[gothic-l] Re: Guta Saga and its Language

[keth at ONLINE.NO]

Hello Athanarik,
Once you know some Old Norse, Gutasaga isn't all that
difficult. I think it is used in Ranke's "Altnordisches
Elementarbuch" as sample text, in the reader's section.


--- In gothic-l at y..., Anþanarik <anthanaric at h...> wrote:
> Hails List and Bertil!
> Here is my first glance, partial translation of some of the text.
> 
> 
> Migration section of the Guta Saga.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
> sithan af thissum thrim aucathis fulc j gutlandi  som   mikit um 

Here is Danish/Norwegian version, so that you have something to
compare with:

Siden, af disse tre økede folket på Gotland 
(later, from these 3 the people on Gotland increased..)



langan tima
>   sit         at  this       three                           
Gothland  some     great   on      long  time
> ON mikill = great
> ON tima = time


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
> Sithan  wildu thair    nauthugir              bort fara men foru 
innan thors borg Oc bygthus thar firir. 

Siden vilde de nødtvunget(?) fare bort
(later they were forced to leave..)


> Sit       wild      their   needmind/heart? bore away men from in  
Thors fort  and  dwell there awhile. 
> Translated from a knowledge of ON.
> 
 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
> Oc vpp ginum  ryza land so fierri foru thair at thair *quamu til 
griclanz*.

Og opp igjennem Russland for de så langt at de kom til Grekenland.
(And up through Russia they went so far that they came to Greece)

etc..

Once you get a bit used to it, I think it is in fact
easier to read than Old Norse. All you need to know
is one of the modern Scandinavian languages + a few clues about
older forms of Swedish/Danish

Best regards
Keth
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~








>  and                                                                
    the ending looks similar to Gothic   
> ON Ok = and
> Gothic *and* would be  -   jah 
> 
> 
> 
> thar baddus thair byggias firir af grica kunungi. vm. ny. oc nithar 
kunungr
> In ON  kunungi may mean knowledge or maybe more like king
> Gothic kunnan, to know, kunþi, n. 
> ON konnugr, is king. 
> 
> 
> 
> * þissun þaira wiþratta quam*  firir drytningina vm sithir tha 
segthi han. 
> Beginning looks very gothic 
> 
> 
> 
> Guta Saga
> 
> Eptir thet sithan quam helgi olauir kunungr flyandi af nerweigi mith
> After  they sit                                  king     flys      
                      with
> If kunungr in fact means king rather then Gothic kunnan, to know, it 
would seem related to Proto-Norse.
> 
> schipum oc legthis j hamn. tha sum callar acrgarn thar la helgi 
olaujr
> ON helgi - holy
> 
> vm sendimen kunungs nemna wilia et
> nemna looks like ON take neman
> wilia may mean ON vilja, wish, want
> 
> thair miþ laglicum forfallum haima satin. ... Engin gief nemda 
aithir j
> miþ ON with 
> 
> gutlandi vtan kunungs aithir
> aiþir looks gothic
> 
> 
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------
> 
> An understanding of the  language of the Guta saga would be of great 
interest  to many.
>  I see similarities with Old Icelandic and Gothic, while I am not a 
professional in antiquarian Germanic linguistics, I would  say that 
there may  be more similarites  to Proto-Norse then Gothic, not saying 
that I see many similarities and that unique Gothic style which would 
 indicate influences from both, in some yet discerned way, which also 
would not be surprising since the farther you trace back Germanic 
languages the more similar they would be, e.g. monogenesis.  Wheither 
it is an offshoot of Proto-Norse or Gothic, at this time I could not 
say.  
> Thoughts from others who are familar with the Gothic language?
> 
> 
> 
>  
> 
> Golja þuk,
> Anþanareiks
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


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