Was the word "kunig/kunigas/kunigur" a gothic word?

[Arthur Jones]

Hails Michel, Francisc, & Co.:
   
  Points are well taken, except that Ingemar makes the Swedish "u" seem to me like the pinch-nose "ew" we make when we smell lutefisk!  ;-)
   
  Actually, I would like to address Michel's two --unspoken-- assumptions:
  1. That "kuni" is a descendant of Greek "cyne". No, au contraire, both are descended from a common Proto-Indo-European root. The German word "koenig" started life the same way, i.e., kuni, but was changed by the Second Sound Shift and the processes of Umlaut. Thus, a u-consonant-i word in gothic changed into a oe or ue in Hochdeutsch, in turn under more southerly influences. Hence, "king". The process was incomplete in some North Germanic varieties, hence "Kong", "Konung", etc.
  Once again, we cannot be certain what the ku- in "kuni" really sounded like, but it was probably not a diphthong, and must have been relatively stable, as it enjoyed a relatively long life as a "oo" sound, either as "boot" or "foot". Hence, it would have been a likely candidate for a Romance-influenced change in root vowel from "u" to "a".
  2. The umlaut process described above occurred some centuries after the Gothic arrival in Catalonia. That is why Wulfilan Gothic is so useful --indispensible, really-- in our studies of Germanic historical linguistics: It preceded all those processes, and is enormously closer to Proto-Germanic.
   
  So, I still favour the toponymy of Canigo from a possible Kuni-hauh.
   
  But, BTW, I really believe we are all fortunate to have Ingemar Nordgren helping us with many of these difficult questions. I just finished his book, "Well Spring of the Goths", and will probably re-read important sections two or three times. It is very condensed, full of relevant data, and would have taken me two or three lifetimes to compile! Thanks, Ingemar!
   
  Arthur

Ingemar Nordgren <ingemar at nordgren.se> wrote:
          Hi Michel,

I think Francisc thinks on the German 'u' that indeed sounds so.
However we have the Scandinavian and Gutnisk 'u' that sounds in a way
that does not exist in neither English, French or German. It is nasal
and requires you stress the nose muscles and breath out directly from
the throat through the nose and have the tounge above the middle of
the mouth relatively close to the nostrils. It should be an open sound
and not the deep oo-sound in English and German. Not so high pitched
as French 'tu'but lower and longer but not so deep as 'oo'. That is
the way I say kuningas, kunigg and the 'u' shall be stressed. Sorry I
can give no linguistic specification. 

Best
Ingemar

--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "michelsauvant" <michelsauvant at ...>
wrote:
>
> Hi Francisc
> Thank you.
> I though this "u" was not pronounced like short english "oo". 
> Because of the greacian parent word "cyne" for "kuni",and the german 
> brother word "könig",I imagined it between french "eu" and 
> french "o".
> If you are right, I think that "canigo" is not parent with "kuni 
> hauh" or "kuniggs hauh".
> Michel



         


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