Valthungian

Valthungian, the Grey Tongue
Grējutungiška Rasta, So Grējuga Tunga
Pronunciation	[ˈgrai̯.juˌtuŋ.giɕ.kɑ ˈrɑs.tɑ, so̞ ˈgrai̯.ju.ɡɑ ˈtuŋ.gɑ]
Created by	BenJamin P. Johnson, creator of: Adzaay Aterran Languages Arbulian Modern Standard Imperial Hakdor Ashian Northern Western Braereth Tenibvreth Eomentesa Merineth Dlatci Gothic Romance Extemplar Latin Italian Gothic Bad Romance Grayis Maltcégj Northeadish Valthungian Griutungi Old Valthungian Middle Valthungian curator of: Brooding Nymeran
Date	2010
Setting	Europe, vaguely
Language family	Indo-European Germanic East Germanic Griutungi Old Valthungian Middle Valthungian Valthungian, the Grey Tongue
Language codes
CLCR	qgt
BRCL	grey

Valthungian is an East Germanic language descended from a language that was probably mutually intelligible with Gothic, though much of its corpus cannot have been inherited from the language of Wulfila. It is likely, however, that the speakers of the ancestor of Valthungian did consider themselves Goths (or Gutai or Gutþiudōs), and that their language was mutually intelligible with other dialects of Gothic. The Valthungian relationship to “Classical Gothic” can be thought of as analogous to the relationship between Modern High German and Old High German – that is, not a direct lineage, but the modern languages are descended from neighboring dialects spoken by people who would likewise have considered themselves to be “Gutisks,” in the case of Valthungian, or “Diotisk” in the case of German.

While Valthungian shares many of the areal changes common to North and West Germanic languages, it is also marked by distinctive changes in palatalisation, which, while similar to those of Old English, are most likely influenced by contact with Romance and Slavic languages. Modern Valthungian can be traced back to Middle Valthungian (spoken from around 1200‒1600ᴀᴅ) through Old Valthungian (800‒1200ᴀᴅ) and ultimately to Griutungi, which would likely have been thought of as a dialect of Gothic (400‒800ᴀᴅ).

The name “Valthungian” comes from the name Valthungi – a Latin term likely derived from a pre-Old Valthungian name *Walþungae – meaning “Forest-dweller,” likely a branch of or related to the Thervingians (idem), though the Valthungian people refer to themselves as Grējutungišk, which is probably from an earlier Griutuggs (the name of an Ostrogothic tribe living along the northern shore of the Black Sea), but which underwent some semantic reanalysis over the generations and came to mean ‘the grey-tongued ones’. In turn, they call their language Grējutungiška Rasta ‘Grey-tonguish Language’ or just So Grējuga Tunga ‘the Grey Tongue’.

Writing System

Alphabet & Pronunciation

Here I give the traditional Valthungian letters followed by the romanisation I use for them in the second row. This romanisation is otherwise used throughout this article.

IPA Name Name Meaning A a [ɑ] aska ‘ash’ Ǣ ǣ [e̞ː] ǣjus ‘horse’ B b [b] breka ‘birch’ G g [ɡ] giva ‘gift’ Ǧ ǧ [ʤ] ǧus ‘beast’ D d [d] daǧ ‘day’ Ð ð [ð] ǣði ‘mother’ E e [e̞] eǧa ‘blade’ Ž ž [ʒ] akuže ‘axe’ H h [h~x] hagla ‘hail’ Þ þ [θ] þronus ‘thorn’ I i [i] igil ‘hedgehog’ J j [j] jēr ‘year’

IPA Name Name Meaning K k [k~kʰ] kune ‘family’ L l [l] lagus ‘lake’ M m [m] matna ‘person’ N n [n] nǭþs ‘need’ O o [o̞] ore ‘riverbank’ P p [p~pʰ] preðra ‘chance’ R r [r] reða ‘earth’ S s [s] sōgila ‘sun’ Š š [ʃ] šuge ‘colour ’ T t [t~tʰ] tījus ‘Teu ’ Č č [ʧ] čus ‘choice ’ U u [u] ungula ‘owl’ V v [v] ivra ‘boar’

IPA Name Name Meaning F f [f] fǣjo ‘cattle’ W w [w] wynia ‘joy’ Œ œ [ø̞̞] rœča ‘farmer’ Y y [y] ynča ‘ounce’ Ǭ ǭ [o̞ː] ǭsus ‘ox’ Non-Alphabetic Variants Ā ā [ɑː] āde ‘egg’ Ē ē [ɑi̯] ēmate ‘ant’ Ī ī [iː] īs ‘ice’ Ō ō [ɑu̯] ōðla ‘inheritance’ Ū ū [uː] ūrus ‘aurochs’ Œ̄ œ̄ [ø̞ː] œ̄ža ‘fortune’ Ȳ ȳ [yː] ȳfti ‘custom’

Though the seven long vowels of the Non-Alphabetic Variants have individual names, they are not considered part of the standard alphabet or alphabetical order. Instead, each long vowel is considered alphabetically equivalent to its doubled short counterpart. That is, 〈ā〉 is equivalent to 〈aa〉, 〈ē〉 to 〈ee〉, 〈ī〉 to 〈ii〉, and so on. (The long vowels 〈ǣ〉 and 〈ǭ〉 are included in the standard alphabetical order, and do not have short forms, though they are written with macrons in their romanised forms.)

(NB: The Valthungian alphabet, while mainly latin- and cyrillic-based, contains several characters which are not readily representable using the standard Unicode characters. The forms presented throughout this wiki are a romanisation of the letters shown in the table above.)

Orthography

The orthography of Valthungian is quite regular to its phonology; indeed, there are very few exceptions:

1. The letter 〈n〉 before 〈g〉 or 〈k〉 is realised as a velar nasal [ŋ]. Specifically, 〈ng〉 is [ŋɡ] and 〈nk〉 is [ŋk]. (E.g. drinkna [driŋk.na] ‘to drink’.)
   1. In combinations where 〈ng〉 is followed by another nasal consonant, [ɡ] is elided in speech: 〈ngm〉 is [ŋm] and 〈ngn〉 is [ŋn]. (E.g. gangna [gaŋ.na] ‘to go’; not **[gaŋɡ.na].) In rapid speech this may also occur to the other nasal-stop combinations 〈mbn〉, 〈mbm〉, 〈ndm〉, and 〈ndn〉; sometimes the stop may also become glottal.
2. In the combinations 〈hw〉 (i.e. 〈hu〉 followed by a vowel), 〈hl〉, and 〈hr〉,〈h〉 is realised as [x].
3. The combination 〈rju〉 is realised as [rɛu̯] (rather than the expected [rju]). (E.g. frjusna [frɛu̯s.na] ‘to freeze’.)
4. The diphthong 〈eu〉 is realised as [ɛu̯] (rather than the expected [e̞u̯]). (E.g. sneugna [snɛu̯g.na] ‘to snow’.)
5. The diphthong 〈œu〉 is realised as [œy̑] (rather than the expected [ø̞u̯]). (E.g. grœunis [ɡrœy̑.nis] ‘green’.)
6. For some speakers, word-final 〈þs〉 may be realised as [t̪s].
7. For some speakers, medial 〈tl〉 (usually derived from earlier /ll/) may be realised as [dɮ].
8. Inexplicably, the letter wynia, while quite regular in and of itself, has a rather irregular romanisation. It is sometimes romanised quite regularly as ⟨w⟩, though in combination with consonants before a vowel (/dw/, /tw/, /þw/, /hw/, /gw/, /kw/, or /sw/), it is romanised as 〈u〉 (i.e. 〈du〉, 〈tu〉, 〈þu〉, 〈hu〉, 〈gu〉,〈ku〉 and 〈su〉.)
   1. This process cannot cross morpheme boundaries, so iþ + wītna → iþwītna, not **iþuītna.

Stress is indicated in the standard orthography with an acute accent only if:

1. The stress is not on the first syllable.
   1. (By default, stress falls on the primary syllable.)
2. The stressed vowel is short.
   1. (All unstressed long vowels were reduced to short vowels in the Middle Valthungian period.)
3. The stressed vowel is not 〈œ〉 or 〈y〉.
   1. (The rounded front vowels can only occur as the result of i-umlaut, which could only arise from a stressed vowel.)

For example, iníla ‘excuse’, akéčim 'even so'; but garǣts ‘correct’ or gavrœčin ‘to handle’.

Orthographic Variants

There are a few regional and stylistic variations in the orthography of Valthungian romanisation.

• In some areas, rather than indicating non-initial stress by placing an acute diacritic on the stressed vowel, the vowel of the initial unstressed syllable is marked with a grave diacritic. This is not standard anywhere, but is often used in children’s books and language learning tools, as it is a more consistent indicator of stress than the acute, which is not deployed over long vowels or rounded front vowels. It is often used in combination with the acute stress system, and the acute may also be used on otherwise exempt characters. E.g.:
  • ǧukospríngna ‘to leap up’ → ǧùkospringna or ǧùkospríngna
  • gadrynis ‘symphony’ → gàdrynis or gàdrýnis
  • miðlǣði ‘sympathy’ → mìðlǣði or mìðlǣ́ði (sometimes mìðlǽði)
• ⟨w⟩ may be used in place of word-initial ⟨v⟩ or pre-vocalic ⟨u⟩ to represent /w/ as a more direct transliteration of the letter vynia. There is no logical or efficient reason for this transliteration to be split up the way it is in the standard language: Its existence is purely aesthetic, and many people are not as interested in aesthetics as efficiency.
• Conversely, there are some who romanise jēr as ⟨i⟩ rather than as ⟨j⟩, likely out of spite towards those who use ⟨w⟩ as above.

Phonology

Vowels

	Short Vowels			Long Vowels			Diphthongs
	Front	Back		Front	Back		Front	Back
Closed	i · y [i · y]	u [u]		ī · ȳ [iː · yː]	ū [uː]	Closed-to-
Mid	e · œ [e̞ · ø̞]	o [o̞]		ǣ · œ̄ [e̞ː · ø̞ː]	ǭ [o̞ː]	Mid-to-	œu [œy̑]	eu [ɛu̯]
Open		a [ɑ]			ā [ɑː]	Open-to-	ē [ai̯]	ō, au [au̯]

Consonants

(Pardon the compactified consonant table. I know it doesn't quite all line up “properly,” but it does make more sense this way as regards the Valthungian language. If in doubt, rely on the transcription and not the row or column.)

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Dorsal
Plosive	p · b [p~pʰ · b]	t · d [t̪~t̪ʰ · d̪]		č · ǧ [ʨ · ʥ]	k · g [k~kʰ · ɡ]
Nasal	· m [m]	· n [n̪]			· n [ŋ]
Fricative	f · v [f · v]	ð · þ [ð · θ]	s · [s]	š · ž [ɕ · ʑ]	h · [h~x]
Approximant	· w/u [w~v]	· l [l̪]	· r [r~ɾ]	· j [j]

Synchronic Changes and Reflexes of Diachronic Changes

Voicing Alternation

This rule is inherited from Proto-Germanic. The rule is not persistent, but the variation in forms still affects the inflections of nouns, verbs, and adjectives in Valthungian, and is readily assimilated into neologisms and borrowings. (A similar v/f alternation rule exists in English, for example in singular knife and plural knives, or the noun strife and the verb strive.) The Gothic version of this rule caused alternation between 〈f〉, used only at the end of a word or before an unvoiced consonant, and 〈b〉 used elsewhere, e.g. giban, ‘to give’, gaf, ‘gave’. Likewise the relationship between 〈þ〉 and〈d〉. There are three main realisations of this rule in Valthungian:

• v → f
• ð → þ } at the end of a word, or before an unvoiced consonant.
• ž → s

The implications of this rule for Valthungian are:

• 〈f〉 or 〈þ〉 occur before 〈s〉 in the nominative singular of masculine or some feminine strong nouns, e.g. þlǣfs ‘loaf of bread’, but genitive þlǣvis.
• 〈f〉 or 〈þ〉 occur when word-final in the accusative of masculine or some feminine strong nouns, and the nominative and accusative of neuter strong nouns, e.g. blōþ ‘blood’, but genitive blōðis.
• 〈f〉 occurs when word-final or before 〈t〉 in the preterit singular and the second person imperative singular of strong verbs, e.g. gaf, gaft, ‘gave’, but infinitive givna.
• 〈þ〉 also occurs when word-final in the preterit singular and imperative, but is assimilated to 〈s〉 before 〈t〉 in the second person preterit (see Coronal Consonant Assimilation below), e.g. biǧin ‘to bid’ has the first- and third-person preterit baþ but second-person bast.
• The implications for 〈s〉 and 〈ž〉 can be a little trickier, because this split was not uniform in Gothic, and intervocalic /s/ was not later voiced (as it was in many other Germanic languages, leveling out this particular conundrum), so many words retain 〈s〉 throughout the paradigm. These are noted in the lexicon.

