𐌽𐌿

Forms

𐌽𐌿 (nu), an indeclinable adverb and conjunction.^[1][2] It is also used as a neuter noun, "the present moment", in fram himma nu and fram þamma nu "from now on" and und hita nu "until now".^[1][3] Placed after an article it serves as an adjective, "present", for example in þamma nu mela "at this present time".^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *nu (“now”),^[5] which Kroonen writes with a long vowel, *nū.^[6] It continues Proto-Indo-European *nu (“now”).^[6][7] Its Germanic cognates are Old Norse nú, Old English nū, Old Frisian nū, Old Saxon nū and Old High German nu.^[8] Outside Germanic the sources compare Hittite nu (“now, and”), Ancient Greek νῦν (nûn, “now”), Latin nunc (“now”) and Old Irish nu.^[8][9][6] Uhlenbeck takes the words for "new" to rest on the zero grade of the same element.^[10]

Attestation

The Wulfila project lists 257 tokens under the adverb and 235 under the conjunction, 213 of them ambiguous between the two.^[2] Köbler counts 234 records.^[2][7] It occurs in all four Gospels, in most of the Epistles and in the Skeireins, in manuscripts CA, A, B, C, Car, E and Lat5750.^[2] The first record is the conjunction at Matthew 5:19 in CA.^[2][11] In PROIEL's Gospels and Epistles it renders Ancient Greek οὖν (oûn) 90 times, νῦν (nûn) 67 times, ἄρτι (árti) 13 times and νυνί (nuní) ten times.^[11] At Matthew 5:23 the conjunction stands in jabai nu bairais aibr þein du hunslastada, "so if you bring your gift to the altar".^[12]

Meanings

1. now, at present, just now; for νῦν, νυνί and ἄρτι.^[3][7][5]
2. (conjunction) so then, therefore, consequently; for οὖν.^[3][5][7]

Word family

• 𐌽𐌿𐌷 (nuh)
• 𐌽𐌿𐌽𐌿 (nunu, “therefore”)
• 𐌸𐌰𐌽𐌽𐌿 (þannu, “therefore”)

Related words

• 𐌽𐌹𐌿𐌾𐌹𐍃 (niujis, “new”)

Usage notes

The conjunction never begins a clause and mostly stands in second place; when a negation begins the clause, nu follows the word the negation belongs to.^[3][2]

References

1. ^ 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. 290
2. ^ a b c d e f 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
3. ^ a b c d e Regan, Brian T. (1974), Dictionary of the Biblical Gothic Language, Phoenix: Wulfila House, p. 118
4. ^ Lambdin, Thomas O. (2006), An Introduction to the Gothic Language, Eugene, Or.: Wipf and Stock, p. 181
5. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐌽𐌿
6. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 392
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. nū
8. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 289
9. ^ 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. nu
10. ^ Uhlenbeck, C. C. (1900), Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Müller, p. 117
11. ^ 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
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. Mt 5:23