be clearly distinguished from the "weak" declensions.

Although descriptive adjectives in Gothic (as well as superlatives ending in-istand-ost) and thepast participlemay take both definite and indefinite forms, some adjectival words are restricted to one variant. Some pronouns take only definite forms: for example,sama(English "same" ), adjectives likeunƕeila( "constantly", from the rootƕeila,"time"; compare to the English "while" ), comparative adjective andpresent participles.Others, such asáins( "some" ), take only the indefinite forms.

The table below displays the declension of the Gothic adjectiveblind(English: "blind" ), compared with thean-stem nounguma"man, human" and thea-stem noundags"day":

Number	Case	Definite/an-stem					Indefinite/a-stem
		Noun	Adjective				Noun	Adjective
			root	masc.	neut.	fem.		root	masc.	neut.	fem.
Singular	nom.	guma	blind-	-a	-o		dags	blind-	-s	— / -ata	-a
	acc.	guman		-an	-o	-on	dag		-ana
	dat.	gumin		-in			daga		-amma		-ái
	gen.	gumins		-ins		-ons	dagis		-is		áizos
Plural	nom.	gumans		-ans	-ona		dagos		-ái	-a	-os
	acc.						dagans		-ans
	dat.	gumam		-am		-om	dagam		-áim
	gen.	gumane		-ane		-ono	dage		-áize		-áizo

This table is, of course, not exhaustive. (There are secondary inflexions of various sorts not described here.) An exhaustive table of only thetypesof endings that Gothic took is presented below.

• vowel declensions:
  • roots ending in-a,-ja,-wa(masculine and neuter): equivalent to the Greek and Latin second declension in‑us/‑īand ‑ος / ‑ου;
  • roots ending in-ō,-jōand-wō(feminine): equivalent to the Greek and Latin first declension in‑a/‑aeand ‑α / ‑ας (‑η / ‑ης);
  • roots ending in-i(masculine and feminine): equivalent to the Greek and Latin third declension in‑is/‑is(abl.sg.‑ī,gen.pl.-ium) and ‑ις / ‑εως;
  • roots ending in-u(all three genders): equivalent to the Latin fourth declension in‑us/‑ūsand the Greek third declension in ‑υς / ‑εως;
• n-stem declensions,equivalent to the Greek and Latin third declension in‑ō/‑inis/ōnisand ‑ων / ‑ονος or ‑ην / ‑ενος:
  • roots ending in-an,-jan,-wan(masculine);
  • roots ending in-ōnand-ein(feminine);
  • roots ending in-n(neuter): equivalent to the Greek and Latin third declension in‑men/‑minisand ‑μα / ‑ματος;
• minor declensions:roots ending in-r,-ndand vestigial endings in other consonants, equivalent to other third declensions in Greek and Latin.

Gothic adjectives follow noun declensions closely; they take same types of inflection.

Pronouns

Main article:Gothic declension: Pronouns

Gothic inherited the full set of Indo-European pronouns:personal pronouns(includingreflexive pronounsfor each of the threegrammatical persons),possessive pronouns,both simple and compounddemonstratives,relative pronouns,interrogativesandindefinite pronouns.Each follows a particular pattern of inflection (partially mirroring the noun declension), much like other Indo-European languages. One particularly noteworthy characteristic is the preservation of thedual number,referring to two people or things; the plural was used only for quantities greater than two. Thus, "the two of us" and "we" for numbers greater than two were expressed aswitandweisrespectively. While proto-Indo-European used the dual for all grammatical categories that took a number (as did Classical Greek andSanskrit), most Old Germanic languages are unusual in that they preserved it only for pronouns. Gothic preserves an older system with dual marking on both pronouns and verbs (but not nouns or adjectives).

The simple demonstrative pronounsa(neuter:þata,feminine:so,from the Indo-European root*so,*seh₂,*tod;cognate to the Greek article ὁ, ἡ, τό and the Latinistud) can be used as an article, allowing constructions of the typedefinite article + weak adjective + noun.

The interrogative pronouns begin withƕ-,which derives from the proto-Indo-European consonant*kʷthat was present at the beginning of all interrogatives in proto-Indo-European, cognate with thewh-at the beginning of many English interrogative, which, as in Gothic, are pronounced with[ʍ]in some dialects. The same etymology is present in the interrogatives of many other Indo-European languages:w-[v]in German,hv-inDanish,the Latinqu-(which persists in modernRomance languages), the Greek τ- or π-, theSlavicandIndick-as well as many others.

