Gothic grammar

The grammar of the Gothic language is the oldest almost completely attested grammar of a single Germanic language, plus the only grammar from the East Germanic branch of the language. It is mainly derived from the Wulfilabibel . By the early tradition of the Gothic is the grammar of particular importance, since the Gothic to the Proto-Germanic is both a sound as in the morphological range significantly closer than the other old Germanic languages.

The Gothic noun

The Gothic noun is declined after case and number.

Fundamental relation type

Gothic is a morphological accusative language .

Nominal inflection

In the nominal inflection (the declination) there are 4 or 6 morphological cases. Sometimes vocative and instrumental (remainder) are not added due to their dwindling.

Nominative

The nominative is the most common of the cases used in the Gothic language. The subject (subject of the sentence) is in the nominative and occurs in almost every complete sentence. It can only appear next to a verb that is inflected in person and number (Latin numerus ) (finite verb). The nominative is a case that either designates the subject as the carrier of the action (active clause) or the subject as the sufferer of the action (passive clause).

Example sentences

Sa hunds ni beitiþ (this / the dog does not bite).
þai wulfos beitand (these / the wolves bite).
Sa þiudans gibiþ máiþm (this / the king gives (a) gift).
Sa mats gibada (the meat is given).

Genitive

The genitive is usually used to represent possession or a close relationship between nouns. In Gothic there are (as in German) various suffix morphemes that characterize the genitive, depending on the declension class, gender and number:

Þiudanis barna (children of (a) king).

Þiudane barna (children (of) kings).

Þis þiudanis barna (children of this / the king).

Þize þiudane barna (children of these kings).

Þo barna þis þiudanis (The children of this / the king).

Þo barna þize þiudane (The children of these kings).

dative

As in German, the dative is used to denote an indirect object, e.g. B .:

Sa þiudan's gaf amma barna maiþm. (The king gave the children a gift.)
Þai þiudanos gebun þaim skalkam silubr. (The kings gave silver to the servants.)

Sometimes it can be used to name a direct object in certain verbs; this includes the verbs tekan "touch" and waírpan "throw".

Sa Skalks taítok þamma barna. (The servant touched the child.)
Þata barn warp þamma stáina. (The child threw the stone.)

Mostly it is used together with prepositions. Some prepositions that require the dative case are:

af (from, since)
* afar (after)
* ana (on, on, for)
* at (to, at, to)
* bi (to, at, according, to, because of)
you (to, for)
faura (before (temporally))
fram (from, since, from-her)
in (in, on (temporal), open, with, closed, for)
miþ (with)
* uf (open)
* ufar (above, beyond)
us (from, since, from, from-to)

The prepositions marked with an asterisk can also require accusative.

accusative

In the Gothic language, the accusative marks the semantic role that does not act actively but suffers something.

Þai Gumans saíhvand þans ƕaito stainans. (The men see the white stones.)
Þai Barna ni saihvand þana giba. (The children do not see the present.)
sa Skalks ni swariþ Aiþans. (The servant does not (actually never) swear oaths.)

Instrumental

The instrumental is only preserved in remainders and fixed prepositions. This morphological case disappeared earlier than in most other old Germanic languages (even in Old High German it is more or less preserved). See, for example, þe [h] “with it, with this”; hey "with whom"; ni þeei "not, as ...".

vocative

The opposite is true for the vocative, which has been lost in all other Germanic languages but is still preserved in Gothic (only with regard to the German language is discussed whether this still exists and only coincides completely with the nominative. See vocative ) . In Gothic, the vocative is completely preserved in both the singular and the plural, although the plural is used less often. In Gothic it is sometimes the same as the nominative and sometimes the accusative in its endings. However, he has no article; as an article of the vocative one could consider “o”, which is usually left out. For example with “Oh Sunu” (O son).

Genera (gender)

Gothic knows three sexes, but they are not natural sexes; d. i.e. the system corresponds to that of German:

Feminine (female) e.g. B. So Giba (the gift).
Masculine (male) e.g. B. Sa Stains (the stone).
Neuter (neuter) z. B. þata Triu (the wood).

Numbers

In the category of numbers, a distinction was made between two categories:

Singular (singular).
Plural (plural).

A special case exists with the dual (two-number), which has been retained in the verbal inflection (the conjugation), but not with the nouns.

