[gothic-l] Re: du usfilhan ana gastim

[Sigi Vandewinkel]

Hi all, 

A few years ago I have written an MA thesis on Gothic prepositions, 
and here's what I've been able to come up with on "usfilhan ana 
gastim". To my knowledge, there is no instance of "ana" being used as 
an adverb. If "ana" in Mt. 27:7 indeed is a preposition (and not an 
adverb), perhaps it is related to instances such as the following:
 
1) ik jah atta meins ain siju. nemun aftra stainans þai Iudaieis,
ei 
waurpeina ana ina (Jn 10:31).
"'I and my father are one.' The jews again took stones, so they [the 
stones] would be thrown at Him"

2) jah dugunnun sumai speiwan ana wlit is jah huljan andwairþi
isjah 
kaupatjan ina [...](Mk 14:65).
"And some started to spit on His face and hid His face and beat Him 
[...]"

3) [...] jah gasmait imma ana augona þata fani þamma blindin
(Jn 
9:6). 
[...] and He smeared him, the blind one, on the eyes that mud." 

"ana" in these instances involves an object moving towards and making 
contact with another object. That contact usually is unpleasant 
(throwing stones, spitting at someone -- perhaps even smearing saliva 
and sand on someone's face, before you know it's beneficial). As far 
as I know, there is no single verb in the Gothic Bible for the 
(jewish?) custom of stoning someone; rather, it is translated 
by "trowing stones *ana* someone". I think the difference 
between "ana" here and regular Gothic prepositions expressing the 
notion "towards" ("du" and "at") is that "du" and "at" do not involve 
contact. 

As for the dative case: "ana" can take both the accusative and the 
dative case, and it is one of the few prepositions (four?) where an 
opposition accusative-dative corresponds to an opposition dynamic-
static (as is the case on a much larger scale in present-day German). 

So, my guess is that "usfilhan ana gastim" means: "to be buried 
towards/near/at the foreigners", expressing negative connotations of 
the burial location (perhaps something like "they threw his body in 
the ground where they bury the foreigners, a grave unfit for a jew"). 
I like to think this instance of "ana" is similar to English "at", as 
in "bark/yell/spit at someone" (all unpleasant actions), which can be 
extended to "she'll sing at me", or "she'll read poetry at me". 

Is this any help?

Sigi Vandewinkel








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