What Language Did the Goths Speak?

While this question may seem absurd to anyone who has spent any time with the Wulfila Bible or who is aware of any of the Gothic names, it is by no means such.  The Nordic character of the above is obvious.

But what does that tell us about the “Goths”?

It turns out, precious little.

Take the Wulfila Bible – a fourth century creation.  Wulfila or Ulfilas was a Goth… of “Cappadocian Greek” descent.  Or, in other words, he was an Anatolian Greek whose parents appear to have been kidnapped by the Goths during one of their forays into Anatolia.  (One could also ask how many of the Anatolians were actually descendants of Greeks).

He was raised a “Goth” – perhaps – notwithstanding the fact that no Goth “blood” flowed in his veins.  He also converted the Goths to (Arian) Christianity.  Since religion was and is part of culture, how Gothic was he if he was converting his people to a foreign religion?  He spoke Gothic… but we may well suppose he also spoke Greek.

Jordanes’ famous list of the various peoples that were conquered by the Gothic king Ermanaric is impressive. To recite it we have “Golthescytha [,] Thiudos, Inaunxis, Vasinabroncae, Merens, Mordens, Imniscaris, Rogas, Tadzans, Athaul, Navego, Bubegenae and Coldae.”*  After they were conquered, were all these peoples “Goths”?  Were the men that were placed into the Gothic “army” Goths?  Or do we believe that the Goths, after conquering all these tribes, did not utilize their manpower in war?  And this, before we even get to the Heruli and the “populous nation of the Veneti.”

[* The names of these tribes are not all clear but:

  • Thiudos are likely Finnic Chuds;
  • the Vasinabroncae may be the Ves (Visu of Ibn-Fadlan) or today’s Veps or Vepsians (a Finnish people with an apparently remarkable genetic similarity to the Poles) who may have something to do with the Vesi or the Visi-goths;
  • Merens are likely Meria, a Finnish people at both sides of the upper Volga by today’s Rostov;
  • Imniscaris are likely the Mescera – also Finnish;
  • Mordens likely the Mordvins, Mordva, Mordvinians, Mordovians – also Finnic;
  • Athaul was likely Atil or the Turkic name for large river (usually Volga but also possibly the Don);
  • Navego may refer to naevaeg mentioned as a Sarmatian tribe of Naevazae already by Pliny;
  • Coldae may be Coldui who may be Quadi (though that last emendation seems like a stretch);

an interesting aspect of the above names is that it appears to indicate that the Goths began their conquests somewhere in the Far North]

What languages did these people speak?  Most, probably, did not originally speak Germanic (the Heruli being the equally probable exception).  Did they learn Gothic?  Or did they pick up a few Gothic words here and there?  When they moved west with the Goths (or did the Goths leave them all behind?) did they change their language?  Or were their numbers such that the languages were retained?  Was there a need of single language in the Gothic “commune”?  If so, was it Gothic?

Ask yourself how much British there is in today’s America or Australia?  All (most of) these people speak English – a Germanic language by any standard classification – are they all Germanics?  On the other hand, there are sizable pockets of Americans and Australians that are bilingual (or who speak much better, say, Spanish than English) – they are all Americans and Australians.  Are they therefore Germanic?  Linguistically, sure.

In other words, how much Goth was there in the Goths of the 6th and 7th centuries?

P.S. and this before we even get into thorny questions of what “Tervingi” may mean or whether Ostr- and Vesi- really mean East and West (or something entirely different, like island Goths and field Goths).

Copyright ©2016 jassa.org All Rights Reserved

September 9, 2016

One thought on “What Language Did the Goths Speak?

  1. SlavSuav

    >various peoples that were conquered by the Gothic king Ermanaric
    Take into account that Jordanes mixes Ermanaric with Hermeric. Hunimund is son of Hermeric (Ermanaric in Jordanes). So Coldae of these people can be Quadi, and maybe Hermeric is the one who “fought against Suavi” (Quadi?) in Jordanes. Maybe Hermeric was usurper who caught rulership over Suavi? If Jordanes was correct in saying that Hermeric, and his son Hunimund were Goths, then they were not Suavi.

    >”(Ermanaric) ruled all the nations of Scythia and Germany by his own prowess alone.”
    So maybe this points that also Hermeric wasn’t native ruler of Suavi

    >“Tervingi”
    Drewlans of course (as one of “conquered” nations of Scythia)

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *