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1.
The question particle -u §
1 a) The enclitic particle -u indicates a yes-no question
in direct or indirect speech. In direct speech, it fulfils the role of word-order
in English, 'you are' > 'are you?', or the auxiliary 'do...?', 'does...?'.
In indirect speech, it is equivalent to English 'if' or 'whether'. b) -u is suffixed either to the first word of the clause: skuldu ist? 'is it permitted?' þatain wiljau witan fram izwis, uzu....þau uzu...'One thing I want to know from you: whether from..., or from...?', or if the first word is a verb with a prefix, the -u- comes right after the prefix: ga-u-laubjats? 'do the two of you believe?'; ga-u-hva-sehvi 'whether he saw anything'. The -u is not shown in the manuscripts, when it follows another u, thus: þu is sa qimanda 'are you the one who is coming?'. And note: þu ga-u-laubeis du sunau gudis = su pisteueis eis ton 'uion tou anqrôpou 'you, do you believe in the son of God?'. c) The practise of forming questions with an enclitic in this way is a native feature of Gothic, not reflected in the Greek of the New Testament. Usually Gothic preserves the word order of the Greek in such questions, differing only in the insertion of the enclitic. However in embedded clauses, Gothic shows verb fronting at least three times with yes-no questions in contrast to the Greek: hvas...niu
gasitands faurþis þankeiþ, siaiu mahteigs... jah
witaidedun imma hailidediu sabbato daga duþþe
gamelida ei ufkunnau kustu izwarana, sijaidu in allamma ufhausjandans
§ 2 Certain voiceless final fricatives in prepositions and prefixes are voiced when attached to -u, thus: us > uzu, and af > abu and uf > ubu . For example: andof Iesus: abu þus silbin þu þata qiþis þau anþarai þus qeþun bi mik? 'Jesus answered: Do you say this yourself, or have others said this to you concerning me?'
§ 3 a) Questions are also indicated with a variety of more specific interrogatives: hvas 'who', hva 'what', duhve 'why', etc., which typically occur at the start of the clause. In such questions, -u is not used in the main clause: duhve faurhtai sijuþ swa? 'Why are you afraid?', though it can have a role in negative questions, see §10. Note: hvaþar 'which [out of two]', but hvarjis 'which [out of more than two]'.
d) There is some evidence for a tendency in Gothic to bring the verb forwards in wh-questions in direct speech, so that it follows directly after the question word, at the beginning of the clause (see Fuss: http://www.uni-frankfurt.de/fb10/fuss/HistV2.pdf). It is not clear whether particles such as nu and auk could intervene between question word and verb, since such instances as do occur all match the word order of the Greek. Gothic also matches the Greek with negatives (wh- + ni + VERB), even where the order of other particles is rearranged: aþþan duhve ni galaubideduþ imma 'but why did you not believe in him?' = Gk. dia ti oun ouk episteusate autô? e) In embedded clauses introduced by relative hvas, hva, etc., in contrast with main clauses, the verb is usually not fronted. On at least three occasions, however, verb fronting does occur. As with the yes-no questions in 1.c. these are all subjunctive verbs (though a subjunctive verb is not always so fronted). Perhaps here the governing verb of the main clause counts as a 'bridge verb'.
§ 4 In other, independent, disjunctive questions (that is, those with no specific interrogative pronoun), the enclitic -u is required in both options, 1) A-u (A)..., þau B-u (B), for example, in a direct question: þu(u) is sa qimanda þau anþaranu wenjaima? 'Are you the one who is coming, or are we to expect another?'. Indirectly: ufkunnaiþ bi þo laisein framuh guda sijai, þau iku fram mis silbin rodja 'he will recognise from the teaching whether it is from God, or if I speak from myself'. And with the same construction: þau niu 'or not'. The -h in framuh is from the enclitic co-ordinating particle -uh - see §5.
§ 5 Occasionally, -u appears as -uh. This form may be used in one or both parts of a disjunctive question. Similarly, the co-ordinating particle -uh is often attached to the words introducing each part of a non-question disjunction: sumaih qeþun: sa ist Xristus. sumaih qeþun: ibai þau us Galeilaia Xristus qimiþ 'some said he's the Christ, but others said that the Messiah won't come from Galilee then, surely?' (See §8). Often it is attached only to the first word of the second half: sumai...sumaih 'some...[but] others'; anþar...anþaruh þan 'one...[but] the other'.
§
6 a) The particle jau is used once to introduce a negative
rhetorical question, expecting a negative answer: Sai, jau ainshun þize
reike galaubidedi imma aiþþau Fareisaie? 'Look, none of the rulers
or Pharisees have believed in him, have they?' (J 7,48 quoted in Sk 8,7).
sai, jau = Gk. mê, which is translated ibai
in the preceding verse. But see R 7,25, the last verse of the chapter, where there
doesn't appear to be any question, but rather a summing up: jau nu silba ik
skalkino gahugdai witoda gudis, iþ leika witoda frawauhtais 'So then,
I myself serve God's law with my mind, but with my body [I serve] the law of sin.'
= Gk. ara oun, which elsewhere is translated þannu nu (jai).
Apparently a simple mistake on the part of the translator (see Streitberg
http://www.wulfila.be/lib/streitberg/1910/HTML/B072.html
). b) jau appears sometimes in an indirect question too, with the meaning "if/whether." Witaidedunuh þan þai bokarjos jah Fareisaieis, jau in Sabbato leikinodedi, ei bigiteina til du wrohjan ina 'But the scribes and Pharisees watched to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so that they could find an opportunity to accuse him.' In 1Tm 5,10 (Codex B), jau is used to divide the items in a list of possibilities: jau...jau...jau 'if...and/or if...and/or if'. But Codex A has jah instead.
