Gothic Reading (Was 'Artificial Language')

[llama_nom]

Hails, Walhahrabn!

Thanks for your detailed examination of the examples.  It's something
I've wondered about before, ever since reading the comments on this
subject in The Letters of JRR Tolkien (letter 272), where he corrects
his own youthful attempt to write in Gothic in which he used 'lisan'
by analogy with Modern German, saying that he should have used
'ussiggwan'.  It's tempting to think that the 'anakunnan' and
'(us)siggwan' might have been used in these two distinct ways, for
silent reading and reading aloud, but -- as you've shown -- there
isn't enough evidence to be sure.  The parallel Mk 12:26 : L 6:3, Mk
2:25 doesn't rule out the possibility that they had a different
meaning in Gothic, but also leaves open the possibility that there was
no difference in meaning, or that the usage overlapped.  Although
'(us)siggwan' might have its origins in a time when it wasn't normal
for people to read to themselves without saying the words aloud, as
the etymology suggests, for all we know the same verb continued to be
used of private reading once this had become a part of the culture.

þuk golja,
Lama

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