Lesson 5
Endings of Strong Feminine Nouns
Nom.
|
-a
|
-os
|
Acc.
|
-a
|
-os
|
Gen.
|
-os
|
-o
|
Dat.
|
-ai
|
-om
|
The feminine definite article and demonstrative pronoun: so
Nom.
|
so
|
thos
|
Acc.
|
tho
|
thos
|
Gen.
|
thizos
|
thizo
|
Dat.
|
thizai
|
thaim
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Example: so razda the language
Nom.
|
so razda
|
thos razdos
|
Acc.
|
tho razda
|
thos razdos
|
Gen.
|
thizos razdos
|
thizo razdo
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Dat.
|
thizai razdai
|
thaim razdom
|
Some strong feminine nouns:
- so ahwa: the river (cf. Latin aqua "water)
- so airtha: the earth
- so boka: the letter (of the alphabet) (cf. English "book")
- thos bokos: the letters; also the book or the letter (sent from one person to another, epistle)
- so bota: the advantage (cf. archaic English "boot")
- so fijathwa: the hatred (cf. fi-end, originally meaning enemy)
- so frijathwa: the love (cf. fri-end)
- so giba: the gift
- so graba: the ditch (cf. "grave")
- so hairda: the herd
- so halja: the hell
- so hweila: the time (cf. "while")
- so kara: the care
- so karkara: the prison (from Latin; cf. in-carcer-ate)
- so mulda: the dust (cf. "mould")
- so nethla: the needle
- so runa: the mystery (cf. "rune")
- so saiwala: the soul
- so saurga: the sorrow
- so sibja: the (family) relationship (cf. sib-ling; the name of the Norse goddess Sif is also cognate)
- so stibna: the voice (cf. archaic English "steven", Old English stefn)
- so sunja: the truth (this word is, strangely enough cognate to English "sin"; but in origin it is related to ist, sijum, and sind, and means "that which is")
- so thiuda: the people (Old English theod; German deut-sch would be in Gothic *thiud-isks "popular, national, 'vulgar'"; the name-element Diet- is also equivalent, e.g. in Dietrich = Thiudareiks, Dietmar = Thiudamers)
- so triggwa: the covenant (cf. English true, troth); here -ggw- is pronounced as it is spelled, not *tringwa
- so wamba: the womb
The Feminine Personal Pronoun
si she (cf. German sie)
Nom.
|
si "she"
|
ijos "they" (feminine)
|
Acc.
|
ija "her"
|
ijos "them" (feminine)
|
Gen.
|
izos "(of) her"
|
izo "their" (feminine)
|
Dat.
|
izai "to her"
|
im "to them" (feminine)
|
Weak Feminine Nouns
Weak feminine nouns ending in -o:
Nom.
|
-o
|
-ons
|
Acc.
|
-on
|
-ons
|
Gen.
|
-ons
|
-ono
|
Dat.
|
-on
|
-om
|
These are very close to the forms of the masculine, and can in fact be derived from them by substituting o for a, i, or e in the endings of the masculine (this results in the confusion of the accusative and dative singular in -on, which are distinguished in the masculine as -an, -in).
Weak feminine nouns ending in -ei:
Nom.
|
-ei
|
-eins
|
Acc.
|
-ein
|
-eins
|
Gen.
|
-eins
|
-eino
|
Dat.
|
-ein
|
-eim
|
These are the same as the weak feminines ending in -o, but substitute EI for O everywhere except in the last vowel of the genitive plural.
Examples: so stairno the star, and so aithei the mother
Nom.
|
so stairno
so aithei
|
thos stairnons
thos aitheins
|
Acc.
|
tho stairnon
tho aithein
|
thos stairnons
thos aitheins
|
Gen.
|
thizos stairnons
thizos aitheins
|
thizo stairnono
thizo aitheino
|
Dat.
|
thizai stairnon
thizai aithein
|
thaim stairnom
thaim aitheim
|
Some weak feminine nouns:
- so aithei: the mother
- so azgo: the ash (cinders, not the tree): azg- > ask- > ash
- so baitrei: the bitterness (cf. the adjective baitrs "bitter")
- so balthei: the boldness (< *balths "bold")
- so bairhtei: the brightness (cf. bairhts "bright")
- so brinno: the fever (cf. brinnan "to burn")
- so brunjo: the breastplate (cf. "byrnie")
- so diupei: the depth
- so gatwo: the street (cf. German Gasse)
- so hauhhairtei: the pride ("high-heartedness")
- so kalbo: the calf
- so managei: the multitude ("manyness")
- so marei: the sea
- so mawilo: the young maiden
- so mikilei: the greatness
- so qino: the woman
- so stairno: the star
- so swaihro: the mother-in-law
- so thaurstei: the thirst
- so theihwo: the thunder
- so tuggo: the tongue
Feminine Strong Adjective Endings
Nom.
|
-a
|
-os
|
Acc.
