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

Here I give the traditional Gutish letters followed by the Romanization I use for them in the second row. The Romanization is used throughout this article.

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

Non-Alphabetic Variants

ā	ē	ī	ō	ū	œ̄	ȳ
[ɑː] āde ‘egg’	[e̞i̯] ēls ‘eel’	[iː] īs ‘ice’	[o̞u̯] ōðlas ‘inheritance’	[uː] 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. (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’
  • Optional:
    • sō, þō + V- → sw’V-, þw’V-
      • sō akuže, sw’akuže ‘the axe’
      • þō ī, þw’ī ‘those which’

Alternative Writing Systems

Cursive

Coming soon...

Phonology

Vowels

	Short Vowels				Long Vowels				Diphthongs
	Front	Central	Back		Front	Central	Back		Front	Central	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-	ē · œu [e̞i̯ · œy̑]		eu · ō [ɛu̯ · o̞u̯]
Open			a [ɑ]				ā [ɑː]	Open-to-

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labio- dental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato- alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	p · b [p~pʰ · b]			t · d [t~tʰ · d]		k · g [k~kʰ · g]
Affricate					č · ǧ [ʧ · ʤ]
Nasal	· m [m]			· n [n]		· n1 [ŋ]
Fricative		f · v [f · v]	ð · þ [ð · θ]	s · [s]	š · ž [ʃ · ʒ]		h · [h]
Tap or Trill				· r [r~ɾ]
Approximant					· j [j]	· w [w]
Lateral approximant				· l [l]

¹Before ‹g› or ‹k›.

[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 ‘your’, from earlier igqar /inkwar/ has the genitive plural form inkuža from earlier igqaraizō /inkwarɛ̄zō/ rather than the otherwise expected **inkurža. Similarly, marzjan ‘to offend’ and baurza /bɔrza/ ‘perch, bass’ → mežin, boža.

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 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 or before an unvoiced consonant, 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), 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.

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’, gards ‘yard’ become daǧ, garǧ. 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 (Actually, all instances of ‹z› eventually became ‹ž›, but that’s not applicable to this section.)

Palatalization of the latter type often 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 palatalization (above), but instead of a true palatalization, 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 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.

• The accusative singular of 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 - satjan ‘to set’ → sečin
• ā → ǣ - hlahjan ‘to laugh’ → þlǣn
• ǭ (Got. ‹áu›) → œ̄ - hausjan ‘to hear’ → hœ̄šin
• o (Got. ‹aú›) → œ - þaursjan ‘to thirst’ → þœršin
• ō → œ̄ - hwōtjan ‘to threaten’ → hwœ̄čin
• 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 is present in Gutish: Umlaut here is used to refer specifically to i/j-umlaut, also known as i-umlaut, or front umlaut.

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’ 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.

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 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 Gutish, most notably collapsing the infinitive -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, 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. This metathesis (which, in reality, is not really metathesis, but that’s what I’m calling it for now) 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 a-stem 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 accusative plural strong a-stem 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.
• 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 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. (E.g. bērs → bēr ‘boar’, stiur → sčur ‘steer’. One notable example of this phenomenon is the Germanic tersaz (mentula) which became tairs in Gothic, 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 Gutish. It remains, however, an unkind word.)

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
3sg.ind	sist	is	itma	sist	they, their, (to) them, them
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
inter.fem	hwō	hwižas	hwiža	hwō	who, &c
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 (‘one, a, an’)

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

Dual (‘two, both’)

	Numeral					Distributive (short)					Distributive (long)
	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.	twǣ	twǣǧa	twǣm	twans		bǣ	bǣža	bǣm	bans		bījaþs	bīðiža	bīðum	bīðans
neu.	twā	twǣǧa	twǣm	twā		bā	bǣža	bǣm	bā		bījaþ	bīðiža	bīðum	bījaþ
fem.	twōs	twǣǧa	twǣm	twōs		bījas	bǣža	bǣm	bījas		bīðas	bīðiža	bīðum	bīðas

Trial (‘three, all three’)

