𐌲𐍂𐌴𐍄𐌰𐌽

Forms

𐌲𐍂𐌴𐍄𐌰𐌽 (grētan), a strong verb of class VII, reduplicating with ablaut; also spelled 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (greitan) at John 11:31 and 11:33, Luke 7:38 and Mark 14:72.^[1][2][3] Its principal parts are grētan, gaigrōt, gaigrōtum, grētans.^[4] The Wulfila project records 𐌲𐌰𐌹𐌲𐍂𐍉𐍄 (gaigrōt) (3 times), 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐍄𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰𐌽𐍃 (grētandans) (3), grētan (2), 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐍄𐌹𐌸 (grētiþ) (2), 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐍄𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰𐌼 (grētandam) (2), 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌹 (greitai), 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌴𐌹𐌽 (greitandein), 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌹𐌸 (greitiþ), 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐍄 (grēt), 𐌲𐌰𐌹𐌲𐍂𐍉𐍄𐌿𐌸 (gaigrōtuþ), 𐌲𐌰𐌹𐌲𐍂𐍉𐍄𐌿𐌽 (gaigrōtun), greitan and 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐍄𐌰𐌽𐌳𐍃 (grētands) (once each).^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *grētaną (“to weep, cry”),^[6][7] with cognates in Old Norse gráta, Old English grǣtan, Old Saxon grātan and Middle High German grāzen (“to cry out”).^[7][8] Its causative, with the vowel of the preterite, gave grētan (“to greet”), Old Saxon grōtian (“to address”) and Old High German gruozen (“to address, greet”).^[9][8][10] Further back the origin is unknown.^[11] Lehmann finds no certain cognates outside Germanic and allows that it may be imitative; he mentions a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (sound words) with a d-extension.^[10] Köbler gives that root as a possibility, as Proto-Indo-European *gʰrēd- (“to weep”).^[12] Uhlenbeck hesitated between a comparison with a Sanskrit verb "to sound", which Feist 1888 doubted because the meanings differ, and one with Ancient Greek φράζω (phrázō, “to point out, tell”).^[13][14] Feist and Uhlenbeck compare the Crimean Gothic ⟨criten⟩ "to weep".^[8][13]

Attestation

The Wulfila project counts 20 tokens: two in Matthew, four in John, seven in Luke, four in Mark, two in Romans and one in Philippians.^[5] Most are in manuscript CA (16), with one in C and three in A and B.^[5] The first is Matthew 26:75, recorded in both CA and C.^[5] PROIEL aligns it 18 times with Ancient Greek κλαίω (klaíō), and once each with Ancient Greek πενθέω (penthéō) and Ancient Greek θρηνέω (thrēnéō).^[15] Matthew 26:75 ends jah usgaggands ut gaigrot baitraba, "and going out he wept bitterly".^[16]

Meanings

1. To weep, cry, lament, for κλαίω; with bi and the accusative, to weep over.^{[1][4][17][15]}
2. To cry out, for κράζειν.^[12][18]

Word family

• 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐍄𐍃 (grēts, “weeping”)

References

1. ^ a b Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. gretan
2. ^ Braune, Wilhelm; Heidermanns, Frank (2004), Gotische Grammatik, mit Lesestücken und Wörterverzeichnis, 20th ed., Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte A 1, Tübingen: Niemeyer, p. 279
3. ^ Krause, Wolfgang (1963), Handbuch des Gotischen, 2nd ed., München: Beck
4. ^ a b Regan, Brian T. (1974), Dictionary of the Biblical Gothic Language, Phoenix: Wulfila House, p. 73
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐌲𐍂𐌴𐍄𐌰𐌽
7. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 187
8. ^ a b c Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. gretan
9. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 192
10. ^ 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. gretan
11. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 142
12. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. grētan
13. ^ a b Uhlenbeck, C. C. (1900), Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Müller, p. 66
14. ^ Feist, Sigmund (1888), Grundriss der gotischen Etymologie, Strassburg: Trübner, p. s.v. gretan
15. ^ 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
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 26:75
17. ^ Balg, G. H. (1887–1889), A Comparative Glossary of the Gothic Language, with Especial Reference to English and German, Mayville, Wis.: the author, p. 140
18. ^ 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. 436