[gothic-l] Re: The Goths, Gutland (Gutones) and the Guta Saga

[M. Carver]

Comparison of Cardinal Numbers:

Gothic               Gotlandic       Old Norse (standardized)
ains                > 1. ann <ainn  einn
twai, twa, twos     > 2. tueir      tveir
þreis, þrija        > 3. ?          þrir
fidwor              > 4. fiaurir    fjo'rir
fimf                > 5. ?          fimm
saihs               > 6.            sex
sibun               > 7. siau       sjau
ahtau
niun
taihun


For reference I look to E.V. Gordon, p. 325:

"Dialects developed early in OSwed., being traceable from c.1050. The most
distinct and, in most respects, most conservative of them was Gutnish... The
island of Gutland, it is believed, was once occupied by the Goths, and it is
interesting to note that several of the features in which Gutnish differed
from other forms of OSwed. agree with the phonology of Gothic. These are:

(1) Germ. ai was still ai...
(2) OGut., like Gothic, had i and u where other Norse dialects had e and
o...
(3) As in Gothic u appeared as o before r...
(4) Germ. au was still au...
(5) A coincidence of word-sense is that lamb in OGut. and Gothic meant
'sheep'; in other Germanic languages only 'lamb.' The early Germ. borrowing
of Latin lucerna is recorded only in Gothic lukarn and OGut. lukarr...

Yet at the period when the Goths were in Gotland, the Swedes also had the
diphthongs ai and au, and the similarities (2), (3) and (5) may be
accidental."




> 
> 
> I don't know Gothic, so perhaps somebody on the list could tell us,
> whether this is sufficiently close to Gothic to allow for mutual
> intelligibility. Does anybody have the Gothic numerals 1-10?
> 
> cheers,
> Dirk


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