Please note that because this rule is not persistent, there are several words which later developed an intervocalic 〈f〉 or 〈þ〉 from earlier 〈h〉 which is not affected by this rule.

Palatalisation

Palatalisation is another historic rule that is no longer persistent in Valthungian, but has wide-ranging implications for inflections in Valthungian. There are actually several types of palatalisation that occur in Valthungian, but they can all be boiled down into the following rules:

• Masculine and feminine nouns whose roots end in 〈d〉 or 〈g〉 become palatalised before 〈s〉 in the nominative singular of a-, i-, and u-stems (but not feminine ō-stems). E.g. Griutungi *dags ‘day’, *gards ‘yard’ become daǧ, graǧ. This type of palatalisation only occurs when there was a /dz/ or /gz/ present in the language at some point historically (from Griutungi/Gothic /ds/ or /gs/).
• A much more common form of palatalisation, however, is that which occurs whenever the ending of a noun, verb, or adjective begins with 〈j〉, e.g. strong masculine ja-stem nouns or adjectives or class 1 weak verbs. In these cases, the following occurs:
  • d or g + j → ǧ
  • t or k + j → č
  • s or h + j → š
  • z + j → ž (Actually, all instances of 〈z〉 eventually became 〈ž〉.)

Palatalisation of the latter type usually goes hand in hand with Umlaut, below.

[b]/[v] Alternation

A less common alternation is that of 〈b〉 and 〈v〉. This occurs in the same environment as the second type of palatalisation (above), but instead of a true palatalisation, instead there is a shift of 〈v〉 to 〈b〉; or, more accurately, some paradigms without an original 〈j〉 are able to shift from 〈b〉 to 〈v〉 when intervocalic, but those with 〈j〉 are blocked from spirantizing.

For example, the adjective drœ̄vis ‘muddy’ (from Griutungi *drōbīs, cf. Gothic drōbeis) has the dative singular form drœ̄bia (from *drōbja).

Umlaut

Umlaut is another of those sound laws that no longer happens actively in the language, but it has become indicative of specific tenses or cases in the language, and may appear analogically in certain words.

• The accusative singular of strong nouns with palatalisation are not umlauted. All other forms of nouns with palatalisation are umlauted.
• The past subjunctive of verbs is umlauted except for the 3rd person singular, which never is. In informal speech, this may be umlauted by analogy.
• Verbs ending in –jan in Gothic have umlaut in the present and imperative. These verbs all end with –in in Valthungian.

Umlaut in Valthungian initiates the following changes in the stressed vowel of a word:

• a → e - *satjan ‘to set’ → sečin
• ā → ǣ - *hlahjan ‘to laugh’ → þlǣšin
• ǭ (Got. 〈áu〉) → œ̄ - *hǭsjan ‘to hear’ → hœ̄šin
• o (Got. 〈aú〉) → œ - *þorsjan ‘to thirst’ → þrœšin
• ō → œu - *hwōtjan ‘to threaten’ → huœučin
• u → y - *hugjan ‘to think’ → hyǧin
• ū → ȳ - *hrūkjan ‘to crow’ → þrȳčin

NB: The word “Umlaut” can refer to several different types of vowel change in Germanic languages – i/j-umlaut, u/w-umlaut, and a-umlaut most commonly – but only one type ever occurred in Valthungian: Umlaut here is used to refer specifically to i/j-umlaut, also known as i-umlaut, front umlaut, or i-mutation.

Coronal Consonant Assimilation

This rule has a formidable name, but it is actually common to all Germanic languages. This rule states that whenever a coronal consonant (namely, d, t, or þ) is directly followed by 〈t〉 or 〈st〉, the former consonant 〈s〉. This accounts for the English word best, from earlier betst, from *batest. This applies mainly to second person singular preterit of strong verbs, e.g. ǧutna ‘to pour’ and biǧin ‘to bid’ have a second person preterit of gǭst ‘you poured’ and bast ‘you bade’, rather than the otherwise expected **gǭtt and **baþt.

Blocking of Metathetical Unpacking

Another formidable name, but what this means is that at various times historically, sound changes caused unstressed /a/ to disappear before sonorants (/l/, /r/, /m/, or /n/), turning them into syllabics. This happened at least once before the Gothic era, giving rise to words like *bagms and *aþn, and again before Valthungian, most notably collapsing the infinitive ending -an to -n. Later on, syllabics were “unpacked;” that is, they regained the /a/ that had been lost, but it now appeared after the sonorant instead of before it. For example, Griutungi *brōþar ‘brother’ (Gothic brōþar) and later Old Valthungian brouðar became Middle Valthungian brôðʀ with syllabic /r̩/, and eventually Modern Valthungian brōðra. However, there are a few instances where this unpacking didn’t happen because the restoration of 〈a〉after the sonorant would have rendered the word unpronounceable, in which case the word reverts back to its pre-syllabic state.

The practicality of this rule as it applies to modern Valthungian is that:

• Dative plural a-stem nouns whose roots end in 〈–m〉 have the ending of 〈–am〉 rather than 〈–ma〉, e.g. vroms ‘worm’ has the dative plural of vromam rather than **vromma.
• Masculine strong a-stem nouns ending in 〈–n〉 have the the dative plural ending of 〈–am〉 (as above) and the accusative plural ending of 〈–ans〉 rather than 〈–nas〉, e.g. ǭns ‘oven’ has the dative plural of ǭnam and the accusative plural of ǭnans rather than **ǭnma and **ǭnnas.
• Strong a-stem adjectives ending in 〈–n〉 have a masculine accusative singular of 〈–an〉 rather than 〈–na〉, e.g. ǣns → ǣnan, not **ǣnna
• The third person plural indicative of strong verbs and weak class 3 verbs end in –anþ rather than **–naþ.

Assimilation of [r] and [s]

Historically, this is a sound change that occurred in the transition from Proto-Germanic to Gothic and is no longer persistent, but it has specific reflexes that affect Valthungian paradigms.

The change initially applies to “light”-syllable nouns with stems ending in 〈-s〉 or 〈-r〉 in the masculine and feminine classes that take a final 〈-z〉 in the nominative singular. E.g. PGmc. *weraz, *drusiz → (Post-Germanic Short Unstressed Vowel Deletion) → *werz, *drusz → (Final Obstruent Devoicing) → *wers, *druss → (r/s-Assimilation) → Griutungi wer, drus (cf. Gothic waír /wer/, drus).

Later, beginning around the time of Early Middle Valthungian, this change was expanded analogously to other nouns and adjectives which had “heavy” syllables, and eventually the rule emerged that nouns and adjectives ending in 〈-r〉do not take an (additional) 〈-s〉 in the nominative singular, though they otherwise follow the paradigm of their particular stem. (E.g. *bērs → bēr ‘boar’, *stiur → sčur ‘steer’. One notable example of this phenomenon is the Germanic tersaz ‘mentula’ which became *ters in Griutungi, but was then reanalyzed as an exception to the original r-rule (instead of the s-rule that it actually is), and eventually it became ter in Valthungian. It remains, however, an unkind word.)

Affix Anaptyxis

When a prefix ends in the same letter as the root, /a/ is inserted to break up the resulting geminate. /a/ may also be added to avoid awkward consonant clusters. This is just part of a larger change in the general structure of the language in which many unstressed syllables appeared unbidden in Late Middle and Early Modern Valthungian causing the language to be almost entirely iambic. In Modern Valthungian all stressed syllables (primary and secondary) must de separated by an unstressed syllable.

Some of the most frequent are:

• af+f: Griutungi *affilhan → afaflījan ‘to hide away’
• fer+r: Griutungi *ferrinnan → ferarítnan ‘to attain’
• un+n: Griutungi *unnutans → unanútans ‘unused; useless’

However, the prefix us- becomes ut-: Griutungi *ussandjan → utsenǧin ‘to send out’

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

The genitive pronouns form the base of the possessive determiners, but the third person non-reflexive genitives are never inflected. The third person singular and plural reflexive pronouns are identical. The non-singular pronouns may also take a reciprocal particle mīsa, roughly equivalent to ‘each other’ or ‘one another.’

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
1sg	ik	mīn	mis	mik	I, my, (to) me, me
2sg	þū	þīn	þis	þik	thou, thy, (to) thee, thee
3sg.masc	is	is	itma	in	he, his, (to) him, him
3sg.neu	it			it	it, its, (to) it, it
3sg.fem	sī	ižis	iža	ī, iža	she, her, (to) her, her
1du	wit	unkra	unkis	unk	we two, our, (to) us, us
2du	ǧut	inkur	inkus	inko	you/ye two, your, (to) you, you
1pl	wīs	unstra	unsis	uns	we all, our, (to) us, us
2pl	jūs	ižur	ižus		you/ye all, your, (to) you, you
3pl.masc	īs	iža	im	ins	they, their, (to) them, them
3pl.neu	ī, iža			ī, iža
3pl.fem	ižas			ižas

Reflexive and Reciprocal Pronouns

The third person reflexive pronouns are inherited from Indo-European. The other pronouns form their reflexives from a compound with the third person form. The accusative and dative for most forms are merged.

	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
1sg	misīn	mišk		myself
2sg	þisīn	þišk		thyself
3sg	sīn	sis	sik	himself, herself, itself, &c
1du	unkra sīn	unkišk		ourselves
2du	inkur sīn	inkusk		yourselves
1pl	unstra sīn	unsišk		ourselves
2pl	ižur sīn	ižusk		yourselves
3pl	sīn	sis	sik	themselves

The reciprocal is formed with the particle mīsa. It does not inflect.

Indefinite Pronouns

The interrogative and negative pronouns can take the adverbial complement hun, which gives them the sense of ‘any’. Additionally, the interrogative pronouns may double as elective pronouns. For example, huat ‘what’ or ‘something’; huat hun ‘anything’.

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
inter.masc	huas	huis	huatma	huan	who, whose, to whom, whom
inter.neu	huat			huat	what, &c
inter.fem	huō	huižis	huiža	huō	who, &c
expl.	im	-	-	(im)	it, there
gen.	guma	gumins	gumin	gumna	one, one’s, &c
univ.masc	huažuþ	huižuþ	huatmaþ	huanaþ	everyone, everyone’s, &c
univ.neu	huāþ			huāþ	everything, everything’s, &c
univ.fem	huōþ		huižaþ	huōþ	everyone, everyone’s, &c
neg.masc	nījus	nījus	nījutma	nījun	noöne, noöne’s, &c
neg.neu	nījut			nījut	nothing, nothing’s, &c

Distributive Pronouns

The distributive pronouns are non-singular pronouns formed when the personal pronouns were fused with the distributive particles huaðru ‘each of two’ and huerižu ‘each of many’. In most forms they have now become inseparable from their root components; e.g. compare the dual genitive second person inkur and distributive huaðrižu, but the distributive pronoun inkuáðrižu. While the distributives as determiners, by definition, take a singular verb, the distributive pronouns take the non-singular verb of their respective pronouns, e.g. Aplas huerižu gatiða itnas ‘Each apple was eaten’, but Īshuerižu gatiðun itna ‘Each of them was eaten’.

