Gothic language Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! Switch editorYou have switched to source editingCloseYou can switch back to visual editing at any time by clicking on this icon.Visual editingSource editingMorePreviewAdvancedSpecial charactersHelpHeadingLevel 2Level 3Level 4Level 5FormatInsertLatinLatin extendedIPASymbolsGreekGreek extendedCyrillicArabicArabic extendedHebrewBanglaTamilTeluguSinhalaDevanagariGujaratiThaiLaoKhmerCanadian AboriginalRunesÁáÀàÂâÄäÃãǍǎĀāĂ㥹ÅåĆćĈĉÇçČčĊċĐđĎďÉéÈèÊêËëĚěĒēĔĕĖėĘęĜĝĢģĞğĠġĤĥĦħÍíÌìÎîÏïĨĩǏǐĪīĬĭİıĮįĴĵĶķĹĺĻļĽľŁłŃńÑñŅņŇňÓóÒòÔôÖöÕõǑǒŌōŎŏǪǫŐőŔŕŖŗŘřŚśŜŝŞşŠšȘșȚțŤťÚúÙùÛûÜüŨũŮůǓǔŪūǖǘǚǜŬŭŲųŰűŴŵÝýŶŷŸÿȲȳŹźŽžŻżÆæǢǣØøŒœßÐðÞþƏəFormattingLinksHeadingsListsFilesDiscussionReferencesDescriptionWhat you typeWhat you getItalic''Italic text''Italic textBold'''Bold text'''Bold textBold & italic'''''Bold & italic text'''''Bold & italic textDescriptionWhat you typeWhat you getReferencePage text.<ref>[https://www.example.org/ Link text], additional text.</ref>Page text.[1]Named referencePage text.<ref name="test">[https://www.example.org/ Link text]</ref>Page text.[2]Additional use of the same referencePage text.<ref name="test" />Page text.[2]Display references<references />↑ Link text, additional text.↑ Link text===Classification=== The standard theory of the origin of the Germanic languages divides the languages into three groups: [[East Germanic languages|East Germanic]] (Gothic and a few other very scantily-attested languages), [[North Germanic languages|North Germanic]] ([[Old Norse language|Old Norse]] and its derivatives, such as [[Swedish language|Swedish]], [[Danish language|Danish]], [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]], and [[Faroese language|Faroese]]) and [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic]] (all others, including [[Old English]], [[Old High German]], [[Old Saxon]], [[Old Dutch]], [[Old Frisian]] and the numerous modern languages derived from these, including [[English language|English]], [[German language|German]], and [[Dutch language|Dutch]]). Sometimes, a further grouping, that of the [[Northwest Germanic]] languages, 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-called '''Gotho-Nordic''' hypothesis) instead groups North Germanic and [[East Germanic languages|East Germanic]] together. 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 the [[Proto-Germanic language|Proto-Germanic]] *''-jj-'' and *''-ww-'' into Gothic ''ddj'' (from Pre-Gothic ''ggj''?) and ''ggw'', and Old Norse ''ggj'' and ''ggv'' ("[[Holtzmann's Law]]"), in contrast to West Germanic where they remained as semivowels. Compare Modern English ''true'', German ''treu'', with Gothic ''triggws'', Old Norse ''tryggr''. However, it has been suggested that these are, in fact, two separate and unrelated changes.<ref>{{Cite book |first=J. B. |last=Voyles |title=Early Germanic Grammar |year=1992 |location=San Diego |publisher=Academic Press |pages=25–26 |isbn=0-12-728270-X}} </ref> A number of other posited similarities exist (for example, the existence of numerous inchoative verbs ending in -''na'', such as Gothic ''ga-waknan'', Old Norse ''vakna''; and the absence of gemination before ''j'', or (in the case of old Norse) only ''g'' geminated before ''j'', e.g. Proto-Germanic *''kunją'' > Gothic ''kuni'' (kin), Old Norse ''kyn'', but Old English ''cynn'', Old High German ''kunni''). However, for the most part these represent [[Comparative method#Terminology|shared 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 between [[Old Gutnish]] (''Gutniska'') and [[Old Icelandic]] are also based on shared retentions rather than shared innovations. Another commonly-given example involves Gothic and Old Norse verbs with the ending ''-t'' in the 2nd person singular preterite indicative, and the West Germanic languages have ''-i''. The ending ''-t'' can 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 ''-t'' or ''-i'' to be used as the ending, either in [[free variation]] or 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. Other [[isogloss]]es have led scholars to propose an early split between East and [[Northwest Germanic]]. Furthermore, features shared by any two branches of Germanic do not necessarily require the postulation of a [[proto-language]] excluding the third, as the early [[Germanic languages]] were all part of a [[dialect continuum]] in the early stages of their development, and [[language contact|contact]] between the three branches of Germanic was extensive. Polish linguist [[Witold Mańczak]] argued that Gothic is closer to German (specifically [[Upper 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 Kortlandt]] has 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."{{sfn|Kortlandt|2001}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page