Warning
Grammar
Usage
Sources and Symbols
Neologisms
Gender
Acknowledgements
Bibliography

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Warning
I made this amateurish dictionary some years ago with more enthusiasm than knowledge of the subject matter. Looking at it these days, I can see a lot of things wrong with it but haven't had the opportunity to give it the complete overhaul would need - please do not regard it as anything like authoritative. It contains a certain amount of gung-ho guesswork and supposition in assigning doubtful words to declensions and genders, and in labelling the different categories of reconstruction. Some reconstructions taken from old sources might be based on outdated theories. It includes a small number of completely arbitrary neologisms with no scholarly authority, albeit labelled as such with an exclamation mark. Although these are constructed in the form of supposed cognates of words attested in other early Germanic languages, there's no knowing that they were ever actually used in Gothic.

Other uncertainties (whether due to personal ignorance or the fragmentary nature of the evidence) are not always noted, uncertainties for example over gender or declension. Some definitions are based on those of other dictionaries and glossaries (variously English or German), some on the original texts or my naive understanding of them at the time. This is not a recipe for accuracy. Lots of detail in certain areas may give a false impression of comprehensiveness throughout. Some entries are bound to contain as yet undetected errors and misunderstandings.

The entries were compiled over some time during which I came to have access to more resources and to learn a little bit more about the language, which makes for uneven and unreliable coverage.

Still, I'm leaving it online for now because it might be of interest if you're stuck for ideas about a Gothic word for something, so long as you check words afterwards, e.g. in Streitberg's dictionary and the place where it they occur, or (in the case of reconstructions) best see for yourself how cognates are used in the related early Germanic languages, then add whatever Inverse Prophetical Insight you can summon. Check the Key for a list of symbols and abbreviations, including marks to distinguish various categories of reconstructed words. Comments? Queries? Mistakes to report? Passing thoughts? Gifts to betow? Wisdoms to impart? Then contact me. The dictionary is in six files (A-C, D-F, G-L, N-O, P-S, T-Z), each of which may take a moment to appear the first time you select them. There are somewhat over 6000 headwords.

Grammar
I tried to include the following information:

Verbs which take a genitive or dative direct object. Coverage is not guarenteed to be comprehensive.

The main forms of verbs like brukjan, with a contracted past tense, in the order: infinitive - first person preterite, past participle, thus: kaupatjan - kaupasta, kaupatiths; "to slap" - "I slapped", "[was] slapped".

The main forms of the preterite-present verbs, in the order: infinitive - first person singular present, first person plural present, first person preterite singular, thus: thaurban - tharf, thaurbum, thaurfta; "to need" - "I need", "we need", "I needed".

Class VII. strong verbs with e in the root are also given in the past if they belong to the minority with no ablaut change (slepan, ufblesan), and certain other anomalous verbs such as gaggan, in the order: infinitive - first person preterite, past participle, thus: gaggan - iddja, gaggans; "to go" - "I went", "gone".

If a noun (or adjective) ends in S, F/FS or TH/THS, I give the genitive singular (or genitive masculine singular, or occasionally some other oblique case) to indicate if the fricative is voiced in oblique forms, e.g. dius (gen. diuzis), riqis (gen. riqizis). Asterisks indicating hypothetical forms are only supplied if the word in not attested as an independent word in any form at all. For consonant stems like menoths, the genitive plural is given, since the genitive singular of this declension in the same as the nominative. Note: this information is not included if the adjective is really the past participle of a weak verb, e.g. ga-tarhiths, for which the genitive would be ga-tarhidis. Weak verb past participles with -ths all have more than one syllable, and can be identified by the endings: iths, oths & aiths, all of which are voiced to -d-. Also note: if the stem ends in l, r, m or n followed by a fricative, thus -lth, -rth, -nth, -lh, -mf, etc. (that is, if the fricative follows a continuant), the fricative will alway remains voiceless in oblique forms.

Masculine and adjectival i-stems are noted, since these are not obvious from their dictionary form. Anomalies like aiws are noted.

Any feminine noun ending in -s (directly preceeded by a consonant) can be regarded as a regular i-stem, with the following exceptions:
1) If it is labelled f. (feminine consonant stem), rather than sf. (strong feminine).
2) Abstract nouns from Class 1 weak verbs (e.g. laiseins) behave like i-stems except that the nominative plural is -os, and the genitive plural -o.
3) Anomalies (like: haims, dulths, nahts, waihts) are noted, with the neuter alternative ni waiht appearing under "nothing".

