[gothic-l] Gutnish and Gothic

[Bertil Häggman]

Esteemed listmembers,

The renowned Norwegian linguist Professor Sophus Bugge
was the first to point out the similarities between Old Gutnish
and Gothic.

"Naar vi betragte Gotlandsmaalets Lydlaere, vil vi finde det at
vaere rent nordisk. De gutniske Former kan foeres tilbage til
samme Urformer som de andre nordiske Sprogs Former. Men
med Hensyn till Vokalerne staa dog de gutniske Former
i flere Henseender naermere ved de gotiske end Formerne
i nogen anden nordisk Sprogart. Dette synes, naar det sammen-
stilles...neppe at kunne vaere tilfaeldigt. Skulle det inte kunne
forklares saa, at den svenske Sprogart, som udviklede sig paa
Gotland, fik sin eiendommelige Nuance under Inflydelse fra det
gotiske Sprog, som taltes paa Oen foer det nordiske."

It was Professor Bugge's view that Old Gutnish was influenced
by Gothic. According to him there was a Gothic, non-Nordic element
in Old Gutnish.

Profoessor Bugge even asks if the language of the Gutar once
was Gothic.And that for instance -a in wrta = Gothic waurtha
is a connection that has remained from that time.

The name mrla exists as Merila (*Marila?). In Old Nordic the forms
frohila, niuwila, wiwila, exist in the same manner.

If the Gutar originally were related to the Oestgoetar and the
Vaestgoetar, they most likely in 100 AD spoke Gothic and
not Nordic/North Germanic.

As the Goths migrate south the Gutar are isolated from their
Gothic ancestors and as trade, communication, politics and
religion are more and more "Swedenized" it is natural that
the language is becoming more Nordic, Scandinavian,
Swedish even.

The transmission from Gothic to more Scandinavian influence
was made easier by the fact that Gothic and mainly Swedish
are similar.

Professor Bugge suggested that Swedish linguists familiar
with Old Gutnish (and it seems uncertain if Stockholm University
harbour any experts in Old Gutnish) should study the linguistic
connections between Old Gutnish and Gothic.

Gothically

Bertil


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