𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽

Forms

𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽 (gaggan), a defective reduplicating verb of the third class;^[1] Braune and Heidermanns class it as anomalous.^[2] Its own preterite 𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌹𐌳𐌰 (gaggida) occurs only at Luke 19:12; elsewhere the preterite is the suppletive 𐌹𐌳𐌳𐌾𐌰 (iddja), plural 𐌹𐌳𐌳𐌾𐌴𐌳𐌿𐌼 (iddjēdum) "we went".^[1][3][4] Skeat gives the past participle as 𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽𐍃 (gaggans).^[5] The commonest forms in the Wulfila project's count are the imperative 𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲 (gagg, 28 times), 𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰 (gagga, 24) and 𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌹𐌸 (gaggiþ, 22); the suppletive preterite appears as 𐌹𐌳𐌳𐌾𐌰 (iddja, 15 times) and 𐌹𐌳𐌳𐌾𐌴𐌳𐌿𐌽 (iddjēdun, 13).^[6]

Etymology

The present is inherited from Proto-Germanic *ganganą (“to go, walk, step”),^[7][8][9] with the cognates Old Norse ganga, Old English gangan, Old Frisian gunga, Old Saxon gangan and Old High German gangan.^[8] It goes back to the root Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰengʰ- (“to stride”),^[10][11] which Kroonen reconstructs as an o-grade present, cognate with Lithuanian žeñgti (“to stride”).^[8] The verb was suppletive already in Proto-Germanic: Gothic kept the old preterite 𐌹𐌳𐌳𐌾𐌰 (iddja, “went”) (compare Old English ēode), while North and West Germanic made a new reduplicated preterite, as in gékk and gieng.^[8] Wiktionary assigns the preterite to *gāną (“to go”).^[7] Lehmann notes that this preterite has no cognates in Germanic except perhaps the Old English form, and summarises Cowgill's derivation of it from a reduplicated perfect;^[4] Köbler reports the usual explanation as an augmented aorist "he went (by wagon)".^[12] Lehmann takes the rare weak preterite as a secondary formation from the iterative 𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (gaggjan).^[13] Feist sets beside it a second root, seen in Old High German gān, and leaves the relation between the two open.^[11][14]

Attestation

The Wulfila project counts 218 tokens (35 of them ambiguous), including the suppletive preterite, in all four Gospels, in Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Galatians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians and 2 Timothy, and twice in the Skeireins;^[6] Köbler counts 206.^[6][10] Most records are in manuscript CA (165), the others in A, B, C, Car, Speyer and Lat5750.^[6] PROIEL aligns 201 tokens, chiefly with Ancient Greek πορεύομαι (poreúomai) (50), ὑπάγω (hupágō) (43), περιπατέω (peripatéō) (41) and ἔρχομαι (érkhomai) (27).^[15] The first record in canonical order is the imperative at Matthew 5:24, which reads jah gagg faurþis gasibjon broþr þeinamma, "and go first, be reconciled with your brother".^[16]

Meanings

1. to go, go one's way, depart, for πορεύομαι and ὑπάγω^[1][17][15]
2. to walk, go about, for περιπατέω^[3][15]
3. to come, for ἔρχομαι^[3][15]
4. with afar and the dative, to follow, for ἀκολουθέω;^[17][15] raihtaba gaggan renders ὀρθοποδεῖν "to walk straight"^[17][10]

Word family

• 𐌰𐍆𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽 (afgaggan, “to go away”)
• 𐌰𐍆𐌰𐍂𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽 (afargaggan, “to follow”)
• 𐌰𐌽𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽 (anagaggan, “to come upon”)
• 𐌳𐌿𐌰𐍄𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽 (duatgaggan, “to go to”)
• 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽 (faurgaggan, “to pass by”)
• 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽 (fauragaggan, “to go before”)
• 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌱𐌹𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽 (faurbigaggan, “to go ahead of”)
• 𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽 (gagaggan, “to come together”)
• 𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (gaggjan)
• 𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽 (inngaggan, “to go in”)
• 𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌰𐍄𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽 (innatgaggan, “to go in to”)
• 𐌼𐌹𐌸𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽 (miþgaggan, “to go with”)
• 𐌸𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌷𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽 (þairhgaggan, “to go through”)
• 𐌿𐍆𐌰𐍂𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽 (ufargaggan, “to transgress”)
• 𐌿𐍃𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽 (usgaggan, “to go out”)
• 𐌿𐍄𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽 (utgaggan, “to go out”)
• 𐍅𐌹𐌸𐍂𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽 (wiþragaggan, “to go to meet”)
• 𐍆𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰 (fauragagga, “steward”)

References

1. ^ a b c Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. gaggan
2. ^ Braune, Wilhelm; Heidermanns, Frank (2004), Gotische Grammatik, mit Lesestücken und Wörterverzeichnis, 20th ed., Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte A 1, Tübingen: Niemeyer, p. 277
3. ^ a b c Stamm, Friedrich Ludwig; Heyne, Moriz (1920), Ulfilas oder die uns erhaltenen Denkmäler der gotischen Sprache: Text, Wörterbuch und Grammatik, 13th–14th ed. by Ferdinand Wrede, Paderborn: Schöningh, p. 427
4. ^ 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. iddja
5. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1868), A Moeso-Gothic Glossary, with an Introduction, an Outline of Moeso-Gothic Grammar, and a List of Anglo-Saxon and Old and Modern English Words Etymologically Connected with Moeso-Gothic, London: Asher, p. s.v. gaggan
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐌲𐌰𐌲𐌲𐌰𐌽
8. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 166
9. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 125
10. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. gaggan
11. ^ a b Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. gaggan
12. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. iddja
13. ^ 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. gaggan
14. ^ Uhlenbeck, C. C. (1900), Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Müller, p. 54
15. ^ a b c d e 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. Mt 5:24
17. ^ a b c Balg, G. H. (1887–1889), A Comparative Glossary of the Gothic Language, with Especial Reference to English and German, Mayville, Wis.: the author, p. 116