|
-a
|
-os
|
Gen.
|
-aizos
|
-aizo
|
Dat.
|
-ai
|
-aim
|
As with the masculines and neuters, the adjective and pronominal endings are evidently related; but note that the -z- element does not occur in the dative singular of the strong adjective, despite thizai, izai in the demonstrative and personal pronouns. The weak feminine adjective declines just like stairno. With the example gutiska razda "Gothic language":
Strong:
Nom.
|
gutiska razda
|
gutiskos razdos
|
Acc.
|
gutiska razda
|
gutiskos razdos
|
Gen.
|
gutiskaizos razdos
|
gutiskaizo razdo
|
Dat.
|
gutiskai razdai
|
gutiskaim razdom
|
Weak:
Nom.
|
so gutisko razda
|
thos gutiskons razdos
|
Acc.
|
tho gutiskon razda
|
thos gutiskons razdos
|
Gen.
|
thizos gutiskons razdos
|
thizo gutiskono razdo
|
Dat.
|
thizai gutiskon razdai
|
thaim gutiskom razdom
|
Preterite-Presents
Preterite-Present verbs are verbs in which (for complicated reasons involving a very early restructuring of the Proto-Indo-European verbal system) the present tense looks exactly like the preterite of a strong verb. Some of these are "modal" verbs used with an infinitive. For example, from the verb magan "to be able":
ik mag "I can"
thu magt "you can" is mag "he can" |
wit magu "we two can"
jut maguts "you two can" |
weis magum "we can"
just maguth "you can" eis magun "they can" |
e.g., ik mag saihwan thana menan "I can see the moon.", or skulun "to owe, to be obliged to, to be about to; used to indicate obligation, but sometimes also futurity, like English "shall", "should")
ik skal
thu skalt is skal |
wit skulu
jut skuluts |
weis skulum
jus skuluth eis skulun |
Thu skalt gaggan du fraujin meinamma "you shall (you ought to) go to my lord"
aihan "to have" (g and h are found interchangeably in many of these forms)
ik aih
thu aiht is aih |
wit aigu
jut aiguts |
weis aigum
jus aiguth eis aigun |
thaurban "to need" (cf. sa tharba "the beggar") (this verb takes an object in the genitive case; you can remember this by thinking of English "to have need of", but it is usually better translated "to need")
ik tharf
thu tharft is tharf |
wit thaurbu
jut thaurbuts |
weis thaurbum
jus thaurbuth eis thaurbun |
kunnan "to know":
ik kann
thu kant is kann |
wit kunnu
jut kunnuts |
weis kunnum
jus kunnuth eis kunnun |
witan "to know": (cf. English wit, wot)
ik wait
thu waist is wait |
wit witu
jut wituts |
weis witum
jus wituth eis witun |
A few more verbs:
- driusan, draus, drusun: fall
- filhan, falh, fulhun: hide
- galeithan, galaith, galithun: go
- hwairban, hwarf, hwaurbun: walk (u > au and i > ai before r)
- swiltan, swalt, swultun: die
- tiuhan, tauh, tauhun: lead (u > au before h)
- thliuhan, thlauh, thlauhun: flee (u > au before h)
- urreisan, urrais, urrisun: arise
- weihan, waih, waihun: fight (i > ai before h)
- winnan, wann, wunnun: suffer
And an adjective: silubreins (you can figure it out!)
Sentences: Exercise Answers
- Aithei meina gaf mis bokos seinos.
- So mawilo draif tho hairda du thizai ahwai.
- Sa thiudans aih brunjons gultheinos jah hilm silubreinana.
- Ijos skulun qithan du thaim qinom.
- Ni kunnuth tho diupein thizos mareins.
- Si wait tho saurga jah tho kara in saiwalai seinai.
- Alareiks ist thiudans thizos mikilaizos thiudos thize Gutane.
- Thiuda meina qam du mis jah qath, “thos stairnons driusand af himinam, jah thata land sigqith in marein!”
- Frauja theins qath, “Allai bandjans skulun winnan in karkarai.”
- Thos kalbons swultun in thaim grabam fram thaurstein.
- Sa gudja kann tho runa thizo boko.
Exercise Answers
- I can say many words in the Gothic language.
- I know the mysteries of the soul.
- The women hid the treasures in the ditch.
- The maiden arose and went to her mother and said, “I give you a gift.”
- She has much grain for the calves.
- On that day I suffered much care and sorrow, and I fled to her house.
- They led the calves and the goats to the river, but they did not drink.
- We walked on the street with the women.
- Because of ❨fram❩ her pride, she cannot know love.
- Their voices are in my ears.
- Men and women on earth need love and truth in their hearts.
*When the antecedents are of different genders, as here (kalbons f., gaitos m.) the neuter is used.
Note: I do not own this material, nor did I write it. As far as I can tell, it is under no copyright. The sentence within brackets [] was added.
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