Gothic language and alphabet (original) (raw)

Gothic is an extinct East Germanic language that was spoken in parts of the Crimea until the 17th century. It was originally written with a runic alphabet about which little is known. One theory of the origins of Runes is that they were invented by the Goths, but this is impossible to prove as very few inscriptions of writing in Gothic runes survive.

The Gothic alphabet was invented around middle the 4th century AD by Bishop Wulfila (311-383 AD), the religious leader of the Visigoths, to provide his people with a written language and a means of reading his translation of the Bible. It is based on the Greek alphabet, with some extra letters from the Latin and Runic alphabets.

The Goths were divided into two main tribes: the Ostrogothi or Greutungi (dune-dwellers) and the Visigothi or_Tervingi_ (steppe-dwellers). Related tribes included the Burgundians and the Vandals.

Gothic alphabet

Gothic alphabet

There are no separate numerals, but each letter has a numeric value.

Downloads

Download a Gothic alphabet chart in Excel, Word or PDF format

Sample text in Gothic (The Lord's Prayer)

๐Œฐ๐„๐„๐Œฐ ๐Œฟ๐Œฝ๐ƒ๐Œฐ๐‚ ๐Œธ๐Œฟ ๐Œน๐Œฝ ๐Œท๐Œน๐Œผ๐Œน๐Œฝ๐Œฐ๐Œผ, ๐…๐Œด๐Œน๐Œท๐Œฝ๐Œฐ๐Œน ๐Œฝ๐Œฐ๐Œผ๐‰ ๐Œธ๐Œด๐Œน๐Œฝ ๐Œต๐Œน๐Œผ๐Œฐ๐Œน ๐Œธ๐Œน๐Œฟ๐Œณ๐Œน๐Œฝ๐Œฐ๐ƒ๐ƒ๐Œฟ๐ƒ ๐Œธ๐Œด๐Œน๐Œฝ๐ƒ ๐…๐Œฐ๐Œน๐‚๐Œธ๐Œฐ๐Œน ๐…๐Œน๐Œป๐Œพ๐Œฐ ๐Œธ๐Œด๐Œน๐Œฝ๐ƒ ๐ƒ๐…๐Œด ๐Œน๐Œฝ ๐Œท๐Œน๐Œผ๐Œน๐Œฝ๐Œฐ ๐Œพ๐Œฐ๐Œท ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ๐Œฐ ๐Œฐ๐Œน๐‚๐Œธ๐Œฐ๐Œน ๐Œท๐Œป๐Œฐ๐Œน๐† ๐Œฟ๐Œฝ๐ƒ๐Œฐ๐‚๐Œฐ๐Œฝ๐Œฐ ๐Œธ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ๐Œฐ ๐ƒ๐Œน๐Œฝ๐„๐Œด๐Œน๐Œฝ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ ๐Œฒ๐Œน๐† ๐Œฟ๐Œฝ๐ƒ ๐Œท๐Œน๐Œผ๐Œผ๐Œฐ ๐Œณ๐Œฐ๐Œฒ๐Œฐ ๐Œพ๐Œฐ๐Œท ๐Œฐ๐†๐Œป๐Œด๐„ ๐Œฟ๐Œฝ๐ƒ ๐Œธ๐Œฐ๐„๐Œด๐Œน ๐ƒ๐Œบ๐Œฟ๐Œป๐Œฐ๐Œฝ๐ƒ ๐ƒ๐Œน๐Œพ๐Œฐ๐Œน๐Œผ๐Œฐ ๐ƒ๐…๐Œฐ๐ƒ๐…๐Œด ๐Œพ๐Œฐ๐Œท ๐…๐Œด๐Œน๐ƒ ๐Œฐ๐†๐Œป๐Œด๐„๐Œฐ๐Œผ ๐Œธ๐Œฐ๐Œน๐Œผ ๐ƒ๐Œบ๐Œฟ๐Œป๐Œฐ๐Œผ ๐Œฟ๐Œฝ๐ƒ๐Œฐ๐‚๐Œฐ๐Œน๐Œผ ๐Œพ๐Œฐ๐Œท ๐Œฝ๐Œน ๐Œฑ๐‚๐Œน๐Œฒ๐Œฒ๐Œฐ๐Œน๐ƒ ๐Œฟ๐Œฝ๐ƒ ๐Œน๐Œฝ ๐†๐‚๐Œฐ๐Œน๐ƒ๐„๐Œฟ๐Œฑ๐Œฝ๐Œพ๐Œฐ๐Œน ๐Œฐ๐Œบ ๐Œป๐Œฐ๐Œฟ๐ƒ๐Œด๐Œน ๐Œฟ๐Œฝ๐ƒ ๐Œฐ๐† ๐Œธ๐Œฐ๐Œผ๐Œผ๐Œฐ ๐Œฟ๐Œฑ๐Œน๐Œป๐Œน๐Œฝ ๐Œฟ๐Œฝ๐„๐Œด ๐Œธ๐Œด๐Œน๐Œฝ๐Œฐ ๐Œน๐ƒ๐„ ๐Œธ๐Œน๐Œฟ๐Œณ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ๐Œฒ๐Œฐ๐‚๐Œณ๐Œน ๐Œพ๐Œฐ๐Œท ๐Œผ๐Œฐ๐Œท๐„๐ƒ ๐Œพ๐Œฐ๐Œท ๐…๐Œฟ๐Œป๐Œธ๐Œฟ๐ƒ ๐Œน๐Œฝ ๐Œฐ๐Œน๐…๐Œน๐Œฝ๐ƒ

Transliteration

  1. Atta unsar รพu in himinam
  2. weihnai namo รพein
  3. qimai รพiudinassus รพeins
  4. wairรพai wilja รพeins
  5. swe in himina jah ana airรพai.
  6. hlaif unsarana รพana sinteinan gif uns himma daga
  7. jah aflet uns รพatei skulans sijaima
  8. swaswe jah weis afletam รพaim skulam unsaraim
  9. jah ni briggais uns in fraistubnjai
  10. ak lausei uns af รพamma ubilin
  11. unte รพeina ist รพiudangardi jah mahts
  12. jah wulรพus in aiwins.

