𐌰𐍂𐌾𐌰𐌽

Forms

𐌰𐍂𐌾𐌰𐌽 (arjan), a verb.^[1][2] The only recorded form is the accusative singular masculine of the present participle, 𐌰𐍂𐌾𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰𐌽 (arjandan), at Luke 17:7.^[2][3] Streitberg classes it as an irregular reduplicating verb of the third class, and Braune and Heidermanns also list it as reduplicating.^[1][4] Wright and Lambdin list it as a weak verb of the first class.^[5][6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *arjaną (“to plough”),^[7][8] from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éryeti in Wiktionary's reconstruction;^[7] Kroonen sets up a present Proto-Indo-European *h₂erh₃-ie-.^[9] The Germanic cognates are Old Norse erja, Old English erian, Old Frisian era, Old Saxon erian and Old High German erien, all meaning "to plough".^[9][8] Outside Germanic it matches Ancient Greek ἀρόω (aróō), Latin arō, Middle Irish airim, Lithuanian árti and Proto-Slavic *orati.^[8][10][11] The noun for the plough was formed from the same root with other suffixes, as Ancient Greek ἄροτρον (árotron) and Latin arātrum.^[10][12] Krause notes that erien has a reduplicated preterite, the basis for classing the Gothic verb as reduplicating, while the Old Norse verb is weak.^[13] Kieckers adds that the Old English and Old Frisian verbs are weak too.^[14]

Attestation

The word occurs once, at Luke 17:7, in manuscript CA.^[2][3] It renders Ancient Greek ἀροτριάω (arotriáō).^[15][2] Luke 17:7 reads ƕas þan izwara skalk aigands arjandan aiþþau haldandan, "which of you, having a servant who ploughs or tends sheep".^[16]

Meanings

1. to plough^[1][2][7]

Related words

• 𐌷𐍉𐌷𐌰 (hōha, “plough”)

Usage notes

The single participle cannot show which inflection the verb had: the Wulfila project quotes Ebbinghaus's remark that arjandan does not prove the reduplicating class it is usually given.^[3] Jellinek likewise says that its vowel does not fit that class.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. arjan
2. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. arjan*
3. ^ a b c 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
4. ^ Braune, Wilhelm; Heidermanns, Frank (2004), Gotische Grammatik, mit Lesestücken und Wörterverzeichnis, 20th ed., Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte A 1, Tübingen: Niemeyer, p. 270
5. ^ Wright, Joseph (1910), Grammar of the Gothic Language, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. arjan
6. ^ Lambdin, Thomas O. (2006), An Introduction to the Gothic Language, Eugene, Or.: Wipf and Stock, p. 171
7. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐌰𐍂𐌾𐌰𐌽
8. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 23
9. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 34
10. ^ a b Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. arjan
11. ^ Uhlenbeck, C. C. (1900), Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Müller, p. 16
12. ^ 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. *arjan
13. ^ Krause, Wolfgang (1963), Handbuch des Gotischen, 2nd ed., München: Beck, p. § 235
14. ^ Kieckers, Ernst (1928), Handbuch der vergleichenden gotischen Grammatik, München: Hueber
15. ^ 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
16. ^ 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 17:7
17. ^ Jellinek, Max Hermann (1926), Geschichte der gotischen Sprache, Grundriss der germanischen Philologie 1,1, Berlin / Leipzig: de Gruyter