	Numeral					Distributive
	Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.		Nom.	Gen.	Dat.	Acc.
masc.	þrīs	þrīja	þrim	þrins		þrǣ	þrǣža	þrǣm	þrans
neu.	þrī	þrīja	þrim	þrī		þrā	þrǣža	þrǣm	þrā
fem.	þrīs	þrīja	þrim	þrins		þrījas	þrǣža	þrǣm	þrījas

Undeclinable Numerals

	#	1#	#0	#00	#000	#000
0	(nǣns)	tǣjun, tǣn	-tiǧis	tēhund	þūsunde	-ljǭn
1	(ǣns)	ǣnlif	tǣjun	ǣn hund	ǣna þūsunde	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	þūsunde	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	ātuþs	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	þūsundiþs	thousandth
1,000,000	miljǭnǧ	millionth

Alternative Numbers

The Gothic number system, modeled after the Greek system, which used the letters of the alphabet instead of separate unique characters, continued to be used well into the middle ages (Middle Gutish), 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, a 'road' or 'highway' is sometimes referred to as a '413' (fiðrahunda þrījatǣn or fiðra-þrītǣn), written wig (the accusative singular 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·.

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

Noun classes differ by suffix vowel class 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 below: See A Note on Strong and Weak Nouns). There are also a few minor classes in consonant 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 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 most 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 metathesize to –nas; neuter accusative 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 (See Phonology). It is important 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.

A Note on Strong and Weak Nouns

In most Germanic languages, nouns, verbs, and adjectives tend to be broken into categories considered “strong” and “weak.” In nouns and adjectives, “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. For the purposes of this text, I will dispense with the traditional strong and weak categories as relates to 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.

a- and ō-stems

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 and ending of -a (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.

Nom.Sg.	Gen.Sg.	Dat.Sg.	Acc.Sg.	Nom.Pl.	Gen.Pl.	Dat.Pl.	Acc.Pl.
slǣpaz	slǣpis	slǣpai	slǣpą	slǣpōz	slǣpǫ̂	slǣpamaz	slǣpanz	‘sleep’
slēps	slēpis	slēpa	slēp	slēpōs	slēpē	slēpam	slēpans
slēps	slēpis	slēpa	slēp	slēpas	slēpa	slēpma	slēpnas
This is the default declension of the a-stem paradigm. Note the metathesis in the endings on the dative and accusative plural.

Strong a-stem (neuter)

The strong neuter a-stems are just like the masculine, except that the neuter does not take an ‹-s› on the nominative singular (i.e. the nominative is the same as the accusative), and the nominative and accusative plurals are identical to the dative singular. In other words, any of the irregularities discussed above that have to do with these categories will no longer apply for neuter a-stem nouns.

Nom.Sg.	Gen.Sg.	Dat.Sg.	Acc.Sg.	Nom.Pl.	Gen.Pl.	Dat.Pl.	Acc.Pl.
barną	barnis	barnai	barną	barnō	barnǫ̂	barnamaz	barnō	‘child’
barn	barnis	barna	barn	barna	barnē	barnam	barna
barn	barnis	barna	barn	barna	barna	barnma	barnnas
This is the default declension of the a-stem paradigm. Note the metathesis in the endings on the dative and accusative plural.

Strong ō-stem (feminine)

The simplest noun class by far is the strong feminine ō-stem. There is only one paradigm with no variations.

Nom.Sg.	Gen.Sg.	Dat.Sg.	Acc.Sg.	Nom.Pl.	Gen.Pl.	Dat.Pl.	Acc.Pl.
erþō	erþōz	erþōi	erþǭ	erþôz	erþǫ̂	erþōmaz	erþôz	‘earth’
aírþa	aírþais	aírþai	aírþa	aírþōs	aírþō	aírþōm	aírþōs
erða	erðis	erða	erða	erðas	erða	erðam	erðas
This is the default declension of the ō-stem paradigm. Note the assimilation of the genitive singular (from the expected “-as”).

ja- and jō-stems

While traditionally listed as sub-classes of a- and ō-stems, the j-stem nouns differ from these in two important ways: Umlaut and Palatalization. In the examples below, an asterisk (*) by a form indicates that Umlaut applies to that form. A dagger (†) indicates that palatalization and umlaut both apply. (Umlaut can be triggered without palatalization, but wherever palatalization occurs, umlaut does as well.)

