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Bill Thayer |
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I propose briefly to indicate the relation of the alphabet of Ulfilas both to the Runic Futhorc of his forefathers and to the Greek and Latin alphabets of his teachers.
As is well known, the Runic alphabets varied considerably both in the number and shapes of their letters; but we shall probably not be far wrong in supposing that the 'Futhorc' in use among the Goths, when Ulfilas was a child, was something like this: —
ᚠ | F |
ᚢ | U |
ᚦ | Th |
ᚨ | O or Ae |
ᚱ | R |
ᚲ | C |
ᚷ | G |
ᚹ | W |
ᚺ | H |
ᚾ | N |
ᛁ | I |
ᛃ | Y |
ᛇ | Eo |
ᛒ | P |
ᛉ | A |
ᛋ | S |
ᛏ | T |
ᛒ | B |
ᛖ | E |
ᛗ | M |
ᛚ | L |
ᛜ | NG |
ᛞ | D |
ᛟ | O |
Twenty-four letters in all.
The alphabet of Ulfilas is as follows. There are some slight variations in the forms of the letters, but we will take those p103 used in the early and beautifully executed Codex Argenteus. For purposes of comparison the Greek alphabet used in the Codex Sinaiticus (which was probably contemporary with Ulfilas) is placed side by side. It must be observed that the Gothic alphabet, like the Greek, is a numeration-table as well as an alphabet, and we thus know absolutely the order of the letters contained in it. The Greek has three signs and the Gothic two, introduced merely for purposes of numeration and not used as letters.
Numeral value | Gothic letter | English equivalent | English equivalent | Greek letter |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 𐌰 | A | A | Α |
2 | 𐌱 | B | B | Β |
3 | 𐌲 | G | G | Γ |
4 | 𐌳 | D | D | Δ |
5 | 𐌴 | E | E | Ε |
6 | 𐌵 | Q | Numeral | ϛ (stigma) |
7 | 𐌶 | Z | Z | Ζ |
8 | 𐌷 | H | Ē | Η ( or h ) |
9 | 𐌸 | Th | Th | Θ |
10 | 𐌹 | I | I | Ι ( or ï ) |
20 | 𐌺 | K | K | Κ |
30 | 𐌻 | L | L | Λ |
40 | 𐌼 | M | M | Μ |
50 | 𐌽 | N | N | Ν |
60 | 𐌾 | J | X | Ξ |
70 | 𐌿 | U | O | Ο |
80 | 𐍀 | P | P | Π |
90 | 𐍁 | Numeral | Numeral | Ч |
100 | 𐍂 | R | R | Ρ |
200 | 𐍃 | S | S | Ϲ |
300 | 𐍄 | T | T | Τ |
400 | 𐍅 | V | U | Υ |
500 | 𐍆 | F | Ph | Φ |
600 | 𐍇 | Ch | Ch | Χ |
700 | 𐍈 | W | Ps | Ψ |
800 | 𐍉 | O | O | ω |
900 | 𐍊 | Numeral | Numeral |
ͳ (or in later Codices, ↗ sampi) |
p104 It is at once evident that Ulfilas has founded his new alphabet mainly upon the Greek. Entirely departing from that order of letters which prevailed in the Runic 'Futhorc,' he has adopted, with very few exceptions, the order which prevails in the Greek alphabet. The very exceptions illustrate the general rule, and show the ingenuity of the Gothic apostle in making the redundancies and deficiencies of each alphabet balance one another.
1. The Greek alphabet possesses two sets of letters for the long and short forms of E and O. As Ulfilas did not require these, he has put his E and O opposite the short form of the one and the long form of the other, and then has used the place left vacant by Eta for the similar looking letter H, and the place of Omicron for his vowel U. There was something evidently peculiar both to Latin and Teutonic ears in the sound of the Greek U, and therefore Ulfilas sets opposite to it not his U but the kindred letter V.
2. The place occupied by the first merely numeral symbol (stigma) he appropriates for Q. Thus his alphabet has one letter more than the Greek: twenty-five instead of twenty-four.
