Английская Википедия:Crimean Gothic
Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Use mdy dates Шаблон:Use American English Шаблон:Infobox language Crimean Gothic was a Germanic, probably East Germanic, language spoken by the Crimean Goths in some isolated locations in Crimea until the late 18th century. Crimea was inhabited by the Goths in Late Antiquity and the Gothic language is known to have been in written use there until at least the mid 9th century CE. However, the exact relation of Crimean Gothic and “Biblical Gothic” is disputed.
Only about a hundred words of the Crimean Gothic language have been preserved in a letter written by Flemish diplomat Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq in 1562 and later published in 1589. Various issues such as the fact that Busbecq’s source was not a native speaker of Crimean Gothic, that Busbecq recognized the language as Germanic and may have altered some words, and errors made by the printers mean that Busbecq’s letter is a flawed source of information. The letter shows various phonological features and words that are clearly of East Germanic origin while also lacking some features typical of Biblical Gothic.
History
Gothic peoples are attested living on Crimea beginning in the 3rd century CE.Шаблон:Sfn In 2015, five pieces of Gothic graffiti were identified from the basilica church at Mangup in Crimea; these were written in the Biblical Gothic language and Gothic alphabet and all come from after the mid 9th century, showing that at that time the Biblical Gothic language was still in use, alongside Greek, by the Goths in Crimea.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The graffiti possibly show some phonetic developments of Gothic on Crimea (Шаблон:Lang → Шаблон:Lang and Шаблон:Lang → Шаблон:Lang),Шаблон:Sfn but not necessarily.Шаблон:Sfn A 9th-century life of Saint Cyril also mention Goths living on Crimea who used their own language and alphabet in religious services and to read the Bible.Шаблон:Sfn
The existence of a Germanic language spoken on Crimea is next mentioned by Fleming William of Rubruck when he visited the area in the 13th century.Шаблон:Sfn The Greek historian George Pachymeres, also 13th century, wrote that the Crimean Goths were adopting the Tatar language.Шаблон:Sfn However, in the 16th century, Crimean Gothic appears to have still been a vibrant language, with vocabulary in various different fields.Шаблон:Sfn Additionally, our primary source of information for Crimean Gothic, the Flemish diplomat Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq (1562), seems to have wanted to learn about the language because he thought it would be useful.Шаблон:Sfn However, two sixteenth-century sources mention the Crimean Goths using Greek and Tatar when communicating with outsiders.Шаблон:Sfn This trilingualism may indicate that the language was in decline.Шаблон:Sfn A report by Prussian polymath Peter Simon Pallas from 1794 states that he was unable to find any remnants of the language in Crimea, probably meaning that the language had become extinct by then.Шаблон:Sfn
Corpus
The sole longer attestation of Crimean Gothic is the "Fourth Turkish Letter" written by Flemish diplomatic Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, dated 1562 and first published in 1589. This lists about 80 words and the lyrics of a song.Шаблон:Sfn This gives about 101 words.Шаблон:Sfn The nature of Busbecq's letter means that the data is problematic: firstly, Busbecq received his information mostly from a native speaker of Greek, meaning that the informant's knowledge of the language and its phonology was likely imperfect; secondly, Busbecq recognized some words as related to Flemish and German and may have written them in ways that reflected that; thirdly, the typesetters appear to have made errors with the Crimean Gothic words when the letter was printed.Шаблон:Sfn The only other evidence for Crimean Gothic takes the form of a few personal and place names and a single proposed loanword into Tatar.Шаблон:Sfn The nature of this evidence makes definitive statements about Crimean Gothic difficult, with some features simply unknown.Шаблон:Sfn
Busbecq recognized the kinship of Crimean Gothic to West Germanic languages, and several words are given in forms that could easily be Dutch or German.Шаблон:Sfn He did not recognize many words as Germanic even though they were, such as iel ('health', BGoth. Шаблон:Lang)) and Sch[n]os ('fiancee').Шаблон:Sfn A number of words only correspond to forms found in Biblical Gothic, some of which were unknown at the time that Busbecq was writing, such as menus 'meat' (Biblical Gothic Шаблон:Lang), ael 'stone' (Biblical Gothic Шаблон:Lang) and mycha 'sword' (Biblical Gothic Шаблон:Lang).Шаблон:Sfn However, there are differences between the Crimean Gothic and Biblical Gothic vocabulary, for instance rintsch 'mountain' instead of Biblical Gothic Шаблон:Lang and broe 'bread' instead of Biblical Gothic Шаблон:Lang.Шаблон:Sfn The numerals have been heavily influenced by other languages, with two Iranic loanwords, sada ('hundred') and hazer ('thousand'), and the forms for 11-19 likely showing Turkic influence.Шаблон:Sfn At least five other words are of non-Germanic origin, and some are of unclear etymology.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
Classification
Most scholars classify Crimean Gothic as an East Germanic language.Шаблон:Sfn This is due to the presence of phonological features characteristic of or unique to East Germanic (such as PGmc /jj/→/ddj/),Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn as well as the high proportion of words only attested in Biblical Gothic.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn However, the apparent lack of some characteristic phonetic mergers found in Biblical Gothic means that Crimean Gothic may not be a direct descendant of that language.Шаблон:Sfn
