𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌿𐍃

Forms

𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌿𐍃 (sunus), a masculine u-stem noun.^[1][2] The Wulfila project counts the forms 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌰𐌿𐍃 (sunaus, 91), 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌿𐍃 (sunus, 89), 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌾𐌿𐍃 (sunjus, 37), 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌿 (sunu, 27), 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌰𐌿 (sunau, 18), 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌹𐍅𐌴 (suniwe, 18), 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌿𐌼 (sunum, 12) and 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌿𐌽𐍃 (sununs, 5).^[3] As in other u-stems, -u- and -au- alternate in the singular: Miller notes the nominative sunaus at Luke 4:3 and the genitive sunus at Luke 17:22, and Regan gives sunau and sunu for both the dative and the vocative.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *sunuz (“son”), from Proto-Indo-European *suHnús.^[6][7] The Germanic cognates are Old Norse sonr, Old English sunu, Old Frisian sunu, Old Saxon sunu and Old High German sunu.^[8][9] Outside Germanic it corresponds to Lithuanian sūnùs and Proto-Slavic *synъ, and to Sanskrit and Avestan nouns for "son".^[8][7] Casaretto classes it as a primary formation with a nu-suffix from Proto-Indo-European *seuH- (“to give birth”).^[9] Feist, Holthausen and Uhlenbeck connect Ancient Greek υἱός (huiós, “son”) and Old Irish suth (“birth, fruit”) with the same root.^[10][11][12] Feist also reports Kluge's attempt, which he argues against, to derive it from the stem of 𐍃𐍅𐌴𐍃 (swēs, “own”).^[10] The short u against the long vowel of the Lithuanian word is explained by Orel as oxytonic shortening and by Snædal as a shortening before a resonant (Dybo's law).^[8][13]

Attestation

The Wulfila project counts 297 tokens, in all four Gospels, in Romans, the Corinthian letters, Ephesians, Galatians, Colossians and the Thessalonian letters, in Nehemiah and in the Skeireins.^[3] Köbler counts 299 records.^[14] Most are in manuscript CA, with others in A, B, C, D, E and Lat5750.^[3] The first in canonical order is at Matthew 5:45.^[3] In PROIEL it renders Ancient Greek υἱός (huiós) 156 times.^[15] Matthew 5:45 reads ei wairþaiþ sunjus attins izwaris þis in himinam, "that you may become sons of your Father who is in heaven".^[16]

Meanings

1. son; for Ancient Greek υἱός (huiós).^[1][14][15]
2. In sunus mans "the Son of Man" and sunus guþs "the Son of God".^[17][18]
3. In the genitive plural with sibja, suniwe sibja "adoption", for υἱοθεσία (huiothesía).^[14]

Usage notes

In the genealogy of Luke 3:23–38 the Codex Argenteus sets the word sunaus in its first column and the ancestor's name in the second.^[19] Kock, after Leo Meyer, counts seven vocatives sunau and one sunu.^[20]

References

1. ^ a b Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. sunus
2. ^ Braune, Wilhelm; Heidermanns, Frank (2004), Gotische Grammatik, mit Lesestücken und Wörterverzeichnis, 20th ed., Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte A 1, Tübingen: Niemeyer, p. 296
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. ^ Miller, D. Gary (2019), The Oxford Gothic Grammar, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 61
5. ^ Regan, Brian T. (1974), Dictionary of the Biblical Gothic Language, Phoenix: Wulfila House, p. 145
6. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐍃𐌿𐌽𐌿𐍃
7. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 492
8. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. *sunuz
9. ^ a b Casaretto, Antje (2004), Nominale Wortbildung der gotischen Sprache: Die Derivation der Substantive, Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. sunus
11. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Gotisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. 102
12. ^ Uhlenbeck, C. C. (1900), Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Müller, p. 142
13. ^ Snædal, Magnús (2016), Gothic banja*, winja and sunja, Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis 133, 97–108
14. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. sunus
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. Mt 5:45
17. ^ Schulze, Ernst (1848), Gothisches Glossar, mit einer Vorrede von Jacob Grimm, Magdeburg: Heinrichshofen, p. s.v. sunus
18. ^ Miller, D. Gary (2019), The Oxford Gothic Grammar, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 421
19. ^ Falluomini, Carla (2015), The Gothic Version of the Gospels and Pauline Epistles: Cultural Background, Transmission and Character, Arbeiten zur neutestamentlichen Textforschung 46, Berlin / Boston: de Gruyter, p. 59
20. ^ Kock, Axel (1896), Kleine gotische Beiträge, Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur 21, 429ff.