[gothic-l] Gothic Language Corner 10

[edmundfairfax@yahoo.ca [gothic-l]]

Gothic 'spaurds'
 

 1) (a measure of distance or length, a stade):
 

 tharuh farjandans swe spaurde 'k' jah 'e' aiththau 'l'
 'so when they had rowed about 25 or 30 stades'
 

 Greek 'stadion', Latin 'stadium', was an ancient measure of length, varying according to time and place, but most commonly equal to 600 Greek or Roman feet, that is, one eighth of a Roman mile. The word is rendered by 'furlong' in the King James translation.
 

 2) (a race-course, race-track):
 

 nowhere in the Gothic corpus does 'spaurds' have this sense. The cognates of the Gothic word in the other early Germanic languages do suggest, however, that the Gothic word may have denoted both a measure of distance as well as 'race-course, race-track': cf. non-West-Saxon Old English 'spyrd,' which translates Latin 'stadium' in the sense of both 'race-course' and 'stade' (the West Saxon equivalent is 'furlang' = 'furlong'); Old High German 'spurt,' which translates Latin 'stadium' in the sense of 'race-course, race-track' (as well as '-times' in the adverbs indicating number of times).
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