Verbs

Main article:Gothic verbs

The bulk of Gothic verbs follow the type of Indo-European conjugation called 'thematic' because they insert a vowel derived from the reconstructed proto-Indo-European phonemes*eor*obetween roots and inflexional suffixes. The pattern is also present in Greek and Latin:

• Latin –leg-i-mus( "we read" ): rootleg-+ thematic vowel-i-(from*o) + suffix-mus.
• Greek – λύ-ο-μεν ( "we untie" ): root λυ- + thematic vowel -ο- + suffix -μεν.
• Gothic –nim-a-m( "we take" ): rootnim-+ thematic vowel-a-(from*o) + suffix-m.

The other conjugation, called 'athematic', in which suffixes are added directly to roots, exists only in unproductive vestigial forms in Gothic, just like in Greek and Latin. The most important such instance isthe verb "to be",which is athematic in Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, and many other Indo-European languages.

Gothic verbs are, like nouns and adjectives, divided into strong verbs and weak verbs. Weak verbs are characterised bypreteritesformed by appending the suffixes-daor-ta,parallel to past participles formed with-þ/-t.Strong verbs form preterites byablaut(the alternating of vowels in their root forms) or byreduplication(prefi xing the root with the first consonant in the root plusaí) but without adding a suffix in either case. This parallels the Greek and Sanskritperfects.The dichotomy is still present in modern Germanic languages:

• weak verbs ( "to have" ):
  • Gothic:haban,preterite:habáida,past participle:habáiþs;
  • English:(to) have,preterite:had,past participle:had;
  • German:haben,preterite:hatte,past participle:gehabt;
  • Icelandic:hafa,preterite:hafði,past participle:haft;
  • Dutch:hebben,preterite:had,past participle:gehad;
  • Swedish:ha(va),preterite:hade,supine:haft;
• strong verbs ( "to give" ):
  • Gothic: infinitive:giban,preterite:gaf;
  • English: infinitive:(to) give,preterite:gave;
  • German: infinitive:geben,preterite:gab;
  • Icelandic: infinitive:gefa,preterite:gaf;
  • Dutch: infinitive:geven,preterite:gaf;
  • Swedish: infinitive:giva(ge), preterite:gav.

Verbal conjugation in Gothic have twogrammatical voices:the active and the medial; three numbers: singular, dual (except in the third person) and plural; two tenses: present and preterite (derived from a former perfect); threegrammatical moods:indicative,subjunctive(from an oldoptativeform) andimperativeas well as three kinds of nominal forms: a presentinfinitive,a presentparticiple,and a pastpassive.Not all tenses and persons are represented in all moods and voices, as some conjugations useauxiliary forms.

Finally, there are forms called 'preterite-present': the old Indo-European perfect was reinterpreted as present tense. The Gothic wordwáit,from the proto-Indo-European*woid-h₂e( "to see" in the perfect), corresponds exactly to its Sanskrit cognatevédaand in Greek to ϝοἶδα. Both etymologically should mean "I have seen" (in the perfect sense) but mean "I know" (in the preterite-present meaning). Latin follows the same rule withnōuī( "I have learned" and "I know" ). The preterite-present verbs includeáigan( "to possess" ) andkunnan( "to know" ) among others.

Syntax

Word order

The word order of Gothic is fairly free as is typical of other inflected languages. The natural word order of Gothic is assumed to have been like that of the other old Germanic languages; however, nearly all extant Gothic texts are translations of Greek originals and have been heavily influenced by Greek syntax.

Sometimes what can be expressed in one word in the original Greek will require a verb and a complement in the Gothic translation; for example, διωχθήσονται (diōchthēsontai,"they will be persecuted" ) is rendered:

wrakos	winnand	(2 Timothy 3:12)
persecution-PL-ACC	suffer-3PL
"they will suffer persecution"

Likewise Gothic translations of Greek noun phrases may feature a verb and a complement. In both cases, the verb follows the complement, giving weight to the theory that basic word order in Gothic is object–verb. This aligns with what is known of other early Germanic languages.

However, this pattern is reversed in imperatives and negations:

waírþ	hráins	(Matthew 8:3, Mark 1:42, Luke 5:13)
become-IMP	clean
"become clean!"

ni	nimiþ	arbi	(Galatians 4:30)
not	take-3SG	inheritance
"he shall not become heir"

And in awh-question the verb directly follows the question word:

ƕa	skuli	þata	barn	waírþan	(Luke 1:66)
what	shall-3SG-OPT	the-NEUT	child	become-INF
"What shall the child become?"

