Valthungian

Gutish 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 Wulfilas. It is likely, however, that the speakers of the ancestor of Gutish did consider themselves Goths, as reflected in its name. (It is likely similar in development to Modern High German – Deutsch – which is not directly descended from Old High German, but rather a similar dialect spoken by a group who also considered themselves “Diutisk.”) While it shares many of the areal changes of the Northwest Germanic languages, it is also marked by distinctive changes in palatalization, which, while similar to those of Old English, are most likely influenced by contact with Slavic languages.

Writing System

Alphabet & Pronunciation

[ɑ] aska ‘ash’	[e̞ː] ǣjus ‘horse’	[b] berkna ‘birch’	[ɡ] giva ‘gift’	[ʤ] ǧus ‘creature’	[d] daǧ ‘day’	[ð] ǣði ‘mother’	[e̞] erða ‘earth’
[ʐ] akuža ‘axe’	[h] haglas ‘hail’	[θ] þornus ‘thorn’	[i] igil ‘hedgehog’	[j] jēr ‘year’	[k] kune ‘family’	[l] lagus ‘lake’	[m] matna ‘man’
[n] nǭþs ‘need’	[o̞] orte ‘garden’	[p] perðra ‘chance’	[r] rǣða ‘wheel’	[s] sōgil ‘sun’	[ʃ] šug ‘family’	[t] tījus ‘Teu’	[ʧ] čusins ‘chioce’
[u] uvils ‘bad’	[v] ivras ‘boar’	[f] fǣjo ‘cattle’	[w] wynia ‘joy’	[ø̞] œrča ‘farmer’	[y] ynča ‘ounce’	[o̞ː] ǭsus ‘ox’

Non-Alphabetic Variants

[ɑː] āde ‘egg’	[iː] ēls ‘eel’	[ai̯] īs ‘ice’	[uː] ōðlas ‘inheritance’	[au̯] ūrus ‘aurochs’	[ø̞ː] œ̄ja ‘island’	[yː] ȳftigi ‘timeliness’

Though the seven long vowels of the Non-Alphabetic Variants have individual names, they are not considered to be part of the standard alphabet or alphabetical order. Instead, each long vowel is considered alphabetically to be the equivalent of its doubled short counterpart. That is, ‹ā› is equivalent to ‹aa›, ‹ē› to ‹ee›, ‹ī› to ‹ii›, and so on. This becomes complicated by the fact that all long vowels except for ‹ā› are raised, though it’s not actually any different than what happens to the letter names in English. (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 Romanized forms.)

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

Orthography

The orthography of Gutish is quite regular to its phonology; indeed, there are very few exceptions – four, in fact:

1. The letter ‹n› is used before ‹g› or ‹k› to indicate the velar nasal [ŋ]. Specifically, ‹ng› is [ŋg] and ‹nk› is [ŋk]. (E.g. drinkna [driŋk.na] ‘to drink’.)
2. In combinations where ‹ng› is followed by another nasal consonant, [g] is elided in speech: ‹ngm› is [ŋm] and ‹ngn› is [ŋn]. (E.g. gangna [gaŋ.na] ‘to go’; not **[gaŋg.na].)
3. The diphthong ‹eu› is realized as [ɛu̯] (rather than the expected [e̞u̯]). (E.g. sneugna [snɛu̯g.na] ‘to snow’.)
4. The diphthong ‹øu› is realized as [œy̑] (rather than the expected [ø̞u̯]).

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

1. The stress is not on the first syllable, and
2. the stressed syllable is a short vowel. (Long vowels cannot be unstressed, though they may sometimes take secondary stress.)

For example, fergúne ‘mountain’, but garǣts ‘correct’.

Ligatures & Liaisons

When two like vowels of equal value come together, the words may form a ligature. This is most common with the articles (sā + a-, sō + u-, etc.) and particles (e.g nī + i-).

