𐍃𐌹𐌱𐌿𐌽

Forms

𐍃𐌹𐌱𐌿𐌽 (sibun), an indeclinable cardinal numeral.^[1][2][3] Only the one form 𐍃𐌹𐌱𐌿𐌽 (sibun) is recorded.^[4] The phrase sibun sinþam means "seven times".^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *sebun (“seven”),^[6][7][8] which continues Proto-Indo-European *septḿ̥ (“seven”).^[6][8] The Germanic cognates are Old Norse sjau, Old English seofon, Old Frisian sigun, Old Saxon sibun and Old High German sibun.^[7][9] Feist and Lehmann also cite the Crimean Gothic numeral.^[9][10] Outside Germanic the numeral is Ancient Greek ἑπτά (heptá), Latin septem, Lithuanian septynì, Old Irish secht and Avestan hapta.^[8][11] Germanic lost the t of the Indo-European form, and its final nasal continues a syllabic nasal.^[12][13] Feist explains the kept nasal by analogy with the ordinal "seventh",^[9] Lehmann reports Hamp's view that the cardinal was based on that ordinal,^[10] Krause names Hirt's explanation by dissimilation as a possibility,^[14] and Jellinek cites Pedersen's view that -n after a syllabic nasal was simply not lost.^[13]

Attestation

The Wulfila project counts sixteen tokens, seven in Luke and nine in Mark, all in manuscript CA.^[4] Köbler counts seventeen.^[5] In canonical order the first is Luke 2:36.^[4] PROIEL aligns it fourteen times with Ancient Greek ἑπτά (heptá), and Köbler gives sibun sinþam at Luke 17:4 for ἑπτάκις (heptákis, “seven times”).^[15][5] Luke 8:2 reads us þizaiei usiddjedun unhulþons sibun, "from whom seven devils had gone out".^[16]

Meanings

1. seven, for Ancient Greek ἑπτά (heptá)^[1][15][6]

Word family

• 𐍃𐌹𐌱𐌿𐌽𐍄𐌴𐌷𐌿𐌽𐌳 (sibuntēhund, “seventy”)

References

1. ^ a b Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. sibun
2. ^ Regan, Brian T. (1974), Dictionary of the Biblical Gothic Language, Phoenix: Wulfila House, p. 134
3. ^ Braune, Wilhelm; Heidermanns, Frank (2004), Gotische Grammatik, mit Lesestücken und Wörterverzeichnis, 20th ed., Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte A 1, Tübingen: Niemeyer, p. 293
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. sibun
6. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐍃𐌹𐌱𐌿𐌽
7. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 429
8. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 321
9. ^ a b c Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. sibun
10. ^ a b 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. sibun
11. ^ Uhlenbeck, C. C. (1900), Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Müller, p. 129
12. ^ Kieckers, Ernst (1928), Handbuch der vergleichenden gotischen Grammatik, München: Hueber
13. ^ a b Jellinek, Max Hermann (1926), Geschichte der gotischen Sprache, Grundriss der germanischen Philologie 1,1, Berlin / Leipzig: de Gruyter
14. ^ Krause, Wolfgang (1963), Handbuch des Gotischen, 2nd ed., München: Beck
15. ^ 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
16. ^ 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 8:2