Clitics

Gothic has twocliticparticles placed in the second position in a sentence, in accordance withWackernagel's Law.

One such clitic particle is -u,indicating a yes–no question or an indirect question, like Latin -ne:

ni-u	taíhun	þái	gahráinidái	waúrþun?	(Luke 17:17)
not-Q	ten	that-MASC-PL	cleanse-PP-MASC-PL	become-3PL-PST
"Were there not ten that were cleansed?"

ei	saíƕam	qimái-u	Helias	nasjan	ina	(Matthew 27:49)
that	see-1PL	come-3SG-OPT-Q	Elias	save-INF	he-ACC
"that we see whether or not Elias will come to save him"

The prepositional phrase without the clitic -uappears asaf þus silbin:the clitic causes the reversion of originally voiced fricatives, unvoiced at the end of a word, to their voiced form; another such example iswileid-u"do you (pl.) want "fromwileiþ"you (pl.) want ". If the first word has apreverbattached, the clitic actually splits the preverb from the verb:ga-u-láubjats"do you both believe...?" fromgaláubjats"you both believe".

Another such clitic is-uh"and", appearing as-hafter a vowel:ga-h-mēlida"and he wrote" fromgamēlida"he wrote",urreis nim-uh"arise and take!" from the imperative formnim"take". Afteriþor any indefinite besidessums"some" andanþar"another", -uhcannot be placed; in the latter category, this is only because indefinite determiner phrases cannot move to the front of a clause. Unlike, for example, Latin -que,-uhcan only join two or more main clauses. In all other cases, the wordjah"and" is used, which can also join main clauses.

More than one such clitics can occur in one word:diz-uh-þan-sat ijōs"and then he seized them (fem.) "fromdissat"he seized" (notice again the voicing ofdiz-),ga-u-ƕa-sēƕi"whether he saw anything" fromgasēƕi"he saw".

Comparison to other Germanic languages

For the most part, Gothic is known to be significantly closer to Proto-Germanic than any other Germanic languageexcept for that of the (scantily attested)Ancient Nordicrunic inscriptions, which has made it invaluable in the reconstruction of Proto-Germanic.In fact, Gothic tends to serve as the primary foundation for reconstructing Proto-Germanic.The reconstructed Proto-Germanic conflicts with Gothic only when there is clearly identifiable evidence from other branches that the Gothic form is a secondary development.

Distinctive features

Gothic fails to display a number of innovations shared by all Germanic languages attested later:

• It lacksGermanic umlaut.
• It lacksrhotacism.

The language also preserved many features that were mostly lost in other early Germanic languages:

• dual inflections on verbs,
• morphological passive voice for verbs,
• reduplication in the past tense of Class VII strong verbs,
• clitic conjunctions that appear in second position of a sentence in accordance withWackernagel's Law,splitting verbs from pre-verbs.

Lack of umlaut

Most conspicuously, Gothic shows no sign of morphological umlaut. Gothicfotus,pl.fotjus,can be contrasted with Englishfoot:feet,GermanFuß:Füße,Old Norsefótr:fœtr,Danishfod:fødder.These forms contain the characteristic change/u/>/iː/(English),/uː/>/yː/(German),/oː/>/øː/(ON and Danish) due to i-umlaut; the Gothic form shows no such change.

Lack of rhotacism

Proto-Germanic*zremains in Gothic aszor is devoiced tos.In North and West Germanic,*zchanges torbyrhotacism:

• Gothicdius,gen.sg.diuzis≠
• Old Englishdēor,gen.sg.dēores"wild animal" (Modern Englishdeer).

Passive voice

Gothic retains a morphological passive voice inherited from Indo-European but unattested in all other Germanic languages except for the single fossilised form preserved in, for example, Old Englishhātteor Runic Norse (c. 400)haitē"am called", derived from Proto-Germanic*haitaną"to call, command".

The morphological passive in North Germanic languages (Swedishgör"does",görs"is being done" ) originates from theOld Norsemiddle voice,which is an innovation not inherited from Indo-European.

