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Gothic Online

Lesson 5

Todd B. Krause and Jonathan Slocum

Early Contact between Goths and Huns

Scholars have long looked for an explanation of the Goths' sudden and destructive entrance into history in the middle of the 3rd century. They have generally attributed Gothic movements to a response to the marauding Huns who came swiftly from the east and attacked and displaced the formerly sedentary Goths. Of course this begs the question as to the reason for the Huns' entrance into eastern Europe: overpopulation, drought, or the search for richer grazing areas have all been suggested as possibilities.

The Huns first attacked and subdued the Alans, a nomadic Iranian people neighboring the Goths to the east of the Don. Together the Huns and Alans attacked the Goths. Their combined forces first attacked the Greuthungi, whose leader was Ermenaric. Upon his death, Vithimer became leader of the Greuthungi and paid some Huns to fight alongside the Goths. Vithimer was eventually killed in battle against a force consisting mostly of Alans, and the subsequent leaders Alatheus and Saphrax led a retreat to the Dniester.

This westward movement of the Greuthungi was countered by the Tervingi, who, led by Athanaric, marched from the east to the Dniester to hold them off. Hunnic attacks eventually forced Athanaric to fall back, until he built a defensive wall running from the river Gerasius (modern Prut) to the Danube. Further Hunnic attacks interrupted construction of the walls, and Alavivus and Fritigern led splinter groups to seek refuge in the Roman empire across the Danube. This then left the Greuthungi free to cross the Dniester, and they too pushed to the Danube and sought entry into Roman territory. The two groups sought to enter Roman territory sometime in 376.

This rapid turn of events is, however, likely a synopsis of a situation which developed over a substantial period of time. It is more likely that Huns did not come in the form of a lightning storm of invaders, but rather that pressure upon neighboring Gothic tribes built up over time. In fact the Tervingi request for asylum presumably involved several stages, all taking considerable time: (1) deliberations among the Goths themselves as to how best to escape the Huns; (2) a request made to local Roman officials for permission to enter Roman territory; (3) referral of the matter to the emperor Valens, to whom the Goths eventually sent embassies; (4) a period of waiting while Valens made a decision from his present location in Antioch; (5) another waiting period while the embassies returned from Antioch, travelling over 1000km each way.

As it turns out, the Goths themselves still remained the major concern of the Roman empire in the region of the Danube in 376 and after. The Huns by contrast only operated in small raiding parties at the time. Athanaric's Tervingi established a new settlement in the Carpathians in late 370s. When Athanaric was ousted c. 380, the Goths he ruled remained in north of the Danube. This suggests that the Huns were not such oppressive raiders that the Goths were in a particular hurry to flee. Another Gothic group under Arimer, perhaps the former subjects of Athanaric, also remained north of the Danube until the mid 380s. Yet another group of Greuthungi under Odotheus tried in 386 to cross south into Roman territory. They were defeated and resettled to Asia Minor. Much later, in 405-406, the Gothic king Radagaisus crossed the Roman border and invaded Italy. But though Odotheus and Radagaisus may have been Hunnic refugees, no sources contradict the possibility that they were simply leaders of independent groups of Goths.

The Huns themselves did not press the Roman border: in 395 (20 years after the initial Gothic requests to pass into Roman territory), a large group of Huns crossed the Caucasus. One part headed for Persia, another for Roman territories in Armenia, Cappadocia, and Syria, going as far as Antioch, Edessa, and Cilicia. Though these may have been Huns from the Danube, this would have involved a journey of more than 1000km around the Black Sea and through the difficult Caucasus, a harsh journey for men and horses alike. It is likely that the Huns' center was somewhat father east of the Danube, closer to the Don and Volga.

