[gothic-l] Re: Inquiry (number symbols & letters)

[llama_nom]

Hi Paul,

The equasion of EYZ in the Vienna-salzburg Codex, with Biblical
Gothic *AIHWS (attested in the name of a type of bush: AIHWA-TUNDI),
seems to be pretty widespread.  You can find it in Gerhard
Koebler's "Gotisches Woerterbuch" for example:

http://www.koeblergerhard.de/publikat.html
http://www.koeblergerhard.de/germanistischewoerterbuecher/gotischeswoe
rterbuch/GOT-E.pdf

R.I. Page - who is rather skeptical (maybe overskeptical?) about the
Gothic origins of these letter names - mentions EYZ in "An
Introduction to English Runes", in his discussion of the Anglo-Saxon
rune called EOH 'horse'.

The one problem with this is that AIHWS, as spelt using Wulfila's
system, doesn't actually contain the letter E!  (Although if AIHWS
was spelt with runes, the E-rune would be the obvious choice.)  Many
dodgy websites on runes reconstruct EYZ as EGEIS, also claimed to
mean 'horse', but I don't know the origin of this idea, and the word
is not in Koebler.  AIHWS would be the normal form for the cognate of
Old English EOS < Indo-European EKWOS.

I think EYZ as a spelling of AIHWS is consistent with the practice of
the other Gothic letter names.  The character Y appears in two
others: THYTH (=thiuth?) and TYZ (=Tius), in both cases apparently
indicating a labial sound.  It might have been used by someone with
an awareness of Old English spelling conventions.

I'm afraid I don't know anything more than you've told me (and the
information at the site I mentioned) about the Greek use of archaic
letters for branding horses.  If the Gothic letter names are genuine,
the close match with the Old English runes names suggests that there
was a traditional reason to have a letter called 'horse', quite apart
from the Greek practise, so it could well be a coincidence.  Also,
the Gothic EYZ comes 5th (like epsilon), rather than in the position
of any of the Greek archaic letters.

The 6th letter, QUERTRA, also has a runic styled name, rather than
anything reminiscent of DIGAMMA or STIGMA - although we have to be
careful, as it's always possible that the Gothic list was filled out
at a later date (by the scribe even) on the basis of the Old English
rune names - even if (as I believe) the basis of the list is
genuinely Gothic.

But yes, the Greek use of archaic letters is interesting in its own
right, as is the detail about what Wulfila could have known.

Llama Nom




--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "Paul" <paulgazzoli at v...> wrote:
>
> --- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "llama_nom" <penterakt at f...> wrote:
> >
> > I don't think that koppa/90 would have had the name AIHWS 'horse'
> > (<Germanic *ehwaz), since this is already taken by the fifth
letter,
> > E, according to the Vienna-Salzburg codex (?10th century), where
the
> > name is spelt phonetically in Roman characters: EYZ.  Given the
> > resemblance of the 900 symbol to the T-rune, I guess that might
have
> > been called *TIUS (the Gothic cognate of the Norse & Old English
> > names for that rune).  But I don't know.  Maybe the Greek names
were
> > borrowed.  Or maybe new Gothic names were invented based on their
> > previous sound values in Greek, or the values they were supposed
to
> > have had...
>
> > >
> > > I have also seen it conjectured as EIHWAS. Is this correct?
>
> That it is conjectured as 'horse' is interesting--do you remember
> where you saw this?
>
> It's interesting because the archaic letters Koppa and San were
used
> as brands for certain pedigrees of horses. Aristophanes uses the
word
> 'koppatia' to describe an expensive horse branded with the letter
> koppa at line 23 of Clouds. According to the commentator KJ Dover,
> this terminology was current when the scholion (marginal
commentary)
> to the line was composed, probably 250-350 AD. (Dover, ed. Clouds
> (abridged edition), OUP 1970, pp. 71 and xxxi)--so this terminology
> would have been current for the literate and greek-speaking Wulfila.
>
> Anyone have further information/thoughts on this?
>
> Best regards,
> Paul



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