3. The place of the Greek X, a sound not found in the Gothic language, is supplied by J.
4. He does not require the Greek Chi for native Gothic words, but he takes it over in order to enable him to reproduce Greek proper names which contain it, especially the name of Christ.
5. For the unneeded Psi he substitutes the essentially Teutonic W.
So much for the order of the letters. Now as to their shape, upon which also the strong but not exclusive influence of the Greek alphabet will be at once apparent.
The following six letters, 𐌲 𐌳 𐌻 𐍀 𐍅 𐍇 (representing G D F L P V Ch), are taken from the Greek alphabet, with no more modification than we can easily imagine to have existed between one codex and another in the fourth century.
These letters, nine in number, 𐌰 𐌴 𐌶 𐌷 𐌹 𐌺 𐌼 𐌽 𐍄 (representing A E Z H I K M N T), are also no doubt taken from the Greek, but are common to it and the Latin alphabet. p105 Perhaps 𐌷 points to a Latin influence, as it is not often if ever found in Greek MSS. of so late a period, but is common in the Latin of the fourth century.
One letter, the peculiar 𐌱 (B), with the upper circle left open, may be either Greek or Runic.
Three are clearly Runic: —
𐌾 (J) | derived from the Rune | ᛃ |
𐌿 (U) | do. | ᚢ |
𐍉 (O) | do. | ᛟ |
One letter only, 𐍃, seems to be unmistakably Latin; but 𐌵, which Ulfilas uses for Q, appears to point to a Latin origin; though why he should have chosen a letter with so utterly different a power when the Latin Q was available for his purpose is a mystery of which, as it seems to me, we need further explanation.
These two letters 𐍂 and 𐍆 (R and F), may be either Runic or Latin, but are most probably Runic.
We have thus accounted for twenty-three out of the twenty-five letters of the Gothic alphabet. There remain two which at present we can only account for by a whim on the part of the Gothic letter-maker. These two are
𐌸 | = Th, |
and 𐍈 | = W. |
The first, it will be at once observed, is almost identical with the Greek Psi, the second only slightly altered from the Greek Theta, a dot in the middle of the circle being substituted for a line across it. As they occur in the corresponding places to Theta and Psi, but in inverse order, it looks at first sight as if Ulfilas had transposed the two symbols out of pure caprice. On further consideration we shall probably arrive at some such conclusion as the following. The Gothic bishop, having gone arranged all the other letters of his alphabet, had still two sounds unrepresented, th and hw. For neither was there an exactly corresponding letter in the Greek alphabet, for we must suppose that the th differed from the theta of the Greeks in having either a thicker or a thinner pronunciation. To avoid all possibility of p106 mistake, therefore, he took the Greek Psi (the sound of which he did not need to represent), and with some slight modifications made it stand for his Gothic th; and similarly he made the transformed Theta do duty for his hw. This, or something like this, must surely be the explanation of the matter. To us, lovers of the old Runic lore of the Teutons, it certainly seems a matter of regret that Ulfilas did not here use at least one of the two Runic symbols ready to his hand —
ᚦ = th,
ᚹ = w;
though to have used both would certainly have perpetuated a defect in the Runic Futhorc, namely, the employment of two letters so like one another and so easily confused.
From a survey of the whole question we certainly rise with a higher appreciation of the ingenuity and the philological acquirements of the Moeso-Gothic bishop. His alphabet alone should suffice to convince us of the truth of the assertion of Auxentius as to his familiarity with the three great languages of the Lower Danube: 'Apostolicâ gratiâ Grecam et Latinam et Goticam linguam sine intermissione in unâ et solâ ecclesiâ Christi predicavit.'
