[gothic-l] Gothic and Gutnish numbers

[Francisc Czobor]

Hails allaim!

Thanks to Tore, we have now a larger set of Gutnish numbers for 
comparison.

                  GOTHIC            NORTH GERMANIC (SCANDINAVIC)
GUTNISH     Wulfilan  Crimean   Old Norse  Icelandic  Swedish  Danish

1.en        eins      ene, ita   einn    einn/ein/eitt  en/ett  en/et
2.tu,   twai/twos/twa    tua     tveir   tveir/tvær/tvö  två     to
  tyggia
3.thrir    þreis/þrija   tria    þrír    þrír/þrjár/     tre     tre
                                            þrjú
3rd.thrithia  þridja             þriþe      þriðji      tredje  tredie
4.fiaurum,   fidwor,     fyder   fiórer  fjórir/fjórar/  fyra   fire
  fiugur     fidur-                         fjögur
5.fem        fimf    fyuf[*fynf]  fimm      fimm         fem    fem
6.siex       saíhs       seis     sex       sex          sex    seks
7.siau       sibun      sevene    siau      sjö          sju    syv
8.atta       ahtau       athe     átta      átta         åtta   otte
8th.attunda  ahtauda                       áttundi     åttonde ottende
10.tiv       taíhun      thiine   tío       tíu          tio    ti
12.tolf      twalif     thunetua            tólf         tolv   tolv
14.fiurtan  fidwor-taíhun                  fjórtán     fjorton fjorten
15.femtan   fimf-taíhun                    fimmtán     femton  femten
20.tiughu   twai tigjus  stega   tottogo   tuttugu     tjugo    tyve
40.fiauratigj fidwor furdeithien  fiórer   fjörtíu     fyrtio   fyrre
              tigjus              tiger
60.siextighi saíhs tigjus       sex tiger   sextíu     sextio   tres

I think that further comment is not necessary, but I can not refrain 
from.
It is clear from these examples that Gutnish is a North Germanic 
language, related more closely to other North Germanic languages than 
to Gothic, either Wulfilan or Crimean. Beside the fact that the 
Gutnish numbers, including those higher than 10, are very similar in 
detail with those of Old Norse, Icelandic, or Swedish, there are some 
general comments to be made:
1. in Gutnish occurred the rhotacism of Gmc. *z to r, like in North- 
and West Germanic, while in Gothic *z > s (compare Gutnish thrir, 
Gothic þreis)
2. in Gutnish, like in all North Germanic languages, final -n is lost, 
while in Gothic (both Wulfilan and Crimean) it is preserved (see 
numbers 7 and 10).
3. in the number 4, the -d- of Gmc. *fedwor < IE *qwetwor~*petwor was 
lost in all West- and North Germanic languages, including Gutnish, but 
is preserved in Gothic (fidwor) and still present in the 16th 
century's Crimean (fyder).

Sorry, Bertil and Tore, but I'm still convinced that Gutnish is a 
North Germanic language, being more related to Old Norse, Icelandic, 
and especially Swedish, than to Gothic.

Francisc



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