Translation

  1. Father our, thou in heaven
  2. be holy name thy.
  3. Come kingdom thy,
  4. happen will thy,
  5. as in heaven also on earth.
  6. Bread (loaf) our, the everyday, give us this day,
  7. and forgive us, who debtors be,
  8. just as also we forgive those debtors our.
  9. And [do] not bring us in[to] temptation,
  10. but free (loose) us from the evil [one].
  11. For thine is [the] kingdom and [the] might
  12. and glory in eternity.

IPA transcription

  1. หˆatหa หˆunsar ฮธuห in หˆhiminam
  2. หˆwiหhnษ›ห หˆnamoห ฮธiหn
  3. หˆkสทimษ›ห หˆฮธiuฬฏรฐinasหus ฮธiหns
  4. หˆwษ›rฮธษ›ห หˆwilja ฮธiหns
  5. sweห in หˆhimina jah ana หˆษ›rฮธษ›ห
  6. hlษ›หษธ หˆunsarana หˆฮธana หˆsinหŒtiหnan ษกiษธ uns หˆhimหa หˆdaษฃa
  7. jah aษธหˆleหt uns หˆฮธatiห หˆskulans หˆsijษ›หma
  8. หˆswasweห jah หˆwiหs aษธหˆleหtam ฮธษ›หm หˆskulam หˆunsarษ›หm
  9. jah ni หˆbriล‹ษกษ›หs uns in หˆษธrษ›หstuฮฒnijษ›ห
  10. ak หˆlษ”หsiห uns aษธ หˆฮธamหa หˆuฮฒilin
  11. หˆunteห หˆฮธiหna ist หˆฮธiuฬฏรฐanหŒษกardi jah mahts
  12. jah หˆwulฮธus in หˆษ›หwins

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_language

A recording of this text

Sample text in Gothic

๐Œฐ๐Œป๐Œป๐Œฐ๐Œน ๐Œผ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ๐Œฝ๐Œฐ ๐†๐‚๐Œด๐Œน๐Œท๐Œฐ๐Œป๐ƒ ๐Œพ๐Œฐ๐Œท ๐ƒ๐Œฐ๐Œผ๐Œฐ๐Œป๐Œด๐Œน๐Œบ๐‰ ๐Œน๐Œฝ ๐…๐Œฐ๐Œน๐‚๐Œธ๐Œน๐Œณ๐Œฐ๐Œน ๐Œพ๐Œฐ๐Œท ๐‚๐Œฐ๐Œน๐Œท๐„๐Œด๐Œน๐ƒ ๐…๐Œฐ๐Œฟ๐‚๐Œธ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ๐ƒ. ๐†๐‚๐Œฐ๐Œธ๐Œด๐Œน ๐Œพ๐Œฐ๐Œท ๐Œผ๐Œน๐Œธ๐…๐Œน๐ƒ๐ƒ๐Œด๐Œน ๐Œฒ๐Œน๐Œฑ๐Œฝ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ๐ƒ ๐Œพ๐Œฐ๐Œท ๐Œป๐Œน๐Œฑ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ๐Œณ๐Œฐ๐Œฟ ๐ƒ๐…๐Œด ๐Œฑ๐‚๐‰๐Œธ๐‚๐Œพ๐Œฟ๐ƒ.

Transliteration

Allรกi manna freihals jah samaleikล in waรญrรพidรกi jah raรญhteis waรบrรพans. Fraรพei jah miรพwissei gibnans jah libandau swฤ“ broรพrjus.

Translation by Roel. Other additions and corrections by Michael Peter Fรผstumum and Steve Porter

Hear a recording of this text by Jabnaki

Note: the pronunciation of Gothic has been reconstructed but there is some debate about how certain sounds are pronounced.

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Sample video

Information about Gothic | Phrases | Numbers | Tower of Babel | Gothic books

Information about Gothic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_language
http://www.wulfila.be/gothic/gotica/
http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/gotol-0-X.html

Online Gothic lessons
http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/gotol-0-X.html
http://ling.everywitchway.net/germanic/east/gothic/gothic-for-goths
https://inthewulfilantongue.wordpress.com/
http://learngothic.blogspot.nl/?m=1

Online Gothic dictionary
http://www.freelang.net/online/gothic.php

Gothic Grammar
http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~kurisuto/germanic/goth_wright_about.html
http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/texts/goth_wright_about.html

Project Wulfila - digital library of texts in Gothic and other Old Germanic languages
http://www.wulfila.be/

Gothic phrases
https://web.archive.org/web/20140622065727/http://besieda.in.ua/materialy/gotskiy-gothic

Gothic fonts
http://www.wazu.jp/gallery/Fonts_Gothic.html

Online Gothic news
http://airushimmadaga.wordpress.com

Music in Gothic
http://runaleiks.bandcamp.com/

Gothic on Discord
https://discordapp.com/invite/QXcXZ93
https://discord.gg/gwHjk9h6yp

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