• Articles
  • Mandatory:
    • sā, hwā, twā + a-, ā- → s’ā-, hw’ā-, tw’ā-
      • sā aplas → s’āplas, ‘the apple’
      • twā aðna → tw’āðna ‘two seasons’
    • sō, þō, hō + u-, ō- → s’ō-, þ’ō-, h’ō-
      • sō uréča → s’ōréča, ‘the persuit’
      • sō ōs → s’ōs, ‘the ewe’
    • þǣ, twǣ + e-, ǣ- → þ’ǣ-, tw’ǣ-
      • þǣ ǣjus → þ’ǣjus ‘the horses’
      • twǣ elis → tw’ǣlis ‘two others’
    • nī, þrī, hī + i-, ī- → n’ī-, þr’ī-, h’ī-
      • nī ist → n’īst, ‘isn’t’
      • hī īsran → h’īsran ‘this iron’

Alternative Writing Systems

Cursive

Coming soon...

Romanization

	a	[ɑ]		ā	[ɑː]		á	['a]
	ǣ	[eː]
	b	[b]
	č	[ʧ]
	d	[d]
	ð	[ð]
	e	[e̞]		ē	[iː]		é	['e̞]
	f	[f]
	g	[ɡ]
	ǧ	[ʤ]
	h	[h]
	i	[i]		ī	[ai̯]		í	['i]
	j	[j]
	k	[k]
	l	[l]
	m	[m]
	n	[n]
	o	[o̞]		ō	[uː]		ó	['o̞]
	ǭ	[o̞ː]
	œ	[ø̞]		œ̄	[ø̞ː]		œ́	['ø̞]
	p	[p]
	r	[ɾ]
	s	[s]
	š	[ʃ]
	t	[t]
	u	[u]		ū	[au̯]		ú	['u]
	v	[v]
	w	[w]
	y	[y]		ȳ	[yː]		ý	['y]
	ž	[ʐ]
	þ	[θ]

Transcriptional Alphabet for Intermediate Language Changes

Phonetic transliteration is not used regularly in Gutish, but is used frequently when discussing issues of historical linguistic significance to the language. This is a merger of the Latin Transliteration (above) and phonetic notation (IPA), aimed to be more precise than transliteration but less cumbersome than IPA. Characters with standard values continue to be written with the Latin transliteration (above), but others may have slightly different values. For the purposes of historical comparison, a standardized character set is used for Proto-Germanic, Gothic, and Gutish. All three alphabets are used throughout this work; those using this phonetic transcription are enclosed in slashes (/); Latin transliteration is generally italicized.

Gothic	Gothic Translit-eration	IPA	Transcription	Gutish Translit-eration	Gutish
	a	ɑ	a	a
	ā	ɑː	ā	ā
	aj	ɑi̯	ai	ī
	aw	ɑu̯	au	ū
	b	b	b	b
		β	β
		ʧ	č	č
	d	d	d	d
		ð	ð	ð
	aí	ɛ~e̞	e	e
	ai	ɛː	ɛ̄
		ɛu̯	eu	eu
	ē	eː	ē	ǣ
	f	f	f	f
	g	g	g	g
		ɣ	ɣ
	h	h	h	h
	ƕ	hʷ~ʍ	hw	hw
	i	ɪ~i	i	i
	ei	iː	ī	ē
	j	j	j	j
	k	k	k	k
	q	kʷ~kw	kw	kw
	l	l	l	l
		l̩	l̩
	m	m	m	m
		m̩	m̩
	n	n	n	n
		n̩	n̩
	gg	ŋg	ng	ng
		ŋm	ngm	ngm
		ŋn	ngn	ngn
	gk	ŋk	nk	nk
	gq	ŋkw~ŋkʷ	nkw	nkw
	aú	ɔ~o̞	o	o
	au	ɔː	ɔ̄
	ō	oː	ō	ǭ
		œ	œ1
		œː	œ̄1
		ø̞	ø	œ
		ø̞ː	ø̄	œ̄
		œy̑	œy	œu
	p	p	p	p
	r	ɾ~r	r	r
		ɾ̩~r̩	r̩
	s	s	s	s
		ʃ	š	š
	t	t	t	t
	þ	θ	þ	þ
	u	u	u	u
	ū	uː	ū	ō
		v	v	v
	w	w	w	w
		ɯ~ʏ	υ2
		y	y	y
		yː	ȳ	ȳ
	z	z	z
		ʐ	ž	ž

¹ /œ/ and /œ̄/ represent an intermediate stage in the development of the Gutish language which occurs in the phonemic inventory of neither Gothic nor Gutish.

