[gothic-l] Re: "air", "airis", þáim "airizam" jah þata "jér"

[konrad_oddsson]

Háils Gerry!

> About the three Gothic words:
> Airizam is the easiest to deal with. It is the dative plural of an 
unattested nominative airiza, an adjective meaning earlier or older. 
Being a comparative, it is always declined weak, which is why the 
dative plural is not airizaim. The editorial accent on the initial 
sound is put on the "a". The word is related to the "ear" of the 
English word early, but the only other form of the adjective found 
in Gothic is the genitive plural airizane, which occurs twice in 
Luke. Two other related forms are the adverbs "air", meaning early, 
and "airis", meaning earlier.

Interesting. It seems that "air", "airis" and "airizam" have some 
connection to "jér"(year), but that the "j" is no longer extant in 
fourth century Gothic. This leads me to wonder about the word "jér".
What was it´s original meaning? What light can other IE languages 
cast on it? It seems safe to conclude that the substantive "jér" 
(PrN. "jara") came fyrst and the adverbial and descriptive forms 
later. It could be that the "j" is of later date and that the 
suspect derivative forms preserve an original "j"-less form. On the 
other hand, the "j" could be original to the substantive and have 
fallen away from the suspect derivatives. 

Does anyone have any interesting sources or insights into this topic?

Regards,
Konrad.
> 
> Aibr is more obscure, and some have maintained that it should be 
read from 
> the manuscript as tibr or as taibr. However that may be, it 
translates the 
> Greek "doron", and in its context means "offering".

> 
> Gerry T.



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