Learn (Visi)Gothic with Me! :)

[Andrew man]

I'm currently trying to learn (Visi)Gothic for my own intrest. I'm fluent in English and speak quite abit of German and am looking for someone to learn (Visi)Gothic with or someone who already knows it to help me alil. If you are interested then post a reply or send me a message and we will talk and learn! And here is the site I am learning it from: http://members.terracom.net/~dorothe...hic/index.html Thank you all!

[celticastrian]

I thought Gothic was extinct ? Thats awesome i didnt know they revived it, the page is great, do you know any pages on german ? it might help me to learn gothic better.

[Athanareiks]

Hi Andrew man ! Hails !

I also am interested in learning Gothic. I am German and I know the book of David Salo. I think it is a good book, although it is not free of mistakes. E.g. it uses the demonstrativ pronomina as articles. Gothic language has not developped articles, its life was too short before it became extinct.

But if you want we can start with this book. The question is, should we not discuss first declinations and conjugations before we start ?


Gawairthi
Athanareiks

[Andrew man]

I am aware that it is extinct, but I feel that the language, when it was being used, DID develop enough that it can still be used, maybe even expanded and revived with influence from more modern Germanic languages, or maybe even other Germanic languages that have gone extinct.

Honestly Celt, the best free-site that I learned a decent amount of German on is german.about and I hope this helps you. It's kinda a crappy and uncomfortable lay-out but it does have some stuff you really need to learn if you want to learn standard German!

[Athanareiks]

It seems to be a good site in order to learn German. I think Gothic stands in the middle between German and English and a little bit closer to English for it did not take part in the second soundship.

You wrote: "Visigothic". Do you think Visigothic was a different language or a different dialect of the Gothic language? Do you think Gothic had had different dialects although we do not know at all how it had been pronounced ?

[Sigurd]

It seems to be a good site in order to learn German. I think Gothic stands in the middle between German and English and a little bit closer to English for it did not take part in the second soundship.

Neither, nor. Gothic does not stand in the middle between German and English, which are both West Germanic languages. Gothic on the other hand is the major documented language along the East Germanic spectrum.

It is interesting in comparison to other Germanic languages in that it lacks rhotacism, has a more definitely visible reduplicated preterite, and in certain matters of its verbal and proverbal inflection, amongst other characteristics.

It is interesting in terms of documentation, since it is the earliest documented Germanic language, by virtue of Bishop Wulfila's bible, dating back to the 4th century CE, allowing us to pinpoint certain trends in diachronic perspective that we'd be without clue otherwise were it only for the relatively late-documented other languages.

[Athanareiks]

You are basically right, Sigurd ! What I wanted to say is, that - to my mind - Gothic has more affinities to English (fewu, litils, weila, triu etc.) because of its history, than to German.

Of course, the Wulfila Bible fragments are the only source - despite of some minor linguistic monuments- of the Gothic language and therefore most valuable.

[Sigurd]

You are basically right, Sigurd ! What I wanted to say is, that - to my mind - Gothic has more affinities to English (fewu, litils, weila, triu etc.) because of its history, than to German.

It doesn't mean it has more affinities, it simply means that English did not partake certain consonant shifts which were exclusive to German; and for which we cannot trace how Gothic would have evolved since its documentation stops too early.

Litil(s) exists in German, albeit only in dialectal remains, and with the Second Phonetic Shift completed; and the /i/ working on the respective Umlaut: Alemannic dialects have lützil/lützel, South Bavarian dialects have letz(e)(r).

[Andrew man]

Neither, nor. Gothic does not stand in the middle between German and English, which are both West Germanic languages. Gothic on the other hand is the major documented language along the East Germanic spectrum.

It is interesting in comparison to other Germanic languages in that it lacks rhotacism, has a more definitely visible reduplicated preterite, and in certain matters of its verbal and proverbal inflection, amongst other characteristics.

It is interesting in terms of documentation, since it is the earliest documented Germanic language, by virtue of Bishop Wulfila's bible, dating back to the 4th century CE, allowing us to pinpoint certain trends in diachronic perspective that we'd be without clue otherwise were it only for the relatively late-documented other languages.

Do you have a link to where I can read more about and actually read that Bishop's bible?

[Sigurd]

Do you have a link to where I can read more about and actually read that Bishop's bible?

Sure, here you can find the text in Gothic, English and Greek line-by-line with interlinear translation.