𐍃𐌹𐌺

Forms

𐍃𐌹𐌺 (sik), the accusative of the reflexive pronoun of the third person, used for the singular and the plural; the genitive is 𐍃𐌴𐌹𐌽𐌰 (seina) and the dative 𐍃𐌹𐍃 (sis).^[1][2] It has no nominative, since it always refers to the subject of its clause.^[2][1] The Wulfila project counts 𐍃𐌹𐌺 (sik) 171 times, 𐍃𐌹𐍃 (sis) 117 times and 𐍃𐌴𐌹𐌽𐌰 (seina) 29 times.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *sek,^[4][5] which continues the reflexive stem Proto-Indo-European *se- followed by the particle that also gives the final k of 𐌼𐌹𐌺 (mik, “me”).^[5][6][7] The Germanic cognates are Old Norse sik, Middle Low German sik and Old High German sih.^[5][6] Outside Germanic, Feist and Lehmann compare Latin sē and its dative sibi.^[7][6]

Attestation

The Wulfila project counts 317 tokens (29 of them ambiguous), in the Gospels, the Epistles and the Skeireins, and in manuscripts CA, A, B, C, E, Car and Lat5750.^[3] Köbler counts 267 records.^[3][8] The first in canonical order is the dative 𐍃𐌹𐍃 (sis) at Matthew 5:42.^[3] Of PROIEL's 247 tokens, 88 render Ancient Greek ἑαυτοῦ (heautoû), 21 αὐτός (autós) and 14 ἀλλήλων (allḗlōn).^[9] Matthew 6:29 reads nih Saulaumon in allamma wulþau seinamma gawasida sik swe ains þize, "not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these".^[10]

Meanings

1. himself, herself, itself, themselves, referring to the subject of the clause.^[2][1][8]
2. With 𐌼𐌹𐍃𐍃𐍉 (missō), the dative sis missō means "one another", for Ancient Greek ἀλλήλοις (allḗlois).^[2][8]

Related words

• 𐍃𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 (seins)

Usage notes

Several Gothic verbs are construed with the reflexive, such as skaman sik "to be ashamed" and sunjon sik "to excuse oneself".^[11][12]

References

1. ^ a b c Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. sik
2. ^ a b c d Regan, Brian T. (1974), Dictionary of the Biblical Gothic Language, Phoenix: Wulfila House, p. 134
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. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐍃𐌹𐌺
5. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 323
6. ^ 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. sik
7. ^ a b Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. sik
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. sik
9. ^ 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 6:29
11. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 333
12. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 492