One story of the Huns' arrival is given in the Ecclesiatical History of the 5th century church historian Sozomen (translated in Heather and Matthews, 1991):

2   The Goths, who in former times inhabited the region beyond the Ister and were masters of the other barbarians, were driven from their lands by the people called the Huns and crossed over into Roman territory.
3   Now this race, so they say, was previously unknown to the Thracians living by the Ister and to the Goths themselves, and lived as their neighbors without either party realising it -- the reason for their ignorance being that a huge lake lay between them, each people believing that the country in which they lived was the last dry land to exist, and that beyond lay sea and an infinite expanse of water. It came about, however, that an ox, driven mad by insects, ran through the lake and was follwoed by its herdsman, who saw the land on the other side and reported it to his fellow-tribesmen.
4   Others say that a deer, fleeing in the chase, showed its Hunnish pursuers the way, which lay concealed by the surface of the water; and that the hunters, admiring the country with its gentler climate and ease of cultivation, at once turned back and reported what they had seen to the ruler of their race.
5   The Huns first tried the strength of the Goths with a small force of men, and later attacked in full force, defeating the Goths in battle and taking possession of their entire country. The victims of the attack made to cross the river, and coming over to the Roman frontiers sent envoys to the emperor, promising their services as his allies in the future and asking his agreement to settle wherever he chose.
6   The leader of this embassy was Ulphilas, the bishop of the Goths; and, negotiations proceeding as they hoped, they were allowed to live in Thrace.

In this account, Sozomen seems to pass over the fact that Wulfila (here Ulphilas, for Ulfila) was expelled from Gothic lands during the persecutions of the 340s, and so likely had no personal connection to the events of the 370s related here. However it was possible during that period to pass somewhat freely over the imperial borders, and so it is not impossible that Wulfila maintained some connection with these events.

Ambrose of Milan, writing c. 380, sums up the story of the Huns' arrival thus (quoted in Heather, 1996):

    The Huns threw themselves upon the Alans, the Alans upon the Goths, and the Goths upon the Taifali and Sarmatae... and this is not yet the end.

Evidence of more permanent Hunnic presence on the Danube only begins c. 400 AD, when a leader of the Huns called Uldin announced his presence by sending the head of an imperial general Gainas to imperial authorities in Constantinople.

Reading and Textual Analysis

The following passage is Matthew 6.1-15, relating the famous Sermon on the Mount. The Gothic selection contains numerous possessive forms, as in Matthew 6.1: izwara 'your'. This form could be either the genitive plural of thu 'thou' or the feminine singular nominative or accusative of the possessive adjective izwar 'your, yours'. The possessive adjectives are in fact derived from appending adjectival endings to the genitive of the personal pronouns. Compare Modern English mine to the Old English genitive singular of the first person pronoun: mi:n. The decision as to which analysis should be given to izwara is based primarily on proximity to the form izwaramma, which is unambiguously adjectival, as well as on parallelism in the structures of the following verses. Similar ambiguity surrounds theina in verses 6.3-4 and 6.13.

In Matthew 6.3 we find ith thuk ta'ujandan armaio:n 'but when thou doest alms'. This is an example of an accusative absolute, consisting of a substantive (here thuk) and an associated participle (here ta'ujandan) placed in the accusative case to related information that would generally occupy a full subordinate clause in Modern English. Such constructions are far less common in Gothic than their dative counterpart.

We also find in this passage several uses of the present subjunctive, most frequently here equivalent to imperatives. The use in Matthew 6.5 -- jah than bidjaith 'when you pray' -- shows use of the present subjunctive to denote hypotheical events in the future. In the jargon of traditional grammars of Greek and Latin, this is a present subjunctive in the protasis of a present general condition.

In this reading we encounter several terms of relating to tribal structure. In particular we find the general term thiuda 'people' (Matthew 6.7). This seems to denote any ethnically or culturally identifiable group, as the Gothic term of self-reference, Gut-thiuda 'Gothic people', attests. We also find the term thiudinassus 'kingdom' (Matthew 6.10) and thiudangardi 'kingdom' (Matthew 6.13), built from thiudans 'head of a thiuda, king'.

The last part of Matthew 6.13, unte: theina ist thiudangardi jah mahts jah wulthus in a'iwins 'for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever', is a phrase which is absent from the traditional Greek text, as well as from the Old English translation of c. 995, Wycliffe's translation of 1389, and Tyndale's of 1526.

6:1 - Atsaihwith armaion izwara ni taujan in andwairthja manne du saihwan im; aiththau laun ni habaith fram attin izwaramma thamma in himinam.

