𐌼𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌽

Forms

𐌼𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌽 (magan), a preterite-present verb; the infinitive itself is not recorded.^[1][2] The present has 𐌼𐌰𐌲 (mag, "I, he can", 50 times), 𐌼𐌰𐌲𐍄 (magt), 𐌼𐌰𐌲𐌿𐌸 (maguþ) and 𐌼𐌰𐌲𐌿𐌽 (magun); the preterite is 𐌼𐌰𐌷𐍄𐌰 (mahta), plural 𐌼𐌰𐌷𐍄𐌴𐌳𐌿𐌽 (mahtedun); the participle 𐌼𐌰𐌷𐍄𐍃 (mahts) is recorded, in the Wulfila project's forms.^[3][4] In ni maht ist (John 10:35) the participle gives a passive sense to the infinitive that depends on it, according to Streitberg.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *maganą (“to be able”),^[5] a preterite-present that Kroonen writes *mugan-,^[6] from Proto-Indo-European *magʰ-, *megʰ-.^[5] Köbler calls it etymologically difficult.^[2] Its Germanic cognates are Old Norse mega, Old English magan, Old Frisian muga, Old Saxon mugan and Old High German magan.^[6][7] Orel relates it to Ancient Greek μῆχος (mêkhos, “means, contrivance”) and Proto-Slavic *mogǫ, *mogti (“to be able”), among others;^[7] Feist too compares the Greek word, and he rejects as unlikely Wiedemann's derivation from a root found in Latin macer (“lean”).^[8] The verb's relation to the strong verbs of the fifth and sixth ablaut classes is unclear: Orel puts most of its Germanic forms in the fifth class, and Lehmann reports a possible analogical reanalysis.^[7][4]

Attestation

The Wulfila project counts 208 tokens (74 of them ambiguous) and Köbler 137, in the Gospels, the Pauline epistles and the Skeireins.^[3][2] They are in manuscripts CA, A, B, E, Car and Lat5750.^[3] The first record in canonical order is Matthew 5:36.^[3] In PROIEL's alignment it renders Ancient Greek δύναμαι (dúnamai) 109 times and ἰσχύω (iskhúō) ten times.^[9] Matthew 6:24 has ni manna mag twaim fraujam skalkinon, "no one can serve two masters".^[10]

Meanings

1. to be able, can; for δύναμαι^[1][2][9]
2. to have power, to be strong; for ἰσχύω^[4][2]

Word family

• 𐌲𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌽 (gamagan, “to avail”)
• 𐌼𐌰𐌷𐍄𐍃 (mahts, “might, power”)

Borrowings into other languages

• Spanish: amagar, of uncertain origin, possibly from this verb through Vulgar Latin^[11]
• Galician: esmagar, in one of two explanations^[12]

Usage notes

Streitberg notes that the infinitive depending on it is almost always perfective.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. magan
2. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. magan
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d 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. magan
5. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐌼𐌰𐌲𐌰𐌽
6. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 373
7. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 252
8. ^ Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. magan
9. ^ 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
10. ^ 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 6:24
11. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. amagar
12. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. esmagar