Valthungian

Valthungian
Grējutungiška Rasta, Sō Grējuga Tunga
Pronunciation	[/ˈgrai̯.juˌtuŋ.giʃ.kɑ ˈrɑs.tɑ, sau̯ ˈgrai̯.ju.ɡɑ ˈtuŋ.gɑ/]
Created by	BenJamin P. Johnson, additionally creator of: Brooding Dlatci Grayis Maltcégj Northeadish Valthungian
Date	2010
Language family	Indo-European Germanic East Germanic Valthungian
Language codes
ISO 639-3	none

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 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 palatalization, which, while similar to those of Old English, are most likely influenced by contact with Romance and Slavic languages.

The name “Valthungian” comes from the name Walðungas meaning “Forest-dweller,” likely 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 Sō Grējuga Tunga ‘the Grey Tongue’.

Writing System

Alphabet & Pronunciation

Here I give the traditional Valthungian 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] berka ‘birch’	[ɡ] giva ‘gift’	[ʤ] ǧus ‘creature’	[d] daǧ ‘day’	[ð] ǣði ‘mother’	[e̞] erða ‘earth’
ž	h	þ	i	j	k	l	m
[ʒ] akuže ‘axe’	[h] haglas ‘hail’	[θ] þornus ‘thorn’	[i] igil ‘hedgehog’	[j] jēr ‘year’	[k,kʰ] kune ‘family’	[l] lagus ‘lake’	[m] matna ‘person’
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 ‘household’	[t,tʰ] tījus ‘Teu’	[ʧ] čukin ‘chicken’
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’	[ai̯] ēls ‘eel’	[iː] īs ‘ice’	[au̯] ōðlas ‘inheritance’	[uː] ūrus ‘aurochs’	[ø̞ː] auge ‘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 Valthungian 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 Valthungian is quite regular to its phonology; indeed, there are very few exceptions:

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].) 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.
3. The combination ‹rju› is realized as [rɛu̯] (rather than the expected [rju]). (E.g. frjusna [frɛu̯s.na] ‘to freeze’.)
4. The diphthong ‹eu› is realized as [ɛu̯] (rather than the expected [e̞u̯]). (E.g. sneugna [snɛu̯g.na] ‘to snow’.)
5. The diphthong ‹œu› is realized as [œy̑] (rather than the expected [ø̞u̯]).
6. For some speakers, word-final ‹þs› may be realized as [t̪s].
7. For some speakers, medial ‹tl› (usually derived from earlier /ll/) may be realized as [dɮ].

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’

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	Velar
Plosive	p · b [p~pʰ · b]	t · d [t̪~t̪ʰ · d̪]		č · ǧ [ʧ · ʤ]	k · g [k~kʰ · g]
Nasal	· m [m]	· n [n̪]			· n1 [ŋ]
Fricative	f · v [f · v]	ð · þ [ð · θ]	s · [s]	š · ž [ʃ · ʒ]	h · [h]
Approximant	· w [w]	· l [l̪]	· r [r~ɾ]	· j [j]

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 Valthungian. (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 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.

Palatalization

Palatalization 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 palatalization 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 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 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’ → þlǣn
• ǭ (Got. ‹áu›) → œ̄ - hausjan ‘to hear’ → hœ̄šin
• o (Got. ‹aú›) → œ - þaursjan ‘to thirst’ → þœršin
• ō → œu - hwōtjan ‘to threaten’ → hwœučin
• 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 Valthungian: 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 Valthungian, 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 Valthungian 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 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 → (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 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› 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 Valthungian. It remains, however, an unkind word.)

