𐌱𐍂𐍉𐌸𐌰𐍂

Forms

𐌱𐍂𐍉𐌸𐌰𐍂 (brōþar), a masculine r-stem noun, genitive singular 𐌱𐍂𐍉𐌸𐍂𐍃 (brōþrs).^[1][2][3] The Wulfila project counts 𐌱𐍂𐍉𐌸𐍂𐌾𐌿𐍃 (broþrjus, 81), 𐌱𐍂𐍉𐌸𐌰𐍂 (broþar, 50), 𐌱𐍂𐍉𐌸𐍂𐌿𐌽𐍃 (broþruns, 16), 𐌱𐍂𐍉𐌸𐍂 (broþr, 12), 𐌱𐍂𐍉𐌸𐍂𐌿𐌼 (broþrum, 7), broþrs (6) and 𐌱𐍂𐍉𐌸𐍂𐌴 (broþre, 4).^[4] In the singular the vocative and accusative are broþar and the dative broþr.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *brōþēr (“brother”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰréh₂tēr.^[6][7] The Germanic cognates are Old Norse bróðir, Old English brōþor, Old Frisian brōther, Old Saxon brōthar and Old High German bruoder.^[8] Lehmann and Uhlenbeck also cite bruder from Busbecq's record of Crimean Gothic.^[9][10] Outside Germanic it matches Latin frāter, Old Irish bráthair, Lithuanian broterėlis (“little brother”) and Ancient Greek φράτηρ (phrátēr, “member of a phratry”).^[10][8] Lehmann takes the Indo-European word to have meant a member of the extended family as well as a brother, and, following Kieckers, explains the short vowel of the Gothic final syllable by shortening.^[9] Casaretto notes that the noun has no verbal base.^[11]

Attestation

The Wulfila project counts 176 tokens, in all four Gospels, in most of the Epistles and in Nehemiah.^[4] Köbler counts 150 records.^[12] The tokens are in manuscripts B (64), A (54), CA (50), Car, D and C.^[4] The first in canonical order is at Matthew 5:22.^[4] In PROIEL it renders Ancient Greek ἀδελφός (adelphós) 142 times.^[13] Matthew 5:23 reads jabai nu bairais aibr þein du hunslastada jah jainar gamuneis þatei broþar þeins habaiþ ƕa bi þuk, "if then you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you".^[14]

Meanings

1. brother; for Ancient Greek ἀδελφός (adelphós).^[1][12][13]

Word family

• 𐌱𐍂𐍉𐌸𐍂𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌽𐍃 (brōþrahans, “brothers (as a group)”)
• 𐌱𐍂𐍉𐌸𐍂𐌿𐌻𐌿𐌱𐍉 (brōþrulubō, “brotherly love”)
• 𐌲𐌰𐌻𐌹𐌿𐌲𐌰𐌱𐍂𐍉𐌸𐌰𐍂 (galiugabrōþar, “false brother”)

Usage notes

Casaretto takes galiugabroþar "false brother" as a loan translation of Greek ψευδάδελφος (pseudádelphos).^[11]

References

1. ^ a b Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. broþar
2. ^ Regan, Brian T. (1974), Dictionary of the Biblical Gothic Language, Phoenix: Wulfila House, p. 50
3. ^ Braune, Wilhelm; Heidermanns, Frank (2004), Gotische Grammatik, mit Lesestücken und Wörterverzeichnis, 20th ed., Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte A 1, Tübingen: Niemeyer, p. 273
4. ^ a b c d 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
5. ^ Miller, D. Gary (2019), The Oxford Gothic Grammar, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 60
6. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐌱𐍂𐍉𐌸𐌰𐍂
7. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 79
8. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. *ƀrōþēr
9. ^ a b 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. broþar
10. ^ a b Uhlenbeck, C. C. (1900), Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Müller, p. 31
11. ^ a b Casaretto, Antje (2004), Nominale Wortbildung der gotischen Sprache: Die Derivation der Substantive, Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. brōþar,
13. ^ a b 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
14. ^ 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 5:23