Attila's speech

Thu Aug 23 17:22:21 UTC 2007

Adnotata (some remarks on the translation and requests for your aid)

ineptus "inept" = *untils (Lat. aptus = Go. gatils). Cf. also OCSl. 
loan o.tilu "no longer usable" and Go. compound untila-malsks.

ignaros rei = unweisans waihtais. Other options are unwitans 
waihtais, unwitandans waiht. But the latter seems to mean 
rather "totally ignorant".

uerbis acuere "to incite with words" = waurdam inwagjan. To 
translate acuere one could construct *neþljan (Lat. acus "needle" = 
Go. neþla).

inexpertus "unexperienced" = unfraisans, lit. "untempted", here in 
the sense "not tested in combat". One could use ungakausiþs too, I 
think.

oportet "ought to" = skuld ist. I wonder is it possible to say 
gaqimiþ, after Col. 3:18?

bellare "to wage war" = militon. A tribute to the badly remembered 
[;-)] military pidgin (< Lat. militare), actually attested in the 
Bible. One could use Germanic weihan instead.

uiro forti "for a strong man" = gumin swinþamma. Lat. fortis here 
perhaps rather "brave" than "strong" (it could mean both), so maybe 
gumin balþamma?

animus "spirit" (NOT anima "soul") hic et passim  = ahma. I've long 
wavered between ahma and saiwala. Any arguments in favor of either?

satiare "to satiate" = sadans briggan (cf. satiari "to sate oneself" 
= saþs wairþan). Another possibility is gasoþjan (used below). The 
case is either dative or genitive. I'm in doubt.

hostis "enemy" = andastaþjis. I was long thinking how to 
translate "opponent in war". Fijands seems too personal. Perhaps we 
should invent a word for it, smth like *andaweiha M.-an, but I'm not 
sure about the stem vowel and the next consonant, maybe *andawiga?

qui inferunt bellum. This is a complicated moment and I'd like to 
elaborate a little. You know that Lat. bellum inferre means "to 
unleash an aggressive war", "to start hostilities", "to invade the 
enemy's territory". A literal rendering of this turn of speech in 
Gothic (smth like þaiei innatbairand wigan) wouldn't say much to a 
native speaker, I guess. I tried to find a Germanic semantic 
equivalent and I came to nothing better than þaiei farand du 
*harjon, lit. "those who go on a raid" (ON fara at herja). Other 
variants are þaiei bairand *harjaskildu "those who carry the shield 
of war" (ON bera herskjöld, is it fitting here?), þaiei slahand 
fruman slah "those who strike the first blow" (figura etymologica, 
ON höggva it fyrsta högg, iirc). Your opinions?

adunatas "joint" = gaqumanaim, lit. "having come together". 
Galisanaim also possible?

defendi "to defend oneself" = driugan, just "to fight". No attested 
Gothic word for "to defend" afaik. Or there is one?

impetus "assault", "attack" etc = *ufarruns. Any better ideas?

excelsa "heights" = hlaina N.-a pl. "hills". In fact, only gen. pl. 
hlaine is attested, it can well be M.-a/-i or F.-i too.

tumulus "barrow" = *haugs, reconstructed after ON haugr. Other 
suggestions?

nota uobis sunt "you know" = kunþa izwis sind (word for word after 
Latin). One could go just with singular: kunþ izwis ist, right?

testudo "screen formed by body of troops in close array with 
overlapping shields" (Oxford Dict.) – a term of Roman military art. 
To translate it was an interesting task. My suggestions are: 
*skildugards "shield house" *skilduskairms M.-i "shield of shields" 
(both elements alliterate, also *skaljaskairms, as Go. skalja "tile" 
= Lat. testa), *skilduhrot "shield roof" and, last but not least, 
*skildubaurgs "shield fortress", after OHG sciltburc glossing Lat. 
testudo.

incumbite = atdriusiþ. I thought of constructing *inkumbjan for 
incumbere (cf. attested anakumbjan "to lie down to a meal" < Lat. 
accumbere).

inde ... unde "thence ... whence" = þaruh ... þarei "there ... 
where". I think literal þaþroh ... þaþroei would sound pretty 
clumsy. What do you think?

solitus "habitual" = swikunþs "well-known".

inlaesus "unhurt" = hails "healthy", "safe". Other variants are 
*ungamaiþs (gamaiþs "mutilated", "deformed", cf. ON 
meiðr "cripple"), unskaþans, *unsair as an adjective (cf. ON sárr 
and Finnish loan sairas "ill"). Your ideas?

uicturos "those going to win", "the would-be victors" = *sigiz-
wairþjans (cf. attested swulta-wairþja "one going to die"). Another 
good possibility is *sigisselins (acc. pl. masc.), constructed after 
ON sigrsæll "victorious".

telum "missile" hic et infra = arhvazna "arrow". Afaik Lat. telum 
may refer to any type of weapon, but predominantly one which is 
thrown or shot, it could well be Go. *spiut N.-a (ON spjót, OHG 
spioz) "javelin".

fata "fate (goddesses)", "weird sisters" = *waiwaurds "ill fate", 
cf. OHG (Hildebrandslied) wewurt "idem"; also ON urðr, OE wyrd, OHG 
wurt etc. I'm tempted to use smth like *naurneis in pl. = Lat. fata, 
but am not sure.

fortuna = *Wodans. This is of course an interpretatio Gothica (god 
of battle deciding who wins and who loses). Translating fortuna is 
indeed a challenge, can someone remember a Norse goddess of good 
luck?

uictores = fraujans ("masters", couldn't find a word for "victor").

adseret (conject. adseruit?) "proclaimed" = andhaihait (an example 
with accusatiuus duplex is in John 9:22).

Meotidarum iter "the way to the Maeotides" = *Aujo wig (acc. sg.). I 
think it's rather useless to try to reconstruct a Gothic name for 
the Maeotides (today's Azov Sea), definitely it was not the Greek 
word, so I used Go. *Aujos pl., because Azov lied right on the Huns' 
way into the Gothic Oium paradise.

armatos "armed ones" = þans *gawepnodans (cf. ON vápnaðr). Another 
option (sounding more poetical) is þans in *alawepnja (ON í alvæpni).

faciem "face" = andawleizn. One could use any of the synonyms 
(andwairþi, siuns, wlits etc), every with its own fine shades of 
meaning (for example, andwairþi hints more to "presence" of the 
Huns, siuns to their "sight" etc).

adunata collectio = galisanai alamans pl. in the sense "all kinds of 
people that gathered together".

euentu "result", "outcome" = bi þata habando gadaban "about [things] 
that are going to happen" (see similar phrasing in Mc. 10:32). Or 
maybe, bi *usgagg (as a calque of Lat. e-uentum)?

tela coiciam = *spiuta gawairpa. If telum here = arhvazna (see 
above), then probably arhvaznos *skiuta "I'll shoot arrows", not 
gawairpa "I'll throw"? Can one "throw arrows"? In Latin, sagittam in 
hostem coicere (conjicere) is OK, but what about Gothic?

otio ferre "to be at leisure" = gahveilain <sis> haban (attested). 
Another possibility is unwaurstwa wisan.

All comments are of course welcome

Ualarauans

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