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
1du	withuáðruþ	unkuáðrižuþ	unkuáðratmaþ	unkuáðranuþ	each of the two of us
2du	ǧuthuaðruþ	inkuaðrižuþ	inkuaðratmaþ	inkuaðranuþ	each of the two of you
1pl	wīshuerižuþ	unshuerižuþ	unshueritmaþ	unshuerinuþ	each of us
2pl	jūshuerižuþ	ižuhuerižuþ	ižushueritmaþ	ižushuerinuþ	each of you
3pl.masc	īshuerižuþ	ižahuerižuþ	imhueritmaþ	inshuerinuþ	each of them
3pl.neu	ižahuerituþ			ižahuerituþ	each of them
3pl.fem	ižashueriþ			ižashueriþ	each of them

Determiners

Demonstratives

	Proximal (“this”)					Medial (“that”)					Distal (“yonder”)
	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.sg	his	his	hitma	hin		sā	þis	þatma	þan		jǣns	jǣnis	jǣnatma	jǣnan
neu.sg	hit			hit		þat			þat		jǣn			jǣn
fem.sg	hī, hiža	hižis	hiža	hī, hiža		sō	þižis	þiža	þō		jǣna	jǣnižis	jǣna
masc.pl	hīs	hiža	him	hins		þǣ	þiža	þǣm	þans			jǣniža	jǣnam	jǣnans
neu.pl	hī, hiža			hī, hiža		þō			þō					jǣna
fem.pl	hižis			hižis		þōs			þōs		jǣnas			jǣnas

Articles

Valthungian has two definite articles, he and sa, both of which are equivalent to ‘the,’ but may also be translated as ‘this’ and ‘that’, respectively. Where there is a lack of clear proximity-based dichotomy, sa is usually preferred. These are simply unstressed equivalents of the demonstratives his (proximal) and sā (medial). The distal demonstrative, jǣns, is never used as an article.

	Proximal (“this”)					Medial (“that”)
	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.sg	he*, his†	his	him	he*, hin†		sa*, s·†	þis	þam	þa*, þan†
neu.sg	he*, hit†			he*, hit†		þa*, þat†			þa*, þat†
fem.sg	hi*, hiž·†	his, hižis	hiža*, hiž·†	hi*, hiž·†		so*, s·†	þis, þižis	þiža*, þiž·†	þo*, þ·†
masc.pl	his	hiža	him	hins		þe	þiža	þǣm	þans
neu.pl	hi*, hiž·†			hi*, hiž·†		þo*, þ·†			þo*, þ·†
fem.pl	hižis			hižis		þos			þos

* Form used before a consonant. † Form used before a vowel.

There are complex rules around how and when to use the elided forms of the articles. For simplicity’s sake it is broken down into forms used before vowels or consonants, though this doesn’t always apply to all vowels or all consonants. Expect a more detailed article on liaison someday maybe.

There is no indefinite article in Valthungian.

Other Determiners

The determiners are an important word class in Valthungian because they trigger the choice of whether to use a strong or weak adjective in the noun phrase they introduce. Though most adjectives follow their nouns, determiners precede them. A non-exhaustive list follows:

als ‘all’

This determiner is inflectionally a little interesting because it has evolved an insertive /t/ in parts of the inflection due to changes to the geminates in Old Valthungian. When als is used in conjunction with another determiner, it is declined as a weak adjective and has the meaning of ‘entire’ or ‘complete’.

	als ‘all’
	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.sg	als	atlis	atlatma	atlan
neu.sg	al			al
fem.sg	atla	atlažis	atla
masc.pl		atlaža	atlam	atlans
neu.pl				atla
fem.pl	atlas			atlas

ǣnagis ‘any, whichever’

	ǣnagis ‘any’
	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.sg	ǣnagis	ǣnagis	ǣnaǧitma	ǣnaǧin
neu.sg	ǣnage			ǣnage
fem.sg		ǣnaǧižis	ǣnaǧa
masc.pl	ǣnaǧa	ǣnaǧiža	ǣnaǧim	ǣnaǧins
neu.pl				ǣnaǧa
fem.pl	ǣnaǧis			ǣnaǧis

bǣ ‘both’ & þrǣ ‘all three’

Note that only plural forms of these determiners exist, because it is impossible to have both or all three of a singular noun.

	bǣ ‘both’					þrǣ ‘all three’
	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.	bǣ	beǧa	bǣm	bans		þrǣ	þrǣža	þrǣm	þrans
neu.	bā			bā		þrā			þrā
fem.	bōs			bōs		þreǧis			þreǧis

huaðruþ & hreužiþ ‘each one’

Note that only singular forms exist for each (*ahem*) of these determiners, because what is being discussed is a single noun out of, respectively, two or more than two. The unusual -þ ending is the result of compounding with earlier -uh.

	huaðruþ ‘each (of two)’					hreužiþ ‘each (of many)’
	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.sg	huaðruþ	huaðrižuþ	huaðratmaþ	huaðranaþ		hreužiþ		hreužitmaþ	hreužinaþ
neu.sg				hwaðraþ					hreužiþ
fem.sg			huaðraþ					hreužiþ

huaðra & hreužis ‘which’

The dual form (huaðra) only exists in the singular, as there can only be a singular option when choosing between two nouns, but hreužis can be singular (“which one”) or plural (“which ones”).

	huaðra ‘which (of the two)’					hreužis ‘which (of many)’
	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.sg	huaðra	huaðris	huaðratma	huaðran		hreužis	hreužis	hreužitma	hreužin
neu.sg				huaðra		hreužit			hreužit
fem.sg		huaðražis	huaðra			hreuža		hreuža
masc.pl	—					hreuža	hreužiža	hreužim	hreužins
neu.pl									hreuža
fem.pl						hreužis			hreužis

huǣjus ‘how much, how many’

	huǣjus ‘how much, how many’
	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.sg	huǣjus	huǣjugis	huǣjugatma	huǣjugna
neu.sg	huǣjo			huǣjo
fem.sg	huǣjuga	huǣjugažis	huǣjuga
masc.pl		huǣjugaža	huǣjugam	huǣjugnas
neu.pl				huǣjuga
fem.pl	huǣjgas			huǣjgas

filus, mǣžums, mǣst, ‘much, many, more, most’

	filus ‘much, many’					mǣžums ‘more’					mǣst ‘most’
	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.sg	filus	filus	filitma	filin		mǣžums	mǣžumis	mǣžumatma	mǣžumna		mǣst	mǣstis	mǣstatma	mǣstna
neu.sg	filo			filo					mǣžum					mǣst
fem.sg			filia			mǣžuma	mǣžumažis	mǣžuma			mǣsta	mǣstažis	mǣsta
masc.pl	filia	filiža	filim	filins			mǣžuma	mǣžumam	mǣžumnas			mǣstaža	mǣstam	mǣstnas
neu.pl				filia					mǣžuma					mǣsta
fem.pl	filis			filis		mǣžumas			mǣžumas		mǣstas			mǣstas

sams ‘the same’

	sams ‘the same’
	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.sg	sams	samis	samatma	samna
neu.sg	sam			sam
fem.sg	sama	samažis	sama
masc.pl		samažis	samam	samnas
neu.pl				sama
fem.pl	samas			samas

sums ‘some’

	sums ‘some’
	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.sg	sums	sumis	sumatma	sumna
neu.sg	sum			sum
fem.sg	suma	sumažis	suma
masc.pl		sumažis	sumam	sumnas
neu.pl				suma
fem.pl	sumas			sumas

suǣjus ‘so much, so many’

	suǣjus ‘how much, how many’
	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.sg	suǣjus	suǣjugis	suǣjugatma	suǣjugna
neu.sg	suǣjo			suǣjo
fem.sg	suǣjuga	suǣjugažis	suǣjuga
masc.pl		suǣjugaža	suǣjugam	suǣjugnas
neu.pl				suǣjuga
fem.pl	suǣjgas			suǣjgas

fǭs, mitnums, faugist, mitnist, ‘few, little, fewer, less, fewest, least’

	fǭs ‘little, few’					mitnums ‘less, fewer’					faugist, mitnist ‘least, fewest’
	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.sg	fǭs	faugis	faugatma	faugna		mitnums	mitnumis	mitnumatma	mitnumna		faugist	faugistis	faugistatma	faugistna		mitnist	mitnistis	mitnistatma	mitnistna
neu.sg	fǭ			fǭ		mitnum			mitnum					faugista					mitnista
fem.sg	fauga	faugažis	fauga			mitnuma	mitnumažis	mitnuma			faugista	faugistažis	faugista			mitnista	mitnistažis	mitnista
masc.pl		faugaža	faugam	faugnas			mitnumaža	mitnumam	mitnuma			faugistaža	faugistam	faugistnas			mitnistaža	mistnistam	mitnistnas
neu.pl				fauga					mitnuma					faugista					mitnista
fem.pl	faugas			faugas		mitnumas			mitnumas		faugistas			faugistas		mitnistas			mitnistas

And finally all possessive adjectives can be used as determiners. (See below.)

Possessives

All possessives can be used as determiners; when used alone, it is more common to for possessive phrases using a definite article (sa or he) followed by the noun, followed in turn by the possessive declined as a weak adjective. For example, ‘my house’ may be rendered as mīn hūs or þa hūs mīna. The Poss > Noun format is required when the noun is modified by an adjective, e.g. ‘my red house’ is nearly always mīn hūs rǭða.

The third person non-reflexive pronouns do not decline, and they may precede or follow the noun without an article, and any adjective that accompanies the noun phrase is declined as strong.

The possessives are:

mīns, þīns, sīns ‘my, your, his’

The singular possessives differ only by the first letter.

	mīns ‘my’					þīns ‘your’					sīns ‘his, her, its (own)’
Strong	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.sg	mīns	mīnis	mīnatma	mīnan		þīns	þīnis	þīnatma	þīnan		sīns	þīnis	sīnatma	sīnan
neu.sg	mīn			mīn		þīn			þīn		sīn			sīn
fem.sg	mīna	mīnažis	mīna			þīna	þīnažis	þīna			sīna	sīnažis	sīna
masc.pl		mīnaža	mīnam	mīnans			þīnaža	þīnam	þīnans			sīnaža	sīnam	sīnans
neu.pl				mīna					þīna					sīna
fem.pl	mīnas			mīnas		þīnas			þīnas		sīnas			sīnas
Weak	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.sg	sa … mīna	þis … mīnins	þam … mīnin	þa … mīnan		sa … þīna	þis … þīnins	þam … þīnin	þa … þīnan		sa … sīna	þis … sīnins	þam … sīnin	þan … sīnan
neu.sg	þa … mīna			þa … mīna		þa … þīna			þa … þīna		þa … sīna			þa … sīna
fem.sg	so … mīna	þižis … mīnans	þiža … mīnan	þo … mīna		so … þīna	þižis … þīnans	þiža … þīnan	þo … þīna		so … sīna	þižis … sīnans	þiža … sīnan	þo … sīna
masc.pl	þe … mīnans	þiža … mīnaro	þem … mīnam	þans … mīnans		þe … þīnans	þiža … þīnaro	þem … þīnam	þans … þīnans		þe … sīnans	þiža … sīnaro	þem … sīnam	þans … sīnans
neu.pl	þo … mīna			þo … mīna		þo … þīna			þo … þīna		þo … sīna			þo … sīna
fem.pl	þos … mīnans			þos … mīnans		þos … þīnans			þos … þīnans		þos … sīnans			þos … sīnans

unkra, unstra ‘both of our, all of our’

	unkra ‘(both of) our’					unstra ‘(all of) our’
Strong	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.sg	unkra	unkris	unkratma	unkran		unstra	unstris	unstratma	unstran
neu.sg				unkra					unstra
fem.sg		unkražis	unkra				unstražis	unstra
masc.pl		unkraža	unkram	unkrans			unstraža	unstram	unstrans
neu.pl				unkra					unstra
fem.pl	unkras			unkras		unstras			unstras
Weak	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.sg	sa … unkra	þis … unkrins	þam … unkrin	þa … unkran		sa … unstra	þis … unstrins	þam … unstrin	þa … unstran
neu.sg	þa … unkra			þa … unkra		þa … unstra			þa … unstra
fem.sg	so … unkra	þižis … unkrans	þiža … unkran	þo … unkran		so … unstra	þižis … unstrans	þiža … unstran	þo … unstra
masc.pl	þe … unkrans	þiža … unkraro	þem … unkram	þans … unkrans		þe … unstrans	þiža … unstraro	þem … unstram	þans … unstrans
neu.pl	þo … unkra			þo … unkra		þo … unstra			þo … unstra
fem.pl	þos … unkrans			þos … unkrans		þos … unstrans			þos … unstrans

inkur, ižur ‘both of your, all of your’

	inkur ‘(both of) your’					ižur ‘(all of) your’
Strong	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.sg	inkur	inkuris	inkuratma	inkurna		ižur	ižuris	ižuratma	ižurna
neu.sg				inkur					ižur
fem.sg	inkura	inkuražis	inkura			ižura	ižuražis	ižura
masc.pl		inkuraža	inkuram	inkurnas			ižuraža	ižuram	ižurnas
neu.pl				inkura					ižura
fem.pl	inkuras			inkuras		ižuras			ižuras
Weak	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.sg	sa … inkura	þis … inkurins	þam … inkurin	þa … inkurna		sa … ižura	þis … ižurins	þam … ižurin	þa … ižurna
neu.sg	þa … inkura			þa … inkura		þa … ižura			þa … ižura
fem.sg	so … inkura	þižis … inkurans	þiža … inkuran	þo … inkuran		so … ižura	þižis … ižurans	þiža … ižuran	þo … ižuran
masc.pl	þe … inkurnas	þiža … inkurnaro	þem … inkurma	þans … inkurnas		þe … ižurnas	þiža … ižurnaro	þem … ižurma	þans … ižurnas
neu.pl	þo … inkuran			þo … inkuran		þo … ižuran			þo … ižuran
fem.pl	þos … inkurans			þos … inkurans		þos … ižurans			þos … ižurans

Indeclinable Possessives

The following possessives do not decline. When the noun they modify is not accompanied by an adjective, they usually follow the noun; if no adjective is present, they precede the noun, and the adjective takes the strong declension.