² When it appears as a vowel, 𐍅 was used in Gothic to transliterate the Greek letter υ, and did not occur otherwise in the phonemic inventory of Gothic.

Phonology

There is a lot that happens in Gutish when words encounter other words or receive certain inflectional endings. Generally this has to do with the letter ending a root.

Roots ending in ‹d› or ‹g›, for instance, become palatalized before ‹s›. E.g. the nominative form of dag ‘day’ is daǧ rather than the otherwise expected **dags. Furthermore, ‹d› becomes spirantized between two vowels, so some roots may have as many as three forms for one declension. E.g. bard ‘beard’ has the nominative form barǧ, dative barða, and accusative bard. More of this will be discussed in the chapters on declension of Nouns and Adjectives and the conjugation of Verbs, but some basics will be laid out here.

[r]-Assimilation

This is a persistent rule that does not have much effect on declensions within the language, but does have some effect on the development of certain words. This rule is described in the Rules chapter of this document in Assimilation of [ɾ]. Specifically, /r/ is deleted when immediately followed by /ž/. For example, the possessive adjective inkur ‘our’, from earlier inkwar has the genitive plural form inkuža from earlier inkwarɛ̄zō rather than the otherwise expected **inkurža.

Voicing Alternation

This rule is inherited from Gothic or perhaps even Proto-Germanic. The rule is not persistent, but the variation in forms still affects the inflections of nouns, verbs, and adjectives in Gutish. (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› or ‹þ›, used only at the end of a word, and ‹b› or ‹d›, used elsewhere, e.g. giban, ‘to give’, gaf, ‘gave’. There are three main realizations of this rule in Gutish:

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

The implications of this rule for Gutish 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).
• The implications for ‹s› and ‹ž› can be a little trickier, because this split was not uniform in Gothic times, so many words retain ‹s› throughout the paradigm. These are noted in the lexicon and must be learned by rote.

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.

Palatalization

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

• Masculine and feminine nouns whose roots end in ‹d› or ‹g› become palatalized before ‹s› in the nominative singular of a-, i-, and u-stems (but not feminine ō-stems). E.g. Gothic dags ‘day’ becomes daǧ. This type of palatalization only occurs when there was a /dz/ or /gz/ present in the language at some point historically (from Gothic /ds/ or /gs/).
• A much more common form of palatalization, 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› (and so do all other instances of ‹z›, but that’s not applicable to this section.)

[b]/[v] Alternation

A less common alternation is that of ‹b› and ‹v›. This occurs specifically in inflections where some endings begin with ‹j› while others do not; for instance, the strong masculine ija-stem ending of nouns and adjectives. In this paradigm, the nominative, genitive, and accusative of the singular all have ‹v› from earlier ‹b› (because it is intervocalic), but the rest of the paradigm has ‹b›, because it was historically followed by ‹j›, which prevents the intervocalic shift. For example, the adjective drœ̄vis ‘muddy’ has the dative singular form drœ̄bia.

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.

• Accusative singular nouns with palatalization are not umlauted. All other forms of nouns with palatalization are umlauted.
• The past subjunctive of verbs is umlauted (except for the 3rd person singular in formal speech). (First person singular is palatalized and umlauted.)
• Most class 1 weak verbs and strong verbs ending in –jan in Gothic have umlaut in the present and imperative. These verbs all end with –in in Gutish.

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

• ‹a› → ‹e›
• ‹ā› → ‹ǣ›
• ‹ǭ› → ‹œ̄›
• ‹o› → ‹œ›
• ‹ō› → ‹œ̄›
• ‹u› → ‹y›
• ‹ū› → ‹ȳ›

NB: Umlaut can refer to several different types of vowel change in Germanic languages – i/j-umlaut, u/w-umlaut, and a-umlaut most common – but only one type is present in Gutish. Umlaut here is used to refer specifically to i/j-umlaut, also known as i-umlaut, or front umlaut.

