𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰

Forms

𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰 (þiuda), a feminine ō-stem noun.^[1][2][3][4] The Wulfila project records the dative plural 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐍉𐌼 (þiudom, 24 times), the nominative and accusative plural 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐍉𐍃 (þiudos, 21), the genitive plural 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐍉 (þiudo, 12), the nominative and accusative singular 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰 (þiuda, twice) and the dative singular 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌹 (þiudai, once).^[5][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *þeudō (“people, nation”),^[6][7][8] from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂ (“people”), which Kroonen and Pronk-Tiethoff count among the words limited to the European branches.^[6][7][9] The Germanic cognates are Old Norse þjóð, Old English þēod, Old Frisian thiāde, Old Saxon thioda and Old High German diota.^[7][8] Outside Germanic they include Oscan touto (“community”), Old Irish túath (“people, tribe”), Lithuanian tautà (“people, nation”), Latvian tauta and Old Prussian tauto (“land”).^[7][9][10] Orel also identifies it with Hittite tuzzi- (“army”), a comparison Lehmann reports from Gamkrelidze and Ivanov and which Pronk-Tiethoff, after Kloekhorst, rejects.^[8][11][9] Lehmann and Casaretto derive the noun from the root Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂- (“to swell”), from which Sanskrit has a verb meaning "to be strong", and Lehmann notes that de Vries opposed this derivation and Benveniste accepted it.^[11][4]

Attestation

The Wulfila project counts 60 tokens and Köbler 55 records, in all four Gospels, in Romans (14 tokens), 1 and 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Galatians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy and in Nehemiah.^[5][2] The manuscripts are CA, A, B, Car and, for Nehemiah, D; Köbler also lists a record in the Gothica Bononiensia.^[5][2] In canonical order the first is the genitive plural þiudo at Matthew 5:46.^[5] In the Gospels and Epistles it renders Ancient Greek ἔθνος (éthnos) 38 times and Ancient Greek Ἕλλην (Héllēn) five times.^[12] Matthew 6:7 reads ni filuwaurdjaiþ swaswe þai þiudo, "do not use many words, as the heathen do".^[13] Köbler also cites it in the personal names Theodagunda and Theudegisl.^[2]

Meanings

1. A people, nation, for Ancient Greek ἔθνος (éthnos).^[1][2][6]
2. In the plural, the heathen, the Gentiles, for τὰ ἔθνη and Ancient Greek ἐθνικοί (ethnikoí), also as þai þiudo "those of the heathen".^[1][3][14]
3. For Ancient Greek Ἕλληνες (Héllēnes), the Greeks as non-Jews.^[1][11]
4. fauramaþleis þiudos, a governor, for Ancient Greek ἐθνάρχης (ethnárkhēs) at 2 Corinthians 11:32.^[2][15]

Word family

• 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰 (Gutþiuda, “the Gothic people”)
• 𐌿𐌽𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰 (unþiuda, “non-nation”)
• 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌹𐌽𐌰𐍃𐍃𐌿𐍃 (þiudinassus, “kingdom”)

Borrowings into other languages

• Proto-Slavic: *tjudjь (“foreign”), which because of its final d has often been taken for a Germanic loanword, among others from this Gothic word.^[9][6]

Related words

• 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌽𐍃 (þiudans, “king”)
• 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌽𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌳𐌹 (þiudangardi, “kingdom”)
• 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌹𐍃𐌺𐍉 (þiudiskō, “in the manner of the Gentiles”)

References

1. ^ a b c d Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. þiuda
2. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. þiuda
3. ^ a b Braune, Wilhelm; Heidermanns, Frank (2004), Gotische Grammatik, mit Lesestücken und Wörterverzeichnis, 20th ed., Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte A 1, Tübingen: Niemeyer, p. 298
4. ^ a b Casaretto, Antje (2004), Nominale Wortbildung der gotischen Sprache: Die Derivation der Substantive, Heidelberg: Winter
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. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰
7. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 539
8. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 423
9. ^ a b c d Pronk-Tiethoff, Saskia (2013), The Germanic Loanwords in Proto-Slavic, Leiden Studies in Indo-European 20, Amsterdam / New York: Rodopi
10. ^ Uhlenbeck, C. C. (1900), Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Müller, p. 151
11. ^ 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. þiuda
12. ^ 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
13. ^ 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 6:7
14. ^ Lambdin, Thomas O. (2006), An Introduction to the Gothic Language, Eugene, Or.: Wipf and Stock, p. 184
15. ^ 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. 475