• is ‘his, its’
• ižis ‘her’
• iža ‘their’
• huis ‘whose’
• huižis ‘whose’
• nījus ‘no one's’
• huižuþ ‘everyone's’

Numbers

Declinable Numerals

Singular (‘one’)

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.	ǣns	ǣnis	ǣnatma	ǣnan
neu.	ǣn(at)			ǣn(at)
fem.	ǣna	ǣnažis	ǣna	ǣna

Dual (‘two, both’)

	Numeral					Distributive
	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.	tuǣ	tuǣǧa	tuǣm	tuans		bǣ	bǣǧa	bǣm	bans
neu.	tuā			tuā		bā			bā
fem.	tuōs			tuōs		bōs			bōs

Trial (‘three, all three’)

	Numeral					Distributive
	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.	þrīs	þriža	þrim	þrins		þrǣ	þrǣža	þrǣm	þrans
neu.	þrī, þriža			þrī, þriža		þrā			þrā
fem.	þrīs			þrins		þreǧis			þreǧis

Undeclinable Numerals

	#	1#	2#	#0	#00	#000	#000
0	nīþun	tǣjun (tǣn)	tuǣtiǧis	-tiǧis	tēhund	þūsunde	-ljǭn
1	(ǣns)	ǣnlif	tuǣtiǧis ǣns	tǣjun	ǣn hund	ǣna þūsunde	miljǭn
2	(tuǣ)	tualif	tuǣtiǧi tuǣ	tuǣtiǧis	tuā hunda	tuōs þūsunǧis	biljǭn
3	(þrīs)	þrižatǣn	tuǣtiǧi þrīs	þrīstiǧis	þrī hunda	þrīs þūsunǧis	þriljǭn
4	fiður (fiðra)	fiðratǣn	tuǣtiǧi fiður	fiðratiǧis	fiður hunda	fiður þūsunǧis	friljǭn
5	fim	fimfatǣn	tuǣtiǧi fim	fimtiǧis	fim hunda	fim þūsunǧis	fimfiljǭn
6	sǣs	sǣstatǣn	tuǣtiǧi sǣs	sǣstiǧis	sǣs hunda	sǣs þūsunǧis	sǣsiljǭn
7	sivun (sivna)	sivnatǣn	tuǣtiǧi sivun	sivnatiǧis	sivun hunda	sivun þūsunǧis	sivniljǭn
8	āta (āt)	ātatǣn	tuǣtiǧis āta	ātatiǧis	āta hunda	āta þūsunǧis	ātatiljǭn
9	njun	njunatǣn	tuǣtiǧi njun	njuntiǧis	njun hunda	njun þūsunǧis	njuniljǭn

The numbers in Valthungian – as in most languages – have gone through more phonological change than other words, and as a result, there are some irregularities. Four numbers have two forms (some of which may be optional). There is also an innovated trial distributive (‘all three’), probably by analogy with the dual (bǣ ‘both’). The number ‘one’, usually alternating with the indefinite article in most languages, is used merely for counting purposes, as an indefinite article is not used in Valthungian.

The number ‘four’ is fiður, where we would normally expect **fidur through regular sound change (specifically, the change of /d/ to /ð/ would normally be blocked by the following /w/ in *fidwōr). There is also a further lenited form of fiðra, which is optional when it stands alone, but standard in compounds. (Gothic also had two versions of ‘four’: fidwōr and a compound form fidur.)

The number ‘seven’ has the expected form of sivun, but also a lenited form of sivna, again, required in compounds but otherwise optional. ‘Eight’ is āta, but may optionally be lenited to āt. (This is a newer innovation, and is not considered to be correct in writing.) Finally ‘ten’ is tǣjun or lenited tǣn, the latter being used exclusively in the “teen” numbers.

For compounding numbers, Griutungi and Gothic separated each of the number’s components with the word jah (‘and’, now jā), but Valthungian has dispensed with this and now uses i – possibly a shortened form of jā – only before the last component. For numbers ending with –tiǧis, a further contraction has become standard, and the new suffix is shortened to –tiǧi, e.g. þrīstiǧi fim ‘thirty-five’. Hund becomes hundi and hunda is also contracted to hund·i, þūsunde to þūsund·i, and þūsunǧis to þūsunǧi. (Note the lack of apostrophic interpunct in -tiǧi, hundi, and þūsunǧi.) No -i- is added before numbers beginning with a vowel, i.e. ǣn- and āta.

Number terms higher than ‘thousand’ are ostensibly borrowed from Latin, though they contain their own Germanic innovations, e.g. þriljǭn ‘trillion’, fiðriljǭn ‘quadrillion’, fimfiljǭn ‘quintillion’, instead of the expected **triljǭn, **kuaðriljǭn, and **kuintiljǭn.

Another note concerning the higher numbers: Valthungian follows the short scale for higher numbers (whereas many European languages currently use the long scale); that is, each new number term is one thousand times larger than the previous term (whereas in the long scale, each new term is one million times larger). This is further confused by the now-standard European “hybrid” model where intermediate terms in the long scale are applied to the “thousands” with the suffix ‘-ard’. The following table is applicable to most modern standards:

N⁰	Numerals	Valthungian	Short	Hybrid	Long	Metric
10³	1,000	þūsunde	thousand			kilo
10⁶	1,000,000	miljǭn	million			Mega
10⁹	1,000,000,000	biljǭn	billion	milliard	thousand million	Giga
10¹²	1,000,000,000,000	þriljǭn	trillion	billion	billion	Tera
10¹⁵	1,000,000,000,000,000	fiðriljǭn	quadrillion	billiard	thousand billion	Peta
10¹⁸	1,000,000,000,000,000,000	fimfiljǭn	quintillion	trillion	trillion	Exa
10²¹	1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000	sǣsiljǭn	sextillion	trilliard	thousand trillion	Zetta
10²⁴	1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000	sivniljǭn	septillion	quadrillion	quadrillion	Yotta
10²⁷	1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000	ātatiljǭn	octillion	quadrilliard	thousand quadrillion	-
10³⁰	1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000	njuniljǭn	nonillion	quintillion	quintillion	-

Ordinal Numbers and Other Number Forms

Ordinal numbers are usually formed by adding a dental suffix to the end of a number, though there is some suppletion for the first and second ordinals, and the third is irregular (just as is the case in English). In Proto-Germanic and Gothic, all of the ordinals except for first and second took only the weak declension, but all ordinals now take both strong and weak declensions according to standard rules of adjectives.

The multiplicative numbers arise from a conflation of the word þīfs ‘time, occurrence’ with the genitive singular form of the ordinal number, resulting in a robust albeit historically incorrect derivation system. In Griutungi, the concept of multiple occurrences was expressed simply as a number and the accusative of the word þīhs ‘time, occurrence’: ǣn þīhs ‘once’, tua þīhsa ‘twice’, þrija þīhsa ‘three times’, and so on. Gradually these constructions fused together (Old Valthungian: aenþijhs, tvaþijhsa, þrijþijhsa…) and perhaps based on the more common analogue of ‘twice’, around the time of Early Middle Valthungian they were reanalyzed as a genitive ending affixed to an ordinal (Middle Valthungian: ǣnþis, tuaþis, þriþis…) The forms of the first three multiplicatives aren’t even particularly odd, in terms of language evolution, but that apparent ordinal + genitive construction was then applied analogously to the rest of the numbers, so where we might otherwise expect fim þīfs ‘five times’ to have become fimþis, instead we find the ordinal form fimftis.

Fractions are formed from the archaic genitive plural form of numbers followed by dǣlaro, literally ‘of ___ parts’, e.g. ¾ = þrīs fiðra dǣlaro = ‘three of four parts’. (This is equivalent to the modern German construction of affixing -tel to the end of numbers, e.g. drittel, viertel, zehntel, &c., -tel being a direct cognate to dǣl.) The genitive numbers are a holdover from ancient times, and are rarely used outside of the context of fractions; in fact, most fractions are formed by simply adding a suffix of -a to the end of a number, without any consideration that it might have once been a genitive.

	Ordinal			Multiplicative		Fractional
	(Strong)	(Weak)
1	frumist, frums	frumista, fruma	first	ǣniþis	once, one time	--
2	anðra		second	tuaþis	twice, two times	hlafs, tuǣǧa dǣlaro	half
3	þrīǧis	þrīǧa	third	þriþis	thrice, three times	þriža dǣlaro	third
4	fiðraþs	fiðraða	fourth	fiðurþis	four times	fiðra dǣlaro	quarter/fourth
5	fimft	fimfta	fifth	fimftis	five times	fimfa dǣlaro	fifth
6	sǣst	sǣsta	sixth	sǣstis	six times	sǣsa dǣlaro	sixth
7	sivunþs	sivunþa	seventh	sivunþis	seven times	sivna dǣlaro	seventh
8	ātuþs	ātuða	eighth	ātuðis	eight times	āta dǣlaro	eighth
9	njunþs	njunþa	ninth	njunþis	nine times	njuna dǣlaro	ninth
10	tǣjunþs	tǣjunþa	tenth	tǣjunþis	ten times	tǣjun dǣlaro	tenth
11	ǣnlift	ǣnlifta	eleventh	ǣnliftis	eleven times	ǣnliva dǣlaro	eleventh
12	tuālift	tuālifta	twelfth	tuāliftis	twelve times	tuāliva dǣlaro	twelfth
13	þrižatǣnþs	þrižatǣnþa	thirteenth	þrižatǣnþis	thirteen times	þrižatǣjun dǣlaro	thirteenth
20	tuǣtiǧist	tuǣtiǧista	twentieth	tuǣtiǧistis	twenty times	tuǣtiǧa dǣlaro	twentieth
100	hundaþs	hundaða	hundredth	hundaðis	a hundred times	hunda dǣlaro	hundredth
1,000	þūsundiþs	þūsundiða	thousandth	þūsundiðis	a thousand times	þūsunǧa dǣlaro	thousandth
1,000,000	miljǭnþs	miljǭnþa	millionth	miljǭnþis	a million times	miljǭna dǣlaro	millionth

Alternative Numbers

The Gothic number system, modeled after the Greek system (in turn modeled after the Hebrew), which used the letters of the alphabet instead of separate unique characters, continued to be used well into the middle ages (Middle Valthungian), and certain taboo numbers came to be called by their character representation rather than their numeric form. Primarily among these numbers was ‘13’, which was written in Gothic as ·ig·. This also occurred with the numbers ‘113’ (rig), ‘213’ (sig), ‘313’ (tig), ‘413’ (wig), and ‘513’ (fig). (This was not mirrored in the higher numbers of the hundreds, because most of those combinations would have been unpronounceable.)

The number ‘19’ is also sometimes called iþ by the same formulation.