Dual number

Unlike other Germanic languages, which retained dual numbering only in some pronoun forms, Gothic has dual forms both in pronouns and in verbs. Dual verb forms exist only in the first and second person and only in the active voice; in all other cases, the corresponding plural forms are used. In pronouns, Gothic has first and second person dual pronouns: Gothic and Old Englishwit,Old Norsevit"we two" (thought to have been in fact derived from*wi-duliterally "we two" ).

Reduplication

Gothic possesses a number of verbs which form their preterite by reduplication, another archaic feature inherited from Indo-European. While traces of this category survived elsewhere in Germanic, the phenomenon is largely obscured in these other languages by later sound changes and analogy. In the following examples the infinitive is compared to the third person singular preterite indicative:

• Gothicsaian"to sow":saiso
• Old Norsesá:seri< Proto-Germanic *sezō
• Gothiclaikan"to play":lailaik
• Old Englishlācan:leolc,lēc

Classification

The standard theory of the origin of the Germanic languages divides the languages into three groups:East Germanic(Gothic and a few other very scantily-attested languages),North Germanic(Old Norseand its derivatives, such asSwedish,Danish,Norwegian,Icelandic,andFaroese) andWest Germanic(all others, includingOld English,Old High German,Old Saxon,Old Dutch,Old Frisianand the numerous modern languages derived from these, including English, German, andDutch). Sometimes, a further grouping, that of theNorthwest Germaniclanguages, is posited as containing the North Germanic and West Germanic languages, reflecting the hypothesis that Gothic was the first attested language to branch off.

A minority opinion (the so-calledGotho-Nordichypothesis) instead groups North Germanic andEast Germanictogether. It is based partly on historical claims: for example,Jordanes,writing in the 6th century, ascribes to the Goths a Scandinavian origin. There are a few linguistically significant areas in which Gothic and Old Norse agree against the West Germanic languages.

Perhaps the most obvious is the evolution of theProto-Germanic*-jj-and *-ww-into Gothicddj(from Pre-Gothicggj?) andggw,and Old Norseggjandggv( "Holtzmann's Law"), in contrast to West Germanic where they remained as semivowels. Compare Modern Englishtrue,Germantreu,with Gothictriggws,Old Norsetryggr.

However, it has been suggested that these are, in fact, two separate and unrelated changes.A number of other posited similarities exist (for example, the existence of numerous inchoative verbs ending in -na,such as Gothicga-waknan,Old Norsevakna;and the absence of gemination beforej,or (in the case of old Norse) onlyggeminated beforej,e.g. Proto-Germanic *kunją> Gothickuni(kin), Old Norsekyn,but Old Englishcynn,Old High Germankunni). However, for the most part these representshared retentions,which are not valid means of grouping languages. That is, if a parent language splits into three daughters A, B and C, and C innovates in a particular area but A and B do not change, A and B will appear to agree against C. That shared retention in A and B is not necessarily indicative of any special relationship between the two.

Similar claims of similarities betweenOld Gutnish(Gutniska) andOld Icelandicare also based on shared retentions rather than shared innovations.

Another commonly-given example involves Gothic and Old Norse verbs with the ending-tin the 2nd person singular preterite indicative, and the West Germanic languages have-i.The ending-tcan regularly descend from the Proto-Indo-European perfect ending*-th₂e,while the origin of the West Germanic ending-i(which, unlike the-t-ending, unexpectedly combines with the zero-grade of the root as in the plural) is unclear, suggesting that it is an innovation of some kind, possibly an import from the optative. Another possibility is that this is an example of independent choices made from a doublet existing in the proto-language. That is, Proto-Germanic may have allowed either-tor-ito be used as the ending, either infree variationor perhaps depending on dialects within Proto-Germanic or the particular verb in question. Each of the three daughters independently standardized on one of the two endings and, by chance, Gothic and Old Norse ended up with the same ending.

Otherisoglosseshave led scholars to propose an early split between East andNorthwest Germanic.Furthermore, features shared by any two branches of Germanic do not necessarily require the postulation of aproto-languageexcluding the third, as the earlyGermanic languageswere all part of adialect continuumin the early stages of their development, andcontactbetween the three branches of Germanic was extensive.

Polish linguistWitold Mańczakargued that Gothic is closer to German (specificallyUpper German) than to Scandinavian and suggested that their ancestral homeland was located in the southernmost part of the Germanic territories, close to present-day Austria, rather than in Scandinavia.Frederik Kortlandthas agreed with Mańczak's hypothesis, stating: "I think that his argument is correct and that it is time to abandon Iordanes' classic view that the Goths came from Scandinavia."

