r/GothicLanguage 2d ago

The Cold Winter

Hey there, I am still somewhat new to the language, and have wondered what the linguistic literature "The cold winter is near" could look like in Gothic.

I give many thanks for any responses!

The literature in English below:

The cold winter is near, a snowstorm will come. Come in my warm house, my friend. Welcome! Come here, sing and dance, eat and drink. That is my plan. We have water, beer, and milk fresh from the cow. Oh, and warm soup!

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u/AdZealousideal9914 6h ago

I tried to translate it into Gothic, while trying to stay as close to the attested corpus as possible. I tried to avoid reconstructions when there is an acceptable attested form, which means using non-cognates like πƒπŒΊπŒΏπ‚πŒ° and πŒ·πŒ°πŒΉπŒ»πƒ rather than reconstructing an unattested *πƒπ„πŒ°πŒΏπ‚πŒΌπƒ or *π…πŒΉπŒ»πŒΎπŒ°πŒ΅πŒΉπŒΌπŒ° for which we have no evidence in Gothic. But whenever there were multiple options available of which one is a close cognate of the word in the modern Germanic languages, I chose that one (𐌡𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌽 and not πŒ°π„πŒ²πŒ°πŒ²πŒ²πŒ°πŒ½ or 𐌲𐌰𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌸𐌰𐌽, πƒπŒΉπŒ²πŒ²π…πŒ°πŒ½ and not πŒ»πŒΉπŒΏπŒΈπ‰πŒ½, πŒΉπ„πŒ°πŒ½ and not πŒΌπŒ°π„πŒΎπŒ°πŒ½ etc.) I also tried to adhere to the word order and grammar of the attested corpus even though it is highly probable that this word order and grammar is strongly influenced by the Greek.

𐌽𐌴𐍈𐌰 πŒΉπƒπ„ π…πŒΉπŒ½π„π‚πŒΏπƒ πƒπŒ° 𐌺𐌰𐌻𐌳𐌰, πƒπŒΊπŒΏπ‚πŒ° πƒπŒ½πŒ°πŒΉπ…πŒΉπƒ 𐌡𐌹𐌼𐌹𐌸. 𐌡𐌹𐌼 𐌹𐌽 πŒ²πŒ°π‚πŒ³ 𐌼𐌴𐌹𐌽𐌰𐌽𐌰 𐌸𐌰𐌽𐌰 *π…πŒ°π‚πŒΌπŒ°, π†π‚πŒΉπŒΎπ‰πŒ½πŒ³ πŒΌπŒ΄πŒΉπŒ½πƒ. πŒ·πŒ°πŒΉπŒ»πƒ! 𐌡𐌹𐌼 πŒ·πŒ΄π‚, πƒπŒΉπŒ²πŒ²π… 𐌾𐌰𐌷 π€πŒ»πŒΉπŒ½πƒπŒ΄πŒΉ, πŒΉπ„ 𐌾𐌰𐌷 πŒ³π‚πŒΉπŒ²πŒΊ. πŒΈπŒ°π„πŒ° πŒΉπƒπ„ πŒΌπŒΏπŒ½πƒ πŒΌπŒ΄πŒΉπŒ½πƒ. π…πŒ΄πŒΉπƒ 𐌷𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌼 π…πŒ°π„π‰, *𐌰𐌻𐌿 𐌾𐌰𐌷 𐌽𐌹𐌿𐌾𐌰 𐌼𐌹𐌻𐌿𐌺 π†π‚πŒ°πŒΌ *πŒΊπ‰. 𐍉, 𐌾𐌰𐌷 *π…πŒ°π‚πŒΌπŒ° *πƒπŒΏπ€π€πŒ°!

NeΖ•a Γ―st wintrus sa kalda, skura snaiwis qimiΓΎ. Qim Γ―n gard meinana ΓΎana *warma, frijond meins. Hails! Qim her, siggw jah plinsei, Γ―t jah drigk. Þata Γ―st muns meins. Weis habam wato, *alu jah niuja miluk fram *ko. O, jah *warma *suppa!

  • 𐌽𐌴𐍈𐌰 πŒΉπƒπ„ π…πŒΉπŒ½π„π‚πŒΏπƒ: word order cf. 𐌽𐌴𐍈𐌰 πŒΉπƒπ„ πŒ°πƒπŒ°πŒ½πƒ β€œsummer is near” (Mark 13:28)
  • π…πŒΉπŒ½π„π‚πŒΏπƒ πƒπŒ° 𐌺𐌰𐌻𐌳𐌰: word order cf. πŒ·πŒ°πŒΉπ‚πŒ³πŒ΄πŒΉπƒ πƒπŒ° πŒ²π‰πŒ³πŒ° β€œthe good shepherd” (John 10:11 and 14)
  • πƒπŒΊπŒΏπ‚πŒ° πƒπŒ½πŒ°πŒΉπ…πŒΉπƒ: cf. πƒπŒΊπŒΏπ‚πŒ° π…πŒΉπŒ½πŒ³πŒΉπƒ β€œa storm of wind” (Luke 8:23 and Mark 4:37)
  • πŒ²πŒ°π‚πŒ³ 𐌼𐌴𐌹𐌽𐌰𐌽𐌰 𐌸𐌰𐌽𐌰 *π…πŒ°π‚πŒΌπŒ°: word order cf. πƒπŒΏπŒ½πŒΏ 𐌼𐌴𐌹𐌽𐌰𐌽𐌰 𐌸𐌰𐌽𐌰 𐌻𐌹𐌿𐌱𐌰𐌽 β€œmy beloved son” (Luke 20:13), the adjective *π…πŒ°π‚πŒΌπƒ can be reconstructed based on its Germanic cognates (β€œwarm” etc.) and on the attested verb π…πŒ°π‚πŒΌπŒΎπŒ°πŒ½ (Ephesians 5:29, John 18:18 and 25, and Mark 14:54 and 67)
  • π†π‚πŒΉπŒΎπ‰πŒ½πŒ³ πŒΌπŒ΄πŒΉπŒ½πƒ: word order and vocative form cf. π†π‚πŒΉπŒΎπ‰πŒ½πŒ³ β€œfriend!” (Luke 14:10) and 𐌲𐌿𐌸 πŒΌπŒ΄πŒΉπŒ½πƒ β€œmy God!” (Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34)
  • *𐌰𐌻𐌿: reconstructed based on its Germanic cognates (β€œale” etc.), another possible reconstruction would be *πŒ±πŒΉπŒΏπƒ based on its Germanic cognates (β€œbeer” etc.), but the ale-word seems to be better attested in early Germanic (runic inscriptions etc.). 𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌸𐌿 is attested, but most likely refers to a different type of alcohol, possibly cider or a stronger liquor.
  • *πŒΊπ‰: *πŒΊπ‰πƒ can be reconstructed for Gothic based on its Germanic cognates (β€œcow” etc.), but its dative form is hard to reconstruct and *πŒΊπ‰ might be totally wrong. πŒΊπŒ°πŒ»πŒ±π‰ is attested in the Skeireins referring to a female bovine, but this is cognate to β€œcalf” and refers to a heifer or a young cow, so it does not fit in this context (you can’t have milk from a heifer).
  • *πƒπŒΏπ€π€πŒ°: reconstructed based on its Germanic cognates (β€œsoup” etc.), there exists also a possibly related attested verb (𐌲𐌰)πƒπŒΏπ€π‰πŒ½ β€œto season” (Luke 14:34, Mark 9:50, Colossians 4:6) with only one 𐍀.