Flirn Kirgs

Notes on my Gothic language skill.

I am an amateur linguist and historian that began studying the Gothic language in April of 2022. I've studied German as part of my language course at school, which has assisted me in learning Gothic. I studied it casually until June of 2023, since then I've made a much more dedicated approach to learning it. I've progressed in my understanding of the Gothic language, however I don't have a perfect understanding however I am perfectly willing to accept corrections. The parts I expect to be corrected most are: word order (SOV), use of dative and genitive in sentences that use multiple cases, passive present aspect, use of interrogative and demonstrative determiners, and participles.

Translation Notes

Neologisms

My translation philosophy for neologisms is to consider 'what a Goth would think?'

Goths were active from circa 200 CE to circa 800 CE. Words should be calqued backwards to the earliest period a Goth could have written about them. Which means Germanic words should be traced back to Old English, Old Norse, and Old High German; Latin words should use late Latin variants (classical available on Wikipedia); Greek words should use Byzantine Greek (4th century Koine on Wikipedia). Proper names are only Gothacised, but are not calqued because if a Goth had met that person they would be writing that specific person's name, not the root name.

For example: the name 'John' should be transliterated as 𐌳𐌾𐍉𐌽, even though it can be traced back to the attested Gothic name of 𐌹̈𐍉𐌷𐌰𐌽𐌽𐌴𐍃. 'York' on the other hand can be traced back to the Roman name 'Eboracum' and can be translated into '𐌴𐌱𐍉𐍂𐌰𐌺𐍃'.

I will not alter other people's neologisms even if they conflict with mine since while I believe in my philosophy, it is not more or less correct than anyone else's. That said I will defend my original neologisms.

Numerals

The primary issue with the Gothic numeral system (like the Latin and Greek numerals) is numbers beyond the largest letter. One solution is to use an over line, but in Unicode you can only put one on top so it's not viable for larger numerals beyond 1,000,000. There are two solutions, either using powers like Ἀπολλώνιος ὁ Περγαῖος did; but the problem there is that using letters as powers is not easy for most people to write out on computers. So I choose to use the modern system of using an apostrophe for multiples of 1,000.

Lesser used notes on writing.

Most users do not use '𐌹̈'. In the Wikipedia page describing the '𐌹̈' it says it's only used to differentiate between consecutive vowels in different words given the use of Scripto Continua by the sources. But the 'Codex Argenteus' clearly uses 𐌹̈ every time 𐌹 begins a word, even when the previous word ends in a consonant.

Key resources are:

airus himma daga dictionary

Wiktionary

Glosbe

wulfila bible

Wikipedia articles on the Gothic

Neologisms

𐍃𐌺𐌴𐌹𐍂𐌱𐍂𐌿𐌽𐌽𐌰 (M-an) - Sherborne, Sherborne came from scir and burnna meaning clear stream. I traced scir to it's Gothic cousin 𐍃𐌺𐌴𐌹𐍂𐍃 meaning the same thing. Burnna I traced to it's Gothic cousin 𐌱𐍂𐌿𐌽𐌽𐌰 meaning the same thing.

𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌹𐌻𐌹𐍃𐌺 (-a) - English

𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌹𐌻𐌰𐌻𐌰𐌽𐌳 (N-a) - England. used by the Gothic wikipedia

𐌳𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌽𐍃𐌰𐍄𐍃 (Root) - Dorset, Dorset comes from O. English Dornsæte. The etymology past that has no Germanic origin so has no Gothic cousins.

𐍃𐌿𐌼𐍉𐍂𐍃𐌰𐍄𐌹𐍃 (Root) - Somerset

𐌳𐌰𐌹𐍆𐌰𐌹𐌽𐌹𐍃 (Root) - Devon

𐍃𐌰𐍂𐍅𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌲𐍃 (f-Root) - Salisbury

𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌲𐌾𐌰-𐌱𐌰𐌳𐌿𐍃 - civil war. No Gothic word for it nor the word civil so I used the German word and calqued it as civilian war

Retroactive nuance

The word Baurgs can mean town or castle according to wiktionary. Since there's no dedicated word for castle I use the term bibaurgeins which just means fortified place instead.