Intro and question about Lombardic...

[Arthur Jones]

Hails alla
   
  In a quick response to a very well-placed query by Nathan Bellomy-McKnight about the Pernik Sword, might I posit the following:
   
  1. Some months ago I posted some info about this relic, and there is indeed much available online, although some of it is in Swedish, Italian, Bulgarian or German. Several of you out there can perhaps help me out here, although with sufficient time I may be able to ferret many such articles out and post them.
   
  Archaeological dating techniques date the sweord to the mid-eighth Century AD. Pernik, where the sword was uncovered, lies between Sophia, Bulgaria, and the Serbian border. 
   
  2. We can tell that it is Langobardic because the text corresponds best and most consistently to the beginning era of the Second Sound Shift (Zweite Lautverschiebung) that nowadays distinguishes High German from Low German. Thus, in a number of existing Bavarian-Austrian dialects, including Zimbri, initial voiced labials such as "b" became unvoiced, i.e., turned into "p". This explains the "pid" and "pn". The "hwil" or "huil" Nathan is right about; "hweil" was the Gothic for hour or time. Further, the Alpine Zimbrisch dialect likewise uses "pn" where NHD uses "bin". Thus, the most likely translation is found at the end of this poem, undoubtedly written by a GREAT BUT UNRECOGNIZED MASTER BARD (ahem: me):
   
  I am mindful of inscriptions on a Langobardic sword;
       Served well its master in the Balkans,
  Sparked and rang off helm and shield,
       Proved a voiceless turning point,
               made
  Raucous cries into faint gurgles,
       Made the mighty yield.
   
  yet poems past, and sabres hoary,
       Strive for memory and vain glory:
   
  IH INI NI HUIL PID    -- (I)H INI HUIL PN
   
  I, within, not (the) hour await;
  I, within, (the) hour am.
   
  Please note that, as in Gothic, the letter "h" can indicate a guttural such as the "ch" in NHD "Bach" or "Buch". The "Pid" , Gothic "beidan", to bide, to await.
   
  Golja thuk,
   
  Aizamunds
   
  Arthur A. Jones
  arthur.jones at yahoo.com
  

Nathan Bellomy-McKnight <aelffin at hotmail.com> wrote:
          Hi everybody, 

I've been subscribed to Gothic-L for a long time, but as far as I can recall
I've never posted anything. Ironically, my first posting isn't about Gothic,
but about another old Germanic language. I recently read about the Pernik
Sword. It was found in Bulgaria in the 1920s I think, and has the following
inscription: +IHININIhVILPIDHINIhVILPN+

In the last couple of years, a researcher claimed to have identified the
language as Austro-Bavarian, Lombardic, or another early West Germanic
language. The translation they give is "I do not await eternity, I am
eternity." But since the paper isn't available online, I'm not sure of the
intended parsing for such a translation. 

Assuming a West Germanic language with "hvil" for E. "while"/G. "weile", I
would guess the inscription is supposed to be parsed as: "I hini ni hvilpid
hini hvilpn". This would make -id and -n pretty typical Germanic verb
inflections. But what's that p doing in there? -pid and -pn would be
surprising verb endings I think. Could hvilp- be the root word? Wouldn't
that make it less likely to be cognate with "while/weile"? Are there any
potential cognates in other Germanic languages for somehting like this?
Maybe: whilpan, whilvan, wilvan, vilfid, whilfed, völvon (Volvo!)...??? Am I
barking up the wrong tree? Regardless though, if -id and -n are verb
inflections, makes hvilpid sound like a past tense to me. Does anybody know
if "hini" has cognates with a meaning similar to "eternity"? 

Personally, I think hvilp- (if that's the correct parsing) is more likely
cognate with "wolf" (cf. PIE *wlp-), making the p in hvilp- an archaism that
was dropped in other Germanic languages. That would make Lombardic: I hini
ni hvilpid hini hvilpn. Something like "I am not wolfish, I am wolfen" or
"I'm not wolf*like*, I *am* a wolf". In that case, Lombardic "hini" would
probably be cognate with "hine", the Anglo-Saxon accusative case of "he". Or
maybe hini functions like German heiße (Swedish heter, Icelandic heiþur) =
"my name is", so Hvilpid would be a proper name (is Úlfið a name?), similar
to Scandinavian Ulfs, Gothic Wulfilas, or German Wolfgang, giving the
sentence a meaning akin to "Wolfgang's not just my name, I really am a
wolf!" (Jag heter inte Ulfs, jag heter ulf / Ich heiße nicht Wolfgang, ich
heiße Wolf) Not a half bad thing to inscribe on your sword if you ask me...
Totally speculative, of course.

Any thoughts? 

Best,
Nathan McKnight
www.nathanmcknight.com

Nathan Bellomy
Assistant Editor, Science
McGraw-Hill School Solutions Group
8787 Orion Place | Columbus, OH 43240
Phone: 614-430-4990 | Fax: 614-430-4403
nathan_bellomy at mcgraw-hill.com 

The difference between 
theory and practice
is smaller in theory 
than it is in practice. 



         


ARTHUR A. JONES


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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