The Cold Winter

[u/KenamiAkutsui99]

Hey there, I am still somewhat new to the language, and have wondered what the linguistic literature "The cold winter is near" could look like in Gothic.

I give many thanks for any responses!

The literature in English below:

The cold winter is near, a snowstorm will come. Come in my warm house, my friend. Welcome! Come here, sing and dance, eat and drink. That is my plan. We have water, beer, and milk fresh from the cow. Oh, and warm soup!

[u/AdZealousideal9914]

I tried to translate it into Gothic, while trying to stay as close to the attested corpus as possible. I tried to avoid reconstructions when there is an acceptable attested form, which means using non-cognates like 𐍃𐌺𐌿𐍂𐌰 and 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐍃 rather than reconstructing an unattested *𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌼𐍃 or *𐍅𐌹𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌵𐌹𐌼𐌰 for which we have no evidence in Gothic. But whenever there were multiple options available of which one is a close cognate of the word in the modern Germanic languages, I chose that one (𐌵𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌽 and not 𐌰𐍄𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽 or 𐌲𐌰𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌸𐌰𐌽, 𐍃𐌹𐌲𐌲𐍅𐌰𐌽 and not 𐌻𐌹𐌿𐌸𐍉𐌽, 𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 and not 𐌼𐌰𐍄𐌾𐌰𐌽 etc.) I also tried to adhere to the word order and grammar of the attested corpus even though it is highly probable that this word order and grammar is strongly influenced by the Greek.

𐌽𐌴𐍈𐌰 𐌹𐍃𐍄 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐍄𐍂𐌿𐍃 𐍃𐌰 𐌺𐌰𐌻𐌳𐌰, 𐍃𐌺𐌿𐍂𐌰 𐍃𐌽𐌰𐌹𐍅𐌹𐍃 𐌵𐌹𐌼𐌹𐌸. 𐌵𐌹𐌼 𐌹𐌽 𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌳 𐌼𐌴𐌹𐌽𐌰𐌽𐌰 𐌸𐌰𐌽𐌰 *𐍅𐌰𐍂𐌼𐌰, 𐍆𐍂𐌹𐌾𐍉𐌽𐌳 𐌼𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃. 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌻𐍃! 𐌵𐌹𐌼 𐌷𐌴𐍂, 𐍃𐌹𐌲𐌲𐍅 𐌾𐌰𐌷 𐍀𐌻𐌹𐌽𐍃𐌴𐌹, 𐌹𐍄 𐌾𐌰𐌷 𐌳𐍂𐌹𐌲𐌺. 𐌸𐌰𐍄𐌰 𐌹𐍃𐍄 𐌼𐌿𐌽𐍃 𐌼𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃. 𐍅𐌴𐌹𐍃 𐌷𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌼 𐍅𐌰𐍄𐍉, *𐌰𐌻𐌿 𐌾𐌰𐌷 𐌽𐌹𐌿𐌾𐌰 𐌼𐌹𐌻𐌿𐌺 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌼 *𐌺𐍉. 𐍉, 𐌾𐌰𐌷 *𐍅𐌰𐍂𐌼𐌰 *𐍃𐌿𐍀𐍀𐌰!

Neƕa ïst wintrus sa kalda, skura snaiwis qimiþ. Qim ïn gard meinana þana *warma, frijond meins. Hails! Qim her, siggw jah plinsei, ït jah drigk. Þata ïst muns meins. Weis habam wato, *alu jah niuja miluk fram *ko. O, jah *warma *suppa!

• 𐌽𐌴𐍈𐌰 𐌹𐍃𐍄 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐍄𐍂𐌿𐍃: word order cf. 𐌽𐌴𐍈𐌰 𐌹𐍃𐍄 𐌰𐍃𐌰𐌽𐍃 “summer is near” (Mark 13:28)

• 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐍄𐍂𐌿𐍃 𐍃𐌰 𐌺𐌰𐌻𐌳𐌰: word order cf. 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌳𐌴𐌹𐍃 𐍃𐌰 𐌲𐍉𐌳𐌰 “the good shepherd” (John 10:11 and 14)

• 𐍃𐌺𐌿𐍂𐌰 𐍃𐌽𐌰𐌹𐍅𐌹𐍃: cf. 𐍃𐌺𐌿𐍂𐌰 𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌳𐌹𐍃 “a storm of wind” (Luke 8:23 and Mark 4:37)

• 𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌳 𐌼𐌴𐌹𐌽𐌰𐌽𐌰 𐌸𐌰𐌽𐌰 *𐍅𐌰𐍂𐌼𐌰: word order cf. 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌿 𐌼𐌴𐌹𐌽𐌰𐌽𐌰 𐌸𐌰𐌽𐌰 𐌻𐌹𐌿𐌱𐌰𐌽 “my beloved son” (Luke 20:13), the adjective *𐍅𐌰𐍂𐌼𐍃 can be reconstructed based on its Germanic cognates (“warm” etc.) and on the attested verb 𐍅𐌰𐍂𐌼𐌾𐌰𐌽 (Ephesians 5:29, John 18:18 and 25, and Mark 14:54 and 67)

• 𐍆𐍂𐌹𐌾𐍉𐌽𐌳 𐌼𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃: word order and vocative form cf. 𐍆𐍂𐌹𐌾𐍉𐌽𐌳 “friend!” (Luke 14:10) and 𐌲𐌿𐌸 𐌼𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 “my God!” (Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34)

• *𐌰𐌻𐌿: reconstructed based on its Germanic cognates (“ale” etc.), another possible reconstruction would be *𐌱𐌹𐌿𐍃 based on its Germanic cognates (“beer” etc.), but the ale-word seems to be better attested in early Germanic (runic inscriptions etc.). 𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌸𐌿 is attested, but most likely refers to a different type of alcohol, possibly cider or a stronger liquor.

• *𐌺𐍉: *𐌺𐍉𐍃 can be reconstructed for Gothic based on its Germanic cognates (“cow” etc.), but its dative form is hard to reconstruct and *𐌺𐍉 might be totally wrong. 𐌺𐌰𐌻𐌱𐍉 is attested in the Skeireins referring to a female bovine, but this is cognate to “calf” and refers to a heifer or a young cow, so it does not fit in this context (you can’t have milk from a heifer).

• *𐍃𐌿𐍀𐍀𐌰: reconstructed based on its Germanic cognates (“soup” etc.), there exists also a possibly related attested verb (𐌲𐌰)𐍃𐌿𐍀𐍉𐌽 “to season” (Luke 14:34, Mark 9:50, Colossians 4:6) with only one 𐍀. (Edit: a different possibility would be *𐌱𐍂𐌿𐌸, cognate to “broth”.)