NB for Linguists: The asymmetrical nature of the umlaut is the result of a later change to the long vowels. See Umlaut in the Rules at the end of this document.

Coronal Consonant Assimilation

This rule has a formidable name, but 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 coronal consonant becomes ‹s›. This accounts for the English word best, from earlier betst, from *batest. This applies mainly to second person preterit strong verbs, e.g. ǧutna ‘to pour’ has a past of gǭst ‘you poured’, rather than the expected **gǭtt.

Syncope of Unstressed Non-High Middle Vowel

...um, working on it. I'll get back to you on this one...

Blocking of Metathetical Unpacking

Another formidable name, but what this means is that historically a sound change caused ‹a› to disappear before a sonorant (‹l›, ‹r›, ‹m›, or ‹n›), turning them into syllabics, and merging them with other pre-existing syllabics from Gothic. 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, brōþar ‘brother’ became brōðra via an intermediate *brōðr̩. However, there are a few instances where this unpacking didn’t happen because the ‹a› before the sonorant could not be deleted; if it were, the word would have been unpronounceable. Metathesis is also blocked after any non-intervocalic voiced continuant; that is, V[v/ð]S shifts as expected (e.g. widan > wiðn̩ > wiðna), but VC[v/ð]S does not (e.g. haldan > halðan, not **halðna).

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

• Dative plural nouns whose roots end in ‹–m› have the ending of ‹–am› rather than ‹–ma›, e.g. worms ‘worm’ has the dative plural of wormam rather than **wormma.
• Masculine and feminine accusative plural strong nouns ending in ‹–n› have the ending of ‹–ans› rather than ‹–nas›, e.g. ǭns ‘oven’ has the accusative plural of ǭnans rather than **ǭnnas.
• Infinitives of strong verbs and weak class 3 verbs whose roots end with ‹lð›, ‹lv›, ‹rð›, or ‹rv› have ‹–an› instead of ‹–na›, e.g. Gothic þaurban becomes þorvan rather than the otherwise expected **þorvna.

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 Gutish 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 → (Mora Loss: Short Unstressed Vowel Deletion) → *werz, *drusz → (Final Obstruent Devoicing) → wers, druss → (r/s-Assimilation) → Gothic waír /wer/, drus.

Later, beginning around the time of Middle Gutish, 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› and ‹-s› do not take an (additional) ‹-s› in the nominative singular, though they otherwise follow the paradigm of their particular stem.

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

	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	is	itma	it	it, its, (to) it, it
3sg.fem	sī	ižas	iža	ī, īja	she, her, (to) her, her
1du	wit	unkar	unkis	unk	we two, our, (to) us, us
2du	jut	inkur	inkus	ink	you/ye two, your, (to) you, you
1pl	wīs	unsar	unsis	uns	we all, our, (to) us, us
2pl	jūs	ižur	ižus	ižus	you/ye all, your, (to) you, you
3pl.masc	īs	iža	im	ins	they, their, (to) them, them
3pl.neu	ī, īja	iža	im	ī, īja	they, their, (to) them, them
3pl.fem	ījas	iža	im	ījas	they, their, (to) them, them

Relative Pronouns

There are two types of relative pronouns in Gutish, and although they are used interchangeably, I present them here in two separate tables: The first (more common) forms are with the Gothic clitic particle ei- having separated from the pronouns (see Clitic Separation), and the second, more “traditional” forms where the clitic is still attached to the word.