Certain slang terms have also developed out of this system, in reverse, as it were. For example, the homophony of hortative particle iþ with the number 19 gives rise to a nominal form þat njunatǣn referring to a duty or obligation. Similarly, a ‘road’ or ‘highway’ is sometimes referred to as a ‘413’ (fiður-þrižatǣn), written wig (the accusative of wiǧ (‘road’).

A much more recent slang term that has evolved from this system is the use of the number ‘843’ to represent the (unpronounceable) letter combination ·omg·.

A Note on Terminology: “Strong” vs. “Weak”

In most Germanic languages, nouns, verbs, and adjectives tend to be broken into categories considered “strong” and “weak.”

In verbs, these denote two of the many categories into which verbs may be broken, “strong” verbs being those that form the preterit by means of ablaut, and “weak” being those that form the preterit with a suffix containing some manner of dental consonant. There are further classifications of preterit-present, aorist-present, subjunctive-present, and anomalous, and many of them overlap with the simplistic “strong” and “weak” descriptors. (See Verbs for more information.)

This usage is completely unrelated to strong and weak nouns and adjectives, in which “weak” means that the words cling to their determiner endings inherited from Proto-Indo-European, which usually have an /n/ inserted between the root and the ending.

And even though the meaning of strong and weak in nouns and adjectives are historically related, their usage is not: In nouns, like the verbs, this is merely a convenient way of categorising certain types of nouns which take certain endings. In adjectives, however, the use of a strong or weak adjective depends on whether other determiners are present in the same noun phrase; most adjectives have both a strong and a weak declension.

For the purposes of this text, I dispense with the traditional strong and weak categories as relates to nouns and simply relate the various stem classes into which nouns can be classified, based on their inherited Proto-Germanic endings (which include the /n/ infix where applicable). Since these endings can be irregular and each class must be learned by rote anyway, there is no need in the context of the Valthungian language to add this additional arbitrary distinction. I maintain the use of the terms for verbs and adjectives, though, to be honest, their usage with verbs could easily be similarly eschewed; the only area where these distinctions are really functionally important is in the discussion of adjectives.

Nouns

Main article: Valthungian/Nouns

Every noun in Valthungian (and many of the older Germanic languages, as well as modern German and Icelandic) has eight possible forms. These are the singular and plural forms of the nominative (those nouns which comprise the subject of the sentence), genitive (those used to indicate possession or relation), dative (the indirect object), and accusative (the direct object).

Masculine and feminine nouns usually take an ending of –s or –a for the nominative singular, while neuter nouns take no ending. The genitive is almost universally indicated by –is (this is equivalent to the “’s” of the English possessive). The dative usually takes –a. The accusative usually does not take any ending.

In the plural, Masculine and feminine nouns usually take –as as an ending; neuter takes –a. The genitive plural takes –aro, borrowed from Latin. The dative plural takes –am, but in many cases this ending undergoes a process of metathesis, rendering it –ma. Finally, the accusative plural of masculine and feminine nouns is usually –ans, but again may metathesise to –nas; neuter accusative plurals generally take –a.

Most of the actual declensions of nouns are fairly standard – much more standardised, in fact, than Gothic – however, the various phonological rules governing the language create a great deal of variation (See Phonology). It is important to be familiar with the rules set forth in the Phonology section to fully understand some of the otherwise unexpected variants that emerge.

Details about the inflections of individual noun classes and their variants can be found here: Valthungian/Nouns

Verbs

Inversion

A peculiar feature about Valthungian verbs is that every finite verb has a “Standard” and “Inverted” form. This arose historically because of the increasing strictness of the V2 environment, causing shifts in voicing and sandhi between the verb and subject pronoun. Inverted pronouns are generally appended to the inverted verb (with no apostrophes!), and the plural pronouns have particularly different forms which may merge some pronouns (the third person plural forms, for example, are all identical).

Strong Verbs

Strong verbs are those verbs in Germanic which form the preterit and past participles through a process of ablaut; that is, by changing the stressed vowel. This is analogous to those verbs in English such as drive – drove – driven (class I), or drink – drank – drunk (class III). These are traditionally divided into four “Principal Parts”: The first is the base of the infinitive, present participle, present indicative and subjunctive tenses, and the imperatives. The second principal part is used to form the preterit singular. The third is the preterit plural and all of the subjunctive. (This is usually umlauted in the subjunctive.) Finally the fourth principal part is the root of the past participle.

Strong Verbs: Class I (ī – ǣ – i – i)

Class 1 Strong Verb: grīpna ‘seize’
Infinitive		Standard	Inverse	Standard	Inverse
grīpna		Present Indicative		Present Subjunctive
	1sg.	ik grīpa	grīpik	ik grīpa	grīpik
	2sg.	þū grīpis	grīpistu	þū grīpas	grīpastu
	3sg.m.	is grīpiþ	grīpiðis	is grīpa	grīpis
Present Participle	3sg.f.	sī grīpiþ	grīpisi	sī grīpa	grīpasi
grīpnaþs	3sg.n.	it grīpiþ	grīpiðit	it grīpa	grīpit
	1du.	wit grīpma	grīpant	wit grīpam	grīpant
	1pl.	wīs grīpma	grīpmas	wīs grīpam	grīpams
	2du.	ǧut grīpiþ	grīpist	ǧut grīpaþ	grīpast
Past Participle	2pl.	jūs grīpiþ	grīpiþs	jūs grīpaþ	grīpaþs
gripnas	3pl.m.	īs grīpnaþ	grīpnaþs	īs grīpan	grīpans
	3pl.f.	ižas grīpnaþ	grīpnaþs	ižas grīpan	grīpans
	3pl.n.	iža grīpnaþ	grīpnaþs	iža grīpan	grīpans
		Past Indicative		Past Subjunctive
Imperative	1sg.	ik grǣp	grǣpik	ik gripia	gripik
grīp	2sg.	þū grǣft	grǣftu	þū gripis	gripistu
grīpaða	3sg.m.	is grǣp	grǣpis	is gripe	gripis
	3sg.f.	sī grǣp	grǣpsi	sī gripe	gripisi
	3sg.n.	it grǣp	grǣpit	it gripe	gripit
grīpma	1du.	wit gripum	gripunt	wit gripim	gripint
	1pl.	wīs gripum	gripums	wīs gripim	gripims
grīpiþ	2du.	ǧut gripuþ	gripust	ǧut gripiþ	gripist
	2pl.	jūs gripuþ	gripuþs	jūs gripiþ	gripiþs
grīpnaþa	3pl.m.	īs gripun	gripuns	īs gripin	gripins
	3pl.f.	ižas gripun	gripuns	ižas gripin	gripins
	3pl.n.	iža gripun	gripuns	iža gripin	gripins

Strong Verbs: Class II (ju – ǭ – u – u)

Class 2 Strong Verb: strjupna Infinitive   Indicative Subjunctive strjupna   Present 1sg. strjupa strjupa Present Participle 2sg. strjupis strjupas strjupnaþs 3sg. strjupiþ strjupa 1pl. strjupma strjupam Past Participle 2pl. strjupiþ strjupaþ strupas 3pl. strjupnaþ strjupan   Past Imperative 1sg. strǭp strypia strjup 2sg. strǭft strypis strjupaða 3sg. strǭp strupe strjupma 1pl. strupum strypim strjupiþ 2pl. strupuþ strypiþ strjupnaþa 3pl. strupun strypin

Because of the shift of the vowel from iu to ju, when a class II verb begins with a consonant that is subject to palatalisation, some unusual patterns may emerge as a result.

Class 2 Strong Verb: čugun Infinitive   Indicative Subjunctive čugun   Present 1sg. čugua čugua Present Participle 2sg. čugus čugus čugunþs 3sg. čuguþ čugua 1pl. čugum čugum Past Participle 2pl. čuguþ čuguþ tuguns 3pl. čugunþ čugun   Past Imperative 1sg. tǭþ tygua čū 2sg. tǭst tygus čuguða 3sg. tōþ tugue čugum 1pl. tugum tygum čuguþ 2pl. tuguþ tyguþ čugunþa 3pl. tugun tygun

Those class II verbs which are descended from ProtoGermanic *-euwaną have a slightly different paradigm, as the medial /w/ undergoes Verschärfung in East Germanic to /ngw/, and the result, with the exception of the past singular, is remarkably similar to class III.

Class 2 Strong Verb: blingun Infinitive   Indicative Subjunctive blingun   Present 1sg. blingua blingua Present Participle 2sg. blingus blingus blingunþs 3sg. blinguþ blingua 1pl. blingum blingum Past Participle 2pl. blinguþ blinguþ blunguns 3pl. blingunþ blingun   Past Imperative 1sg. blǭ blunguja blingo 2sg. blǭt blyngus blinguða 3sg. blǭ blungue blingum 1pl. blungum blyngum blinguþ 2pl. blunguþ blynguþ blingunþa 3pl. blungun blyngun

Strong Verbs: Class III (i – a – u – u)

Class III strong verbs are those verbs with /i/ (historically /e/) as the root vowel which is followed by a sonorant (r, l, m, n) and an obstruent (p, t, k, b, d, g, f, þ, s, h), or, rarely, two obstruents (e.g. /hs/, /gd/). Ablaut causes the second principle part to shift to /a/, and the third and fourth to /u/.

Class 3 Strong Verb: bindna Infinitive   Indicative Subjunctive bindna   Present 1sg. binda binda Present Participle 2sg. bindis bindas bindnaþs 3sg. bindiþ binda 1pl. bindma bindam Past Participle 2pl. bindiþ bindaþ bundnas 3pl. bindnaþ bindan   Past Imperative 1sg. band bynǧa bind 2sg. banst byndis bindaða 3sg. band bunde bindma 1pl. bundum byndim bindiþ 2pl. bunduþ byndiþ bindnaþa 3pl. bundun byndin

In verbs where /r/ is the sonorant in question, the paradigm shifts to /e/ in the first principle part and /o/ in the third (due to the East Germanic Reflex of First Umlaut).

Class 3 Strong Verb: bergna
Infinitive		Indicative	Subjunctive
bergna		Present
	1sg.	berga	berga
Present Participle	2sg.	bergis	bergas
bergnaþs	3sg.	bergiþ	berga
	1pl.	bergma	bergam
Past Participle	2pl.	bergiþ	bergaþ
borgnas	3pl.	bergnaþ	bergan
		Past
Imperative	1sg.	barg	bœrǧa
berg	2sg.	barft	bœrgis
bergaða	3sg.	barg	borge
bergma	1pl.	borgum	bœrgim
bergiþ	2pl.	borguþ	bœrgiþ
bergnaþa	3pl.	borgun	bœrgin

Strong Verbs: Class IV (i – a – ē – u)

Class 4 Strong Verb: kuimna
Infinitive		Indicative	Subjunctive
kuimna		Present
	1sg.	kuima	kuima
Present Participle	2sg.	kuimis	kuimas
kuimnaþs	3sg.	kuimiþ	kuima
	1pl.	kuimam	kuimam
Past Participle	2pl.	kuimiþ	kuimaþ
kūmnas	3pl.	kuimnaþ	kuiman
		Past
Imperative	1sg.	kuam	kuēmia
kuim	2sg.	kuamt	kuēmis
kuimaða	3sg.	kuam	kuēme
kuimam	1pl.	kuēmum	kuēmim
kuimiþ	2pl.	kuēmuþ	kuēmiþ
kuimnaþa	3pl.	kuēmun	kuēmin

In verbs where /r/ is the sonorant in question, the paradigm shifts to /e/ in the first principle part and /o/ in the third (due to the East Germanic Reflex of First Umlaut).

