a Gothic poem (verse 3)--syntax, word usage

[Roman Rausch]

>The genitive plural of 'guþ' "god" would be 'gude', a neuter a-stem, 
>but takes masculine attributes in singular when applied to the 
Christian 
>god. Perhaps you were remembering *Gutane "of the Goths" (from the 
>Pietroassa inscription <gutani>)?

Oh, an a-stem.. Probably I keep confusing the two because both are 
_Got-_ in German..

>I take it you mean "quick" in the archaic English sense of "living" -
>- in which case, that's right.

Yes - archaic words favored in poetry, though this one will surely be 
misunderstood, so 'a living spirit' should be sufficient.

Regarding _saiwala_: 
Is it possible that the concept of an immortal soul was applied to 
this word during the christianization? So the pagan Germanic tribes 
didn't know such a thing; at the early stage of chrisitiniaztion it 
was still used for a bit different things; but later, when the 
Catholic church became predominant its meaning was further restricted.
Well, and my text isn't really Christian in content..

>Sentences in OE poetry can be very long and
>loose, with much paratactic incrementation, so I think what you've
>done is quite in keeping with that.

Well, except for the ending-rhymes instead of alliterantions. :-)

>du leitilamma mela raihtis bruks was ... iþ...
>In this last example, RAIHTIS seems to have strayed quite far into
>the sentence, but in fact I think this still counts as "second 
position"

It has also ventured farther than usual in _ikei ana andaugi raihtis 
hauns im in izwis_ 'who in presence am base among you' (Cor.II,10:1).
But with the usual second position the only way to keep it in the end 
of the line seems to be a breaking up of the sentence over two lines.. 
And this is getting too complicated, mhm.. let's try something else:

Þaírh ita diwand mahteis,
Akei galiuhtjiþ nahtins

Or would _Jah sik galiuhtjand nahteis_ be also possible for the second 
line?




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