For a more reliable guide based strictly on the attested texts (with less speculation and only occasional referrence to cognate forms), see Wilhelm Streitberg: Gotisch-Greichisch-Deutsches Wörterbuch http://www.wulfila.be/lib/streitberg/1910/

Usage
Examples mostly consist of quotes from the Gothic Bible or the Skeireins. There are usually no references. Sometimes an attested phrase is put into the infinitive, or otherwise adapted or simplified. Occasionally a simple phrase is made up to illustrate a point. If in doubt, check the searchable online corpus at http://www.wulfila.be The Bible and Skeireins can be searched at the above address. Text and translations of the latter are also available at http://www.gotica.de/ (Due to lack of the appropriate symbols on the word processor I started out with, I have used hw and th, which correspond to hv and þ at the Wulfila Project. I've avoided ambiguity in the case of the former combination by dividing word elements with hyphens: thairh-wakan.)

Sources and Symbols
Abbreviations and symbols are based on those used in Wright's Grammar, except that the class number of weak verbs appears in Arabic numerals, to further distinguish them from the strong verbs, which are identified by Roman figures (Thanks to Mitchell & Robinson's "A Guide to Old English" for this idea). I have also added extra symbols to distinguish between different categories of reconstructed forms - see also Key.

In the main definition I have tended to split words with hyphens into their component elements, following the practise of Wright's Grammar (un-ga-laubeins "lack of faith"), but rarely in examples (hilp meinaizos ungalaubeinais "help [me in my] my lack of faith").

The words are derived in a number of ways. By far the biggest source for Gothic words is the surviving extracts of the Gothic Bible, reputedly translated in the fourth century AD by Bishop Wulfila. In addition, some much shorter texts survive: a few pages of a commentary on the Gospel of St John, known as The Skeireins ('interpretation, clarification'), two pages of a church calendar, some brief statements on 6th century legal documents, and a short list of sermon topics. Together these form the corpus of 'classical' Gothic, our most reliable source for vocabulary.

I have not given a cautionary *asterisk symbol to words which are recorded in Wulfila's bible, or any other Gothic text of the Wulfilan tradition (Skeireins, Calendar, etc.), even if their dictionary form (infinitive, nominative singular, etc.) happens not to have survived. Likewise, when genitive forms of attested words are quoted in brackets, there is usually no asterisk, even if the genitive itself does not happen to have been recorded.

There are many more words which are implied by biblical Gothic. For example one part of speech derived from another (e.g. *ga-riudan "blush", reconstructed on the basis of ga-riudei "modesty" and rauths 'red'), or simple words that are only recorded in compounds (e.g. *waddjus, from baurgs-waddjus, etc.). Such 'implied' words are marked with a star.

See Key for details of other symbols used to denote words contained in #personal names and words recorded in Latin and Greek texts contemporary with the Goths, ®runic inscriptions, •etymological reconstructions of loan words from Gothic into other languages (and here also reconstructions from Crimean Gothic), and %rune/letter names from the Vienna-Salzburg codex. All of these categories involve a degree of speculation, especially the etymological one. Often the form of the word and even grammatical declension can be deduced with reasonable certainty from comparison with cognates in other Germanic lanuages, but the exact meaning is more of a guess (cf. •lintheis "soft, mild, sweet-natured", adduced from Spanish Spanish lindo, and cognate with OE lithe, ON linr). I have included derivatives from such roots in the same category, thus •linthjan "assuage", but unattested compounds with no precident in the extant texts (whether of corpus words or reconstructions) count as !neologisms (e.g. !linthi-waurms "dragon").

All non-corpus words, including Crimean Gothic ones, are given in reconstructed Wulfilan form.

Neologisms
There are currently a small handful of outright !neologisms (23, including derivatives) - with no specific evidence that they ever existed in Gothic, though all have analogies either within the language, or among the other old Germanic tongues. All are clearly marked as such with the symbol "!"

!wala-kusjo, for instance, appears in Grimm's Teutonic Mythology - potentially a source of many more. !Gilws and !groneis are from Tolkein's well-known poem Bagme Bloma; as with !rauks, these words are formed by analogy with other Germanic languages. !Mairqr & !mairqeis have cognates in Germanic, Balti, Slavonic and further afield, as well as featuring in the name Mirkwood, mentioned in at least one Old Norse lay that shows evidence of Gothic traditions. The others are compounds of attested Gothic roots, coined to fill a gap. Future editions, if any, may eliminate this category, or expand it.

The examples chosen illustrate various ways of forming new words: 1) By etymological analogy with the other early Germanic languages (thus !groneis "green"), 2) New compounds from recorded words !kunthi-gairnei "curiosity", 3) extending the sense of an attested word (e.g. waurms, attested meaning "serpent" is also included under the entry for DRAGON - in such cases the attested meaning is specified, to make it clear that the word is not recorded in Gothic with this sense), and 4) loan words (!Daikaimbair "December", cf. the attested Naubaimber "November").