Influence

The reconstructedProto-Slaviclanguage features several apparentborrowed wordsfrom East Germanic (presumably Gothic), such as*xlěbъ,"bread", vs. Gothichlaifs.

TheRomance languagesalso preserve several loanwords from Gothic, such asPortugueseagasalho(warm clothing), from Gothic*𐌲𐌰𐍃𐌰𐌻𐌾𐌰(*gasalja,"companion, comrade" );ganso(goose), from Gothic*𐌲𐌰𐌽𐍃(*gans,"goose" );luva(glove), from Gothic𐌻𐍉𐍆𐌰(lōfa,"palm of the hand" ); andtrégua(truce), from Gothic𐍄𐍂𐌹𐌲𐌲𐍅𐌰(triggwa,"treaty; covenant" ). Other examples include the Frenchbroder(to embroider), from Gothic *𐌱𐍂𐌿𐌶𐌳𐍉𐌽 (*bruzdon,"to embroider" );gaffe(gaffe), from Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍆𐌰𐌷 (gafāh,"catch; something which is caught" ); and the Italianbega(quarrel, dispute), from Gothic *𐌱𐌴𐌲𐌰 (*bēga,"quarrel" ).

Use in Romanticism and the Modern Age

J. R. R. Tolkien

Several linguists have made use of Gothic as a creative language. The most famous example is "Bagme Bloma"(" Flower of the Trees ") byJ. R. R. Tolkien,part ofSongs for the Philologists.It was published privately in 1936 for Tolkien and his colleagueE. V. Gordon.

Tolkien's use of Gothic is also known from a letter from 1965 to Zillah Sherring. When Sherring bought a copy ofThucydides'History of the Peloponnesian Warin Salisbury, she found strange inscriptions in it; after she found his name in it, she wrote him a letter and asked him if the inscriptions were his, including the longest one on the back, which was in Gothic. In his reply to her he corrected some of the mistakes in the text; he wrote for example thathundaishould behundaandþizo boko( "of those books" ), which he suggested should beþizos bokos( "of this book" ). A semantic inaccuracy of the text which he mentioned himself is the use oflisanfor read, while this wasussiggwan.Tolkien also made acalqueof his own name in Gothic in the letter, which according to him should beRuginwaldus Dwalakoneis.

Gothic is also known to have served as the primary inspiration for Tolkien'sinvented language,Taliskawhich, inhis legendarium,was the language spoken by the race of Men during theFirst Agebefore being displaced by another of his invented languages,Adûnaic.As of 2022,Tolkien's Taliska grammar has not been published.

Others

On 10 February 1841, theBayerische Akademie für Wissenschaftenpublished a reconstruction in Gothic of the Creed ofUlfilas.

The Thorvaldsen museum also has an alliterative poem, "Thunravalds Sunau",from 1841 byMassmann,the first publisher of the Skeireins, written in the Gothic language. It was read at a great feast dedicated to Thorvaldsen in the Gesellschaft der Zwanglosen inMunichon July 15, 1841. This event is mentioned byLudwig von Schornin the magazineKunstblattfrom the 19th of July, 1841.Massmann also translated the academiccommercium songGaudeamusinto Gothic in 1837.

In 2012, professor Bjarne Simmelkjær Hansen of theUniversity of Copenhagenpublished a translation into Gothic ofAdeste FidelesforRoots of Europe.

InFleurs du Mal,an online magazine for art and literature, the poemOvervloedof Dutch poet Bert Bevers appeared in a Gothic translation.

Alice in Wonderlandhas been translated into Gothic (Balþos Gadedeis Aþalhaidais in Sildaleikalanda) by David Carlton in 2015 and is published byMichael Everson.

Examples

TheLord's Prayerin Gothic:

𐌰𐍄𐍄𐌰

atta

/ˈatːa

Father

𐌿𐌽𐍃𐌰𐍂

unsar

ˈunsar

our,

𐌸𐌿

þu

θuː

thou

𐌹𐌽

in

in

in

𐌷𐌹𐌼𐌹𐌽𐌰𐌼

himinam

ˈhiminam

heaven,

𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌽𐌰𐌹

weihnai

ˈwiːhnɛː

be holy

𐌽𐌰𐌼𐍉

namo

ˈnamoː

name

𐌸𐌴𐌹𐌽

þein

θiːn

thy.