An interesting evidence of the fact that Ulfilas did not wish altogether to part company from the old Runic literature, in introducing his new and more flexible alphabet, is furnished by the discovery that his letters appear to have been known by the same, or nearly the same, names as those borne by their Runic equivalents. In a MS. of the ninth or tenth century preserved at Vienna1 there are, attached to a treatise of Alcuin's de Orthographiâ, two alphabets, one, the Runic 'Futhorc' in use among the Anglo-Saxons, the other, the Gothic alphabet of Ulfilas, with the names of the letters annexed. These names have apparently been written by some High-German scribe unacquainted with Gothic, and thus have sustained considerable corruption, but the patient labours of four German scholars2 have at length restored them in all probability nearly to their original form. This being done, we find that we have a Gothic alphabet constructed like the Anglo-Saxon one, on the principle p107 of children's picture alphabets ('A was an Archer, B was a Bull,' and so one), and choosing in almost all cases the same word as representative of the letter, which we know to have represented it in the old Runic 'Futhorcs.'
In the following table the order observed by the Vienna Codex (which is nearly but not quite that of the Latin alphabet) is maintained. The names are given both in their original and corrected forms, and the names of the corresponding Runes as given in an Anglo-Saxon poem (quoted by Kemble, Archaeologia, XXVIII.339‑345)º are also appended.
Gothic
letter |
English
equivalent |
Name
according to Vienna MS. |
Corrected Name |
Corresponding
Rune |
Name
in Anglo-Saxon Rune-song |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
𐌰 | A | Aza |
Asks (ash‑tree)
or Ans (a god) |
ᚨ | Os (mouth) |
𐌱 | B | Bercna | Bairika (birch) | ᛒ | Beorch (birch) |
𐌲 | G | Gewa | Giba (gift) | ᚷ | Gifu (gift) |
𐌳 | D | Daaz | Dags (day) | ᛞ | Daeg (day) |
𐌴 | E | Eyz |
Aihvus (a horse)
or Eius (ivy) |
ᛖ | Eh (horse) |
𐍆 | F | Fe | Faihu (cattle, wealth) | ᚠ | Feoh (money) |
𐌾 |
J
or soft G |
Gaar | Jêr (year) | ᛃ | Gear (year) |
𐌷 | H | Haal | Hagls (hall) | ᚺ | Haegel (hall) |
ï | I | Iiz | Eis (ice) | ᛁ | Is (ice) |
𐌺 | K | Chozma |
Kaunsama?3
(a torch or a boil) |
ᚲ | Cen (torch) |
𐌻 | L | Laaz | Lagu (lake) | ᛚ | Lagu (sea) |
𐌼 | M | Manna | Manna (man) | ᛗ | Man |
𐌽 | N | Noicz | Nauths (need) | ᚾ | Nyd (need) |
𐌿 | U | Uraz | Urus (wild ox) | ᚢ | Ur (wild ox) |
𐍀 | P | Pertra4 | ? | ᛒ | Peorth (chessman) |
p108 𐌵 | Q | Quertra | Quairthr (bait) | ||
𐍂 | R | Reda | Raida (carriage) | ᚱ | Rad (saddle or chariot) |
𐍃 | S | Sugil | Sauil or sôjil (sun) | ᛋ | Sigel (sail)5 |
𐍄 | T | Tyz |
Tins
(the god of battles)6 |
ᛏ | Tir (a god) |
𐍅 | V or W | Winne |
Vinja (a meadow)
or Vinna (pain) |
ᚹ | Wen (hope) |
𐍉 | O | Utal | Othal (native land) | ᛟ | Ethel (native land) |
𐍇 | Ch | Enguz |
Ingus
(a German hero) |
ᛝ | Ing (a demi‑god, first seen among the East Danes) |
𐌶 | Z | Ezet7a | ? | ||
𐍈 | Hw | Waer | Hwair (a kettle) | ||
𐌸 | Th | Thyth7b | ? | ᚦ | Thorn |
I fear to trouble my readers (even in a note) with any details as to Gothic grammar: but some may perhaps care to see the declension of a Gothic noun and the conjugation of a Gothic verb, together with one or two well-known passages of the New Testament rendered into the language of Alaric.
Declension of Sunus, a son.
