𐌰𐌷𐍄𐌰𐌿

Forms

𐌰𐌷𐍄𐌰𐌿 (ahtau), an indeclinable cardinal numeral.^[1][2][3] Miller lists the numerals from five to eight among the indeclinable ones.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *ahtōu (“eight”),^[5][6][7] from Proto-Indo-European *oḱtṓw (“eight”).^[5][8] The numeral is Old Norse átta in Old Norse, Old English eahta in Old English, Old Frisian achta in Old Frisian and ahto in Old Saxon and Old High German.^[9][7][6] Outside Germanic it corresponds to Ancient Greek ὀκτώ (oktṓ), Latin octō, Old Irish ocht in Old Irish and Lithuanian aštuonì in Lithuanian.^[6][8] Kroonen reports the idea that the Indo-European numeral began as a dual formation to a word seen in Avestan ašti- (“width of four fingers”) in Avestan, whose meaning is not certain.^[7]

Attestation

The Wulfila project counts two tokens, both in Luke and in manuscript CA: Luke 2:21, the first, and Luke 9:28.^[2][10][8] PROIEL aligns both with Ancient Greek ὀκτώ (oktṓ).^[11] Luke 2:21 reads 𐌾𐌰𐌷 𐌱𐌹𐌸𐌴 𐌿𐍃𐍆𐌿𐌻𐌽𐍉𐌳𐌴𐌳𐌿𐌽 𐌳𐌰𐌲𐍉𐍃 𐌰𐌷𐍄𐌰𐌿 (jah biþe usfulnodedun dagos ahtau), "and when eight days were fulfilled".^[12]

Meanings

1. eight, for ὀκτώ.^[13][10][1]

Word family

• 𐌰𐌷𐍄𐌰𐌿𐌳𐍉𐌲𐍃 (ahtaudōgs, “eight days old”)
• 𐌰𐌷𐍄𐌰𐌿𐍄𐌴𐌷𐌿𐌽𐌳 (ahtautēhund, “eighty”)

Related words

• 𐌰𐌷𐍄𐌿𐌳𐌰 (ahtuda, “eighth”)

Usage notes

Crimean Gothic has athe "eight".^[8][9][14]

References

1. ^ a b Regan, Brian T. (1974), Dictionary of the Biblical Gothic Language, Phoenix: Wulfila House, p. 31
2. ^ a b De Herdt, Tom (2004–2026), Project Wulfila: digital edition of the Gothic Bible with lemma and morphological annotation, data release 2026-09-03, wulfila.be
3. ^ Braune, Wilhelm; Heidermanns, Frank (2004), Gotische Grammatik, mit Lesestücken und Wörterverzeichnis, 20th ed., Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte A 1, Tübingen: Niemeyer, p. 268
4. ^ Miller, D. Gary (2019), The Oxford Gothic Grammar, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 93
5. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐌰𐌷𐍄𐌰𐌿
6. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 5
7. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 6
8. ^ a b c d Lehmann, Winfred P. (1986), A Gothic Etymological Dictionary, based on the third edition of Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache by Sigmund Feist, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. ahtau
9. ^ a b Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. ahtau
10. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. ahtau
11. ^ Haug, Dag T. T. et al., PROIEL Treebank: The Gothic Bible (gothic-nt), 2023 release, Pragmatic Resources in Old Indo-European Languages, University of Oslo
12. ^ De Herdt, Tom (2004–2026), Project Wulfila: digital edition of the Gothic Bible with lemma and morphological annotation, data release 2026-09-03, wulfila.be, p. Lk 2:21
13. ^ Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. ahtau
14. ^ Miller, D. Gary (2019), The Oxford Gothic Grammar, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 5