Table Of ContentDigitized by the Internet Archive
in 2007 with funding from
IVIicrosoft Corporation
http://www.archive.org/details/comparativeglossOObalguoft
A
OF THE
GOTHIC LANGUAGE
WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE
TO
^Sl!Sfiand'GEKiS^/[fI.
BY
WITH A PREFACE
BY
PROF. FRANCIS MARCH, LLD,LH.D.
A.
I=I^IOE $-i.50.
Mayville, Wisconsin The Author.
:
NewYork, N. Y. B. Westermann & Co.
:
London, England: Truebner & Co.
Halle, Germany Max Niemeyer.
:
1887—1889.
"
Entered according to act of congress, in the year 1887, by
G. H. BALG,
IN THE OFFICE OF THE—LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS, AT WASHINGTON.
- ^X^-^I^—
(ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.l
ELECTROTYPED BY BENTON, WALDO & CO., MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.
PRINTED BY JACOB MUELLER, MAYVILLE, WISCONSIN.
OOnSTTElsTTS.
PAGE
PREFACE V
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS IX
SOURCES OF INFORMATION, ABBREVIATIONS, SIGNS....XIII
COMPARATIVE GLOSSARY
1
CORRECTIONS ANDADDITIONS 579
APPENDIX 581
INDEXES 599
I^I^Eir>^A.CE-
The study of Gothic is surrounded with interest. The Goths
themselvs emergingfor a brief spacefrom amongthe barbarians of
the fourth century, theirbishop Wulfila, orUlfilas, their Moses, the
first who raizd the speech of abarbarictribeto aliterarylanguage,
his translation ofthe Bible, their career of conquest, and their ex-
tinction in the darkness of tlie midl ages, ar all interesting. And
the story ofthe Codex Argenteus which has preservd a considerabl
poi'tion of the Bible of Wulfila, almost the sole relic of that lost
world, suits wel with the rest.
The remains of the language ar in several respects such as to
make them specially suitabl for study by beginners in comparativ
study of language, and especially by students wishingto obtain a
thuro knowledge ofthe English language. Gothic is a sistersi^eech
to English, it is the oldest of the Teutonic family. The GothicBible
is severalcenturies older than any record of the other sister speech-
es. The student of language entering on the study of fonolpgy
finds here an admirably simpl fonetic system, which leads the way
at onse to an understanding ofthose fonetic changes which appear
so complicated and inexplicabl in English and the other modern
Germanic languages.
With these wel masterd he is redy to grapl with the history and
origin of the inflection forms, and the affixes and suffixes. Here
again the Gothic offers the most important helps. These forms ar
mostly contractions, and the Gothic words exhibit them in a coni-
parativly uncontracted condition, so that theii- parts ar redily
seen, or at least they a,r easily identified with correspondnig forms
in Latin, Greek or Sanskrit. Thus we see that tense endnigs omf
our weak verbs in the past tense wer exactly like the word <1u1
VI PREFACE.
its erlyforms, and that other verbs had a reduplication like the
Greek! In all these respects Gothic is among the Teutonic tungs
what Sanskrit is among the Indo-European.
In thegeneral study of the language the manageabl bulk of the
remains is an advantagefor the beginnerin comparativ study,ther
is enuf to giv the grammatical forms, the copulativ verbs, the
parlicls ofrelation, and the most familiar nouns and verbs. But
only aboutthreethousand nativ words ar preservd, and the hole
literature makes one book of moderate size. The student can make
an exhaustivexamination of all the places in which a word orform
occurs within reasonabl time and the fewness of the words leads
;
him to concentratehis attention and makethuro work.
Such astudentis greatly helptin his thuro work by the kind of
matter, theBible. It is easily red and understood, and easily com-
pared with other languages. No other book is anything like as
thurolyprepared for comparativ study. The most accuratetrans-
lations ar madein many languages, the most complete grammars
and vocabularies, and concordances, by which3^ou can find any-
thing, can gatherexampls ofevery kind of grammatical construc-
tion, every etymological form, and pursue them from language to
language. For Gothic we hav also handbooks for comparativ
study, in which Gothic, Greek and Latini), and Gothic, Anglo-
Saxon, Wycliffe and Tyndale^) ar printed in parallel columns; fur-
thermore, a critically arranged text with critico-exegetical notes
and supplemented by the original Greek text^).
