Nortmannus (talk | contribs) As an educated man he spoke probably more French than Dutch? He came from a place directly near the linguistic border |
G.Burggraaf (talk | contribs) rv - You have already been given a source by another user which specifically says he's language was Dutch. |
||
Line 14: | Line 14: | ||
The existence of a Germanic dialect in the Crimea is attested in a number of sources from the 9th century to the 18th century. However, only a single source provides any details of the language itself: a letter by the [[Flemings|Flemish]] ambassador [[Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq]], dated 1562 and first published in 1589, gives a list of some eighty words and a song supposedly in the language. |
The existence of a Germanic dialect in the Crimea is attested in a number of sources from the 9th century to the 18th century. However, only a single source provides any details of the language itself: a letter by the [[Flemings|Flemish]] ambassador [[Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq]], dated 1562 and first published in 1589, gives a list of some eighty words and a song supposedly in the language. |
||
Busbecq's information is problematic in a number of ways: his [[Informant (linguistics)|informants]] were not unimpeachable (one was a Greek speaker who knew Crimean Gothic as a second language, the other a Goth who had abandoned his native language in favour of Greek); there is the possibility that Busbecq's transcription was influenced by his own [[ |
Busbecq's information is problematic in a number of ways: his [[Informant (linguistics)|informants]] were not unimpeachable (one was a Greek speaker who knew Crimean Gothic as a second language, the other a Goth who had abandoned his native language in favour of Greek); there is the possibility that Busbecq's transcription was influenced by his own language ([[Dutch language|Dutch]]); there are undoubted misprints in the printed text, which is the only source. |
||
Nonetheless, much of the vocabulary cited by Busbecq is unmistakably Germanic and was recognised by him as such: |
Nonetheless, much of the vocabulary cited by Busbecq is unmistakably Germanic and was recognised by him as such: |
Revision as of 18:08, 30 December 2010
Crimean Gothic | |
---|---|
Native to | formerly Crimea |
Extinct | by the 18th century(?) |
Indo-European
| |
originally, probably Runic alphabet, later Gothic, Greek, and Latin alphabets | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-2 | got |
ISO 639-3 | got – Gothic |
Crimean Gothic was a Germanic dialect spoken by the Crimean Goths in some isolated locations in Crimea (now in Ukraine) until the late 18th century.
The existence of a Germanic dialect in the Crimea is attested in a number of sources from the 9th century to the 18th century. However, only a single source provides any details of the language itself: a letter by the Flemish ambassador Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, dated 1562 and first published in 1589, gives a list of some eighty words and a song supposedly in the language.
Busbecq's information is problematic in a number of ways: his informants were not unimpeachable (one was a Greek speaker who knew Crimean Gothic as a second language, the other a Goth who had abandoned his native language in favour of Greek); there is the possibility that Busbecq's transcription was influenced by his own language (Dutch); there are undoubted misprints in the printed text, which is the only source.
Nonetheless, much of the vocabulary cited by Busbecq is unmistakably Germanic and was recognised by him as such:
Meaning | Crimean Gothic | Bible Gothic | German | Dutch | Icelandic | Swedish |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apple | Apel | (unattested) | Apfel | Appel | Epli | (vild-)apel, Äpple |
Hand | Handa | Handus (f.) | Hand | Hand | Hönd | Hand |
Sister | Schuuester | Swistar (f.) | Schwester | Zus(ter) | Systir | Syster |
House | Hus | -hūs (n.) | Haus | Huis | Hús | Hus |
Rain | Reghen | Rign (n.) | Regen | Regen | Regn | Regn |
Sing | Singhen | Siggwan (vb.) | Singen | Zingen | Syngja | Sjunga |
Go | Geen | Gaggan (vb.) | Gehen | Gaan | Ganga | Gå |
Meaning | Crimean Gothic | Bible Gothic | German | Dutch | Icelandic | Swedish |
Busbecq also cites a number of words which he did not recognise but which are now known to have Germanic cognates:
Meaning | Crimean Gothic | Bible Gothic | German | Dutch | Icelandic | Swedish | Old English |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hen (Cognates meaning Rooster) |
Ano | Hana (m.) | Hahn | Haan | Hani | Tupp (Archaic: Hane) | Hana |
Said | Malthata | (unattested) | - | - | Mælti | (Archaic: Mälte) | Maþelode |
Meaning | Crimean Gothic | Bible Gothic | German | Dutch | Icelandic | Swedish | Old English |
While the initial identification of this language as "Gothic" probably rests on ethnological rather than linguistic grounds - that is, the speakers were identified as Goths therefore the language must be Gothic - it shares a number of distinctive phonological developments with the Gothic of Ulfilas's Bible. For example, the word ada "egg" shows the typical Gothic "strengthening" of Proto-Germanic *-jj- into -ddj- (as in Ulfilian Gothic iddja "went" from PGmc. *ejjon), being from Proto-Germanic *ajja-.