𐌵𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌹

qimai

ˈkʷimɛː

Come

𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌹𐌽𐌰𐍃𐍃𐌿𐍃

þiudinassus

ˈθiu̯ðinasːus

kingdom

𐌸𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃

þeins

θiːns

thy,

𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌸𐌰𐌹

wairþai

ˈwɛrθɛː

happen

𐍅𐌹𐌻𐌾𐌰

wilja

ˈwilja

will

𐌸𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃

þeins

θiːns

thy,

𐍃𐍅𐌴

swe

sweː

as

𐌹𐌽

in

in

in

𐌷𐌹𐌼𐌹𐌽𐌰

himina

ˈhimina

heaven

𐌾𐌰𐌷

jah

jah

also

𐌰𐌽𐌰

ana

ana

on

𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌸𐌰𐌹

airþai

ˈɛrθɛː

earth.

𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌹𐍆

hlaif

hlɛːɸ

Loaf

𐌿𐌽𐍃𐌰𐍂𐌰𐌽𐌰

unsarana

ˈunsarana

our,

𐌸𐌰𐌽𐌰

þana

ˈθana

the

𐍃𐌹𐌽𐍄𐌴𐌹𐌽𐌰𐌽

sinteinan

ˈsinˌtiːnan

daily,

𐌲𐌹𐍆

gif

ɡiɸ

give

𐌿𐌽𐍃

uns

uns

us

𐌷𐌹𐌼𐌼𐌰

himma

ˈhimːa

this

𐌳𐌰𐌲𐌰

daga

ˈdaɣa

day,

𐌾𐌰𐌷

jah

jah

and

𐌰𐍆𐌻𐌴𐍄

aflet

aɸˈleːt

forgive

𐌿𐌽𐍃

uns

uns

us,

𐌸𐌰𐍄𐌴𐌹

þatei

ˈθatiː

that

𐍃𐌺𐌿𐌻𐌰𐌽𐍃

skulans

ˈskulans

debtors

𐍃𐌹𐌾𐌰𐌹𐌼𐌰

sijaima

ˈsijɛːma

be,

𐍃𐍅𐌰𐍃𐍅𐌴

swaswe

ˈswasweː

just as

𐌾𐌰𐌷

jah

jah

also

𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍃

weis

ˈwiːs

we

𐌰𐍆𐌻𐌴𐍄𐌰𐌼

afletam

aɸˈleːtam

forgive

𐌸𐌰𐌹𐌼

þaim

θɛːm

those

𐍃𐌺𐌿𐌻𐌰𐌼

skulam

ˈskulam

debtors

𐌿𐌽𐍃𐌰𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌼

unsaraim

ˈunsarɛːm

our.

𐌾𐌰𐌷

jah

jah

And

𐌽𐌹

ni

ni

not

𐌱𐍂𐌹𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌹𐍃

briggais

ˈbriŋɡɛːs

bring

𐌿𐌽𐍃

uns

uns

us

𐌹𐌽

in

in

in

𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌹𐍃𐍄𐌿𐌱𐌽𐌾𐌰𐌹

fraistubnjai

ˈɸrɛːstuβnijɛː

temptation,

𐌰𐌺

ak

ak

but

𐌻𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌴𐌹

lausei

ˈlɔːsiː

loose

𐌿𐌽𐍃

uns

uns

us

𐌰𐍆

af

aɸ

from

𐌸𐌰𐌼𐌼𐌰

þamma

ˈθamːa

the

𐌿𐌱𐌹𐌻𐌹𐌽

ubilin

ˈuβilin

evil.

𐌿𐌽𐍄𐌴

unte

ˈunteː

For

𐌸𐌴𐌹𐌽𐌰

þeina

ˈθiːna

thine

𐌹𐍃𐍄

ist

ist

is

𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌽𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌳𐌹

þiudangardi

ˈθiu̯ðanˌɡardi

kingdom

𐌾𐌰𐌷

jah

jah

and

𐌼𐌰𐌷𐍄𐍃

mahts

mahts

might

𐌾𐌰𐌷

jah

jah

and

𐍅𐌿𐌻𐌸𐌿𐍃

wulþus

ˈwulθus

glory

𐌹𐌽

in

in

in

𐌰𐌹𐍅𐌹𐌽𐍃

aiwins

ˈɛːwins/

eternity.