An alternative proposal, last argued by Ottar Grønvik, is that Crimean Gothic is a West Germanic language with a high proportion of East Germanic loanwords. Grønvik relied heavily on the distribution of short vowels in Crimean Gothic to make this conclusion;Шаблон:Sfn however, other scholars have argued that these features could have been influenced by Busbecq's own knowledge of his native Flemish and German.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Additionally, the sheer number of East Germanic loanwords appears unlikely.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
Apparently East Germanic features
- Lack of rhotacism of PGmc /*z/: CGoth ies ('he'), BGoth is, Old High German Шаблон:Lang; CGoth wintsch, BGoth winds, vs. Old Norse Шаблон:Lang;Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
- Retention of PGmc medial /*d/ in CGoth fyder 'four', as in BGoth Шаблон:Lang;Шаблон:Sfn
- "Sharpening" of PGmc /*jj/ and /*ww/ to /ddj/ and /ggw/ respectively: CGoth ada ('egg'), BGoth Шаблон:Lang, vs. Old High German Шаблон:Lang, all from PGmc *ajjaz;Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
- PGmc /*ē/ does not become /ā/: CGoth mīne ('moon'), BGoth Шаблон:Lang, Old High German Шаблон:Lang; CGoth schlipen, BGoth Шаблон:Lang vs. Old English Шаблон:Lang;Шаблон:Sfn
- The PGmc. cluster /*lþ/ is maintained rather than becoming /ld/ (West Germanic) or /ll/ (North Germanic): CGoth Goltz ('gold'), BGoth Шаблон:Lang.Шаблон:Sfn
Features in common with West Germanic
- Lack of Biblical Gothic collapse of PGmc /*e/ and /*i/ to /i/: CGoth Schuuester, BGoth Шаблон:Lang; CGoth Reghen, BGoth Шаблон:Lang;Шаблон:Sfn
- Umlaut of PGmc /*u/ to /o/ in CGoth goltz ('gold') BGoth Шаблон:Lang, Old English Шаблон:Lang.Шаблон:Sfn Biblical Gothic shows no trace of any umlaut whatsoever.Шаблон:Sfn
- PGmc /*u/ may not have become /o/ before /r, h, hw/ as in Biblical Gothic: CGoth Thurn ('door'), BGoth Шаблон:Lang, Old English Шаблон:Lang; but also CGoth kor[n] ('grain'), BGoth kaurn, Old Norse Шаблон:Lang, Old English Шаблон:Lang.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
These features may be influenced by Busbecq's own Flemish dialect, as the examples are all similar to Flemish words.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
Phonology
Consonant orthography
The interference of Busbecq's Greek informant and the orthography of Busbecq's letter makes precise statements about the consonant phonemes of Crimean Gothic difficult.Шаблон:Sfn
- <g> and <gh> may have sounded as in Dutch ([ɣ]).Шаблон:Sfn
- <h>: The words recorded by Busbecq only begin with an h when he recognizes a word as Germanic: CGoth Handa ('hand') vs. Ieltsch ('living, healthy') = Шаблон:Lang.Шаблон:Sfn This may indicate that there was no phoneme /h/ in Crimean Gothic.Шаблон:Sfn
- <sch> may indicate [s] at the end of a word (as in Flemish at the time), but may indicate [sx] or [ʃ] in other locations.Шаблон:Sfn
- <tz> appears to represent [θ],Шаблон:Sfn a form of writing the sound also used by Erasmus of Rotterdam.Шаблон:Sfn
- < u > or <uu> may represent [w] or [v].Шаблон:Sfn
Vowel orthography
- <ie> probably stands for [je] at the beginning of a word (Iel, Ies), but it is unclear if it is a diphthong inside a word or stands for [i:].Шаблон:Sfn
- the values of <oe> and < u > are disputed. They may have had the same values as in Busbecq's Flemish, namely [u:] and [y:] respectively, or they may stand for [o:] and [u:].Шаблон:Sfn
Other features
- Degemination: long consonants appear to be simplified to a single consonant: CGoth ada vs. BGoth Шаблон:Lang, CGoth Sune vs. BGoth Шаблон:Lang; however CGoth Brunna matches BGoth Шаблон:Lang;Шаблон:Sfn
- The etymologically inconsistent spelling of vowels in unaccented syllables probably indicates vowel reduction, likely to schwa: CGoth Boga, Old Norse Шаблон:Lang, Old High German Шаблон:Lang; CGoth Ano, BGoth Шаблон:Lang;Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
- the PGmc (and Biblical Gothic) long vowels ē and ō have been raised to i and u respectively: CGoth Mine ('moon'), BGoth Шаблон:Lang, CGoth Stul ('chair'), BGoth Шаблон:Lang.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Misspellings in Biblical Gothic give some evidence for this being a tendency in that language as well;Шаблон:Sfn
- Busbecq sometimes (but not usually) records words that begin with Germanic /d, b/ as /t, p/: CGoth plut 'blood' (BGoth Шаблон:Lang), CGoth Tag (BGoth Шаблон:Lang). He also writes devoiced forms of /d/ before -s(ch) and word-finally: CGoth rintsch (BGoth Шаблон:Lang), CGoth Vvingart 'vinyard' (BGoth Шаблон:Lang) and records final /g/ in /ng/ as /k/: CGoth Rinck 'ring' (BGoth Шаблон:Lang).Шаблон:Sfn
- Busbecq writes PGmc /*k/ as /ch/ after a vowel: CGoth Ich ('I') vs. BGoth Шаблон:Lang, CGoth Mycha ('sword') vs. BGoth Шаблон:Lang.Шаблон:Sfn
References
Works cited
- Шаблон:Cite book
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- Шаблон:Cite book
- Шаблон:Cite encyclopedia
- Шаблон:Cite encyclopedia
- Шаблон:Cite encyclopedia
- Шаблон:Cite book
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- Шаблон:Cite encyclopedia
- Шаблон:Cite journal
External links
- Busbecq's account, in Latin
- Gothic Online by Todd B. Krause and Jonathan Slocum, free online lessons at the Linguistics Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin, contains a lesson on Crimean Gothic
- Editions and Critical Studies, bibliography by Christian T. Petersen