Prof. Skeat who standsforemost among university professors in
England in his perception of the needs of students of English and
his skil and promptness in supplyingthem, has prepared sum excel-
lent^text-books for Gothic, aglossaryin 1868, and in 1882 an edi-
tion ofthe Gospel of St. Mark in Gothic (39 pages), with a gram-
matical introduction and glossary, and notes—a veryconvenient
primer. This is about all that has been done in Enghsh to pro-
mote the study of Gothic among common students, tho Professor
Max Miiller, Professor Whitney and others hav emfasized its im-
portance. ''An Introduction, phonological, morphological, syn-
tactic, to theGothic ofUlfllas" a wel grounded and suggestiv book
for more advanced students, has been prepared by T. LeMarchant
Douse, London, 1886.
1) Ulfilas: byH. F. Massmann, Stuttgart, 1857.
^^ n rP''!nifvA°"^''"??''''-°' Wycliffe andTyndaleGospels, by tbe Rev. J. Bosworth,
8) \ulfilaOderdiegotischeBibel, byE. Bernhardt, Halle, 1876
PREFACE. VU
As long ago as 1865 I introduced specimens of Gothic into the
the Anglo-Saxon Reader, and carried thru a comparison ofthe hole
Anglo-Saxon grammar with the Gothic in my Comparative Gram-
mar of Anglo-Saxon. I was prepared, therefore, to rejoice greatly
in Dr. Balg's scholarly enthusiasm about the value of Gothic study
to students of English. «
—
Dr. Balg's plan includes a complete apparatus, an edition of
the Gothic remains with an introduction and notes, an etymolog-
ical glossary, and a grammar.
Histranslation of Braune's Gothic Grammar was first publisht
and is acapital beginning. The present glossary is the second of
the series. It is connected by reference figures with the Grammar,
so that the student can easily find the infiection of any word, or
other grammatical information about it. He may find the ex-
planation in this way of the varying vowels of the root syllabi
which ar often embarrassing, and of otherfoneticchanges.
This glossary is largely occupied with comparativ etymology,
but it should not be judgd as a scientific etymological dictionary
merely, but also as a practical handbook to illustrate and ground
the study of English by etymological study of its Gothic relations,
and to aid in making comparativ filology interesting. Hense the
large number of English derivativs fully explaind, the explanation
not being confined to the Gothic elements ofthe English words.
Hensethe particular attention to those changes in the form of
English words which bring out erlier forms morenearly likethe
corresponding words in other languages.
Hense the care with which the Anglo-Saxon or Old English words
ar givn, a careextendingto thegender as wel as the orthografy.
Hensethe care bestowd uponthe correcttranslation of all Gothic
words into English.
It is not simply didactic, but tries to stimulate research. Hense
references to Diefenbach's thesaurus, where one may find materials
heapttogetherfor original investigation,not thepositiv knowledge
of the neogrammarian.
One must not beartoo stubborn a hand over so ernest a worker
as Dr. Balg. The book may be expected to reach students for the
most part who hav not access to hosts of special glossaries,oreven
to the great lexicons of comparativ etymology.
Scholars wil be pleased to find the Efferen dialect used in the ety-
mology. It is the dialect of Dr. Balg's erly home. It furnishes
several novel and happy illustrations.
VIII PKEFACE.
This book has costthe author great labor, much of it doutless
plezant, working over, bringingtogether, and filling out the work
ofthe great scholars before him, but much of it hard work. The
verification and correction of countless citations ar drudgery at
best. Dr. Balg has met great external difficulties also. But he
has conquerd them, and givn us a book plezant to the eye and con-
venient for use.
It remains for him to giv us his edition of the Gothic texts, and
that is wel forward. Thanks to Dr. Balg, we shal soon be able to
study Gothic as thuroly and conveniently as Latin or Greek.
F. A. MARCH,
Lafayette College^ Easton, Pa., Dec. 9, 1889.
