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Although the Goths didn't have any such concept as the corporate Monday-Friday, and apparently must not have celebrated birthdays (since
"years old" is expressed with the combining form -wintrus, wintered, everyone was probably considered one year older each spring), in
today's world the names of months and weekdays are relevant, so for the sake of completion, here are some names that others have proposed for the
months of the year:
Not all of these are attested, so some of them have been reconstructed based on other Germanic languages.
Many of the words we've seen already in these lessons are actually compound forms of simpler words. Some of the ways these words are
compounded include:
| af- | away, as in af-stass, a falling away; af-lētan, to dismiss; without, as: af-guþs, godless; bad, as: af-drugka, drunkard. |
| afar- | next, later: afar-dags, the next day; after: afar-gaggan, to follow. |
| ana- | on: ana-lageins, a laying on; ana-áukan, to add to; also miscellaneously as ana-háitan, to call upon; ana-qiss, blasphemy;
ana-siuns, visible; ana-waírþs, future. |
| and(a)- | against: anda-staþjis, adversary; and-bindan, to unbind; forward: and-áugi, face; towards: and-hafjan, to answer;
anda-hafts, an answer; before: anda-nahti, evening. The full anda- form occurs only on nouns and adjectives made from
nominal or adjectival roots. |
| at- | at: at-aþni, year; at-áugjan, to show; at-giban, to give up; at-witáins, observation. |
| bi- | around: bi-rinnan, to run about; bi-sitands, neighbor. |
| dis- | appears to be a Latin borrowing. Apart: dis-dáiljan, to share; dis-wiss, dissolution. |
| du- | to: du-ginnan, to begin; du-rinnan, to run to. |
| faír- | throughout: faír-weitjan, to gaze about; faír-weitl, spectacle. |
| faúr(a)- | fore: faúr-biudan, to forbid; faúra-gaggan, to go before; faúr(a)-hāh, curtain; faúr-stasseis, chief ruler. |
| fra- | similar to English for-. Fra-gifts, promise, gift; fra-liusan, to lose; fra-lusts, loss; fra-weit, revenge. |
| fram- | from: fram-aldrs, very old (probably "from long ago"); fram-gāhts, progress; fram-waírþis, henceforward (an adverbial use of a genitive ending). |
| ga- | A common Germanic prefix, related to Latin con- and originally meaning "together". Ultimately became mainly an intensifier,
although it once formed verbal perfectives and also frequently occurs in collective nouns. |
| hindar- | behind: hindar-leiþan, to go behind; hindar-weis, deceitful (probably a similar sense to "talking behind one's back"). |
| id- | similar to English re-: id-weitjan, to reproach; id-weit, reproach. |
| in- | in: in-brannjan, to put into the fire; in-gardja, a co-habitant; reciprocal: in-máideins, exchange. |
| inna- | within: inna-kunds, a co-habitant. |
| missa- | bad, lost, mis-: missa-dēþs, misdeed; missa-leiks, various (presumably from an earlier meaning of "unlike"). |
| miþ- | with: miþ-ga-sinþa, traveling companion; between: miþ-gardi-waddjus, partition. |
| tuz- | known only in tuz-wērjan, to doubt, both elements of which appear to be cranberry morphemes. |
| twis- | separate: twis-standan, to depart. |
| þaírh- | through: þaírh-leiþan, to go through; þaírh-saíƕan, to see through;
þaírh-wakan, to keep watch. |
| uf- | under: uf-áiþeis, under oath; uf-ligan, to lie (lay) under. |
| ufar- | over: ufar-fulls, overfull; ufar-mēljan, to overwrite. |
| un- | without: un-baírands, barren; not: un-háili, disease. |
| und- | similar to and-: und-greipan, to seize; und-rinnan, to run to, thus to fall to one's share. |
| us- | out: us-beidan, to await, wait out; us-qiss, accusation. |
| wiþra- | to: wiþra-ga-mōtjan, to go to meet. |
| -aga- | forming adjectives from verbal roots: grēdags, hungry, greedy, from grēdōn, to be greedy or hungry. |
| -aha- | the same as -aga- except not limited to verbal roots: áinaha (weak adj), only, from áins; niu-klahs, underage (from an
unknown root). |
| -áini- | forming fem. abstr. nouns from Class I thru Class III weak verbs: libáins, life, from liban, to live. |
| -and- | forming nomina agentis from verbal roots: frijōnds, friend, from frijōn, to love. |
| -arja- | forming nomina agentis from other nouns, and sometimes from verbs: bōkareis, scribe, from bōka, letter. |
| -(in)assu- | similar to English -ness: ibnassus, evenness, from ibns, even. |
| -atja- | forming causative verbs: laúhatjan, to lighten; swōgatjan, to sigh (perhaps "to make a sigh"). |
| -dūþi- | forming feminine abstract nouns: mikildūþs, greatness, from mikils, great. |
| -eiga- | forming adjectives of repletion, habit, or ability: láiseigs, apt to teach; mahteigs, mighty; waúrstweigs, effective. |
| -ein- | forming fem. abstract nouns from adjectives: báitrei, bitterness, from báitrs, bitter. |
| -eina- | forming adjectives of composition or repletion: gulþeins, golden, from gulþ, gold; þaúrneins, thorny; also metaphorically
as áiweins, eternal, from áiws, eternity. |
| -inōn- | forming verbs indicating committing or acting as: skalkinōn, to serve, from skalks; hōrinōn, to commit adultery, from
hōrs, adulterer. |
| -iska- | same as English -ish: barnisks, childish; funisks, fiery. |
| -iþa | forming fem. abstr. nouns from adjectives: niujiþa, newness, from niujis. |
| -ōþu- | forming masc. abstr. nouns from Class II weak verbs: gáunōþus, mourning, from gáunōn, to lament. Also occurs as -ōdu-. |
| -þwa | forming fem. abstr. nouns: frijaþwa, love, from frijōn. |
| -ubni- | forming neut. abstr. nouns: witubni, knowledge, from witan, wáit. Also occurs as -ufni-. |