Gender
By convention, the default dictionary form of adjectives is the masculine singular. Agent nouns too usually appear in masculine form, although this might be more the result of the cultural mores of the New Testament era. Any weak masculine (n-stem) noun can be turned into a weak feminine, thus: kasja "male potter" > *kasjo "female potter", and vice-versa: haithno "heathen woman" > *haithna "heathen man". Masculine nd-stems like frijonds "friend" correspond to feminine jo-stems; in this instance frijondi does occur. There is also an example of a masculine a-stem paired with a feminine o-stem: daura-wards "male door-keeper", daura-warda "female door-keeper" (if Braune/Helm's emendation of so daurawardo is correct - cf. 112 a.3), and the feminine suffix -ini (jo-stem) attested in Saurini "Syrian woman", cognate with Modern German -in. By analogy with Old High German (cf. OHG lâhinârra), masculine nouns in -areis, might correspond to feminine jon-stems in *-arjo.

Acknowledgements
This dictionary was begun with the aim of making an English-Gothic equivalent to the glossary in Wright's "Grammar of the Gothic Language". It was later supplemented from Wilhelm Braune's "Gotische Grammatik", as revised by Karl Helm. During the early stages, I also used Eric Craven's online version of the glossary in Friedrich's "Lehrbuch der gotischen Sprache". In the course of all this, occasional words were collected from disparate sources, those listed below, together with extrapolations from Gothic personal names in countless history books.

Finally, I got access to two amazing online resources, which have meant I was able to vastly expand both the number of words, and the level of detail. These are: Gerhard's Koebler's "Gotisches Woerterbuch" and the Wulfila Project, a searchable internet version of the Gothic corpus, based on Wilhelm Streitberg's "Die Gotische Bibel". Thanks also to Andras Rajki, for his Gothic(-English) Dictionary, which has been very useful in later revisions; also to the good folk of the Yahoo groups "gothic-l" and "Theudiskon" for stimulating discussion which has often led to modifications and expansions of this dictionary.

Awiliudo allaim izwis! Salutes to the scholarship and generosity of all.

Paitrus
Tunastalls

2003 & 2004

Bibliography

Print

Biddulph, J (ed.): Xenododo (parts 1 & 6)
Braune, W & Helm, K: Gotische Grammatik
Campbell, A: Old English Grammar
Elcock, WD: The Romance Languages
Feyerabend, K: Langenscheidt's Pocket Greek Dictionary
Friedrich, J: Lehrbuch der gotischen Sprache
Gordon, CD: The Age of Attila
Grimm, J: Teutonic Mythology (trans. Stallybrass)
Heather, P: The Goths
Kilpatrick, GD (ed.): E KAINE DIATHEKE ("The New Testament" - British & Foreign Bible Society)
Koebler, G: Gotisches Woerterbuch
Looijenga, T: Runes Aound the North Sea and on the Continent AD150-700
Page, RI: Introduction to English Runes
Pollington, S: Wordcraft: Wordhoard & Wordlists: Concise New English to Old English Dictionary & Thesaurus
Preobrazhensky, AG: Etimologicheskiy Slovar' Russkago Yazyka
Priebsch, R & Collinson, WE: The German Language
Ross, ASC: Etymology
Skeat, WW: A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language
Streitberg, W: Gotisches Elementarbuch
Various: The Oxford English Dictionary
Wade, Terrence: Russian Etymological Dictionary
Wright, Joseph: Grammar of the Gothic Language

For English Bibles, I have consulted the Authorized Version, the Good News Bible, and the Holy Bible of the CTS.

Internet

See links, and especially:

The Wulfila Project: online corpus based on Streitberg: http://www.wulfila.be

The Titus Project (Click on "text database" in right window for large collection of ancient texts and corpora, including the Gothic Bible)
http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/indexe.htm

Koebler, G: Gotisches Woerterbuch: http://www.koeblergerhard.de/publikat.html

The Skeireins Project + Gotica Minora: http://www.gotica.de ; and at http://syllabus.gmxhome.de/gotica/ ; (also available at the following address) http://web.archive.org/http://www.gotica.de/

The Germanic Lexicon Project: including "Heyne's dictionary" (Gothic-German) + 'A Comparative Glossary of the Gothic Language' by GH Balg + Wright's 'Grammar of the Gothic Language' & Braune's 'Gotische Grammatik', etc.: http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~kurisuto/germanic/language_resources.html