Frankenbeasts through Gothic Eyes

[Edmund Fairfax]

Dear David,

The omission of two lines from the Old English original was deliberate: I was unable to find any word in Gothic that could render OE ungefraegelic 'extraordinary, remarkable, unheard-of,' nor could I create a suitable neologism. But such omissions were certainly not unknown to translators in the ancient world and later, and so I reckon myself to be in good company.
I noticed in rereading the post that the OE clause 'thonne mann faerth to thaere Readan Sae' was rendered as 'than manna du Babylauniai leithith'. The latter is in fact part of the opening from a different passage, which somehow came to mind first when I translated. As the OE text stands, the Gothic should read rather 'than manna leithith du Raudon Marein'. The only example of a placename consisting of a common noun modified by an adjective that I have been able to find in the Gothic corpus is 'fairgunja alewjin' (dative) "Mount of Olives" (lit. 'mount olivine'). Interestingly, the weak declension of adjectives with no article/demonstrative is used here. The use of the weak declension without an article is also extant in Old English and still can be used in Modern Icelandic in certain contexts. Thus the form 'du Raudon Marein' rather than 'du thizai Raudon Marein' or 'du Raudai Marein', as one might otherwise expect.
This translation, of course, was done in fun, as any attempt to write in Gothic can only be.

In any case, thank you for your interest in my Gothicized frankenbeasts.

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

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