𐌰𐍆

Forms

𐌰𐍆 (af), a preposition governing the dative, also used as a verbal prefix; it is not inflected.^[1][2][3] Before the interrogative particle -u it keeps the older b: 𐌰𐌱𐌿 (abu), at John 18:34.^[4][5][6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *ab (“away”),^[7][8] which also gave Old Norse af, Old English of and æf, Old Frisian of, Old Saxon af and Old High German aba.^[6][9][4] It continues Proto-Indo-European *apó, the source of Ancient Greek ἀπό (apó, “from”), Latin ab (with b for p before voiced consonants) and Albanian pa (“without”).^[6][4][9] Lehmann rejects a connection with Hittite appan (“after”).^[4] Feist sets a shortened Proto-Indo-European *po beside it, as in Latin pōsitus (“placed”).^[6]

Attestation

The Wulfila project counts 148 tokens, Köbler 138 records.^[10][8] It occurs in the Gospels (34 times in Luke, 31 in Mark), in most of the Epistles and once in the Skeireins, chiefly in manuscripts CA, B and A.^[10] The first in canonical order is Matthew 5:18.^[10] In PROIEL's alignment it renders Ancient Greek ἀπό (apó) 101 times, ἐκ (ek) ten times, ὑπό (hupó) twice, and παρά (pará) and ἐπί (epí) once each.^[11] Matthew 5:18 says that not one stroke ni usleiþiþ af witoda, "shall pass away from the law".^[12]

Meanings

1. from, away from, out of, for Greek apó and ek.^[2][1][11]
2. by, by means of, of the agent, for Greek hupó.^[2][8][11]
3. Of time: from, since.^[1][2]
4. With names, "of, from", the place a person comes from.^[2]
5. In phrases: af taihswon, "on the right", and af hleidumein, "on the left", for Greek ek dexiôn and ex euōnúmōn.^[2][8]

Word family

• 𐌰𐌱𐌿 (abu)

Related words

• 𐌰𐍆- (af-, “off, away”)
• 𐌰𐍆𐌰𐍂 (afar, “after”)
• 𐌰𐍆𐍄𐍂𐌰 (aftra, “again”)
• 𐌰𐍆𐍄𐌿𐌼𐌰 (aftuma, “last”)

Usage notes

PROIEL records one token spelt 𐌰𐌱 (ab) among the 128 it counts for the preposition.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. af
2. ^ a b c d e f Regan, Brian T. (1974), Dictionary of the Biblical Gothic Language, Phoenix: Wulfila House, p. 29
3. ^ Braune, Wilhelm; Heidermanns, Frank (2004), Gotische Grammatik, mit Lesestücken und Wörterverzeichnis, 20th ed., Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte A 1, Tübingen: Niemeyer, p. 267
4. ^ 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. af
5. ^ Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. abu
6. ^ a b c d Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. af
7. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐌰𐍆
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. af
9. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 1
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c d 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. Mt 5:18