𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽

Forms

𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (kausjan), a weak verb of the first class.^[1][2][3] It takes a dative or genitive in the sense "to taste" and an accusative in the sense "to test".^[1][4] The recorded forms are 𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌴𐌹𐌸 (kauseiþ), 𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽𐌳 (kausjand), 𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌹𐍃 (kausjais), 𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌹 (kausjai) and the infinitive kausjan.^[5][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *kauzijaną (“to sample, taste”),^[6] a causative of the verb continued in 𐌺𐌹𐌿𐍃𐌰𐌽 (kiusan, “to test, choose”).^[7][8] Köbler traces it to the root Proto-Indo-European *g̑eus- (“to taste, enjoy”).^[4] Feist relates Old Saxon korōn in Old Saxon and Old High German korōn in Old High German, "to taste, try", formed from the zero grade of the root.^[9] Pronk-Tiethoff notes that the Gothic verb is the only Germanic form that corresponds exactly to Proto-Slavic *kusiti, a Slavic loanword.^[8] Outside Germanic, Feist and Holthausen compare a Sanskrit verb meaning "likes, takes pleasure in", and Pronk-Tiethoff cites Ancient Greek γεύομαι (geúomai, “to taste, enjoy”) and Latin gustus (“taste”).^[9][10][8]

Attestation

The Wulfila project counts nine tokens: three in Luke and one each in John and Mark, from manuscript CA, and two each in 2 Corinthians and Colossians, from A and B; Köbler counts seven records.^[5][4] The first in canonical order is John 8:52.^[5] PROIEL aligns it five times with Ancient Greek γεύομαι (geúomai) and twice with Ancient Greek δοκιμάζω (dokimázō).^[11] Luke 9:27 reads sind sumai þize her standandane þaiei ni kausjand dauþau, "there are some of those standing here who will not taste death".^[12]

Meanings

1. to taste, come to know by experience (with the dative or genitive), for γεύομαι^[1][4][11]
2. to test, prove (with the accusative), for δοκιμάζω^[1][4][11]

Word family

• 𐌲𐌰𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽 (gakausjan, “to test, prove”)

Borrowings into other languages

• Proto-Slavic: *kusiti (“to try, taste”), generally regarded as borrowed from kausjan.^[8][13] Kiparsky lists the scholars who hold this view and reports Brückner's and Mikkola's objections.^[13][8][6]
• Old French: choisir (“to see, distinguish”), which Čevelová and Blažek list among the Romance words from kausjan.^[14] Wiktionary gives Frankish or Gothic as its source.^[14][6]
• Old Occitan: causir (“to see”)^[14]
• Galician: cousir, ultimately from kausjan according to Wiktionary^[6]

Related words

• 𐌺𐌹𐌿𐍃𐌰𐌽 (kiusan, “to test, choose”)

References

1. ^ a b c d Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. kausjan
2. ^ Braune, Wilhelm; Heidermanns, Frank (2004), Gotische Grammatik, mit Lesestücken und Wörterverzeichnis, 20th ed., Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte A 1, Tübingen: Niemeyer, p. 285
3. ^ Regan, Brian T. (1974), Dictionary of the Biblical Gothic Language, Phoenix: Wulfila House, p. 96
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. kausjan
5. ^ a b c 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. 𐌺𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌾𐌰𐌽
7. ^ Uhlenbeck, C. C. (1900), Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Müller, p. 94
8. ^ a b c d e Pronk-Tiethoff, Saskia (2013), The Germanic Loanwords in Proto-Slavic, Leiden Studies in Indo-European 20, Amsterdam / New York: Rodopi
9. ^ a b Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. kausjan
10. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Gotisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. 56
11. ^ a b c 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
12. ^ 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. Lk 9:27
13. ^ a b Kiparsky, Valentin (1934), Die gemeinslavischen Lehnwörter aus dem Germanischen, Annales Academiae Scientiarum Fennicae B XXXII,2, Helsinki
14. ^ a b c Čevelová, Dana; Blažek, Václav (2009), Gothic loans in Romance languages, Linguistica Brunensia 57, 143–167