Personal pronouns

The declension of personal pronouns in Gothic looks like this:

number	person	genus	Nominative	accusative	Genitive	dative
Singular	1.		ik	mik	meina	mis
	2.		þu	þik	þeina	þus
	3.	Masculine	is	ina	ize	imma
		Feminine	si	ija	izos	izái
		neuter	ita	ita	is	imma
dual	1.		wit	ugkis	ugkara	ugkis
dual	2.		jit	igqis	igqara	ugkis
Plural	1.		know	us	unsara	us
	2.		jus	izwis	izwara	izwis
	3.	Masculine	ice	ins	ize	in the
		Feminine	ijos	ijos	izo	in the
		neuter	ija	ija	ize	in the

What is remarkable about the Gothic pronouns is their archaic appearance, they combine many elements of the Latin pronouns (e.g. 3rd person pl.) And West Germanic pronouns: On the one hand, the dual of Old English, on the other hand, especially the 1st person singular ( * k <* ch) of Old High German . This made Gothic personal pronouns particularly interesting from a linguistic perspective. B. as a starting point for the beginning of the reconstruction of an Indo-European original language in the 19th century.

relative pronoun

In Gothic there is still no real relative pronoun; Relative clauses are introduced by a combination of demonstrative pronouns / articles (sa, so, þata) and the particle “ ei ”. In most cases the resulting word is simple: sa + ei = sa ei ".., the"; þáim + ei = þáim ei "to those who ..".

In some cases, however, there is " sandhi, " a change where the elements come together. There are two types of sandhi associated with these pronouns:

Omission of the a at the beginning of many
Voicing: the final s becomes z

	Masculine		neuter		Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	Sa ei	þai ei	þat ei	þo ei	So egg	þoz egg
Genitive	þiz ei	þiz ei	þiz ei	þiz ei	þizoz ei	þizo ei
dative	þamm ei	þaim ei	þamm ei	þaim ei	þizai ei	þizom ei
accusative	þan egg	þanz egg	þat ei	þo ei	þo ei	þoz egg

Interrogative pronouns

They are still relatively strong in Gothic (singular). Old High German had a similar constellation (this was, however, greatly reduced in the development of New High German ).

On closer inspection, the interrogative pronouns of the neuter show an irregularity: They are not, as expected, ƕata , but ƕa ; in comparison, the pronoun i ta and the article þa ta .

	Singular
	Male	Really	Female
Nominative	ƕas	ƕa	ƕō
accusative	ƕana	ƕa	ƕō
Genitive	ƕis	ƕis	* ƕizos
dative	ƕamma	ƕamma	ƕizai

the plural is only known in one pronoun: ƕanzuh .

Ex: ƕanzuh: insandida ins twans ƕanzuh (he sent her on / away from two and two)

possessive pronouns

The possessive pronouns are possessive adjectives. These are used much more frequently than the genitive of personal pronouns in the first and second person.
They usually follow the noun
they are referring to and agree with it in gender, number, and case. There are:

mine: mine

þone: yours

ugkar: our (dual)

igqar: your (dual) (but see Bavarian "enker" 'your'!)

unsar: our (plural)

izwar: your (plural)

These adjectives are never weakly declined. In ugkar, igqar, unsar and izwar the -s is missing at the end of the nominative singular masculine. Furthermore, you can never add the -ata in the nominative and accusative neuter to these four adjectives in the plural (unsarata, igqarata, etc.). The neutral form is in these cases with the nom. Sg. Mask. identical, without ending. Otherwise the adjectives are declined just like any other strong adjective: Skalksos mein ái "my servants", in razn þein amma "in your house" etc.

To these adjectives we can add sein . This adjective is rare because it has no nominative, only accusative, genitive and dative. To be means "to be, you" (3rd person Sg. + Pl.) Without distinction of gender or number. However, it can only be used to refer to the subject of the sentence. Compare:

Sa manna sahv dog seinana. The man saw his (own) dog.
Sa manna sahv dog is. The man saw his dog (from someone else).
Þái gumans drugkun wine seinata. The men drank their (own) wine.
Þái gumans drugkun wine ize. The men drank their wine (from other people).

Example declination my-

	Masculine		neuter		Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	my s	my ai	my ata / my	my a	my a	my os
Genitive	my is	my ize	my is	my ize	my áizos	my áizo
dative	my amma	my aim	my amma	my aim	my ai	my aim
accusative	my ana	my ans	my ata / my	my os	my a	my os

Definite article

In Gothic there is only one specific article that is also a demonstrative pronoun. It is astonishingly similar to the German definite article and also the demonstrative article in handling. With this specific article, which is also a demonstrative pronoun, one can understand particularly well the development of specific articles and demonstrative pronouns in the expiring Old Germanic or in Old High German, Old English and Old Norse. One can still draw parallels with the Icelandic demonstrative pronouns (cf.Isl. Þessi and got. Þize)

	Masculine		neuter		Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	Sat	þai	þata	þo	So	þos
Genitive	þis	þize	þis	þize	þizos	þizo
dative	þamma	þaim	þamma	þaim	þizai	þizom
accusative	þana	þans	þata	þo	þo	þos

In addition, one can now list the Old English definite article and the Old English demonstrative pronouns for comparison.