Singular | Plural | |
---|---|---|
Nom. | Sunus | Sunjus |
Voc. | Sunu | Sunjus |
Acc. | Sunu | Sununs |
Dat. | Sunau | Sunum |
Gen. | Sunaus | Sunive |
p109 Conjugation of Haban, to have.
Present Indicative | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Dual | Plural | ||
1. | Haba | Habos | Habam | |
2. | Habais | Habats | Habaith | |
3. | Habaith | Haband | ||
Preterite Indicative | ||||
1. | Habaida | Habaidedu | Habaidedum | |
2. | Habaides | Habaideduts | Habaideduth | |
3. | Habaida | Habaidedun | ||
Present Subjunctive | ||||
1. | Habau | Habaiva | Habaima | |
2. | Habais | Habaits | Habaith | |
3. | Habai | Habaina | ||
Preterite Subjunctive | ||||
1. | Habaidedjau | Habaidedeiva | Habaidedeima | |
2. | Habaidedeis | Habaidedeits | Habaidedeith | |
3. | Habaidedi | Habaidedeina | ||
Imperative | ||||
1. | Habam | |||
2. | Habai | Habats | 2. | Habaith |
Active Participle | Habands | |||
Passive Participle | Habaith |
These, or similar to these, were the noble forms of speech used by our Teutonic forefathers in the pastures of Holstein. Now, by the wear and tear of centuries and by the eager haste of an unleisured people, such grand words as habaideduth and habaidedeina have been rubbed down to the insignificant had, alike for all moods and numbers of the past of to have. Etiam perire ruinae.
Our Lord's Prayer in the version of Ulfilas is as follows:a —
Atta
Father
unsar
our
thu
thou
in
in
himinam
the heavens
veihnai
hallowed be
namo
name
thein.
thine.
Qimai
Let come
thiudinassus
kingdom
theins:
thine:
vairthai
be done
vilja
will
theins,
thine,
sve
as
in
in
himina
heaven
jah
and (also)
ana
on
airthai.
earth.
Hlaif
Loaf
unsarana
ours
thana
the
sinteinan
enduring
gif
give
uns
us
himma daga.
to‑day.
Jah
And
aflet
let‑off
uns
us
thatei
that of which
skulans
debtors
sijaima,
we may be
svasve
so as
jah
also
veis
we
afletam
let‑off
thaim
the
skulam
debtors
unsaraim.
ours.
Jah
And
ni
not
briggais8
bring
uns
us
in
into
fraistubnjai,
temptation,
p110
ak
but
lausei
deliver
uns
us
af
of
thamma
the
ubilin.
evil.
unte
because
theina
thine
ist
is
thiudangardi.
king's-house
jah
and
mahts
might
jah
and
vulthus
glory
in
to
aivins.
ages.
Amen.
Amen.
The following is the parable of the Good Shepherd: —
Amen
Verily,
amen
verily
qitha
I say
izvis
to you
saei
whoever
ni
not
atgaggith
goes in
thairh
through
daur
the door
in
into
gardan
the yard
lambe
of the lamb
ak
but
steigith
climbs up
aljathro.
some other way,
sah
he
hliftus
a robber
ist
is
jah
and
vaidedja.
an evil doer.
Ith
But
sa
the
inngaggands
enterer in
thairh
through
daur
the door
hairdeis
herdsman
ist
is
lambe.
of the lambs.
Thammuh
To him
dauravards
the door-ward
uslukith.
opens
jah
and
tho
the
lamba
lambs
stibnai
the voice
is
of him
hausjand.
hear,
jah
and
tho
(the)
svesona
his own
lamba
lambs
haitith
he calls
bi
by
namin
name
jah
and
ustiuhith
leads out
tho.
them.
Jah
And
than
when
tho
(the)
svesona
his own
ustiuhith
he leads out
faura
before
im
them
gaggith.
he goeth,
jah
and
tho
the
lamba
lambs
ina
him
laistjand
follow
unte
because
kunnun
they know
stibna
the voice
is.
of him.
