Unit 8
The Gothic masculine noun gasts (guest) looks like an a-declension noun just like dags, hunds, fisks, etc. It even forms both its voc.
and acc. singulars as gast, its gen. sing. as gastis, and its dat. sing. as gasta, just like an a-declension noun. But the plural forms
give away gasts as belonging to a different declension, called the i-declension:
| Nom. | þái gasteis | the guests (subj) |
| Acc. | þans gastins | the guests (obj) |
| Gen. | þizē gastē | of the guests |
| Dat. | þáim gastim | to/for the guests |
There are a few variations on this declension: drus (fall) has genitive singular drusis; the stem is drus- which absorbs the -s ending
of the nominative singular. If the stem ends in a short vowel plus r, such as baúr (son, child), the nominative -s is also dropped:
baúr, baúr, baúris, baúra, etc. Finally, stem -aw before -s or a null ending becomes áu: náus (corpse), náu, nawis, nawa.
If the plural of a masculine noun in -s is not attested, then it is often possible to determine from other Germanic languages whether the noun is an
A-stem or I-stem noun. For example, we know that drus and qums are I-stem because Old English had dryre and cyme,
the y of each word indicating that a lost i was once present in the lost second syllable.
Some masculine nouns declined like gasts or baúr include:
| arms | arm |
| balgs | wine-skin |
| barms | bosom, lap |
| brūfaþs | bridegroom (stem brūfad-) |
| gards | house |
| hups | hip |
| láists | track |
| mats | meat |
| muns | thought |
| qums | coming |
| saggws | song |
| sáiws | sea |
| sáuþs | sacrifice (stem sáud-) |
| staþs | place (stem stad-) |
| striks | stroke |
| þlaúhs | flight |
The numbers 4 thru 15, which are usually uninflected, do sometimes inflect like a masculine plural i-stem noun: fidwōrim, taíhunim,
áinlibim, twalibim, fimf taíhunim, niunē, twalibē are all attested.
Feminine i-stem nouns decline similarly to the masculines, differing only in the singular in the gen. and dat.:
| Singular |
| Nom | sō ansts | the favor (subj) |
| Acc | þō anst | the favor (obj) |
| Gen | þizōs anstáis | of the favor |
| Dat | þizái anstái | to/for the favor |
| Plural |
| Nom | þōs ansteis | the favors (subj) |
| Acc | þōs anstins | the favors (obj) |
| Gen | þizō anstē | of the favors |
| Dat | þáim anstim | to/for the favors |
The voc. sing. is anst, same as the acc.
There are many feminine nouns declined like ansts, including:
| áihts | property |
| anabūsns | command |
| andahafts | answer |
| arbáiþs | labor (stem arbáid-) |
| asans | harvest |
| dáils | portion |
| dēþs | deed (stem dēd-) |
| fadreins | family |
| fahēþs | joy (stem fahēd-) |
| fralusts | loss |
| gabaúrþs | birth |
| gahugds | thought |
| gakusts | test |
| gamunds | rememberance |
| gaqumþs | assembly |
| garuns | marketplace |
| gaskafts | creation |
| gataúrþs | destruction |
| haúrds | door |
| lists | craftiness |
| magaþs | maid |
| mahts | power |
| manasēþs | world (stem manasēd-) |
| mikildūþs | greatness |
| náuþs | need |
| qēns | woman |
| saúhts | sickness |
| siuns | sight |
| slaúhts | slaughter |
| sōkns | search |
| táikns | token |
| þaúrfts | need |
| waúrts | root |
| wēns | hope |
| wrōhs | accusation |
Also included are nouns in -ss formed from verbal roots, such as qiss (speech), from qiþan, declined
qiss, qiss, qissáis, qissái etc.
There are no known neuter i-stem nouns.
A few i-declension nouns are irregular, including:
The noun háims (village) is i-declension in the singular, but ō-declension (recall unit 4) in the plural:
| | Singular | Plural |
| Nom | sō háims | þōs háimōs |
| Voc Acc | þō háim | þōs háimōs |
| Gen | þizōs háimáis | þizō háimō |
| Dat | þizái háimái | þáim háimōm |
Abstract nouns formed from weak verbs of the first conjugation are declined as follows:
Example: láiseins (doctrine)
| | Singular | Plural |
| Nom | sō láiseins | þōs láiseinōs |
| Voc Acc | þō láisein | þōs láiseinins |
| Gen | þizōs láiseináis |
þizō láiseinō |
| Dat | þizái láiseinái |
þáim láiseinim |
Other nouns declined like láiseins include:
| dáupeins | baptism (dáupjan, to baptise) |
| galáubeins | faith (from galáubjan, to believe) |
| naseins | salvation (nasjan, to save) |
Adjectives occur in the i-declension and have their own paradigm in the singular.
| Masculine |
| Nom | hráins sitls | clean seat (subj) |
| Acc | hráinjana sitl | clean seat (obj) |
| Gen | hráinis sitlis | of a clean seat |
| Dat | hráinjamma sitla | to/for a clean seat |
| Feminine |
| Nom | hráins haúrds | clean door (subj) |
| Acc | hráinja haúrd | clean door (obj) |
| Gen | hráinjáizōs haúrdáis | of a clean door |
| Dat | hráinjái haúrdái | to/for a clean door |
| Neuter |
| Nom Acc | hráin(jata) skip | clean ship |
| Gen | hráinis skipis | of a clean ship |
| Dat | hráinjamma skipa | to/for a clean ship |
Plurals have the same endings as mikils, but with the stem -j always present.
Other adjectives declined this way include:
| analáugns | hidden |
| anasiuns | visible |
| andanēms | pleasant |
| áuþs | desert |
| brūks | useful |
| gafáurs | well behaved |
| gamáins | common |
| sēls | kind |
| skáuns | beautiful |
| skeirs | clear |
Yes/no questions in Gothic are formed by appending the clitic -u to the first word in the sentence. For example:
| 1. Itand hundōs mat. | Dogs eat meat. |
| 2. Itand-u hundōs mat? | Do dogs eat meat? |
If the first word in the question has a prefix, the -u goes between the prefix and the root:
| 3. And-hōft mis. | You answered me. |
| 4. And-u-hōft mis? | Did you answer me? |
Possible responses to a yes/no question include ja, jái (yes); ni, nē (no).
| 5. Saggwins-u siggwand þō magaþeis skáunjans? | Are the maids are singing beautiful songs? |
| 6. Sind andanēmjōs garuneis in þizái háimái nēƕa þamma sáiwa. | There are pleasant marketplaces in the village by the sea. |
| 7. Sō siuns qēnáis sēljáizōs þana gast anaþrafsteiþ. | The sight of a kind woman comforts the guest. |
| 8. In skeirjamma daga, alla sō háiþi ist anasiuns. | On a clear day, the whole field is visible. |
| 9. Sō áuþida nist hráins untē izái managa ist mulda. | The desert is not clean because there is much dust. |
Translate these from Gothic:
| 10. Hláibis nutu in þizái háimái. |
| 11. Þái gasteis managans matins ētun in andanemjamma garda. |
| 12. Skip in habanái ist háil, iþ skipa ni sind faúr þata. |
| 13. Ni drigka, nist áuk aƕa in þizá áuþidái. |
| 14. Gafáurs baúr ni tēkiþ þizái hráinjái haúrdái. |
Answers
| 10. We (two) enjoyed bread in the village. |
| 11. The guests ate many meats in the pleasant garden. |
| 12. A ship in a harbor is safe, but ships are not for that. |
| 13. I am not drinking, for there is no river in the desert. |
| 14. A well behaved child does not touch the clean door. |
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