Valthungian: Difference between revisions

Valthungian is an [[wiki:East_Germanic_languages|East Germanic]] language descended from a language that was probably mutually intelligible with [[wiki:Gothic_language|Gothic]], though much of its corpus cannot have been inherited from the language of [[wiki:Ulfilas|Wulfila]]. It is likely, however, that the speakers of the ancestor of Valthungian did consider themselves Goths (or Gutai or Gutþiudōs), and that their language was mutually intelligible with other dialects of Gothic. The Valthungian relationship to “Classical Gothic” can be thought of as analogous to the relationship between Modern High German and [[wiki:Old_High_German|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 [[wiki:North_Germanic_languages|North]] and [[wiki:West_Germanic_languages|West Germanic languages]], it is also marked by distinctive changes in palatalisation, which, while similar to those of Old English, are most likely influenced by contact with Romance and Slavic languages. Modern Valthungian can be traced back to [[Middle Valthungian]] (spoken from around 1200‒1600ᴀᴅ) through [[Old Valthungian]] (800‒1200ᴀᴅ) and ultimately to [[Griutungi]], which would likely have been considered a dialect of Gothic (400‒800ᴀᴅ).

The name “Valthungian” comes from the name ''Valthungi'' – a Latin term likely derived from a pre-Old Valthungian name *''Walþungae'' – meaning “Forest-dweller,” likely a branch of, or related to, the [[w: Thervingi|Thervingians]] (''idem''), though the Valthungian people refer to themselves as '''''[[Contionary: grējutungišk#Valthungian|Grējutungišk]]''''', which is probably from an earlier ''[[w: Greuthungi|Griutuggs]]'' (the name of an Ostrogothic tribe living along the northern shore of the Black Sea), which underwent reanalysis over the generations and came to mean ‘the grey-tongued ones’. In turn, they call their language '''''[[Contionary: so#Valthungian|So]] [[Contionary: grējus#Valthungian|Grējuga]] [[Contionary: tunga#Valthungian|Tunga]]''''' ‘the Grey Tongue’.