Definite article

	Singular			Plural
	Male	Really	Female
Nominative	Se	þæt	sēo	þā
accusative	þone	þæt	þā	þā
Genitive	þæs	þæs	þæs	þāra, þǣra
dative	þǣm, þām	þǣm, þām	þǣre	þǣm, þām

Demonstrative pronouns

	Singular			Plural
	Male	Really	Female
Nominative	þes	þis	þēos	þās
accusative	þisne	þis	þās	þās
Genitive	þis (s) it	þis (s) it	þisse, þisre	þissa, isra
dative	þis (s) um	þis (s) um	þisse	þis (s) um

There is no indefinite article in Gothic.

noun

In the inflected forms of the noun, a distinction must be made between the inflected stem and the case endings. According to the starting point of the flexion stem, a distinction is made in Gothic between a vocalic (after Jacob Grimm : strong) and a consonantic (after Jacob Grimm: weak) declination.

Due to late Germanic and pre-Gothic developments, the end of the inflected stem is not recognizable in every form of declension. In the vowel stems it can still be seen in the dative plural and accusative plural: a -stems dag a m , dag a ns ↔ ō -stems gib o m , gib o s ↔ i -stems gast i m , gast i ns ↔ u -Trains sun u m , sun u ns . In the case of the consonant stems , the inflected stem appears most clearly in front of endings that begin with a vowel, see: gum an e , qin on o , manag an o.

Vowel declination

a -strains (mask. and neutr.)

The Gothic a -stems, which contain both masculine and neuter, set urgerm. a strains and ultimately uridg. o tribes continued, so that they can be compared with the Latin and ancient Greek o tribes (type: Latin lupus 'wolf', Greek lúkos 'wolf'). At the urgerm. a tribes there was a change in the suffix between * - a - and * - e - (<uridg. * o : * e ), which in Got. as - a -: - i - is continued. The a -stems fall into three classes due to phonetic developments:

pure a strains
i̯a strains
u̯a strains

Pure a strains

Paradigm of the masculine and neutral a -stems: dags m. 'Day', hlaifs m. 'Bread', waurd n. 'Word', haubiþ n. 'Main':

	m. dags , hlaifs				n. waurd , haubiþ
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
Nominative	dag s	hlaif s	dag os	hlaib os	waurd	haubiþ	waurd a	haubid a
Genitive	dag is	hlaib is	dag e	hlaib e	waurd is	haubid is	waurd e	haubid e
dative	dag a	hlaib a	dag on	hlaib am	waurd a	haubid a	waurd on	haubid am
accusative	dag	hlaif	dag ans	hlaib ans	waurd	haubiþ	waurd a	haubid a
vocative	dag

The regular alternation between f : b (nom.sg. Laufs * 'leaf': nom.pl. laubos ), þ : d (nom.sg. liuhaþ 'light': gen.sg. liuhadis ) and s : z (nom .sg. riqis 'darkness': gen.sg. riqizis ) is the result of the Gothic final hardening .

i̯a strain

The masculine i̯a stems separate because of an ending difference in those with a short stem syllable and those with a long stem syllable (ultimately due to Sievers' law ). The polysyllabic stems behave like the long-syllable stems. In the case of the neutral i̯a tribes, this difference in Gothic no longer exists; here the short-syllable type has prevailed.

Paradigm of the masculine and neutral i̯a stems: 1) shortsyllabic harjis m. 'Army', kuni n. 'Gender'; 2) long- syllable hairdeis m. 'Shepherd', reiki n. 'Kingdom':

	m. harjis , hairdeis				n. kuni , reiki
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
Nominative	harji s	hairdei s	harj os	hairdj os	kuni	reiki	kunj a	reikj a
Genitive	harj is	hairde is	harj e	hairdj e	kunj is	reikj is	kunj e	reikj e
dative	harj a	hairdj a	harj am	hairdj am	kunj a	reikj a	kunj am	reikj am
accusative	hari	hairdi	harj ans	hairdj ans	kuni	reiki	kunj a	reikj a
vocative	hari	hairdi

u̯a strains

The u̯a stems are also differentiated from the pure a stems because of their special sounds . The shortsyllabic u̯a -stems have the sound m in the nominative singular. - us , n. - u , the long-syllable on the other hand the sound m. - ws , n. - w .