Class 4 Strong Verb: berna
Infinitive		Indicative	Subjunctive
berna		Present
	1sg.	bera	bera
Present Participle	2sg.	beris	beras
bernaþs	3sg.	beriþ	bera
	1pl.	berma	beram
Past Participle	2pl.	beriþ	beraþ
bornas	3pl.	bernaþ	beran
		Past
Imperative	1sg.	bar	bēria
ber	2sg.	bart	bēris
beraða	3sg.	bar	bēre
berma	1pl.	bērum	bērim
beriþ	2pl.	bēruþ	bēriþ
bernaþa	3pl.	bērun	bērin

Strong Verbs: Class V (i – a – ē – i)

Class 5 Strong Verb: kuiðna
Infinitive		Indicative	Subjunctive
kuiðna		Present
	1sg.	kuiða	kuiða
Present Participle	2sg.	kuiðis	kuiðas
kuiðnaþs	3sg.	kuiðiþ	kuiða
	1pl.	kuiðma	kuiðam
Past Participle	2pl.	kuiðiþ	kuiðaþ
kuiðnas	3pl.	kuiðnaþ	kuiðan
		Past
Imperative	1sg.	kuaþ	kuēþia
kuiþ	2sg.	kuast	kuēðis
kuiðaða	3sg.	kuaþ	kuēðe
kuiðam	1pl.	kuēðum	kuēðim
kuiðiþ	2pl.	kuēðuþ	kuēðiþ
kuiðnaþa	3pl.	kuēðun	kuēðin

Strong Verbs: Class VI (a – ō – ō – a)

Class 6 Strong Verb: dragna
Infinitive		Indicative	Subjunctive
dragna		Present
	1sg.	draga	draga
Present Participle	2sg.	dragis	dragas
dragnaþs	3sg.	dragiþ	draga
	1pl.	dragma	dragam
Past Participle	2pl.	dragiþ	dragaþ
dragnas	3pl.	dragnaþ	dragan
		Past
Imperative	1sg.	drōg	drœuǧa
drag	2sg.	drōft	drœugis
dragaða	3sg.	drōg	drœuge
dragma	1pl.	drōgum	drœugim
dragiþ	2pl.	drōguþ	drœugiþ
dragnaþa	3pl.	drōgun	drœugin

Strong Verbs: Class VII (reduplication)

Class 7 Strong Verb: hǣtna
Infinitive		Indicative	Subjunctive
hǣtna		Present
	1sg.	hǣta	hǣta
Present Participle	2sg.	hǣtis	hǣtas
hǣtnaþs	3sg.	hǣtiþ	hǣta
	1pl.	hǣtma	hǣtam
Past Participle	2pl.	hǣtiþ	hǣtaþ
hǣtnas	3pl.	hǣtnaþ	hǣtan
		Past
Imperative	1sg.	hehǣt	hehǣča
hǣt	2sg.	hehǣst	hehǣtis
hǣtaða	3sg.	hehǣt	hehǣte
hǣtma	1pl.	hehǣtum	hehǣtim
hǣtiþ	2pl.	hehǣtuþ	hehǣtiþ
hǣtnaþa	3pl.	hehǣtun	hehǣtin

Class 7 Strong Verb: lētna
Infinitive		Indicative	Subjunctive
lētna		Present
	1sg.	lēta	lēta
Present Participle	2sg.	lētis	lētas
lētnaþs	3sg.	lētiþ	lēta
	1pl.	lētma	lētam
Past Participle	2pl.	lētiþ	lētaþ
lētnas	3pl.	lētnaþ	lētan
		Past
Imperative	1sg.	lelōt	lelœuča
lēt	2sg.	lelōst	lelœutis
lētaða	3sg.	lelōt	lelōte
lētma	1pl.	lelōtum	lelœutim
lētiþ	2pl.	lelōtuþ	lelœutiþ
lētnaþa	3pl.	lelōtun	lelœutin

Weak Verbs

Weak Verbs: Class Ia (-janą)

Class 1 Weak Verb: leǧin
Infinitive		Indicative	Subjunctive
leǧin		Present
	1sg.	leǧa	leǧa
Present Participle	2sg.	leǧis	leǧis
leǧinþs	3sg.	leǧiþ	leǧa
	1pl.	leǧim	leǧim
Past Participle	2pl.	leǧiþ	leǧiþ
lagiþs	3pl.	leǧinþ	leǧin
		Past
Imperative	1sg.	lagiða	lagiǧa
legi	2sg.	lagiðas	lagiðis
leǧiða	3sg.	lagiða	lagiðe
lagim	1pl.	lagiðum	lagiðim
lagiþ	2pl.	lagiðuþ	lagiðiþ
laginþa	3pl.	lagiðun	lagiðin

Weak Verbs: Class Ib (-ijaną)

Class 1 Weak Verb: blenčin
Infinitive		Indicative	Subjunctive
blenčin		Present
	1sg.	blenča	blenča
Present Participle	2sg.	blenkis	blenčis
blenčinþs	3sg.	blenkiþ	blenča
	1pl.	blenčim	blenčim
Past Participle	2pl.	blenkiþ	blenčiþ
blankiþs	3pl.	blenčinþ	blenčin
		Past
Imperative	1sg.	blankiða	blankiǧa
blenki	2sg.	blankiðas	blankiðis
blenčiða	3sg.	blankiða	blankiðe
blenčim	1pl.	blankiðum	blankiðim
blenčiþ	2pl.	blankiðuþ	blankiðiþ
blenčinþa	3pl.	blankiðun	blankiðin

Weak Verbs: Class II (-ōną)

Class 2 Weak Verb: fiškan
Infinitive		Indicative	Subjunctive
fiškan		Present
	1sg.	fiška	fiška
Present Participle	2sg.	fiškas	fiškas
fiškanþs	3sg.	fiškaþ	fiška
	1pl.	fiškam	fiškam
Past Participle	2pl.	fiškaþ	fiškaþ
fiškaþs	3pl.	fiškanþ	fiškan
		Past
Imperative	1sg.	fiškaða	fiškaǧa
fiška	2sg.	fiškaðas	fiškaðis
fiškaða	3sg.	fiškaða	fiškaðe
fiškam	1pl.	fiškaðum	fiškaðim
fiškaþ	2pl.	fiškaðuþ	fiškaðiþ
fiškanþa	3pl.	fiškaðun	fiškaðin

Weak Verbs: Class III (-āną)

Class 3 Weak Verb: ǧukna
Infinitive		Indicative	Subjunctive
ǧukna		Present
	1sg.	ǧuka	ǧuka
Present Participle	2sg.	ǧukas	ǧukas
ǧuknaþs	3sg.	ǧukaþ	ǧuka
	1pl.	ǧukma	ǧukam
Past Participle	2pl.	ǧukaþ	ǧukaþ
ǧukaþs	3pl.	ǧuknaþ	ǧukan
		Past
Imperative	1sg.	ǧukaða	ǧukaǧa
ǧuka	2sg.	ǧukaðas	ǧukaðis
ǧukaða	3sg.	ǧukaða	ǧukaðe
ǧukma	1pl.	ǧukaðum	ǧukaðim
ǧukaþ	2pl.	ǧukaðuþ	ǧukaðiþ
ǧuknaþa	3pl.	ǧukaðun	ǧukaðin

Preterit-Present Verbs

Preterit-Present Verb: ǣgna ‘to have’
Infinitive		Indicative	Subjunctive
ǣgna		Present
	1sg.	ǣþ	ǣǧa
Present Participle	2sg.	ǣft	ǣgis
ǣgnaþs	3sg.	ǣþ	ǣge
	1pl.	ǣgum	ǣgim
Past Participle	2pl.	ǣguþ	ǣgiþ
ǣft	3pl.	ǣgun	ǣgin
		Past
Imperative	1sg.	ǣfta	ǣfča
ǣg	2sg.	ǣftas	ǣftis
ǣgaða	3sg.	ǣfta	ǣfte
ǣgum	1pl.	ǣftum	ǣftim
ǣguþ	2pl.	ǣftuþ	ǣftiþ
ǣgnaþa	3pl.	ǣftun	ǣftin

Preterit-Present Verb: dorsna ‘to dare’
Infinitive		Indicative	Subjunctive
dorsna		Present
	1sg.	dars	dœrša
Present Participle	2sg.	darst	dœrsis
dorsnaþs	3sg.	dars	dorse
	1pl.	dorsum	dœrsim
Past Participle	2pl.	dorsuþ	dœrsiþ
dorst	3pl.	dorsun	dœrsin
		Past
Imperative	1sg.	dorsta	dœrsča
dors	2sg.	dorstas	dœrstis
dorsaða	3sg.	dorsta	dorste
dorsum	1pl.	dorstum	dœrstim
dorsuþ	2pl.	dorstuþ	dœrstiþ
dorsanþa	3pl.	dorstun	dœrstin

Preterit-Present Verb: dugna ‘to be beneficial’
Infinitive		Indicative	Subjunctive
dugna		Present
	1sg.	dǭg	dyǧa
Present Participle	2sg.	dǭft	dygis
dugnaþs	3sg.	dǭg	duge
	1pl.	dugum	dygim
Past Participle	2pl.	duguþ	dygiþ
dǭts	3pl.	dugun	dygin
		Past
Imperative	1sg.	dǭta	dœ̄ča
dǭg	2sg.	dǭtas	dœ̄tis
dǭgaða	3sg.	dǭta	dǭte
dugum	1pl.	dǭtum	dœ̄tim
duguþ	2pl.	dǭtuþ	dœ̄tiþ
dugunþa	3pl.	dǭtun	dœ̄tin

Preterit-Present Verb: kutnan ‘to know how, can’
Infinitive		Indicative	Subjunctive
kutnan		Present
	1sg.	kan	kynia
Present Participle	2sg.	kant	kytnis
kutnaþs	3sg.	kan	kutne
	1pl.	kutnum	kytnim
Past Participle	2pl.	kutnuþ	kytniþ
kunþs	3pl.	kutnun	kytnin
		Past
Imperative	1sg.	kunþa	kynþia
kan	2sg.	kunþas	kynþis
kanaða	3sg.	kunþa	kunþe
kutnum	1pl.	kunþum	kynþim
kutnuþ	2pl.	kunþuþ	kynþiþ
kutnunþa	3pl.	kunþun	kynþin

Preterit-Present Verb: lisna ‘to learn’
Infinitive		Indicative	Subjunctive
lisna		Present
	1sg.	lǣs	liša
Present Participle	2sg.	lǣst	lisis
lisnaþs	3sg.	lǣs	lise
	1pl.	lisum	lisim
Past Participle	2pl.	lisuþ	lisiþ
list	3pl.	lisun	lisin
		Past
Imperative	1sg.	lista	lisča
lǣs	2sg.	listas	listis
lǣsaða	3sg.	lista	liste
lisum	1pl.	listum	listim
lisuþ	2pl.	listuþ	listiþ
lisunþa	3pl.	listun	listin

Preterit-Present Verb: magna ‘to be capable, can’
Infinitive		Indicative	Subjunctive
magna		Present
	1sg.	mag	meǧa
Present Participle	2sg.	māt	megis
magnaþs	3sg.	mag	mage
	1pl.	magum	megim
Past Participle	2pl.	maguþ	megiþ
māts	3pl.	magun	megin
		Past
Imperative	1sg.	māta	mǣča
mag	2sg.	mātas	mǣtis
magaða	3sg.	māta	māte
magum	1pl.	mātum	mǣtim
maguþ	2pl.	mātuþ	mǣtiþ
magunþa	3pl.	mātun	mǣtin

Preterit-Present Verb: mōtna ‘to be allowed’
Infinitive		Indicative	Subjunctive
mōtna		Present
	1sg.	mōt	mœuča
Present Participle	2sg.	mōst	mœutis
mōtnaþs	3sg.	mōt	mōte
	1pl.	mōtum	mœutim
Past Participle	2pl.	mōtuþ	mœutiþ
mōst	3pl.	mōtun	mœutin
		Past
Imperative	1sg.	mōsta	mœusča
mōt	2sg.	mōstas	mœustis
mōtaða	3sg.	mōsta	mōste
mōtum	1pl.	mōstum	mœustim
mōtuþ	2pl.	mōstuþ	mœustiþ
mōtunþa	3pl.	mōstun	mœustin

Preterit-Present Verb: munan ‘to remember’
Infinitive		Indicative	Subjunctive
munan		Present
	1sg.	man	mynia
Present Participle	2sg.	mant	mynis
munanþs	3sg.	man	mune
	1pl.	munum	mynim
Past Participle	2pl.	munuþ	myniþ
munǧ	3pl.	munun	mynin
		Past
Imperative	1sg.	munda	mynǧa
man	2sg.	mundas	myndi
manaða	3sg.	munda	munde
munum	1pl.	mundum	myndim
munuþ	2pl.	munduþ	myndiþ
mununþa	3pl.	mundun	myndin