𐌰𐍄𐍄𐌰 𐌿𐌽𐍃𐌰𐍂 𐌸𐌿 𐌹𐌽 𐌷𐌹𐌼𐌹𐌽𐌰𐌼 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌽𐌰𐌹 𐌽𐌰𐌼𐍉 𐌸𐌴𐌹𐌽 𐌵𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌹 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌹𐌽𐌰𐍃𐍃𐌿𐍃 𐌸𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌸𐌰𐌹 𐍅𐌹𐌻𐌾𐌰 𐌸𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 𐍃𐍅𐌴 𐌹𐌽 𐌷𐌹𐌼𐌹𐌽𐌰 𐌾𐌰𐌷 𐌰𐌽𐌰 𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌸𐌰𐌹 𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌹𐍆 𐌿𐌽𐍃𐌰𐍂𐌰𐌽𐌰 𐌸𐌰𐌽𐌰 𐍃𐌹𐌽𐍄𐌴𐌹𐌽𐌰𐌽 𐌲𐌹𐍆 𐌿𐌽𐍃 𐌷𐌹𐌼𐌼𐌰 𐌳𐌰𐌲𐌰 𐌾𐌰𐌷 𐌰𐍆𐌻𐌴𐍄 𐌿𐌽𐍃 𐌸𐌰𐍄𐌴𐌹 𐍃𐌺𐌿𐌻𐌰𐌽𐍃 𐍃𐌹𐌾𐌰𐌹𐌼𐌰 𐍃𐍅𐌰𐍃𐍅𐌴 𐌾𐌰𐌷 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍃 𐌰𐍆𐌻𐌴𐍄𐌰𐌼 𐌸𐌰𐌹𐌼 𐍃𐌺𐌿𐌻𐌰𐌼 𐌿𐌽𐍃𐌰𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌼 𐌾𐌰𐌷 𐌽𐌹 𐌱𐍂𐌹𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌹𐍃 𐌿𐌽𐍃 𐌹𐌽 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌹𐍃𐍄𐌿𐌱𐌽𐌾𐌰𐌹 𐌰𐌺 𐌻𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌴𐌹 𐌿𐌽𐍃 𐌰𐍆 𐌸𐌰𐌼𐌼𐌰 𐌿𐌱𐌹𐌻𐌹𐌽 𐌿𐌽𐍄𐌴 𐌸𐌴𐌹𐌽𐌰 𐌹𐍃𐍄 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌽𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌳𐌹 𐌾𐌰𐌷 𐌼𐌰𐌷𐍄𐍃 𐌾𐌰𐌷 𐍅𐌿𐌻𐌸𐌿𐍃 𐌹𐌽 𐌰𐌹𐍅𐌹𐌽𐍃

atta unsar þu in himinam weihnai namo þein qimai þiudinassus þeins wairþai wilja þeins swe in himina jah ana airþai hlaif unsarana þana sinteinan gif uns himma daga jah aflet uns þatei skulans sijaima swaswe jah weis afletam þaim skulam unsaraim jah ni briggais uns in fraistubnjai ak lausei uns af þamma ubilin unte þeina ist þiudangardi jah mahts jah wulþus in aiwins

/ˈatːa ˈunsar θuː in ˈhiminam ˈwiːhnɛː ˈnamoː θiːn ˈkʷimɛː ˈθiu̯ðinasːus θiːns ˈwɛrθɛː ˈwilja θiːns sweː in ˈhimina jah ana ˈɛrθɛː hlɛːɸ ˈunsarana ˈθana ˈsinˌtiːnan ɡiɸ uns ˈhimːa ˈdaɣa jah aɸˈleːt uns ˈθatiː ˈskulans ˈsijɛːma ˈswasweː jah ˈwiːs aɸˈleːtam θɛːm ˈskulam ˈunsarɛːm jah ni ˈbriŋɡɛːs uns in ˈɸrɛːstuβnijɛː ak ˈlɔːsiː uns aɸ ˈθamːa ˈuβilin ˈunteː ˈθiːna ist ˈθiu̯ðanˌɡardi jah mahts jah ˈwulθus in ˈɛːwins/

Father our, thou in heaven, {be holy} name thy. Come kingdom thy, happen will thy, as in heaven also on earth. Loaf our, the daily, give us this day, and forgive us, that debtors be, {just as} also we forgive those debtors our. And not bring us in temptation, but loose us from the evil. For thine is kingdom and might and glory in eternity.