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
sg.masc	is ī	þis ī	þatm’ī	þan ī		iži	þiži	þetmi	þeni
sg.neu	þat ī	þis ī	þatm’ī	þat ī		þī, þeti	þiži	þetmi	þī, þeti
sg.fem	sō ī, sw’ī	þižas ī	þiž’ī	þō ī, þw’ī		sī	þižaži	þiži	þī
pl.masc	īs ī, þǣ ī	þiž’ī	þǣm ī	þans ī		iži	þiži	þǣmi	þenǧi
pl.neu	þō ī, þw’ī	þiž’ī	þǣm ī	þō ī, þw’ī		þœ̄gi	þiži	þǣmi	þœ̄gi
pl.fem	þōs ī	þiž’ī	þǣm ī	þōs ī		þœ̄ži	þiži	þǣmi	þœ̄ži

Indefinite Pronouns

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
inter.masc	hwas	hwis	hwatma	hwan	who, whose, to whom, whom
inter.neu	hwā	hwis	hwatma	hwat	what, &c, plural.
inter.fem	hō	hwižas	hwiža	hō	who, &c, plural.
gen.	sist	is	itma	sist	one, one’s, &c
neg.	nima hun	nimis hun	nimin hun	nimna hun	noöne, noöne’s, &c
refl.	-	sīn	sis	sik	himself, herself, itself, &c

Numbers

Declinable Numerals

Singular

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

Dual

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.	twǣ	twǣǧa	twǣm	twans
neu.	twā	twǣǧa	twǣm	twā
fem.	tōs	twǣǧa	twǣm	tōs

Dual Distributive (short form)

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.	bǣ	bǣža	bǣm	bans
neu.	bā	bǣža	bǣm	bā
fem.	bījas	bǣža	bǣm	bījas

Dual Distributive (long form)

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.	bījaþs	bīðiža	bīðum	bīðans
neu.	bījaþ	bīðiža	bīðum	bījaþ
fem.	bīðas	bīðiža	bīðum	bīðas

Trial

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.	þrīs	þrīja	þrim	þrins
neu.	þrī	þrīja	þrim	þrī
fem.	þrīs	þrīja	þrim	þrins

Trial Distributive

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.	þrǣ	þrǣža	þrǣm	þrans
neu.	þrā	þrǣža	þrǣm	þrā
fem.	þrījas	þrǣža	þrǣm	þrījas

Undeclinable Numerals

	#	1#	#0	#00	#000	#000
0	(nǣns)	tǣjun, tēn	-tiǧis	tēhund	þūsunǧa	-ljǭn
1	(ǣns)	ǣnlif	tǣjun	ǣn hund	ǣna þūsunǧa	miljǭn
2	(twǣ)	twalif	twǣtiǧis	twā hunda	tōs þūsunǧis	biljǭn
3	(þrīs)	þrījatǣn	þrīstiǧis	þrī hunda	þrī þūsunǧis	þriljǭn
4	fiður, fiðra	fiðratǣn	fiðratiǧis	fiður hunda	fiður þūsunǧis	friljǭn
5	fim	fimtǣn	fimtiǧis	fim hunda	fim þūsunǧis	fimfiljǭn
6	sǣs	sǣstǣn	sǣstiǧis	sǣs hunda	sǣs þūsunǧis	sǣsiljǭn
7	sivun, sivna	sivnatǣn	sivnatiǧis	sivun hunda	sivun þūsunǧis	sivniljǭn
8	āta	ātatǣn	ātatiǧis	āta hunda	āta þūsunǧis	ātatiljǭn
9	njun	njuntǣn	njuntiǧis	njun hunda	njun þūsunǧis	njuniljǭn

The numbers in Gutish – 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 assimilation from the dual (‘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 Gutish.

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 required 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, the former being preferred elsewhere, though still optional.

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, **kwaðriljǭn, and **kwintiljǭn.

Another note concerning the higher numbers: Gutish follows the short scale for higher numbers (whereas most European countries 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	Gutish	Short	Hybrid	Long	Metric
10³	1,000	þūsunǧa	thousand	thousand	thousand	kilo
10⁶	1,000,000	miljǭn	million	million	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

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 used only the weak declension, but all ordinals now use both strong and weak declensions according to standard rules. As with the cardinal numbers, there are two acceptable forms for ‘fourth’, ‘seventh’, and ‘tenth,’ following the same lenition as the cardinals, though there is only one form of ‘eighth’. An alternate form of ‘third’, þrīǧas is sometimes used, but it is not always considered correct.