Ith
But
framathjana
a stranger
ni
not
laistjand.
they follow,
al
but
thliuhand
flee
faura
before
imma
him
unto
because
ni
not
kunnun
they know
thize
of the
framathjane
stranger
stibna.
the voice.
The Christian Armour (Eph. vi.14): —
Standaith
Stand
nu
now
ufgaurdanai
girdled round
hupins
loins
izvarans
yours
sunjai.
with truth
jaggapaidodai
and clothed
brunjon
with the breastplate
garaihteins.
of righteousness.
Jah
And
guskohai
shod
fotum
the feet
in
with
manvithai
readiness
aivaggeljons
of the gospel
gavairthjis.
of peace.
Ufar
Over
all
all
andnimandans
taking up
skildu
the shield
galaubeinais,
of faith,
thammei
with which
maguth
you may
allos
all
arwaznos
arrows
this
of the
unseljins
Evil one
funiskos
fiery
afwapjan.
quench.
Jah
And
hilm
the helmet
naseinais
of salvation
nimaith,
take,
jah
and
meki
the sword
ahmins,
of the Spirit
thatei
which
ist
is
vaurd
the word
Guths.
of God.
The vocabulary of the Goths throws an interesting light on many details of their daily life. As a Northern people their years are all counted by winters. Their word for fruit (akran) is essentially the same as our 'acorn.' Wealth is represented by p111 cattle, and faihu (connected with the German vieh), which originally meant cattle, forms part of the word Faihu-thraihus (hoard of treasure), which is chosen by Ulfilas as the Gothic equivalent of 'Mammon.'
But the imported words are almost more interesting than the indigenous ones. When John the Baptist is represented as saying to the soldiers, Valdaith annom izvaraim, 'Be satisfied with your rations,' we have surely in annom a remembrance of the Latin annona. And when we read (Matthew vi.2) that the hypocrites andnemun mizdon seina, 'receive their reward,' we have before us in mizdon the Gothic equivalent of the Greek μισθός, a word which doubtless formed the subject of many a conversation, and the pretext for many a tumult, in the tents of the Gothic foederati in the Imperial armies.
1 Known as Codex Salisburiensis, n. 140 (formerly lxxi).
❦
2 Munch, Kirchhoff, Müllenhoff, and Zacher (Das Gothische Alphabet Vulfilas und das Runenalphabet). I quote chiefly from the last.
❦
3 This is one of the most enigmatical names in the whole series. I would suggest the possibility that it may be imported from the Greek, and = καύσωμα or καῦμα. All interpreters are agreed in connecting it with the idea of burning.
❦
4 From the Anglo-Saxon Rune-song we find that Peorth, the name of the p Rune, is connected with an in‑door game. Kemble translates it 'chessman,' and Grimm suggests with some probability that it is the name of the piece which we call the queen, and the Persians ferz (= 'captain of the host'), altered by the French into vierge, whence, through the idea of the Virgin Mary, the name of queen was introduced.
❦
5 Kemble observes (Archaeologia, p345) that this rendering of Sigel is a mistake. 'This, which in all the Teutonic tongues denotes a gem or jewel — in a secondary sense the Sun — is here treated as if it were Segel, a sail.'
❦
6 Tius, in Norse Tyr, in Old High German Ziu, is the Teutonic Mars, after whom Tuesday was named.
❦
7a 7b The names Ezec or Ezet and Thyth have given much trouble to philologists. Kirchhoff (Das Gothische Alphabet, p. vi) confirms the conjecture originally startedº by Grimm that these names are nothing but Gothic transformations of Zeta and Theta, the Greek names of the corresponding letters.
❦
8 gg is always used by Ulfilas, as in Greek, with the power of ng.
a I must underscore how very grateful I am to D. M. Smith and Crosswire.Org for their page "An example of how to represent interlinear text": rendering such text in HTML and CSS is by no means intuitive, but once they walked me thru the process, it was easy enough to implement.
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