𐌲𐌰𐌳𐌴𐌸𐍃

Forms

𐌲𐌰𐌳𐌴𐌸𐍃 (gadēþs), a feminine i-stem noun.^[1][2][3] The only recorded form is the dative singular 𐌲𐌰𐌳𐌴𐌳𐌰𐌹 (gadēdai).^[2][4] The nominative is set up from it: Köbler and Streitberg mark the headword with an asterisk as not attested in that case.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is formed from Gothic 𐌲𐌰- (ga-) + 𐌳𐌴𐌸𐍃 (*dēþs, “deed”),^[5] the simple noun being recorded only in compounds.^[6] Casaretto lists it among the i-stem nouns with a dental suffix that have no Germanic base word; the simple noun continues Proto-Germanic *dēdi- (“deed”).^[7][8][9] Wiktionary compares Middle High German getāt in Middle High German.^[5] The Germanic noun is also found as Old Norse dáð in Old Norse, Old English dǣd in Old English, Old Frisian dēde in Old Frisian, Old Saxon dād in Old Saxon and Old High German tāt in Old High German.^[8][9][10] It goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dʰéh₁tis, an action noun from the root *dʰeh₁- (“to put, place”).^[11][8][6] Orel compares Lithuanian dėtis (“load”) in Lithuanian, and Uhlenbeck sets the root beside Ancient Greek τίθημι (títhēmi, “I put”) and Latin condō (“I found, I hide”).^[9][10] Krause places 𐌳𐍉𐌼𐍃 (dōms, “fame, judgment”) under the same root.^[12]

Attestation

The word occurs once, at Ephesians 1:5, in the phrase 𐌳𐌿 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌹𐍅𐌴 𐌲𐌰𐌳𐌴𐌳𐌰𐌹 (du suniwē gadēdai).^[2][13] The verse survives in both manuscripts A and B, so the Wulfila project counts two tokens of the one passage.^[4] The phrase renders Ancient Greek υἱοθεσία (huiothesía) in the Greek accusative εἰς υἱοθεσίαν (eis huiothesían, "for adoption").^[14][2] Ephesians 1:5 reads fauragarairoþ uns du suniwe gadedai þairh Iesu Xristu in ina, "he marked us out beforehand for the placing as sons through Jesus Christ to himself".^[15]

Meanings

1. A deed, a making or rendering; recorded only in du suniwē gadēdai, literally "for the placing of sons", that is, for adoption, translating υἱοθεσία.^{[2][16][13][5]}

Related words

• 𐌼𐌹𐍃𐍃𐌰𐌳𐌴𐌸𐍃 (missadēþs, “misdeed”)
• 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐌻𐌰𐌳𐌴𐌸𐍃 (wailadēþs, “good deed”)
• 𐌳𐍉𐌼𐍃 (dōms, “judgment, fame”)

Usage notes

Miller calls the word semantically opaque and takes it in its literal sense of "placing", as a rendering of the parts of the Greek compound.^[13] Jellinek points out that Gothic had no fixed word for υἱοθεσία: it appears as 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐍃𐍄𐌹𐍃𐌹𐌱𐌾𐌰 (frastisibja) at Romans 9:4, 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌹𐍅𐌴 𐍃𐌹𐌱𐌾𐌰 (suniwē sibja) at Galatians 4:5 and du suniwē gadēdai at Ephesians 1:5.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. gadeþs
2. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. gadēþs
3. ^ Braune, Wilhelm; Heidermanns, Frank (2004), Gotische Grammatik, mit Lesestücken und Wörterverzeichnis, 20th ed., Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte A 1, Tübingen: Niemeyer, p. 277
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐌲𐌰𐌳𐌴𐌸𐍃
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. *dēþs
7. ^ Casaretto, Antje (2004), Nominale Wortbildung der gotischen Sprache: Die Derivation der Substantive, Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 92
9. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 72
10. ^ a b Uhlenbeck, C. C. (1900), Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Müller, p. 53
11. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐌳𐌴𐌸𐍃
12. ^ Krause, Wolfgang (1963), Handbuch des Gotischen, 2nd ed., München: Beck
13. ^ a b c Miller, D. Gary (2019), The Oxford Gothic Grammar, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 336
14. ^ 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
15. ^ 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. Eph 1:5
16. ^ Regan, Brian T. (1974), Dictionary of the Biblical Gothic Language, Phoenix: Wulfila House, p. 66
17. ^ Jellinek, Max Hermann (1926), Geschichte der gotischen Sprache, Grundriss der germanischen Philologie 1,1, Berlin / Leipzig: de Gruyter