New file uploaded to gothic-l (ents, Faroes, Christmas)

[llama_nom]

--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "thiudans" <thiudans at ...> wrote:
>
> Would *fahis (z) then be feminine as Ic. fær, or perhaps neuter like
> agis, riqis, sigis &c.?


I think neuter is the original gender (cf. also Lat. pecus, pecoris,
n.), and given these other neuter nouns with -is/-iz it seems most
likely that it would be preserved as such in Gothic.  Maybe the
Icelandic cognate changed declension and gender later under the
influence on 'ær' "ewe" after the sound changes that obscured its
connection with agi, røkkr, sigr, and so on.

 
> Should *jiula then be seen somehow to be the singular form of
> (*)Jiuleis, the name of the months preceding and following "yule"
> which I believe we have from the Go. Calendar?


The month name 'fruma jiuleis' which appears in the Calendar as a
synonym for 'Naubaimbair' is masculine singular, as shown by the
adjective: a long ja-stem like hairdeis.  It corresponds to ON ýlir
(masculine singular) and Anglian OE giuli (mentioned by Bede:
Primusque eorum mensis, quem Latini Januarium vocant, dicitur
Giuli...December Giuli, eodem quo Januarius nomine, vocatur... Menses
Giuli a conversione solis in auctum diei, quia unus eorum præcedit,
alius subsequitur, nomina accipiunt (cited in the OED)) -- in later
West Saxon OE the months before and after the feast are called 'se
æ´rra géola' and 'se æftera géola', with a change of declension to
masculine n-stems.

The midwinter feast itself -- the 12 days of Christmas -- is neuter
plural in ON and Icelandic (jól), and sometimes in Old English (æ´r
géolum = advent).  Maybe the tendency to make it singular came as the
word's meaning changed to apply to the Christian festival.  In view of
which, maybe it is worth having a more specific word after all for the
day itself when Christ's birth is commemorated, and keep the old
grammar for the festive 12 days as a whole.

http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/png/oe_bosworthtoller/b0424.png
http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/png/oi_cleasbyvigfusson/b0727.png

LN



> --- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "llama_nom" <600cell@> wrote:
> >
> > 
> > 
> > Or better still, *fahis-aujos, like 'sigis-laun'.
> > 
> > 
> > --- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "llama_nom" <600cell@> wrote:
> > >
> > > 
> > > > "Antjos, mja.pl." – probably also an i-stem, Anteis?
> > > 
> > > Campbell (Old English Grammar) has 'ent' down as an i-stem too.
 That
> > > would also agree with the general trend for i-stem ethnic names.
> > > 
> > > > "Faeroe Islands – Fairauja, pl." - -aujos, fjo. pl.?
> > > 
> > > How about: *fahis-aujos (supposing that the iz/az stems were
> > > generalised to -iz- in Gothic).  The name comes from an inherited
> > > Indo-European word for sheep, ON fær < PN *fahaz < IE *pokos.
> > > 
> > > http://runeberg.org/svetym/0254.html
> > > 
> > > For Christmas, besides *weiha-nahts (and similar: weihons
nahts?), we
> > > could have: *jiula (=OE géol) or *jaíhvla (=OE geohhol) -- neuter
> > > plural.  ON jól could be descended from either variant.
> > >
> >
>


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