[gothic-l] Gothic Language Corner 10

Tue Jan 20 15:30:43 UTC 2015

Coming and Going in Gothic

 It is often assumed that Gothic 'gaggan' is to be equated simply with 'to go,' and 'qiman' with 'to come.' This is not entirely correct. Consider the following examples:

 jabai hwas gaggith du mis (L14,26) 'if anyone comes to me' (lit. 'if anyone goes to me')

 jah insandida skalk seinana hweilai nahtamatis qithan thaim haitanam, "gaggith, unte ju manwu ist allata"' (L14,17) 'and at the hour for supper he sent his servant to tell those bidden, "come, for everything is ready"' (lit. 'go, for everything is ready')

 leitith tho barna gaggan du mis (Mk10,14) 'let the children come to me' (lit. 'go to me')

 qamt her faur mel balwjan unsis (Mt8,29) 'have you come here to torture us before it is time?'

 When the local reference is to the first-person speaker in ModE, 'come' not 'go' must be used, but this rule did not apply in Gothic, as the first three examples above show. Likewise, Old English did not observe this restriction:

 'ga hider' (Genesis 27,21) 'come hither' (lit. 'go hither')

 'Neron cwaeth, 'gang me near hider' (Blickling Homilies 179,30) 'Nero said, "come closer to me here"' (lit. 'go closer to me here')

 The examples given above suggest that 'to come' is rendered by 'gaggan' when the speaker wishes to stress the leaving of a spot, that is, focuses on the beginning of the action of coming, seemingly with the connotation that one is held back by reticence or authority or a block of some kind ('let the children come to me' i.e., 'don't hold them back'; 'come, for everything is ready', i.e., 'you do not need to wait any longer'). In the fourth example above, 'qiman' is used apparently because the focus is not on the leaving but on the arrival ('have you come here...?' = 'are you here now...?').

 Edmund
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