Paradigm of the masculine and neutral u̯a tribes: þius * m. 'Servant, servant', waurstw n. 'Work':

Short syllable nouns (with short vowel)

	þius , waurstw
	Singular		Plural
Nominative	þiu s	waurstw	þiw os	waurstw a
Genitive	þiw is	waurstw is	þiw e	waurstw e
dative	þiw a	waurstw a	þiw on	waurstw am
accusative	þiu	waurstw	þiw ans	waurstw a
vocative	þiu

The word nom.sg. aiws * '(life) time, eternity' fluctuates in the declination between a - and i -st .: gen.sg. aiwis , dat.sg. aiwa , akk.sg. aiw : dat.pl. aiwam (7 documents), akk.pl. aiwins (Mt. 6:13).

ō tribes (fem.)

The got. Ō -strains, which only contain feminine, put urgerm. ō tribes and ultimately uridg. eh₂ trunks away. The suffix ablaut, which was only marginal in Ur-Indo-European, no longer plays a role in Ur-Germanic. A distinction is made between the pure ō strains, the u̯ō strains and the i̯ō strains. The u̯ō and the shortsyllabic i̯ō stems show no deviations from the pure ō stems and can therefore be treated with these; It is different with the long- syllable i̯ō tribes.

Pure ō , u̯ō and short-syllable i̯ō stems

Paradigm of the fem. Ō -, u̯ō - and shortsyllabic iämō stems: 1) Pure ō stems: giba 'gift', 2) u̯ō stems: triggwa 'loyalty'; 3) i̯ō tribes: sunja 'truth'.

	giba , triggwa , sunja
	Singular			Plural
Nominative	give a	triggw a	sunj a	give os	triggerw os	sunj os
Genitive	give os	triggerw os	sunj os	give o	triggw o	sunj o
dative	give ai	triggw ai	sunj ai	give om	triggw om	sunj om
accusative	give a	triggw a	sunj a	give os	triggerw os	sunj os

Long- syllable i̯ō stems

The words with a long root syllable and those with the suffix * i̯ō in the third syllable go after this class , as well as - irregularly from the inner-Gothic point of view - also mawi 'girl' and þiwi 'maid'. Paradigm: bandi 'fetter', mawi 'girl':

	bandi , mawi
	Singular		Plural
Nominative	band i	maw i	band jos	mau jos
Genitive	band jos	mau jos	band jo	mau yo
dative	tied yes	mau yeah	band jom	mau jom
accusative	tied yes	mau yes	band jos	mau jos

The long-syllable Gothic i̯ō stems continue a primeval Indo-European type, in which the suffix in the nominative and accusative singular appeared in the fading form * - ih₂ , in the other cases, however, in the full form * - i̯eh₂ .

U-trunk (all genera)

The U trunk is very different from the other two strong tribes. As suspected, he does not have a * Ju tribe or a Wu tribe. Furthermore, only two neuter nouns are known that belong to the U-tribe, namely * Faíhu (fortune) and * Paíru ( sting ) (also * qaíru according to different readings ). Probably also * leiþu (fruit wine).

	Sunus, –jus son m.				Handus, –us hand f.				Faihu, ?? To have.
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
Nominative	Sunus / Sunáus	–Us / off	Sunjus	–Jus	Handus	–Us	Handus	–Us	Faihu	-U	Unknown
Genitive	Sunjus	–Jus	Suniwe	–Iwe	Handus	–Us	Handiwe	–Iwe	Faihaus	-out	Unknown
dative	Sunau	-Au	Sunum	-around	Handau	-Au	Quick	-around	Faihau	-	Unknown
accusative	Sunu / Sunau	-U	Sununs	-us	Handu	-U	Handuns	-us	Faíhu	-U	Unknown
vocative	Sunu / Sunau	–U / au			Handu	-u			Unknown

Weak nouns

Weak male / neuter an-strain

	Guma, -ns man m.				Hairto, -ns heart n.
	Singular		Plural		Singular		Plural
Nominative	Guma	-	Gumans	-ans	Haírto	-	Haírtana	–Ana
Genitive	Gumins	–Ins	Gumans	-Ane	Haírtins	–Ins	Haírtane	-Ane
dative	Gumin	-in	Gumam	-at the	Hartin	-in	Haírtam	-at the
accusative	Guman	–N	Gumans	–Ans	Haírto	-	Haírtona	–Ona
vocative	Guma	-			Haírto

Weak female on-strain

	tuggo, –ns tongue f.
	Singular		Plural
Nominative	Tuggo [tuːŋgɔ] or [tʊŋgoː]	-	Tuggons	–Ons
Genitive	Tuggons	–Ons	Tuggono	-Ono
dative	Tuggon	-On	Tuggom	–Om
accusative	Tuggon	-On	Tuggons	–Ons

Verbs

As in all Germanic languages, verbs are divided into forms, into weak and strong verbs.