1	frumist, frums	first
2	anðras	second
3	þriǧas, þrīǧas	third
4	fiðraþs	fourth
5	fimft	fifth
6	sǣst	sixth
7	sivunǧ	seventh
8	ātuǧ	eighth
9	njunǧ	ninth
10	tǣjunǧ, tǣnǧ	tenth
11	ǣnlift	eleventh
12	twālift	twelfth
13	þrītǣnǧ	thirteenth
20	twǣtiǧist	twentieth
100	hundaþs	hundredth
1,000	þūsunǧiþs	thousandth
1,000,000	miljǭnǧ	millionth

Articles & Determiners

Gutish has two definite articles, sā and his, both of which are equivalent to ‘the,’ but may also be translated as ‘that’ and ‘this’, respectively. Where there is a lack of clear proximity-based dichotomy, sā is usually preferred.

There is no indefinite article in Gutish.

	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.sg	sā	þis	þatma	þan		his	his	hitma	hin
neu.sg	þat	þis	þatma	þat		hit	his	hitma	hit
fem.sg	sō	þižas	þiža	þō		hīja	hižas	hiža	hī, hīja
masc.pl	þǣ	þiža	þǣm	þans		hīs	hiža	him	hins
neu.pl	þō	þiža	þǣm	þō		hī, hīja	hiža	him	hī, hīja
fem.pl	þōs	þiža	þǣm	þōs		hījas	hiža	him	hījas

Nouns

A Note on Strong and Weak Nouns

In most Germanic languages, nouns (as well as verbs and adjectives) tend to be broken into categories con-sidered “strong” and “weak.” In nouns and adjectives, “weak” means that the words cling to their determiner endings inherited from Indo-European, which usually have an /n/ inserted between the root and the ending. For the purposes of this text, I will dispense with the traditional strong and weak categories as relates to the nouns and simply relate the various categories 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 Gutish language to add this additional arbitrary distinction.

Noun classes differ by stem vowel and by gender. They may also differ by glides (/j/ or /w/) suffixed to the stem and/or the presence of infixive /n/. The main classes are those stems in /a/ or /ō/, in /i/, in /u/, or in /n/ (as described above). There are also a few minor classes in consonantal stems (a.k.a. Ø-stem), in /r/ (a very small class having to do with familial relations), and in /nd/ (based on the nominalization of the present participle). These minor classes will be discussed here, but for the learner who is new to Germanic languages, these should be treated as irregular declensions and learned by rote. Many of these have also been regularized in Gutish through the process of paradigmatic levelling, and their declensions have been assimilated by analogy into other classes.

Every noun in Gutish (and most Germanic languages) 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 strong nouns usually take an ending of –s 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 also takes –a. The dative plural takes –am, but in many cases this ending undergoes a process of metathesis, rendering it –ma (exceptions are noted in the paradigms). Finally the accusative plural of masculine and feminine nouns is –ans, but again may metathesize to –nas; neuter plurals generally take –a.

Most of the actual declensions of nouns are fairly standard – much more standardized, in fact, than Gothic – however, the various phonological rules governing the language create a great deal of variation. It is im-portant to be familiar with the rules set forth in the Phonology section of this document in order to fully understand some of the otherwise unexpected variants that emerge.

In order to give more context to the evolution of these rules and the variations that emerge, the original Proto-Germanic and Gothic forms are also examined.

a- and ō-stem

By far the most common type of noun in all of the Germanic languages, a- and ō-stems become the basis of several sub-classes of nouns. Masculine and neuter nouns took a-stem (from Proto-Indo-European o-), while feminine nouns took ō (from PIE ā-).

Strong a-stem (masculine)

This is the most common type of noun class in Gutish as well as in most Germanic languages. As such, it is also the most varied in terms of declension.