2 - than nu taujais armaion, ni haurnjais faura thus, swaswe thai liutans taujand in gaqumthim jah in garunsim, ei hauhjaindau fram mannam; amen qitha izwis: andnemun mizdon seina.

3 - ith thuk taujandan armaion ni witi hleidumei theina, hwa taujith taihswo theina,

4 - ei sijai so armahairtitha theina in fulhsnja, jah atta theins saei saihwith in fulhsnja, usgibith thus in bairhtein.

5 - jah than bidjaith, ni sijaith swaswe thai liutans, unte frijond in gaqumthim jah waihstam plapjo standandans bidjan, ei gaumjaindau mannam. Amen, qitha izwis thatei haband mizdon seina.

6 - ith thu than bidjais, gagg in hethjon theina jah galukands haurdai theinai bidei du attin theinamma thamma in fulhsnja, jah atta theins saei saihwith in fulhsnja, usgibith thus in bairhtein.

7 - bidjandansuth-than ni filuwaurdjaith, swaswe thai thiudo; thugkeith im auk ei in filuwaurdein seinai andhausjaindau.

8 - ni galeikoth nu thaim; wait auk atta izwar thizei jus thaurbuth, faurthizei jus bidjaith ina.

9 - swa nu bidjaith jus:

        atta unsar thu in himinam,
        weihnai namo thein.

10 - qimai thiudinassus theins.
        wairthai wilja theins,
        swe in himina jah ana airthai.

11 - hlaif unsarana thana sinteinan gif uns himma daga.

12 - jah aflet uns thatei skulans sijaima,
        swaswe jah weis afletam thaim skulam unsaraim.

13 - jah ni briggais uns in fraistubnjai,
        ak lausei uns af thamma ubilin;
        unte theina ist thiudangardi jah mahts
        jah wulthus in aiwins. amen.

14 - unte jabai afletith mannam missadedins ize, afletith jah izwis atta izwar sa ufar himinam.

15 - ith jabai ni afletith mannam missadedins ize, ni thau atta izwar afletith missadedins izwaros.

Lesson Text

6:1 Atsaihwith armaion izwara ni taujan in andwairthja manne du saihwan im; aiththau laun ni habaith fram attin izwaramma thamma in himinam.

2 than nu taujais armaion, ni haurnjais faura thus, swaswe thai liutans taujand in gaqumthim jah in garunsim, ei hauhjaindau fram mannam; amen qitha izwis: andnemun mizdon seina. 3 ith thuk taujandan armaion ni witi hleidumei theina, hwa taujith taihswo theina, 4 ei sijai so armahairtitha theina in fulhsnja, jah atta theins saei saihwith in fulhsnja, usgibith thus in bairhtein.

5 jah than bidjaith, ni sijaith swaswe thai liutans, unte frijond in gaqumthim jah waihstam plapjo standandans bidjan, ei gaumjaindau mannam. Amen, qitha izwis thatei haband mizdon seina. 6 ith thu than bidjais, gagg in hethjon theina jah galukands haurdai theinai bidei du attin theinamma thamma in fulhsnja, jah atta theins saei saihwith in fulhsnja, usgibith thus in bairhtein.

7 bidjandansuth-than ni filuwaurdjaith, swaswe thai thiudo; thugkeith im auk ei in filuwaurdein seinai andhausjaindau. 8 ni galeikoth nu thaim; wait auk atta izwar thizei jus thaurbuth, faurthizei jus bidjaith ina.

9 swa nu bidjaith jus:

        atta unsar thu in himinam,
        weihnai namo thein.
        10 qimai thiudinassus theins.
        wairthai wilja theins,
        swe in himina jah ana airthai.
        11 hlaif unsarana thana sinteinan gif uns himma daga.
        12 jah aflet uns thatei skulans sijaima,
        swaswe jah weis afletam thaim skulam unsaraim.
        13 jah ni briggais uns in fraistubnjai,
        ak lausei uns af thamma ubilin;
        unte theina ist thiudangardi jah mahts
        jah wulthus in aiwins. amen.

14 unte jabai afletith mannam missadedins ize, afletith jah izwis atta izwar sa ufar himinam. 15 ith jabai ni afletith mannam missadedins ize, ni thau atta izwar afletith missadedins izwaros.