Almost all Gothic verbs are based on the Primitive Indo-European principle of so-called "thematic" conjugation inflected , that is, put a so-called thematic vowel between root and flexion suffix a. The theme vowels reconstructed for Indo-European are * e and * o , in Gothic they are further developed to i and u . The other, “athematic” conjugation, in which suffixes are added directly to the root, only exists in Gothic with the verb wisan “to be” and with some classes of weakly declined verbs (e.g. the verb salbôn “anoint” retains its originating salbô- always unchanged at there are no signs topic added vowels such. as at Bairan (s. u.)). In the present indicative, as in all Indo-European languages, the athematic verb wisan shows many irregularities due to the alternation of normal and shrinkage levels:

Present indicative: ik im, þu is, is is; wis si (j) um, jus si (j) uþ, ice are

As in all Germanic languages, there are two groups of verbs that are referred to as "strong" and "weak". Weak verbs form the past tense with the suffix -da / -ta , strong verbs with ablaut :

weak: salbôn - salbôda - salbôdedun - salboþs, "anoint - I / he anointed - they anointed - anointed"

strong: qiman - qam - qemun - qumans, "come - I / he came - they came - came"

Archaisms

The Gothic has preserved some ancient elements from the primeval Indo-European period: On the one hand, two dual forms ("we both" and "you both"), on the other hand a synthetic (medio) passive in the present tense:

Dual indicative:

baíros "we both wear", sôkjôs "we both look for"

báirats "you both wear", sôkjats "you both look for"

Dual optative :

baíraiwa "we both deceive " , salbôwa "we both anointed"

baíraits "you both wear", salbôts "you both anoint"

Dual imperative :

baírats! “You both should wear!”, Salbôts! "You both should anoint!"

Dual past tense :

Indicative: bêru, bêruts / salbôdêdu, salbôdêduts

Optional : bêrweiwa, already / salbôdeiwa, salbôdeits

Passive indicative :

1st and 3rd person singular: baírada / salbôda "will | be carried / anointed"

2nd person singular: baíraza / salbôza "are carried / anointed"

in the full plural: baíranda / salbônda "are | will be carried / anointed"

Passive Optative :

1st and 3rd person singular: baíraidau / habaidau "would be worn / had"

2nd person singular: baíraidau / habaizau "are worn / had"

in the full plural: baíraindau / habaindau "are | are worn / had"

Notes: The first person has been replaced in the passive by the 3rd person singular. In the plural, the 3rd person replaces the we and you form. In the following, the dual and passive forms are not discussed further!

Strong verbs

Class I (a / b) (ei-ai-i / ai-i / ai)

		Singular
infinitive		greipan
Present participle		greipands
past participle		gripans
		First person	Second person	Third person
		ik	þu	is / si / ita
active	present	greipa	greipis	greipiþ
active	past	gráip	gráipt	gráip
Optional	present	greipau	greipais	greipai
Optional	past	gripjau	gripeis	gripi
passive	indicative	greipada	greipaza	greipada
passive	Optional	greipaidau	greipaizau	greipaidau
imperative		-	greip	greipadau
		dual
		First person	Second person
		wit	jut
active	present	greipôs	greipats	-
active	past	gripu	griputs	-
Optional	present	greipaiwa	greipaits	-
Optional	past	gripeiwa	grip side	-
passive	indicative	Greipanda	Greipanda	-
passive	Optional	greipaindau	greipaindau	-
imperative		-	greipats	-
		Plural
		First person	Second person	Third person
		know	jus	ice / ija / ijos
active	present	greipam	greipiþ	greipand
active	past	gripum	gripuþ	gripun
Optional	present	greipaima	greipaiþ	greipaina
Optional	past	gripeima	gripeiþ	gripeina
passive	indicative	Greipanda	Greipanda	Greipanda
passive	Optional	greipaindau	greipaindau	greipaindau
imperative		greipam	greipiþ	greipandau

swell

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