[gothic-l] Re: du usfilhan ana gastim

[Sigi Vandewinkel]

Hi all, 

In Dutch, we would also say "spuwen op iemand" lit. "spit on someone",
"throwing stones at someone" would be translated just like that:
stenen gooien naar iemand" (naar = at). However, in my dialect, which
has had quite some German influence, we would say: "stein guje op
eine", "throw stones on someone". The "op" there is probably from
analogy with expressions such as being angry/enraged/jealous/ "op"
someone -- which are also unpleasant experiences. Come to think of it:
Swedish adjectives expressing negative emotions toward someone also
need "på" (=on): att vara arg/sur/elak/svartsjuk på någon"
(to be
angry/upset/jealous *on* someone". 

And with reference to "on eastenglum", I recall from Mitchell's Old
English syntax that Old English "in" and "on" formed one preposition
"on" well into the Middle English period; but I can't recall any
reason. Perhaps it was contexts like "usfilhan ana gastim" that coaxed
people into linking up "in" and "on". 

In Gothic, there is this example where "ana" is used to locate a
village; I feel it is similar to the ones about spitting and stoning. 

wasuh þan Beþania nehva Iairusaulwmi[a]m, swaswe ana spaurdim
fimftaihunim (John 11:18). 
Bethany then was near Jerusalem, such on fifteen miles. (transl?)

In Dutch, there would be a similar construction there: "op zo'n
vijftien mijlen": lit. "on such fifteen miles"; "at about fifteen
miles", which is what the Gothic phrase seems to be indicating.  Note
that "spaurdim fimftaihunim" is a dative case, used in a static
context. The examples about throwing stones and spitting are similar,
the main difference being they involved movements, dynamic contexts,
and, therefore an accusative. Still there is another difference: the
dynamic examples always involved something unpleasant, whereas the
"ana spaurdim" example is neutral. 

Seems to me there was in Gothic a separate sense of "ana", "statically
located at/dynamically moving to be located at" -- which isn't all too
much different from its general meaning "(on its way to be) located on
the top of some object". 

Sigi





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