Umlaut: If the stressed vowel of the stem is a back vowel (a, ā, o, ǭ, ō, u, or ū), there is umlaut in this form. (Note: Umlaut does not occur if any unstressed syllables intercede between the stressed vowel and the ending; for example, þūsunde ‘thousand’ is a feminine ijō-stem noun, but there is no umlaut in the dative or genitive (þūsunǧis, þūsunǧa) because of the unstressed /a/ between the /ū/ and the ending.)

Palatalization: If the stem ends in d, g, t, k, s, or v there is palatalization in this form. (In this case, b/v alternation will be considered a type of palatalization, because it occurs in the same environment.)

Strong ja-stem (masculine)

Nom.Sg.	Gen.Sg.	Dat.Sg.	Acc.Sg.	Nom.Pl.	Gen.Pl.	Dat.Pl.	Acc.Pl.
harjaz	harjis	harjai	harją	harjōz	harjǫ̂	harjamaz	harjanz	‘army’
harjis	harjis	harja	hari	harjōs	harjē	harjam	harjans
heris†	heris†	heria†	hare	heris†	heria†	herim†	herins†
Note that the accusative singular is the only form which does not have umlaut or palatalization.

Strong ja-stem (neuter)

Nom.Sg.	Gen.Sg.	Dat.Sg.	Acc.Sg.	Nom.Pl.	Gen.Pl.	Dat.Pl.	Acc.Pl.
fergunją	fergunjis	fergunjai	fergunją	fergunjō	fergunjǫ̂	fergunjamaz	fergunjō	‘mountain’
faírguni	faírgunjis	faírgunja	faírguni	faírgunja	faírgunjē	faírgunjam	faírgunja
fergúne	fergýnis†	fergýnia†	fergúne	fergýnia†	fergýnia†	fergýnim†	fergýnia†
Like the masculine form, but the nominative singular is the same as the accusative, and the nominative and accusative plural are the same as the dative singular (just as with the a-stems).

Strong jō-stem (feminine)

Nom.Sg.	Gen.Sg.	Dat.Sg.	Acc.Sg.	Nom.Pl.	Gen.Pl.	Dat.Pl.	Acc.Pl.
banjō	banjōz	banjōi	banjǭ	banjôz	banjǫ̂	banjōmaz	banjôz	‘wound’
banja	banjōs	banjai	banja	banjōs	banjō	banjōm	banjōs
benia†	benis†	benia†	benia†	benis†	benia†	benim†	benis†
Because all feminine jō-stem nouns are subject to umlaut and palatalization, there is no perceived change in form, so these have ostensibly become regular.

ija- and ijō-stems

These nouns are very similar to the previous category, but in Proto-Germanic an extra syllable was added after a “long stem” – a phenomenon known as Siever’s Law – which caused the discrepancy seen in Gothic between nouns with -jis and those with -eis. In Gutish, the main remnant of these long stem nouns is that umlaut applies, but not palatalization.

Strong ija-stem (masculine)

Nom.Sg.	Gen.Sg.	Dat.Sg.	Acc.Sg.	Nom.Pl.	Gen.Pl.	Dat.Pl.	Acc.Pl.
blōstrijaz	blōstrijis	blōstrijai	blōstriją	blōstrijōz	blōstrijǫ̂	blōstrijamaz	blōstrijanz	‘worshipper’
blōstrjis	blōstrjis	blōstrja	blōstri	blōstrjōs	blōstrjē	blōstrjam	blōstrjans
blœ̄stris*	blœ̄stris*	blœ̄stria†	blōstre	blœ̄stris†	blœ̄stria†	blœ̄strim†	blœ̄strins†

Strong ija-stem (neuter)

Nom.Sg.	Gen.Sg.	Dat.Sg.	Acc.Sg.	Nom.Pl.	Gen.Pl.	Dat.Pl.	Acc.Pl.
anþiją	anþīs	anþijai	anþiją	anþijō	anþijǫ̂	anþijamaz	anþijō	‘forehead’
anþi	anþjis	anþja	anþi	anþja	anþjē	anþjam	anþja
anþe	enþis*	enþia†	anþe	enþia†	enþia†	enþim†	enþia†
Note: In Gothic, neuter ija-stems were assimilated into the neuter ja-stems, so -jis appears in the genitive instead of the expected -eis. This assimilation did not take place for the ancestor of Gutish.