Affix Anaptyxix

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. Some of the most frequent are:

• af+f: Gothic affilhan → afafílþna ‘to hide away’
• fer+r: Gothic fairrinnan → ferarítnan ‘to attain’
• un+n: Gothic unnutans → unanútans ‘unused; useless’

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

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

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’)

	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		beǧiþs	beǧiðiža	beǧiðum	beǧiðnas
neu.	twā	twǣǧa	twǣm	twā		bā	bǣža	bǣm	bā		beǧiða	beǧiðiža	beǧiðum	beǧiða
fem.	twōs	twǣǧa	twǣm	twōs		beǧis	bǣža	bǣm	beǧis		beǧiðas	beǧiðiža	beǧiðum	beǧiðas

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		þreǧis	þrǣža	þrǣm	þreǧis

Undeclinable Numerals

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

For compounding numbers, 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 – believed to be a shortened form of jā – only before the last component. For numbers ending with –tiǧis, a further contraction has become standard, and it 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 apostrophe 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, **kwaðriljǭn, and **kwintiljǭn.

Another note concerning the higher numbers: Valthungian 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	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

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.

1	frumist (frumista), frums (fruma)	first
2	anðra (anðra)	second
3	þrīǧis (þrīǧa)	third
4	fiðraþs (fiðraða)	fourth
5	fimft (fimfta)	fifth
6	sǣst (sǣsta)	sixth
7	sivunþs (sivunþa)	seventh
8	ātuþs (ātuða)	eighth
9	njunþs (njunþa)	ninth
10	tǣjunþs (tǣjunþa), tǣnþs (tǣnþa)	tenth
11	ǣnlift (ǣnlifta)	eleventh
12	twālift (twālifta)	twelfth
13	þrītǣnþs (þrītǣnþa)	thirteenth
20	twǣtiǧist (twǣtiǧista)	twentieth
100	hundaþs (hundaða)	hundredth
1,000	þūsundiþs (þūsundiða)	thousandth
1,000,000	miljǭnþs (miljǭnþa)	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 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, 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

Valthungian 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 Valthungian.

	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 is also a very small class in /r/ having to do with familial relations. Some former noun classes in Gothic (such as consontant-stem and nd-stem nouns) have been regularized in Valthungian through paradigmatic levelling, and their declensions have been assimilated into other classes.

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 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. 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 Valthungian language to add this additional arbitrary distinction.

Verbs

Strong Verbs

Strong Verbs: Class I (ī – ǣ – i – i)

Class 1 Strong Verb: grǣpna ‘grī’
Infinitive		Standard	Inverse	Standard	Inverse
grǣpna		Present Indicative		Present Subjunctive
	1sg.	ik grǣpa	grǣpik	ik grǣpa	grǣpik
	2sg.	þū grǣpis	grǣpistu	þū grǣpas	grǣpastu
	3sg.m.	is grǣpiþ	grǣpiðis	is grǣpa	grǣpis
Present Participle	3sg.f.	sī grǣpiþ	grǣpisi	sī grǣpa	grǣpasi
grǣpnaþs	3sg.n.	it grǣpiþ	grǣpiðit	it grǣpa	grǣpit
	1du.	wit grǣpma	grǣpant	wit grǣpam	grǣpant
	1pl.	wīs grǣpma	grǣpmas	wīs grǣpam	grǣpams
	2du.	ǧut grǣpiþ	grǣpist	ǧut grǣpaþ	grǣpast
Past Participle	2pl.	jūs grǣpiþ	grǣpiþs	jūs grǣpaþ	grǣpaþs
{{{5}}}pnas	3pl.m.	īs grǣpnaþ	grǣpnaþs	īs grǣpan	grǣpans
	3pl.f.	ižas grǣpnaþ	grǣpnaþs	ižas grǣpan	grǣpans
	3pl.n.	iža grǣpnaþ	grǣpnaþs	iža grǣpan	grǣpans
		Past Indicative		Past Subjunctive
Imperative	1sg.	ik grip	gripik	ik {{{5}}}pia	{{{5}}}pik
grǣp	2sg.	þū grift	griftu	þū {{{5}}}pis	{{{5}}}pistu
grǣpaða	3sg.m.	is grip	gripis	is {{{4}}}pe	{{{4}}}pis
	3sg.f.	sī grip	gripsi	sī {{{4}}}pe	{{{4}}}pisi
	3sg.n.	it grip	gripit	it {{{4}}}pe	{{{4}}}pit
grǣpma	1du.	wit {{{4}}}pum	{{{4}}}punt	wit {{{5}}}pim	{{{5}}}pint
	1pl.	wīs {{{4}}}pum	{{{4}}}pums	wīs {{{5}}}pim	{{{5}}}pims
grǣpiþ	2du.	ǧut {{{4}}}puþ	{{{4}}}pust	ǧut {{{5}}}piþ	{{{5}}}pist
	2pl.	jūs {{{4}}}puþ	{{{4}}}puþs	jūs {{{5}}}piþ	{{{5}}}piþs
grǣpnaþa	3pl.m.	īs {{{4}}}pun	{{{4}}}puns	īs {{{5}}}pin	{{{5}}}pins
	3pl.f.	ižas {{{4}}}pun	{{{4}}}puns	ižas {{{5}}}pin	{{{5}}}pins
	3pl.n.	iža {{{4}}}pun	{{{4}}}puns	iža {{{5}}}pin	{{{5}}}pins

