𐌳𐌰𐌲𐍃

Forms

𐌳𐌰𐌲𐍃 (dags), a masculine noun of the a-stem class.^[1][2][3] The Wulfila project records the dative singular 𐌳𐌰𐌲𐌰 (daga, 80 times), the dative plural 𐌳𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌼 (dagam, 30), the accusative singular 𐌳𐌰𐌲 (dag, 21), the accusative plural 𐌳𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌽𐍃 (dagans, 20), the nominative plural 𐌳𐌰𐌲𐍉𐍃 (dagos, 12), the genitive plural 𐌳𐌰𐌲𐌴 (dage, 11), the nominative singular 𐌳𐌰𐌲𐍃 (dags, 11) and the genitive singular 𐌳𐌰𐌲𐌹𐍃 (dagis, 10).^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *dagaz (“day”),^[6][2][7] which is Old Norse dagr in Old Norse, Old English dæg in Old English, Old Frisian dei in Old Frisian, Old Saxon dag in Old Saxon and Old High German tac in Old High German.^[8][9][7] Kroonen takes it as a thematic noun and relates it to the lengthened grade of 𐌰𐌷𐍄𐌰𐌿𐌳𐍉𐌲𐍃 (ahtaudōgs, “eight days old”) and 𐍆𐌹𐌳𐌿𐍂𐌳𐍉𐌲𐍃 (fidurdōgs, “lasting four days”).^[9] Orel, Feist and Casaretto connect it with the root Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- (“to burn”), comparing Lithuanian dãgas (“summer heat”) and Middle Irish daig (“fire”); the day would then be the time when the sun burns.^{[7][10][11][12]} Lehmann thinks a conflation with the word for "day" seen in Sanskrit and Avestan more likely, since the labiovelar of the burning root does not show in Germanic.^[8]

Attestation

The Wulfila project counts 195 tokens, in Matthew, John, Luke, Mark, Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Galatians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy and Nehemiah.^[4] Köbler counts 186 records.^[4][2] Most are in manuscript CA (136), the rest in A, B, C and D.^[4] The first in canonical order is daga at Matthew 6:11 in CA.^[4] PROIEL aligns 140 of its 175 tokens with Ancient Greek ἡμέρα (hēméra), ten with Ancient Greek σήμερον (sḗmeron, “today”) and four with Ancient Greek σάββατον (sábbaton).^[13] Matthew 6:11 reads 𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌹𐍆 𐌿𐌽𐍃𐌰𐍂𐌰𐌽𐌰 𐌸𐌰𐌽𐌰 𐍃𐌹𐌽𐍄𐌴𐌹𐌽𐌰𐌽 𐌲𐌹𐍆 𐌿𐌽𐍃 𐌷𐌹𐌼𐌼𐌰 𐌳𐌰𐌲𐌰 (hlaif unsarana þana sinteinan gif uns himma daga), "give us this day our daily bread".^[14]

Meanings

1. A day, for ἡμέρα.^[1][2][15]
2. In phrases: himma daga "today" for σήμερον, daga ƕammēh and dagis ƕizuh "daily", daga jah daga "day by day", dag hindar daga "day after day".^[1][2][16]
3. The name of the letter for d.^[2][15]

Word family

• 𐌰𐍆𐌰𐍂𐌳𐌰𐌲𐍃 (afardags, “the next day”)
• 𐌲𐌹𐍃𐍄𐍂𐌰𐌳𐌰𐌲𐌹𐍃 (gistradagis, “tomorrow”)
• 𐌰𐌷𐍄𐌰𐌿𐌳𐍉𐌲𐍃 (ahtaudōgs, “eight days old”)
• 𐍆𐌹𐌳𐌿𐍂𐌳𐍉𐌲𐍃 (fidurdōgs, “lasting four days”)

Related words

• 𐌳𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌽𐌳𐍃 (dagānds, “day-bringer”)

Usage notes

As the name of the letter d, the word is recorded as daaz in the Salzburg-Vienna Alcuin manuscript.^[15][17] Lehmann and Feist cite Crimean Gothic tag "day" from the same source.^[8][10]

References

1. ^ a b c Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. dags
2. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. dags
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 e 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. ^ Slocum, Jonathan; Krause, Todd B., Gothic Online, Base Form Dictionary, Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas at Austin
6. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐌳𐌰𐌲𐍃
7. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 66
8. ^ a b c 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. dags
9. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 86
10. ^ a b Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. dags
11. ^ Casaretto, Antje (2004), Nominale Wortbildung der gotischen Sprache: Die Derivation der Substantive, Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ Uhlenbeck, C. C. (1900), Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Müller, p. 33
13. ^ 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 6:11
15. ^ a b c Regan, Brian T. (1974), Dictionary of the Biblical Gothic Language, Phoenix: Wulfila House, p. 51
16. ^ Wright, Joseph (1910), Grammar of the Gothic Language, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. dags
17. ^ Grienberger, Theodor von (1896), Die germanischen Runennamen. 1. Die gotischen Buchstabennamen, Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur 21, 185ff.