Translation

From the King James version:
6:1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: 4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
9 After this manner therefore pray ye:
    Our Father which art in heaven,
    Hallowed be thy name.
    10 Thy kingdom come.
    Thy will be done
    in earth, as it is in heaven.
    11 Give us this day our daily bread.
    12 And forgive us our debts,
    as we forgive our debtors.
    13 And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from evil:
    For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
    and the glory, for ever. Amen.
14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Grammar

21. Distributive and Negative Pronouns and Adjectives
21.1. Distributives

The interrogative hwathar forms a distributive by addition of the particle -uh: hwatharuh 'each (of two)'. Only the dative masculine occurs, both alone (hwatharamme:h) and in composition (a'inhwatharamme:h 'to each one (of two)').

The pronoun hwas, hwa, hwo: also forms a distributive by suffixing -uh: hwazuh, hwah, hwo:h 'each, every'. The declension is as follows.

hwazuh 'each'   Masculine   Neuter   Feminine
             
N Sg.   hwazuh   hwah   hwo:h
A   hwano:h   hwah   hwo:h
G   hwizuh   hwizuh   *hwizo:zuh
D   hwamme:h   hwamme:h   *hwiza'ih
             
N Pl.            
A   hwanzuh        
             

The only plural form is the masculine accusative plural hwanzuh. Before -uh, an s changes to z. The u of the suffix -uh drops after a long vowel or stressed a.

The adjective hwarjis likewise forms a distributive by affixing -uh: hwarjizuh 'each, every'. The declension is as follows.

hwarjizuh 'each'   Masculine   Neuter   Feminine
             
N Sg.   hwarjizuh   hwarjato:h   *hwarjo:h
A   hwarjano:h   *hwarjato:h   hwarjo:h
G   hwarjizuh   *hwarjizuh   *hwarjizo:zuh
D   hwarjamme:h   hwarjamme:h   *hwarja'ih
             

This adjective occurs with the uninflected prefix a'in- to form the compound a'inhwarjizuh 'every one'. The attested forms are as follows.

a'inhwarjizuh 'every one'   Masculine   Neuter   Feminine
             
N Sg.   a'inhwarjizuh   a'inhwarjato:h    
A   a'inhwarjano:h       a'inhwarjo:h
G   a'inhwarjizuh        
D   a'inhwarjamme:h        
             

The stem ba- 'both' only survives in a few forms, naturally plural. The attested forms are as follows.

ba- 'both'   Masculine   Neuter   Feminine
             
N Pl.   ba'i, bajo:ths   ba    
A   bans   ba    
G            
D   ba'im, bajo:thum        
             
21.2. Negatives

The particle -hun is suffixed to forms of hwas 'who', manna 'man', and a'ins 'one' to form indefinite pronouns, hwashun, mannahun, a'inshun. These always occur with the negative particle ni in the meaning 'no one, nothing, no, none'. The compound form of hwas occurs only in the nominative singular masculine: ni hwashun 'no one'. The compound forms of manna occur only in the masculine singular. The compound forms of a'ins occur at least in part for all genders. The attested forms of these pronouns are as follows.

-hun Compounds   Masculine   Masculine   Masculine   Neuter   Feminine
                     
N Sg.   hwashun   mannahun   a'inshun   a'inhun   a'ino:hun
A       mannanhun   a'inno:hun, a'ino:hun   a'inhun   a'ino:hun
G       manshun   a'inishun   *a'inishun   *a'ina'izo:shun
D       mannhun   a'inumme:hun   *a'inumme:hun   *a'ina'ihun
                     

Note that the first element of each compound declines, while only the -hun remains invariant. The base a'ins- declines according to the strong declension of blinds (Section 13.1), except that is has -e:- or -o:- where blinds has a final -a. Note also the forms a'in-(n)o:-hun (masc. acc.; compare blind-ana) and a'in-umme:-hun (masc. dat.; compare blind-amma). For the particle -hun, compare Sanskrit -ca-na' (where -na is a negative particle) in ka's cana' 'any one'. Note also -que in Latin quisque 'whoever'.