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 palatalization, 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

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/.

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).

Non-finite		Past Ind.	Past Sbj.	Pres. Ind.	Pres. Sbj.	Imperative
Infinitive:	ik	barg	bœrǧa†	berga	berga
bergna	þū	bart	bœrgis*	bergis	bergas	berg
Gerund:	is/sī/it	barg	borge	bergiþ	berga	bergaða
bergnaþs	wit/wīs	borgum	bœrgim*	bergma	bergam	bergma
Part.:	jut/jūs	borguþ	bœrgiþ*	bergiþ	bergaþ	bergiþ
borgnas	ī(ja)(s)	borgun	bœrgin*	bergnaþ	bergan	berganþa

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

Class 4 Strong Verb: kwimna
Infinitive		Indicative	Subjunctive
kwimna		Present
	1sg.	kwima	kwima
Present Participle	2sg.	kwimis	kwimas
kwimnaþs	3sg.	kwimiþ	kwima
	1pl.	kwimam	kwimam
Past Participle	2pl.	kwimiþ	kwimaþ
kūmnas	3pl.	kwimnaþ	kwiman
		Past
Imperative	1sg.	kwam	kwēmia
kwim	2sg.	kwamt	kwēmis
kwimaða	3sg.	kwam	kwēme
kwimam	1pl.	kwēmum	kwēmim
kwimiþ	2pl.	kwēmuþ	kwēmiþ
kwimnaþa	3pl.	kwēmun	kwēmin

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	boria
ber	2sg.	bart	boris
beraða	3sg.	bar	bore
berma	1pl.	borum	borim
beriþ	2pl.	boruþ	boriþ
bernaþa	3pl.	borun	borin

Strong Verbs: Class V (i – a – ē – i)

Non-finite		Past Ind.	Past Sbj.	Pres. Ind.	Pres. Sbj.	Imperative
Infinitive:	ik	kwaþ	kwēþia†	kwiða	kwiþia
kwiðna	þū	kwast	kwēðis*	kwiðis	kwiðas	kwiþ
Gerund:	is/sī/it	kwaþ	kwēðe	kwiðiþ	kwiða	kwiðaða
kwiðnaþs	wit/wīs	kwēðum	kwēðim*	kwiðma	kwiðam	kwiðma
Part.:	jut/jūs	kwēðuþ	kwēðiþ*	kwiðiþ	kwiðaþ	kwiðiþ
kwiðnas	ī(ja)(s)	kwēðun	kwēðin*	kwiðnaþ	kwiðan	kwiðanþa