Preterit-Present Verb: nugna ‘to suffice’
Infinitive		Indicative	Subjunctive
nugna		Present
	1sg.	nā	nyǧa
Present Participle	2sg.	nāt	nygis
nugnaþs	3sg.	nā	nuge
	1pl.	nugum	nygim
Past Participle	2pl.	nuguþ	nygiþ
nǭts	3pl.	nugun	nygin
		Past
Imperative	1sg.	nǭta	nœ̄ča
nā	2sg.	nǭtas	nœ̄tis
naguða	3sg.	nǭta	nōte
nugum	1pl.	nǭtum	nœ̄tim
nuguþ	2pl.	nǭtuþ	nœ̄tiþ
nugunþa	3pl.	nǭtun	nœ̄tin

Preterit-Present Verb: ōgna ‘to fear’
Infinitive		Indicative	Subjunctive
ōgna		Present
	1sg.	ōg	œuǧa
Present Participle	2sg.	ōft	œugis
ōgnaþs	3sg.	ōg	ōge
	1pl.	ōgum	œugim
Past Participle	2pl.	ōguþ	œugiþ
ōft	3pl.	ōgun	œugin
		Past
Imperative	1sg.	ōfta	œufča
ōg	2sg.	ōftas	œufti
ōgaða	3sg.	ōfta	ōfte
ōgum	1pl.	ōftum	œuftim
ōguþ	2pl.	ōftuþ	œuftiþ
ōgunþa	3pl.	ōftun	œuftin

Preterit-Present Verb: skulna ‘should’
Infinitive		Indicative	Subjunctive
skulna		Present
	1sg.	skal	skylia
Present Participle	2sg.	skalt	skylis
skulnaþs	3sg.	skal	skule
	1pl.	skulum	skylim
Past Participle	2pl.	skuluþ	skyliþ
skulǧ	3pl.	skulun	skylin
		Past
Imperative	1sg.	skulða	skylǧa
skal	2sg.	skulðas	skylðis
skalaða	3sg.	skulða	skulðe
skulum	1pl.	skulðum	skylðim
skuluþ	2pl.	skulðuþ	skylðiþ
skulunþa	3pl.	skulðun	skylðin

Preterit-Present Verb: vitna ‘to know’
Infinitive		Indicative	Subjunctive
vitna		Present
	1sg.	vǣt	viča
Present Participle	2sg.	vǣst	vitis
vitnaþs	3sg.	vǣt	vite
	1pl.	vitum	vitim
Past Participle	2pl.	vituþ	vitiþ
vist	3pl.	vitun	vitin
		Past
Imperative	1sg.	vista	visča
vǣt	2sg.	vistas	vistis
vǣtaða	3sg.	vista	viste
vitum	1pl.	vistum	vistim
vituþ	2pl.	vistuþ	vistiþ
vitunþa	3pl.	vistun	vistin

Preterit-Present Verb: þorvan ‘to need’
Infinitive		Indicative	Subjunctive
þorvan		Present
	1sg.	þarf	þœrfia
Present Participle	2sg.	þarft	þœrvis
þorvanþs	3sg.	þarf	þorve
	1pl.	þorvum	þœrvim
Past Participle	2pl.	þorvuþ	þœrviþ
þorft	3pl.	þorvun	þœrvin
		Past
Imperative	1sg.	þorfta	þœrfča
þarf	2sg.	þorftas	þœrftis
þarvaða	3sg.	þorfta	þorfte
þorvum	1pl.	þorftum	þœrftim
þorvuþ	2pl.	þorftuþ	þœrftiþ
þorvunþa	3pl.	þorftun	þœrftin

Finally, wilin is not actually a preterit-present verb, but a subjunctive-present verb. However, it seems to fit best here amongst its other quasi-anomalous quasi-auxiliary brethren.

Preterit-Present Verb: vilin ‘to want’
Infinitive		Indicative	Subjunctive
vilin		Present
	1sg.	vilia	vilia
Present Participle	2sg.	vilis	vilis
vilinþs	3sg.	viliþ	vile
	1pl.	vilim	vilim
Past Participle	2pl.	viliþ	viliþ
viliþs	3pl.	vilinþ	vilin
		Past
Imperative	1sg.	vilða	vilǧa
vili	2sg.	vilðas	vilðis
viliða	3sg.	vilða	vilðe
vilim	1pl.	vilðum	vilðim
viliþ	2pl.	vilðuþ	vilðiþ
vilinþa	3pl.	vilðun	vilðin

Anomalous Verbs

Dōn is sometimes categorised as a Class VII strong verb, though it does not follow the same reduplication or ablaut patterns of other verbs in this class. Some Germanic philologists also argue that the ancestor of Proto-Germanic dōną actually gave rise to the /d/-reduplication in the past tense of weak and preterit-present verbs.

Class 7 Strong Verb (Anomalous): dōn ‘to do’
Infinitive		Standard	Inverse	Standard	Inverse
dōn		Present Indicative		Present Subjunctive
	1sg.	ik dōm	dōmik	ik dōga	dōgik
	2sg.	þū dōst	dōstu	þū dōgas	dōgastu
	3sg.m.	is dōþ	dōðis	is dōga	dōgis
Present Participle	3sg.f.	sī dōþ	dōsi	sī dōga	dōgasi
dōnþs	3sg.n.	it dōþ	dōðit	it dōga	dōgit
	1du.	wit dōm	dōnt	wit dōgam	dōgant
	1pl.	wīs dōm	dōms	wīs dōgam	dōgams
	2du.	ǧut dōþ	dōst	ǧut dōgaþ	dōgast
Past Participle	2pl.	jūs dōþ	dōþs	jūs dōgaþ	dōgaþs
dōns	3pl.m.	īs dōnþ	dōnþs	īs dōgan	dōgans
	3pl.f.	ižas dōnþ	dōnþs	ižas dōgan	dōgans
	3pl.n.	iža dōnþ	dōnþs	iža dōgan	dōgans
		Past Indicative		Past Subjunctive
Imperative	1sg.	ik diða	diðik	ik dēða	dēðik
dō, dē	2sg.	þū diðas	diðastu, distu	þū dēðis	dēðistu
dōða	3sg.m.	is diða	diðis	is dēðe	dēðis
	3sg.f.	sī diða	diðasi	sī dēðe	dēðisi
	3sg.n.	it diða	diðit	it dēðe	dēðit
dōm	1du.	wit dēðum	dēðunt	wit dēðim	dēðint
	1pl.	wīs dēðum	dēðums	wīs dēðim	dēðims
dōþ	2du.	ǧut dēðuþ	dēðust	ǧut dēðiþ	dēðist
	2pl.	jūs dēðuþ	dēðuþs	jūs dēðiþ	dēðiþs
dōnþa	3pl.m.	īs dēðun	dēðuns	īs dēðin	dēðins
	3pl.f.	ižas dēðun	dēðuns	ižas dēðin	dēðins
	3pl.n.	iža dēðun	dēðuns	iža dēðin	dēðins

The present indicative tense of gǣn/gangna has two forms – a short and a long form – as did the non-finite forms (the infinitive and the participles) as well as most of the imperatives. The past tenses show suppletion, and have been replaced by īǧ- from Proto-Germanic *ijj-, the same source as Old English ēode, and ultimately related to the Latin verb ire.

Class 7 Strong Verb (Anomalous): gangna, gǣn ‘to go’
Infinitive		Standard	Inverse	Standard	Inverse
gangna, gǣn		Present Indicative		Present Subjunctive
	1sg.	ik ganga, ik gēm	gangik, gǣmik	ik ganga	gangik
	2sg.	þū gangis, þū gǣs	gangistu, gǣstu	þū gangas	gangastu
	3sg.m.	is gangiþ, is gǣþ	gangiðis, gǣðis	is ganga	gangis
Present Participle	3sg.f.	sī gangiþ, sī gǣþ	gangisi, gǣsi	sī ganga	gangasi
gangnaþs, gǣnþs	3sg.n.	it gangiþ, it gǣþ	gangiðit, gǣðit	it ganga	gangit
	1du.	wit gangma, wit gǣm	gangant, gǣnt	wit gangam	gangant
	1pl.	wīs gangma, wīs gǣm	gangmas, gǣms	wīs gangam	gangams
	2du.	ǧut gangiþ, ǧut gǣþ	gangist, gǣst	ǧut gangaþ	gangast
Past Participle	2pl.	jūs gangiþ, jūs gǣþ	gangiþs, gǣþs	jūs gangaþ	gangaþs
gangnas, gǣns	3pl.m.	īs gangnaþ	gangnaþs	īs gangan	gangans
	3pl.f.	ižas gangnaþ	gangnaþs	ižas gangan	gangans
	3pl.n.	iža gangnaþ	gangnaþs	iža gangan	gangans
		Past Indicative		Past Subjunctive
Imperative	1sg.	ik īǧa	īǧik	ik īǧa	īǧik
gang, gǣ	2sg.	þū īǧis	īǧistu	þū īǧis	īǧistu
gangaða, gǣða	3sg.m.	is īǧa	īǧis	is īǧe	īǧis
	3sg.f.	s·īǧa	īǧisi	s·īǧe	īǧisi
	3sg.n.	it īǧa	īǧit	it īǧe	īǧit
gangma, gǣm	1du.	wit īǧim	īǧint	wit īǧim	īǧint
	1pl.	wīs īǧim	īǧims	wīs īǧim	īǧims
gangiþ, gǣþ	2du.	ǧut īǧiþ	īǧist	ǧut īǧiþ	īǧist
	2pl.	jūs īǧiþ	īǧiþs	jūs īǧiþ	īǧiþs
gangnaþa, gǣnþa	3pl.m.	īs īǧin	īǧins	īs īǧin	īǧins
	3pl.f.	ižas īǧin	īǧins	ižas īǧin	īǧins
	3pl.n.	iža īǧin	īǧins	iža īǧin	īǧins

The present indicative tense of stǣn/standna has two forms – a short and a long form – as did the non-finite forms (the infinitive and the participles) as well as most of the imperatives. Though it acts like a Class VI verb in how it ablauts in the past, there is also a parallel form with reduplication, indicating Class VII.

Class 6/7 Strong Verb (Anomalous): standna, stǣn ‘to stand’
Infinitive		Standard	Inverse	Standard	Inverse
standna, stǣn		Present Indicative		Present Subjunctive
	1sg.	ik standa, ik stǣm	standik, stǣmik	ik standa	standik
	2sg.	þū standis, þū stǣs	standistu, stǣstu	þū standas	standastu
	3sg.m.	is standiþ, is stǣþ	standiðis, stǣðis	is standa	standis
Present Participle	3sg.f.	sī standiþ, sī stǣþ	standisi, stǣsi	sī standa	standasi
standnaþs, stǣnþs	3sg.n.	it standiþ, it stǣþ	standiðit, stǣðit	it standa	standit
	1du.	wit standma, wit stǣm	standant, stǣnt	wit standam	standant
	1pl.	wīs standma, wīs stǣm	standmas, stǣms	wīs standam	standams
	2du.	ǧut standiþ, ǧut stǣþ	standist, stǣst	ǧut standaþ	standast
Past Participle	2pl.	jūs standiþ, jūs stǣþ	standiþs, stǣþs	jūs standaþ	standaþs
standnas, stǣns	3pl.m.	īs standnaþ	standnaþs	īs standan	standans
	3pl.f.	ižas standnaþ	standnaþs	ižas standan	standans
	3pl.n.	iža standnaþ	standnaþs	iža standan	standans
		Past Indicative		Past Subjunctive
Imperative	1sg.	ik (ste)stōþ	(ste)stōðik	ik stœuða	stœuðik
stand, stǣ	2sg.	þū (ste)stōst	(ste)stōstu	þū stœuðis	stœuðistu
standaða, stǣða	3sg.m.	is (ste)stōþ	(ste)stōðis	is stōðe	stōðis
	3sg.f.	sī (ste)stōþ	(ste)stōsi	sī stōðe	stōðisi
	3sg.n.	it (ste)stōþ	(ste)stōðit	it stōðe	stōðit
standma, stǣm	1du.	wit (ste)stōðum	(ste)stōðunt	wit stœuðim	stœuðint
	1pl.	wīs (ste)stōðum	(ste)stōðums	wīs stœuðim	stœuðims
standiþ, stǣþ	2du.	ǧut (ste)stōðuþ	(ste)stōðust	ǧut stœuðiþ	stœuðist
	2pl.	jūs (ste)stōðuþ	(ste)stōðuþs	jūs stœuðiþ	stœuðiþs
standnaþa, stǣnþa	3pl.m.	īs (ste)stōðun	(ste)stōðuns	īs stœuðin	stœuðins
	3pl.f.	ižas (ste)stōðun	(ste)stōðuns	ižas stœuðin	stœuðins
	3pl.n.	iža (ste)stōðun	(ste)stōðuns	iža stœuðin	stœuðins

Wisna is easily the most heavily suppleted of the Germanic verbs. Aside from the obvious wis- stem, which is completely missing from the present tenses, the present shows two other stems, i- and sī. The imperative also has an anomalous ī as an alternative for the second person singular, though it is unrelated to the i- stem of the present, and may actually come from Latin ī, imperative form of ire (‘to go’).

