[gothic-l] Re: Gaut, Gapt

[andreas.schwarcz at UNIVIE.AC.AT]

On 20 Jul 2001, at 3:12, keth at online.no wrote:


> 
> I think I understood something now:
> The Dutch "v" is a voiced "f",
> (example: de Veluwe, vulpen, vorm, vrij, etc)
> and it is labio-dental.
> But if you made it bi-labial, you'd probably approximate
> the early medieval "v" that was used in Italy ca. AD 500.
> What this then amounts to (I think), is a normal modern 
> Scandinavian "u" that is prononced without rounding the lips,
> but rather by holding the lips together so that they make
> a fricative. That would give you a voiced bi-labial fricative.
> Then  Gavt  /vacillates/ with Gaft  and Gapt.
> 
> Of course u and v were the same letter (sign/char).
> Also assume they used only p or f. (is that true?)
> Then one mystery remains, which is why they sometimes
> wrote Gavt and other times Gaft or didn't they?

Dear Keth,

the only known written form from Jordanes is Gapt and there are no 
other written examples.

> Maybe the rule was always to write v before t as f.
> Maybe this had someting to do with the transition
> voiced -> unvoiced. Then avt has 2 voiced, 1 unvoiced,
> but aft has 1 voiced, 2 unvoiced.  So the explanation
> then is that the economy of speech made them go from
> voiced to unvoiced one letter earlier, which resulted in
> avt -> aft.
> 
> :)
> 
> Did I get it now?
> Best regards
> Keth
>
Yes, I think it could have worked that way.

Kind regards
                 
                 Andreas 
Ao.Univ.Prof.Dr.Andreas Schwarcz
Institut für österreichische Geschichtsforschung
Universität Wien
Dr.Karl Lueger-Ring 1
A-1010 Wien
Österreich
Tel.0043/1/42-77/272-16
Fax 0043/142-77/92-72

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