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

Non-finite		Past Ind.	Past Sbj.	Pres. Ind.	Pres. Sbj.	Imperative
Infinitive:	ik	drōg	drœ̄ǧa†	draga	draga
dragna	þū	drōft	drœ̄gis*	dragis	dragas	drag
Gerund:	is/sī/it	drōg	drōge	dragiþ	draga	dragaða
dragnaþs	wit/wīs	drōgum	drœ̄gim*	dragma	dragam	dragma
Part.:	jut/jūs	drōguþ	drœ̄giþ*	dragiþ	dragaþ	dragiþ
dragnas	ī(ja)(s)	drōgun	drœ̄gin*	dragnaþ	dragan	draganþa

Strong Verbs: Class VII (reduplication)

Non-finite		Past Ind.	Past Sbj.	Pres. Ind.	Pres. Sbj.	Imperative
Infinitive:	ik	hehǣt	hehǣča†	hǣta	hǣta
hǣtna	þū	hehǣst	hehǣtis*	hǣtis	hǣtas	hǣt
Gerund:	is/sī/it	hehǣt	hehǣte	hǣtiþ	hǣta	hǣtaða
hǣtnaþs	wit/wīs	hehǣtum	hehǣtim*	hǣtma	hǣtam	hǣtma
Part.:	jut/jūs	hehǣtuþ	hehǣtiþ*	hǣtiþ	hǣtaþ	hǣtiþ
hǣtnas	ī(ja)(s)	hehǣtun	hehǣtin*	hǣtnaþ	hǣtan	hǣtanþa
Class VII strong verbs form the past by reduplication; that is, the first letter is repeated, followed by ‹e›, then followed by the remainder of the verb and the usual strong endings. Verbs beginning with ‹s› followed by a stop (i.e. ‹sp›, ‹st›, or ‹sk›), the first two letters are repeated. When the stressed vowel is short, it must also be marked with an acute diacritic.

Non-finite		Past Ind.	Past Sbj.	Pres. Ind.	Pres. Sbj.	Imperative
Infinitive:	ik	lelōt	lelœ̄ča†	lēta	lēta
lētna	þū	lelōst	lelœ̄tis*	lētis	lētas	lēt
Gerund:	is/sī/it	lelōt	lelōte	lētiþ	lēta	lētaða
lētnaþs	wit/wīs	lelōtum	lelœ̄tim*	lētma	lētam	lētma
Part.:	jut/jūs	lelōtuþ	lelœ̄tiþ*	lētiþ	lētaþ	lētiþ
lētnas	ī(ja)(s)	lelōtun	lelœ̄tin*	lētnaþ	lētan	lētanþa
Verbs with ‹ē› as the primary vowel may also show ablaut to ‹ō› in the past (and subsequently umlaut to ‹œ̄› in the past subjunctive).

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 realization 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. (The participle is an adjective, and must be declined to agree with the subject.)

• Sī ist lēkare worðna.
  • ‘She has become a doctor.’
• Is was hǣma gangnas.
  • ‘He had gone home.’

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

• Sī itmit gaf gā.
  • ‘She had given it to him.’
• Ik þik sǣja 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 þō hord lūkna.
  • ‘I will lock the door.’
• Ik nī gangiða nījo þō livran af hǣða hun ligna.
  • ‘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’ werðan ‘to become’

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

• Ik gatiða for þat work fergilðiþs.
  • ‘I was paid for the work.’
• Þǣ ankymbiðas langiðun þis borðaþjugis ganœuguða.
  • ‘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 slaguns.
  • ‘I was hit by the man.’
• Sā wagnas þagiða þiža mœuǧis fariþs.
  • ‘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 þižas fœ̄ðinis nutriškiþs.
  • ‘I was nourished by the food.’
• Þū langiðas (þiža intǣkninis) toðíža miðéndina tuguns.
  • ‘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 angǣsiþs.
  • ‘I was startled by the noise.’
• Þǣ lǭvas skagiðun þižas rynins afbórna.
  • ‘The leaves were carried by the stream.’