[gothic-l] Re: The numbers

[Francisc Czobor]

Dear Jim,

I don't understand what you mean by a "modern" Gothic calendar.
A form of "modern" Gothic could be considered the Crimean Gothic
attested in Busbecq's word list of the 16th century, but that list
(approx. 80 words and short sentences) doesn't contain anything
related to a calendar.
But there is preserved a short fragment of a Gothic calendar
originating from the Ostrogothic Italy (6th century). You can find it
at the following address:
http://www.wulfila.be/gothic/text/minora/Kalender.html
What is remarcable in that calendar is that the month of November,
called in Gothic "Naubaimbair" (pronounced [november]), was also
called "fruma Juleis" = "first Yule", thus is almost sure that
December was *anthar Juleis ("second Yule"). This is an indication
that also the Goths had the pagan Germanic holiday of "Yule" (which
was reinterpreted by some of the Christianized Germanic peoples
as "Christmass").
As you can see in Koebler's English-Gothic finder
(http://www.koeblergerhard.de/germanistischewoerterbuecher/gotischeswo
erterbuch/NE-GOT.pdf)
the noun "thanks" is in Gothic "ansts" or "thagks" (pronounced
[thanks]) or "awiliuth", and the verb "to thank" is "awiliudon"
or "fairhaitan". The exact equivalent of the English
expression "thank you" is in Gothic: awiliudo thuk.
Regarding equivalents for English "please", the following Gothic
verbs or expressions could be taken into consideration:
bidai anahaitan "to request, to demand"
bidan "to ask for, to beseech"
bidjan "to pray, beseech, request, entreat, ask for, ask a favour"
gabidjan "to say a prayer, pray, request"
usblotan "to pray, adjure, implore, supplicate"
It seems that the most appropriate would be the verb "bidjan", which
looks as an almost exact equivalent of the German verb "bitten".
Thus "please" = German "bitte" = Gothic "bidja".

With best regards,
Francisc


--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, James Young <daddio52 at s...> wrote:
> Francisco,
>
> Please, your answer to Fredrik was so thorough, mabe you can help
me.
>
> What do you know about Gothic calendars, historical (4th or 5th C
CE) and/or modern? And, as Mother always insisted, how do I
say "please" and "thank-you"?
>
> Thank-you.
>
> Jim
>




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