[gothic-l] Word Study : Directions

[M. Carver]

Not too long ago we were discussing directions, and my curiosity over
early development of the four directional terms in Gothic (and Gmc) was piqued.

I looked in that little PIE roots index in the back of the dictionary:

Wespero-, Evening, night. I. Reduced form *wes- 1. Suffixed form
*wes-to- in Germanic *west- II. Possibly Gmc. *wis- in Late Latin
Visigothi "West Goths". (despite possible evidence for *wisi-, "good")

Ner-1, Under; also, on the left; hence, with an eastward orientation,
north (compare deks-), Suffixed zero-grade form *nr-t(r)o- in Germanic
*north(r)-, north.

Awes-. Also, aus-. To shine. 1. Gmc. *aust- "east"  2. Gmc. *austra-
"eastern" 3. Gmc. *austron-, a dawn-goddess whose holiday was celebrated
at the vernal equinox: Easter.

Sa'wel-, Also swen-, sun- 1...c. Gmc. derivative *sunthaz, "sun-side," south.


This seems to corroborate those reconstructions of Koebler's that were
posted not too long ago:

sunþar (Aa) southern (cf. Sontrilli = *Sunþrhildi) (but Koebler, Gmc. *sunþra)
aus- (Aa) ? shining, bright, morning
austra (Sb) the East (cf. Austrogoti) < Germ. *aust(r)a...
etc.

Further, we could reconstruct:

*wists - wistar - wistra - wistr (but note confusion with wists
"being"), etc.
*naurþrs -
*austrs -
*sunþs -



Matþaius

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