a Gothic poem (verse 3)--syntax, word usage

Mon Aug 15 13:05:32 UTC 2005

--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "Roman Rausch" <aranwe at m...> wrote:

> Third stanza:
> 
> Þáu fônu, sáiwala qiwa,
> Or fire, [a] spirit [which is] quick,
> 
> Þaírh ita diwand waíhteis
> By it die the things,
> 
> Akei rûna libáináis raíhtis,
> Yet [a] secret [of] life indeed,
> 
> Gudane baírhta giba?
> [Of] the gods [a] bright gift?

You're getting better at this!  Only two grammar suggestions and a 
semantic caution for you this time...  The genitive plural 
of 'guþ' "god" would be 'gude', a neuter a-stem, but takes masculine 
attributes in singular when applied to the Christian god.  Perhaps 
you were remembering *Gutane "of the Goths" (from the Pietroassa 
inscription <gutani>)?  The other thing is that RAIHTIS, except when 
it's contradicting a question that expects a negative answer, 
typically occurs in "second position" in the sentence, either 
literally after the first word, or after the first 
significant/stressed group of words.  From the Skeireins:

at raihtis mann us missaleikom wistim ussatidamma,
us saiwalai raihtis jah leika

jah þata raihtis anasiunjo wato jah...

ufarþeihandei raihtis witodis hrainein, iþ...

þatei sa raihtis Fareisaius was

du leitilamma mela raihtis bruks was ... iþ... 

In this last example, RAIHTIS seems to have strayed quite far into 
the sentence, but in fact I think this still counts as "second 
position", as 'du leitilamma mela' "for a little while" is all one 
noun phrase.  My feeling is that if a Gothic speaker had to make any 
slight pause while saying this, they'd be more likely to do so 
directly after RAIHTIS than before.

> 
> Is it possible to put an adjective after the noun? (Streitenberg's 
> syntax part isn't online, hmpf..

Sadly not.  But it's available from Universitätsverlag Winter for 
7.00 Euros [ https://www.innovativ-
media.de/inni/winter/deutsch/frame.htm ].  In fact they have a 
number of Gothic titles:

Die gotische Bibel  Streitberg, Wilhelm  
Gotische Syntax.  Streitberg, Wilhelm Stopp, Hugo  
Gotische Texte.  Kienle, Richard von  
Gotisches etymologisches Wörterbuch.  Holthausen, Ferdinand  
Hispano-gotisches Namenbuch.  Piel, Joseph M Kremer, Dieter  
Nominale Wortbildung der gotischen Sprache.  Casaretto, Antje  

> I looked up in Wright's grammar (pp. 
> 182-194) but couldn't find anything concerning this point..) And 
if 
> not, what about a relative clause with omission of the copula, so: 
> _sáiwala soei qiwa [ist]_?

Seems fine to me.  Acceptable poetic license.  Though the omission 
of the copula in the Bible is just in immitation of Greek, in all 
the examples I've seen, 'apposition' is a device much used in Old 
English poetry.  That last sentence was an example of it.  With 
subordination instead of apposition, I could have said: "a device 
which was much used..."  Sentences in OE poetry can be very long and 
loose, with much paratactic incrementation, so I think what you've 
done is quite in keeping with that.

I take it you mean "quick" in the archaic English sense of "living" -
- in which case, that's right.

Gothic AHMA "spirit", = Gk. PNEUMA, is the word used for a 
disembodied and disembodyable consciousness.  But 'sailawa' may 
still be appropriate to your poem: see what you think.

SAIWALA = Gk. PSUXH, in spite of its cognate "soul", often means 
something more like "life".  When someone lays down their life (i.e. 
sacrifices it) for lambs, or loses their life to gain the world, 
this is the noun used.  'saiwala', PSUXH, is something that would be 
destroyed if you died and went to hell (Mt 10,28), so it's 
not "soul" in the sense of an immortal spirit that lives on after 
death.  At Php 2,30, Paul praises Epaphroditus, saying that he had 
no regard for his own life "ufarmunonds saiwalai seinai".  Clealy 
he's not saying he had no regard for his 'soul' -- if anything, the 
opposite.  In such instances, English bibles such as the King James 
have "life".

Sometimes in the KJB, "soul" is used where Gothic has SAIWALA, Greek 
PSUXH.  This is where it refers to the emotional part of a living 
person's mind, e.g. Mk 12,30 us allai saiwalai þeinai "with all thy 
soul", that is: with all your heart, willingly and full of 
enthusiasm.  In this sense someone's 'saiwala' can be disturbed, or 
pierced with a metaphorical sword of grief.  L 1,45 jah qaþ Mariam: 
mikileid saiwala meina fraujan, KJB "And Mary said, My soul doth 
magnify the Lord"; Good News Bible "My heart praises the Lord".

In the Skeireins, 'saiwala' is the non-physical parts of a person, 
contrasted with 'leik', and is translated "soul" by Marchand.  It is 
also something that was prepared for baptism by John's teaching.  
These instances might be grouped together with the "mind as seat of 
the emotions" definition.  At Mk 12,33, 'saiwala' stands 
alongside 'fraþi' and 'hairto': "to love him with all the heart, and 
with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the 
strength".  But it's not clear just from this, to what extent these 
are distinct entities or hyperbole.

Finally, SAIWALA and the adjective 'SAMA-SAIWALS' are used for 
agreement/accord between people.  þatei standiþ in ainamma ahmin, 
ainai saiwalai samana arbaidjandans galaubeinai aiwaggeljons = 
KJB: "that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving 
together for the faith of the gospel" (Php 1,27).

Llama Nom

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