Strong ijō-stem (feminine)

(This is also sometimes referred to as ī-stem or ī/jō-stem because of the form of the nominative singular.)

Nom.Sg.	Gen.Sg.	Dat.Sg.	Acc.Sg.	Nom.Pl.	Gen.Pl.	Dat.Pl.	Acc.Pl.
aurī	aurijōz	aurijōi	aurijǭ	aurijôz	aurijǫ̂	aurijōmaz	aurijôz	‘riverbank’
auri	aurjōs	aurjai	aurja	aurjōs	aurjō	aurjōm	aurjōs
ǭre	œ̄ris†	œ̄ria†	œ̄ria†	œ̄ris†	œ̄ria†	œ̄rim†	œ̄ris†

wa- and wō-stems

Nouns in these classes are fairly rare, but a large number of them are also fairly irregular; namely those nouns whose roots end with a vowel or h-, which causes some rather unexpected things to happen to the w. (These will be treated separately.)

Strong wa-stem (masculine)

Nom.Sg.	Gen.Sg.	Dat.Sg.	Acc.Sg.	Nom.Pl.	Gen.Pl.	Dat.Pl.	Acc.Pl.
sparwaz	sparwis	sparwai	sparwą	sparwōz	sparwǫ̂	sparwamaz	sparwanz	‘shadow’
sparws	sparwis	sparwa	sparw	sparwōs	sparwē	sparwam	sparwans
sparus	sparis	sparua	sparo	sparus	sparua	sparum	sparuns

Strong wa-stem (neuter)

Nom.Sg.	Gen.Sg.	Dat.Sg.	Acc.Sg.	Nom.Pl.	Gen.Pl.	Dat.Pl.	Acc.Pl.
melwą	melwis	melwai	melwą	melwō	melwǫ̂	melwamaz	melwō	‘flour, meal’
milu	milwis	milwa	milu	milwa	milwē	milwam	milwa
milo	milus	milua	milo	milua	milua	milum	milua

Strong wō-stem (feminine)

Nom.Sg.	Gen.Sg.	Dat.Sg.	Acc.Sg.	Nom.Pl.	Gen.Pl.	Dat.Pl.	Acc.Pl.
wulwō	wulwōz	wulwōi	wulwǭ	wulwôz	wulwǫ̂	wulwōmaz	wulwôz	‘robbery’
wulwa	wulwōs	wulwai	wulwa	wulwōs	wulwō	wulwōm	wulwōs
wulua	wulus	wulua	wulua	wulus	wulua	wulum	wulus

wja- and wjō-stems

Um... stay tuned. These are a little bit too "varsity-level" for what I want to include on this page right now.

i-stems

Strong i-stem (masculine & feminine)

The feminine i-stem paradigm is identical to that of the masculine.

Strong i-stem (neuter)

There were no neuter i-stems in Gothic - these were all assimilated into other classes - however some did exist in the ancestor of Gutish.

Consonant-stems

Proto-Germanic and Gothic consonant-stems don't really belong here under i-stem nouns, but these were all assimilated into the i-stem class in Gutish.

u-stems

Strong u-stem (masculine & feminine)

The feminine u-stem paradigm is identical to that of the masculine.

r-stems

This is a small class of masculine and feminine nouns that make up some of the oldest words in the Proto-Indo-European lexicon. There are six extant examples of this category in Gutish (only four were attested in Gothic), all consisting of immediate family members. Rather than expound on a formula to remember them, here: Just memorize them all!

fader – brōþēr – mōdēr – duhtēr – swistēr – þeuhtēr

fadar – brōþar – [mōdar] – dauhtar – swistar – [þiuhtar]

faðra – brōðra – mōðra – dǭtra – swistra – þjūtra

‘father’ – ‘brother’ – ‘mother’ – ‘daughter’ – ‘sister’ – ‘grandson’

ijan- and ijōn-stems

While these are technically a class, their declension is identical to that of the jan- and jōn-stems.

