Gothic

Facts

Language: Gothic
Alternate names:
Language code: got
Language family: Indo-European, Classical Indo-European, Germanic, East Germanic
Number of speakers: Extinct
Script: Gothic script

More information:

Introduction

Gothic is an extinct Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from Codex Argenteus, a 6th century copy of a 4th century Bible translation. Other languages belonging to the East Germanic group of languages -- Burgundian and Vandalic -- are known only from proper names that survived in historical accounts.

The Gothic Verb

Verbal inflexions in Gothic have

two grammatical voices: the active and the medial;
three numbers: singular, dual (except in the third person), and plural;
two tenses: present and preterite (derived from a former perfect);
three grammatical moods: indicative, subjunctive (from an old optative form) and imperative;
as well as three kinds of nominal forms: a present infinitive, a present participle, and a past passive.

Not all tenses and persons are represented in all moods and voices – some conjugations use auxiliary forms.

Verblist

to bite -- biːt-an
to burn -- brann-y-an
to come -- kʷim-an
to die -- ga=dauθ-n-an; swilt-an
to eat -- mat-y-an
to give -- gib-an
to kill -- us=kʷim-an
to know -- wit-an
to lie -- lig-an
to say -- kʷiθ-an
to see -- sɛxʷ-an
to sit -- sit-an
to sleep -- sleːp-an
to go -- ga=liːθ-an

Paralleltexts

Notes

References

Bennett, William H.. An introduction to the Gothic language. The Modern Language Association of America. New York, 1999.
Braune, Wilhelm. Gotische Grammatik. Max Niemeyer Verlag. Tübingen, 1961.