Proto-Germanic Masculine a-stem Paradigm

Nom.Sg.	Gen.Sg.	Dat.Sg.	Acc.Sg.	Nom.Pl.	Gen.Pl.	Dat.Pl.	Acc.Pl.
slǣpaz	slǣpis	slǣpai	slǣpą	slǣpōz	slǣpǫ̂	slǣpamaz	slǣpanz

Gothic Masculine a-stem Paradigm

Nom.Sg.	Gen.Sg.	Dat.Sg.	Acc.Sg.	Nom.Pl.	Gen.Pl.	Dat.Pl.	Acc.Pl.
slēps	slēpis	slēpa	slēp	slēpōs	slēpē	slēpam	slēpans

Gutish Masculine a-stem Paradigm

The most basic class of Gutish nouns (noted in the lexicon as n.st.m.a - “noun, strong, masculine, a-stem”) also has the most variation depending on the last sounds of the syllable before the ending is added. [under construction... brb]

	Nom.Sg.	Gen.Sg.	Dat.Sg.	Acc.Sg.	Nom.Pl.	Gen.Pl.	Dat.Pl.	Acc.Pl.
n.st.m.a	slēps	slēpis	slēpa	slēp	slēpas	slēpa	slēpma	slēpnas	‘sleep’
	This is the default declension of the a-stem paradigm. Note the metathesis of the endings on the dative and accusative plural.
n.st.m.a.syl	akras	akris	akra	akra	akras	akra	akram	akrans	‘field’
	Syllabics...
n.st.m.a.Vba/fa	þlǣfs	þlǣvis	þlǣva	þlǣf	þlǣvas	þlǣva	þlǣvma	þlǣvnas	‘bread’
	v/f alternation after a vowel
n.st.m.a.Vda/þa	ǭþs	ǭðis	ǭða	ǭþ	ǭðas	ǭða	ǭðma	ǭðnas	‘fortune’
	ð/þ alternation after a vowel
n.st.m.a.Vza	gǣs_	gǣžis	gǣža	gǣs	gǣžas	gǣža	gǣžma	gǣžnas	‘spear’
	z/s alternation after a vowel
n.st.m.a.Cza	ams_	amžis	amža	ams	amžas	amža	amžam	amžans	‘shoulder’
	z/s alternation after a consonant - no metathesis in dat & acc pl.
n.st.m.a.Cba	hwerbs	hwervis	hwerva	hwerb	hwervas	hwerva	hwervam	hwervans	‘planet’
	b/v alternation after a consonant - no metathesis in dat & acc pl. b doesn't change to f b/c of approximant.
n.st.m.a.Cfa	wulfs	wulvis	wulva	wulf	wulvas	wulva	wulvam	wulvans	‘wolf’
	f/v alternation after a consonant - no metathesis in dat & acc pl.
n.st.m.a.Cda	barǧ	barðis	barða	bard	barðas	barða	barðam	barðans	‘beard’
	palatalization of d in the nominative. no metathesis in dat/acc pl. d doesn't change to þ in acc sg because of approx.
n.st.m.a.ga	daǧ	dagis	daga	dag	dagas	daga	dagma	dagnas	‘day’
	(description)
n.st.m.a.ra	wer_	weris	wera	wer	weras	wera	werma	wernas	‘man’
	(description)
n.st.m.a.sa	waps_	wapsis	wapsa	waps	wapsas	wapsa	wapsma	wapsnas	‘wasp’
	(description)
n.st.m.a.ska	fiš_	fišis	fiša	fiš	fišas	fiša	fišma	fišnas	‘fish’
	(description)
n.st.m.a.sta	ast_	astis	asta	ast	astas	asta	astma	astnas	‘branch’
	(description)
n.st.m.a.ma	worms	wormis	worma	worm	wormas	worma	wormam	wormnas	‘worm’
	(description)
n.st.m.a.na	ǭns	ǭnis	ǭna	ǭn	ǭnas	ǭna	ǭnma	ǭnans	‘oven’
	(description)
n.st.m.a.mba	lam_s	lambis	lamba	lam_	lambas	lamba	lambam	lambans	‘lamb’
	(description)
n.st.m.a.nda	frīnǧ	frīndis	frīnda	frīnd	frīndas	frīnda	frīndam	frīndans	‘friend’
	(description)