See also

• Geats
• Gutes
• List of Germanic languages
• Modern Gutnish
• Name of the Goths
• Old Gutnish
• Thurneysen's law
• Vandalic language

Sources

• G. H. Balg:A Gothic grammar with selections for reading and a glossary.New York: Westermann & Company, 1883 (archive.org).
• G. H. Balg:A comparative glossary of the Gothic language with especial reference to English and German.New York: Westermann & Company, 1889 (archive.org).
• Bennett, William Holmes (1980).An Introduction to the Gothic Language.New York: Modern Language Association of America.
• W. Braune and E. Ebbinghaus,Gotische Grammatik,17th edition 1966, Tübingen
  • 20th edition, 2004.ISBN3-484-10852-5(hbk),ISBN3-484-10850-9(pbk)
• Fausto Cercignani,"The Development of the Gothic Short/Lax Subsystem", inZeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung,93/2, 1979, pp. 272–278.
• Fausto Cercignani,"The Reduplicating Syllable and Internal Open Juncture in Gothic", inZeitschrift für vergleichende Sprachforschung,93/1, 1979, pp. 126–132.
• Fausto Cercignani,"TheEnfants Terriblesof Gothic 'Breaking':hiri, aiþþau,etc. ", inThe Journal of Indo-European Studies,12/3–4, 1984, pp. 315–344.
• Fausto Cercignani,"The Development of the Gothic Vocalic System", inGermanic Dialects: Linguistic and Philological Investigations,edited by Bela Brogyanyi and Thomas Krömmelbein, Amsterdam and Philadelphia, Benjamins, 1986, pp. 121–151.
• N. Everett, "Literacy from Late Antiquity to the early Middle Ages, c. 300–800 AD",The Cambridge Handbook of Literacy,ed. D. Olson and N. Torrance (Cambridge, 2009), pp. 362–385.
• Carla Falluomini,"Traces of Wulfila's Bible Translation in Visigothic Gaul",Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik80 (2020) pp. 5–24.
• Kortlandt, Frederik (2001)."The origin of the Goths"(PDF).Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik.55:21–25.doi:10.1163/18756719-055-01-90000004.
• W. Krause,Handbuch des Gotischen,3rd edition, 1968, Munich.
• Thomas O. Lambdin,An Introduction to the Gothic Language,Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2006, Eugene, Oregon.
• Miller, D. Gary (2019).The Oxford Gothic Grammar.Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0198813590.
• F. Mossé,Manuel de la langue gotique,Aubier Éditions Montaigne, 1942
• E Prokosch,A Comparative Germanic Grammar,1939, The Linguistic Society of America for Yale University.
• Irmengard Rauch,Gothic Language: Grammar, Genetic Provenance and Typology, Readings,Peter Lang Publishing Inc; 2nd Revised edition, 2011
• C. Rowe, "The problematic Holtzmann’s Law in Germanic",Indogermanische Forschungen,Bd. 108, 2003. 258–266.
• Skeat, Walter William(1868).A Moeso-Gothic glossary.London: Asher & Co.
• Stearns, MacDonald (1978).Crimean Gothic. Analysis and Etymology of the Corpus.Saratoga, California: Anma Libri.ISBN0-915838-45-1.
• Wilhelm Streitberg,Die gotische Bibel,4th edition, 1965, Heidelberg
• Joseph Wright,Grammar of the Gothic language,2nd edition, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1966
  • 2nd edition, 1981 reprint by Oxford University Press,ISBN0-19-811185-1

External links

• Gotisch im WWWPortal for information on Gothic (in German)
• Germanic Lexicon Project– early (Public Domain) editions of several of the references.
• Texts:
  • The Gothic Bible in Latin Alpha bet
  • The Gothic Bible in Ulfilan script (Unicode text) from Wikisource
  • Titushas Streitberg'sGotische Bibeland Crimean Gothic material after Busbecq.
  • Wulfila Project
  • Skeireins ProjectA website with the Skeireins including translations in Latin, German, French, Swedish, English, Dutch, Greek, Italian and Icelandic.
• Gothic Onlineby Todd B. Krause and Jonathan Slocum, free online lessons at theLinguistics Research Centerat theUniversity of Texas at Austin
• Gothic ReadingsVideo clips in Gothic language
• Gothic basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
• Gotica BononiensaA page with information about the discovered Bononiensa fragment from 2013
• glottothèque – Ancient Indo-European Grammars online,an online collection of introductory videos to Ancient Indo-European languages produced by the University of Göttingen