§ 7 Another question particle, an, is used at the start of the clause followed by nuh once (J 18,37, the whole translating Gk. oukoun), or else followed by another interrogative: hva, hvas (in all these other instances it translates Gk. kai). The particle an refers back to what has just been said: "then/well, [in that case]...?", "...then?", or "so, ...?" Examples: an nuh þiudans is þu? 'so, are you a king then? [because that seems to be what you're implying]'; an hva taujaima 'what are we to do then? [given the dire warnings you've just pronounced]'; an hvas mag ganisan 'well who IS to be saved then?' [if it's as hard to get into heaven as you say]'; an hvas ist, frauja, ei galaubjau du imma 'so, who is he, Lord? [this Father you have just spoken of. Tell me] so that I can believe in him!'
§ 8 a) Rhetorical questions mostly expecting the answer "NO, of course not!" are introduced with ibai, for example: ibai mag in wamba aftra galeiþan? 'surely he can't go back in the womb?' To contradict and say "actually yes", the particle raihtis is used: akei qiþa: ibai ni hausidedun? raihtis: und alla airþa galaiþ drunjus ize 'but I ask: they didn't hear, did they? Oh yes they did: the sound of their voices went out to all the world'. b)
Note the use of þau in J 7,41: sumaih qeþun: sa ist Xristus.
sumaih qeþun ibai þau us Galeilaia Xristus qimiþ? 'some
say: he is the Messiah. Others say: [but] the Messiah won't come from Galilee
though, will he?' c) Another way of asking a rhetorical question expecting the answer "no": waitei ik Iudaius im? 'Am I a Jew?' (said by Pilate), literally: "Maybe I am a Jew?"
§ 9 a) Negative questions expecting the answer "YES" are introduced with niu, a combination of ni + u, for example: niu jus mais wulþrizans sijuþ þaim 'are you not more important than them?' More emphatic/rhetorical is þau niu 'surely...?' (cf. Rom 7,1; 2Cor 13,5). b) Another way of asking a negative rhetorical question, expecting the answer "yes": nei auk þuhtedi þau... 'for would he not seem then...' c) A rhetorical question making use of the subjunctive: hvas siukiþ, jah ni siukau? hvas afmarzjada, jah ik ni tundnau 'when someone feels weak, do I not feel weak too? when someone is led astray, am I not distressed?'.
§ 10 a) Tentative questions, suppositions and wonderings may be expressed with the negative interrogative niu, together with the subjunctive: þagkjandam in hairtaim seinaim, niu sa wesi Xristus 'they wondering whether he might be the Christ'. Another example: izwara hvas raihtis wiljands kelikn timbrjan, niu frumist gasitands rahneiþ manwiþo habaiu du ustiuhan? 'which of you in fact wishing to build a tower, does not first sitting down calculate whether she/he has the means to complete it?' Alternatively they may be framed in a positive form with the subjunctive: iþ sweþauh sunus mans qimands bi-u-gitai galaubein ana airþai? 'but, will the son of man, when he comes, find faith on earth?' b) Requests may be prefaced with: bidja þuk 'I ask you' (cognate with NHG bitte 'please'), followed by the request in the subjunctive: armai mik! 'have pity on me'. Another polite tag: jabai wileis 'if you will', 'if it is your will'.
§
11 a) Affirmative answers: ja 'yes', jai 'yes indeed'.
Negative: ne 'no'. Negative leading questions with ibai...? are
contradicted by raihtis 'yes actually' (see §8).
Positive statements are contradicted further with ne, ak... 'no, rather/actually/instead...' b) Negation in a clause: ni 'not'. This typically precedes the verb or thing negated. It can intervene between preverb and verb: miþ-ni-qam siponjam seinaim 'he did not come with his disciples', diverging from Gk ou suneisêlqen (J 6,22), where the negative particle precedes the whole verb. But this is the only such example. More often preverbs are preceded by the negative. Was the interposition of the negative particle restricted to certain preverbs? More emphatic negation of a verb, corresponding to Gk. ouden, is expressed by ni waiht. Sometimes directly before a verb, the order is reversed waiht ni, and sometimes waiht comes after the verb, as does Gk. ouden. A double negative can occur with no cancelling out of meaning: nih wesi fram guda, ni mahtedi taujan ni waiht 'were he not from God, he would not have been able to do anything' (J 9,33), as in the Greek: ei mê ên outos para Qeou, ouk êdunato poiein ouden. But more often, ni...waiht suffices (for examples of each type translating the same phrase, ouk apokrinê ouden, see Mk 14,60 niu andhafjis waiht? 'do you not make any reply?' and Mk 15,4 niu andhafjis ni waiht). ni tends to directly precede the verb when the negation applies to the whole clause (with the exception that certain particles like þau can intervene, although, except of -u, the position of these matches the Greek). Sometimes a negated verb is brought forward to the start of the clause, thus diverging from the order of the Greek: ni qeþun mannhun waiht = oudeni ouden eipan 'they said nothing to anyone' (Mk 16,8), see Fuss: http://www.uni-frankfurt.de/fb10/fuss/HistV2.pdf. Another divergence is at Mk 1,44: saihv ei mannhun ni qiþais waiht = 'ora mêdeni mêden eipês 'see that you tell no one'. The combination ni skuld ist = ouk exestin 'it is not permitted' always appears in this order.
§
12 As in Old English and Old Norse, certain verbs of asking take
genitive for the words/question asked, or the item requested - hvis mik fraihnis
'what do you ask me?'; jabai hvis mik bidjaiþ 'if you ask me for
anything' - and acc. for the person asked.
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