Class 5 Strong Verb (Anomalous): wisna ‘to be’
Infinitive		Standard	Inverse	Standard	Inverse
wisna		Present Indicative		Present Subjunctive
	1sg.	ik im	imik	ik siža	sižik
	2sg.	þū is	istu	þū sižis	sižistu
	3sg.m.	is ist	istis	is siža	sižis
Present Participle	3sg.f.	s·īst	isi	sī siža	sižisi
wisnaþs	3sg.n.	it ist	istit	it siža	sižit
	1du.	wit sižum, wit sīm	sižunt, sīnt	wit sižim	sižint
	1pl.	wīs sižum, wīs sīm	sižums, sīms	wīs sižim	sižims
	2du.	ǧut sižuþ, ǧut sīþ	sižust, sīst	ǧut sižiþ	sižist
Past Participle	2pl.	jūs sižuþ, jūs sīþ	sižuþs, sīþs	jūs sižiþ	sižiþs
wisnas	3pl.m.	īs sinþ	sinþs	īs sižin	sižins
	3pl.f.	ižas sinþ	sinþs	ižas sižin	sižins
	3pl.n.	iža sinþ	sinþs	iža sižin	sižins
		Past Indicative		Past Subjunctive
Imperative	1sg.	ik was	wažik, wežik	ik wēša	wēšik
wis, ī, sī	2sg.	þū wast	wastu	þū wēsis	wēsisu
wisaða, imda	3sg.m.	is was	wažis, wežis	is wēse	wēsis
	3sg.f.	sī was	wasi, wesi	sī wēse	wēsisi
	3sg.n.	it was	wažit, wežit	it wēse	wēsit
sižum, sīm	1du.	wit wēsum	wēsunt	wit wēsim	wēsint
	1pl.	wīs wēsum	wēsums	wīs wēsim	wēsims
sižuþ, sīþ	2du.	ǧut wēsuþ	wēsust	ǧut wēsiþ	wēsist
	2pl.	jūs wēsuþ	wēsuþs	jūs wēsiþ	wēsiþs
sinþa	3pl.m.	īs wēsun	wēsuns	īs wēsin	wēsins
	3pl.f.	ižas wēsun	wēsuns	ižas wēsin	wēsins
	3pl.n.	iža wēsun	wēsuns	iža wēsin	wēsins

Compound Tenses

Forming the Perfect

In Gothic, there was no explicit perfect or perfective aspect in verbs. In order to express the perfect, sometimes the prefix ga- was added to verbs. Latin had a dedicated perfect inflection in verbs.

In later Germanic and Romance languages, the perfect was formed by combining an auxiliary verb (usually ‘have’ or ‘be’) with a participle. In languages which make the distinction (such as French, German, and Italian), ‘have’ is used with most transitive verbs, while ‘be’ is reserved for intransitive verbs dealing with change of state or motion. Valthungian maintains a similar transitive/intransitive distinction as the aforementioned languages, but the distinction is much broader (purely transitive/intransitive, rather than the various rules, exceptions, and sub-rules that govern “être/sein/essere” verbs), and the difference in the realisation of the two types is much more extreme.

Intransitive verbs are formed in the Romance style by creating a compound of the verb wisna and the past participle.

• S·īst lēkare vroðna.
  • ‘She has become a doctor.’
• Is was hǣma gangna.
  • ‘He had gone home.’

Transitive verbs are formed in the Gothic manner, though the ga- prefix from Gothic has since been grammaticalised and stands on its own as an adverb which is usually placed clause-finally.

• S·ītmit gaf gā.
  • ‘She had given it to him.’
• Ik þik sǣjua gā.
  • ‘I have seen you.’

Forming the Future

The future is formed by using the auxiliary genǧin ‘to go’ followed by an infinitive (not unlike future compound constructions with go in multiple European languages).

• Ik genǧa þo hroþ lūkna.
  • ‘I will lock the door.’
• Ik ni gangiða nījo ligna þo livran af hǣða hun.
  • ‘I was never going to read that book anyway.’

Forming the Passive

Gothic transitive verbs had a passive form, but this has disappeared from Valthungian. Instead, the passive may be formed using a variety of auxiliary verbs determined by the volition of the agent and the subject (patient). By their very nature, passives need not specify an agent, but an agent can be indicated using the genitive (as we would use ‘by’ in English).

	Patient: Deliberate	Patient: Unintentional / Inanimate
Agent: Deliberate	gečin ‘to cause to get’ lenǧin ‘to cause to succeed’	gitna ‘to get’ þiǧin ‘to receive’
Agent: Unintentional / Inanimate	þiǧin ‘to receive’ lenǧin ‘to cause to succeed’	skīčin ‘to cause to happen’ skeǧin ‘to cause to happen’ verðan ‘to become’

Agent/Patient Deliberate: This tends to refer to things that happen as a result of mutual agreement

• Ik gatiða forða vork fraglíðiþ.
  • ‘I was paid for the work.’
• Þǣ ankýmbiðas langiðun þis broðaþjugis ganōguþ.
  • ‘The diners were served by the waiter.’

Agent Deliberate / Patient Unintentional: These auxiliaries are used mainly when the agent is a person and the patient is either an object or a person who is unaware of the agent’s intention or an unwilling participant in the action.

• Ik gat þis weris slagun.
  • ‘I was hit by the man.’
• S·wagnas þagiða þiža mœuǧis fariþ.
  • ‘The car was driven by the girl.’

Agent Unintentional / Patient Deliberate: This usually refers to agents (usually inanimate) that are being used by a patient for a specific purpose.

• Ik þagiða þižis fœ̄ðinis nutriškiþ.
  • ‘I was nourished by the food.’
• Þū langiðas (þiž·intǣkninis) toðiža miðéndina tugun.
  • ‘You were led to that conclusion (by the evidence).’

Agent/Patient Unintentional or Inanimate: This final group is possibly the most common, and refers to inanimate agent and patient, or when the agent or patient is an unwilling participant in the action. It may refer especially to natural phenomena, e.g. ‘blown down by wind’ or ‘rained on’.

• Ik skīkiða þis þljuðis angǣsiþ.
  • ‘I was startled by the noise.’
• Þe lǭvas skagiðun þižis rynins avbrón.
  • ‘The leaves were carried away by the stream.’

Immediacy: Forming the Recent Past and Immediate Future

The adverb straks can be used in conjunction with most tenses as an “immediacy particle.” In the past tenses, this translates roughly to the word ‘just’, as in “I just did that.” In the future, it is most closely translated as ‘about to’.

• Ik straks āt gā.
  • ‘I had just eaten.’
• Is straks gangiþ hǣma.
  • ‘He is about to go home.’

NB: Straks is definitely a Germanic word, but cannot be descended from East Germanic. (If it were, we might expect strakis or perhaps straka.) It is likely a more recent borrowing into Middle Valthungian from a West or North Germanic source. Cf. Dutch, Norwegian, and Danish straks, Swedish and Icelandic strax, German stracks, &c.

Forming the Progressive

The progressive tenses are not used often in Valthungian, but they can be a useful way to indicate that something is left unfinished, since the Perfect – originally a perfective indicating completed action – has taken on more of a perfect meaning, including that of a more generalised past tense.

The progressive is formed using the auxiliary verb sitna ‘to sit’ and the preposition bī ‘by’, followed by the infinitive. (In very formal language, you may encounter sitna bi followed by the dative of the nominalized form of the verb, e.g. ‘I am drawing’ may be rendered as Ik sita bi vrǣtina rather than the expected Ik sita bi vrǣčin.

• Ū sitistu njužis bi drinkna gā?
  • ‘Have you been drinking again?’
• Ik sita bi skrīvna þo bisāt mīna. Ranive sitik bi drinkna gā.
  • ‘I’m writing my dissertation. Of course I’ve been drinking.’

Adjectives

In Valthungian, adjectives can be strong or weak (as with adjectives in any Germanic language that declines). The general rule is: If a nouns takes a determiner (article, possessive, quantifier, &c), its accompanying adjective is weak; otherwise it is strong.

Predicative adjectives do not decline; they usually take the form of the strong neuter singular regardless of what they modify.

Legend: Predicative · Strong · Weak · Determiner · Non-declining Genitive

When a noun is modified by an adjective alone (with no determiner present), the adjective takes the strong declension.

• ražna rǭðat ‘a red house’
• miðus glitnaþs ‘sparkling mead’
• vituvne frobúðna ‘forbidden knowledge’

When paired with a third person possessive (is, ižis, or iža), an adjective also takes the strong declension:

• is ražna rǭðat ‘his red house’
• ižis miðus glitnaþs ‘her sparkling mead’
• iža vituvne frobúðna ‘their forbidden knowledge’

When one of the above possessives is used without an adjective, they follow the noun.

• ražna is ‘his house’
• miðus ižis ‘her mead’
• vituvne iža ‘their knowledge’

When a determiner is present, the adjective takes a weak declension.

• hreužitaþ ražna rǭða ‘every red house’
• mīns miðus glitnaða ‘my sparkling mead’
• so vituvne frobúðna ‘the forbidden knowledge’

When a possessive is used with an adjective (as in mīns miðus glitnaða, above), the possessive precedes the noun and takes a strong declension while the adjective takes the weak; however, when no adjective is present, a definite article precedes the noun, and the weak-declined possessive follows it.

• þa ražna mīna ‘my house’
• sa miðus þīna ‘your mead’
• so vituvne unstra ‘our knowledge’

When an adjective is used as a predicate, it takes the predicative form (not really a declension, because there is only one).

• þa ražna mīna ist rǭþ. ‘my house is red’
• sa miðus þīna ist glitnaþ. ‘your mead is sparkling’
• so vituvne unstra ist frobúðna. ‘our knowledge is forbidden’

Comparison

To form the comparative, most adjectives replace the usual endings with ‑ums (which declines as an a-stem), though after i‑ and j‑stems, it becomes ‑ims. E.g.:

• mikils ‘big’ → mikilums ‘bigger’
• grœunis ‘green’ → grœunims ‘greener’
• aglus ‘difficult’ → aglums ‘more difficult’

The dative case is used to form comparative clauses by replacing the English preposition than:

• Is ist þam brōðra sīnin hǭðum. ‘He is taller than his brother.’ (Literally: “He is to-the brother of-himself taller.”)

To form the superlative, most adjectives add ‑ist to the stem.

• mikils ‘big’ → mikilist ‘biggest’
• grœunis ‘green’ → grœunist ‘greenest’
• aglus ‘difficult’ → eglist ‘most difficult’

The genitive case is used to form superlative clauses. The comparative itself is usually accompanied by a definite article:

• Is ist þiža brœuðro sīnaro sa hǭðist. ‘He is the tallest of his brothers.’ (Literally: “He is of-the brothers of-himself the tallest.”)

Irregular and Suppletive Forms

There are a number of irregular and suppletive forms of adjectives.

• gōþs ‘good’ → batums ‘better’ → batist ‘best’
• uvils ‘bad’ → vresums ‘worse’ → vresist ‘worst’
• fǭs ‘little, few’ → mitnums ‘less, fewer’ → mitnist~faugist ‘least, fewest’
• filus ‘much, many’ → mǣžums ‘more’ → mǣst ‘most’

Vocabulary

Valthungian Words on Contionary