The feminine noun wai'hts 'thing, matter' occurs with the negative ni 'no, not', as does a neuter form wai'ht, to express 'nothing' (Greek oude'n or me:de'n).

22. Numerals
22.1. Cardinals and Ordinals

Below is a list of the attested cardinal and ordinal numerals in Gothic.

Number   Cardinal   Ordinal
         
1   a'ins 'one'   fruma (frumists) 'first'
2   twa'i   anthar
3   thrija (neut.)   thridja
4   fidwo:r    
5   fimf   fimfta-
6   sai'hs   sai'hsta
7   sibun    
8   ahta'u   ahtuda
9   niun   niunda
10   tai'hun   tai'hunda
11   *a'inlif (dat. a'inlibim)    
12   twalif (dat. twalibim)    
13        
14   fidwo:rtai'hun    
15   fimftai'hun   fimftatai'hunda (dat. fimftatai'hundin)
16        
17        
18        
19        
20   twa'i tigjus    
30   *threis tigjus (acc. thrins tiguns)    
40   fidwo:r tigjus    
50   fimf tigjus    
60   sai'hs tigjus    
70   sibunte:hund    
80   ahta'ute:hund    
90   niunte:hund (gen. niunte:hundis)    
100   tai'hunte:hund, tai'huntai'hund    
200   twa hunda    
300   thrija hunda    
400        
500   fimf hunda    
600        
700        
800        
900   niun hunda    
1,000   thu:sundi    
2,000   two:s thu:sundjo:s    
3,000   g (= threis) thu:sundjo:s    
4,000   fidwo:r thu:sundjo:s    
5,000   fimf thu:sundjo:s    
         
         
10,000   dat. tai'hun thu:sundjo:m    
20,000   dat. twa'im tigum thu:sundjo:    
         

The form tigjus which appears in the cardinal decades 20-60 is the nominative plural of a u-stem noun meaning 'group of ten, decade' (cf. Section 7.2). These numerals govern the genitive case. The hundreds 200, 300, 500, 900 combine the individual units and the neuter noun hund 'hundred', which declines like the neuter a-stem wau'rd (Section 3.1). These numerals govern the genitive case. The feminine noun thu:sundi 'thousand' declines like the jo:-stem noun bandi (Section 3.2). The numerals denoting thousands govern the genitive case.

22.2. Numeral Declension

The cardinal numbers 1 through 3 are decline as adjectives, agreeing with the noun they modify in gender, number, and case. The numeral a'ins 'one' occurs in both singular and plural; in the plural it means 'only, alone'. It follows the strong a-stem adjective declension of blinds. The cardinals 2 and 3 naturally occur only in the plural. No forms of 3 occur in the nominative, though the expected masculine and feminine form is *threis, and neuter *thrija mimicking the accusative. The declensions are given below.

a'ins 'one'   Masculine   Neuter   Feminine
             
N Sg.   a'ins   a'in, a'inata   a'ina
A   a'inana   a'in, a'inata   a'ina
G   a'inis   a'inis   a'ina'izo:s
D   a'inamma   a'inamma   a'ina'i
             
N Pl.   a'ina'i   a'ina   a'ino:s
A   a'inans   a'ina   a'ino:s
G   a'ina'ize:   a'ina'ize:   a'ina'izo:
D   a'ina'im   a'ina'im   a'ina'im
             
twa'i 'two'            
             
N Pl.   twa'i   twa   two:s
A   twans   twa   two:s
G   twaddje:   twaddje:    
D   twa'im   twa'im   twa'im
             
*threis 'three'            
             
N Pl.   *threis   *thrija   *threis
A   thrins   thrija   thrins
G   thrije:        
D   thrim   thrim    
             

The cardinal numbers 4-15 generally remain uninflected, though some inflected forms occur. The attested forms are genitive and dative plurals exhibiting i-stem declension. For example, dative forms are fidwo:rim, tai'hunim, a'inlibim, twalibim, fimf tai'hunim; genitives are niune:, twalibe:.

The attested ordinals decline as adjectives. The ordinal fruma 'first' (cf. Section 17.2) declines as a weak adjective, with the feminine following the i:n-stem declension of managei. The forms are as follows.

fruma 'first'   Masculine   Neuter   Feminine
             
N Sg.