Gothic "au"

[David L. White]

----- Original Message -----
From: <X99Lynx at aol.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2001 11:47 AM

> In a message dated 3/21/2001 10:29:39 PM, dlwhite at texas.net writes:
> << That Gothic "au" was, among other things (probably), a spelling for
> /o/, as "ai" was for /e/, is not disputed by most observers.  The evidence,
> some of which we have just seen, is too strong. >>

> This appears to miss the point.  There are loads of words in Wright's where
> Gothic words contain an <o>.  The point is that practically every time
> indicated where Gothic borrowed a word with a Greek <o> it is transliterated
> as <au> (or rarely <u>).  This does not appear to be random or occasional.

        I am not saying it is random or occasional.  The rule (if I am
remembering correctly) is that Greek short /o/ appears as "au" (representing
short /o/), whereas Greek long /o/ appears as "o", which in Gothic is
inherently long, perhaps by influence from Greek omega.

Dr. David L. White