There are also examples of features preserved in Crimean Gothic and Biblical Gothic but which have undergone changes in West and North Germanic. For example, both Crimean Gothic and Biblical Gothic preserve Germanic /z/ as a sibilant, while it became /r/ in all other Germanic dialects.
However, there are problems in assuming that Crimean Gothic represents simply a later stage in the development of the Gothic attested in Ulfilas' Bible. Some innovations in Biblical Gothic are not found in Crimean Gothic, for example:
- Crimean Gothic preserves Germanic /e/, whereas in Biblical Gothic it has become /i/, e.g. Crimean Gothic reghen, suuester, Biblical Gothic rign, swister
- Crimean Gothic preserves Germanic /u/ before /r/ whereas Biblical Gothic has /au/, e.g. Crimean Gothic vvurt, Biblical Gothic waurþi.
However, there are also similarities with developments in West Germanic, such as the change of /þ/ to a stop seen in Crimean Gothic tria (cf. Biblical Gothic þriu).
Several historical accounts mention the similarity to Low German and the intelligibility of Crimean Gothic to German speakers.
There are two alternative solutions: that Crimean Gothic presents a separate branch of East Germanic, distinct from Ulfilas' Gothic; or that Crimean Gothic is descended from the dialect of West Germanic settlers who migrated to the Crimea in the early Middle Ages and whose language was subsequently influenced by Gothic.
The possibility that what is believed to be Gothic could be a remnant of another related East Germanic or West Germanic tribe, as the Heruli or Rugians were known to have migrated in the area in the first millenia after the Goths or along with them, must not be discarded too.
Both of these were first suggested in the 19th century and are most recently argued by Stearns and Grønvik, respectively. While there is no consensus on a definitive solution to this problem, it is accepted that Crimean Gothic is not a descendant of Biblical Gothic.
The song quoted by Busbecq is less obviously Germanic and has proved impossible to interpret definitively. There is no consensus as to whether it is in fact Crimean Gothic.
Other WCG Words
In addition to this so very small body two potentially Crimean Goths words were passed. The first is a proper name Harfidel that in the Crimea in a Hebrew inscription on a grave stone in the 5th Century was found. The second, razn 'house' was continued as a loan word in the Crimean Tatar.
(Stearns 1978: 37). [1]
Sources
- MacDonald Stearns, Crimean Gothic. Analysis and Etymology of the Corpus, Saratoga 1978. Includes Latin text of Busbecq's report and English translation.
- MacDonald Stearns, "Das Krimgotische". In: Heinrich Beck (ed.), Germanische Rest- und Trümmersprachen, Berlin/New York 1989, 175-194.
- Ottar Grønvik, Die dialektgeographische Stellung des Krimgotischen und die krimgotische cantilena, Oslo 1983.
External links
- Busbecq's account, in Latin
- Introduction to Crimean Gothic - University of Texas at Austin's introduction to Crimean Gothic (end of page)
- Editions and Critical Studies, bibliography by Christian T. Petersen