Wulfila, Alareiks, Aþanagilds

[llama_nom]

--- In gothic-l at yahoogroups.com, "Abdoer-Ragmaan Lombard"
<manielombard at ...> wrote:
>
> Háils
> 
> How are Gothic names in -ila actually declined? Like "manna"? For 
> instance: Wulfila, gen. Wulfilins, dat. Wulfilin, acc. Wulfilan?

I think this is a reasonable assumption, although the only example
attested is Merila (nominative).

> Alareiks and Aþanagilds: (n-stem)  Alareiks, gen. Alareikis, dat. 
> Alareik, acc. Alareik (why "Friþareikeis" in the Gothic calendar? This 
> would belong to the ja-stem);

The question here is whether -reik- in names was interpreted as
equivalent to the noun 'reiks' "ruler" (consonant stem partly
assimilated to the a-stem declension), or to a hypothetical ja-stem
adjective *reikeis (or *reiks, i-stem?) "powerful".  The first option
seems most likely, given cognates in other Germanic languages.  The
scribe wrote Friþareikeikeis -- which presumably involves at least one
mistake!  My guess is that this stands for 'correct' Wulfilan Gothic
'Friþureikis' (genitive).  The use of 'ei' could be due to the
preceding 'ei' in the root, or it could be a variant spelling for 'i'
(there is some confusion in the manuscripts between 'i', 'ei' and 'e',
although the 'ei' : 'e' confusion is more common), or it could be to
do with a loss of distinction between vowels in unstressed syllables
(cf. the connecting vowel -a- in the first element of the name).

> Aþanagild, gen. Aþanagildis, dat. Aþanagild, acc. Aþanagild?

It seems to be treated as a second declension noun in Latin, so maybe
a Gothic a-stem?  Are there any names with this second element in the
other Germanic languages?

LN

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