īn-stems

This is a highly productive class of exclusively feminine nouns.

Verbs

I haven't got quite as far as describing the verbs on this page yet, but everyone likes a good conjugation of their favorite irregular verbs, right? So here you go:

wisna ‘to be’

		Preterit		Present		Imperative
Infinitive:		Indicative	Subjunctive	Indicative	Subjunctive
wisna	ik	was	wēša	im	sīja
Present Participle:	þū	wast	wēsis	is	sījas	sī, ī
wisnaǧ	sist	was	wēse	ist	sīja	imda
Past Participle:	wīs	wēsum	wēsim	sīm, sījum	sījam	sīm
wisnas	jūs	wēsuþ	wēsiþ	sīþ, sījuþ	sījaþ	sīþ
	īs	wēsun	wēsin	sinþ	sījan	sinda

gēn, gangna ‘to be’

		Preterit		Present		Imperative
Infinitive:		Indicative	Subjunctive	Indicative	Subjunctive
gēn, gangna	ik	īǧa	īǧa	gēm, ganga	ganga
Present Participle:	þū	īǧis	īǧis	gēs, gangis	gangas	gē, gang
gangnaǧ	sist	īǧa	īǧa	gēþ, gangiþ	ganga	gangaða
Past Participle:	wīs	īǧim	īǧim	gēm, gangma	gangam	gēm, gangma
gēns	jūs	īǧiþ	īǧiþ	gēþ, gangiþ	gangaþ	gēþ, gangiþ
	īs	īǧin	īǧin	gēnþ, gangnaþ	gangan	gangnaða

dōn ‘to do’

		Preterit		Present		Imperative
Infinitive:		Indicative	Subjunctive	Indicative	Subjunctive
dōn	ik	dedéða	dedēða	dōm	dōwa
Present Participle:	þū	dedéðis	dedēðis	dōs	dōwas	dō
dōnǧ	sist	dedéða	dedēðe	dōþ	dōwa	dōða
Past Participle:	wīs	dedēðum	dedēðim	dōm	dōwam	dōm
dēns	jūs	dedēðuþ	dedēðiþ	dōþ	dōwaþ	dōþ
	īs	dedēðun	dedēðin	dōnþ	dōwan	dōnaða

stēn, standna ‘to stand, to stay’

		Preterit		Present		Imperative
Infinitive:		Indicative	Subjunctive	Indicative	Subjunctive
stēn, standna	ik	stōþ	stœ̄þia	stēm, standa	standa
Present Participle:	þū	stōst	stœ̄ðis	stēs, standis	standas	stē, stand
standnaǧ	sist	stōþ	stœ̄ðe	stēþ, standiþ	standa	standaða
Past Participle:	wīs	stōðum	stœ̄ðim	stēm, standma	standam	stēm, standma
standnas	jūs	stōðuþ	stœ̄ðiþ	stēþ, standiþ	standaþ	stēþ, standiþ
	īs	stōðun	stœ̄ðin	stēnþ, standnaþ	standan	standnaða

wilin ‘to want’

		Preterit		Present		Imperative
Infinitive:		Indicative	Subjunctive	Indicative	Subjunctive
wilin	ik	wilða	wilǧa	wilia	wilia
Present Participle:	þū	wilðas	wilðis	wilis	wilis	wili
wilinǧ	sist	wilða	wilðe	wilia	wilia	wiliða
Past Participle:	wīs	wilðum	wilðim	wilim	wilim	wilim
wiliþs	jūs	wilðuþ	wilðiþ	wiliþ	wiliþ	wiliþ
	īs	wilðun	wilðin	wilin	wilin	wilinaða