𐍃𐍀𐌴𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌽

Forms

𐍃𐍀𐌴𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌽 (speiwan), a strong verb of the first class.^[1][2][3] Its principal parts are 𐍃𐍀𐌴𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌽 (speiwan), 𐍃𐍀𐌰𐌹𐍅 (-spaiw, recorded only in a compound), 𐍃𐍀𐌹𐍅𐌿𐌽 (spiwun) and the unrecorded past participle *spiwans.^[4] The recorded forms are the infinitive 𐍃𐍀𐌴𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌽 (speiwan), the third person plural present 𐍃𐍀𐌴𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌽𐌳 (speiwand), the present participle 𐍃𐍀𐌴𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌽𐌳𐍃 (speiwands) and the third person plural preterite 𐍃𐍀𐌹𐍅𐌿𐌽 (spiwun).^[3][5] At Mark 7:33 the participle is spelled 𐍃𐍀𐌴𐍅𐌰𐌽𐌳𐍃 (spewands).^[1][6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *spīwaną (“to spew, to spit”),^[7][8] the source also of Old Norse spýja, Old English spīwan, Old Frisian spīa, Old Saxon spīwan and Old High German spīwan.^[9][8][10] Its cognates outside Germanic are Latin spuō (“to spit”), Ancient Greek πτύω (ptúō), Lithuanian spiáuti, Old Church Slavonic пльвати (plĭvati) and Sanskrit ष्ठीवति (ṣṭhīvati), which point to a root that Wiktionary writes Proto-Indo-European *(s)ptyēw- (“to spit, vomit”).^[9][11][10] Uhlenbeck held the root to be imitative;^[12] Lehmann notes that the irregular forms of several languages have been put down to sound symbolism, but that the matching ablaut patterns point to an inherited Proto-Indo-European verb.^[13]

Attestation

The Wulfila project counts four tokens, at Matthew 26:67 in manuscript C and at Mark 8:23, 10:34 and 14:65 in manuscript CA.^[5] Köbler and PROIEL count five, adding the variant spelling at Mark 7:33.^[3][14] It renders Ancient Greek ἐμπτύω (emptúō) three times and πτύω (ptúō) twice.^[14] Matthew 26:67 reads þanuh spiwun ana andawleizn is, "then they spat in his face".^[15]

Meanings

1. To spit (for πτύω and ἐμπτύω), with ana "on" or in "into".^[7][16][3]

Word family

• 𐌰𐌽𐌳𐍃𐍀𐌴𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌽 (andspeiwan, “to reject”)
• 𐌱𐌹𐍃𐍀𐌴𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌽 (bispeiwan, “to spit upon”)
• 𐌲𐌰𐍃𐍀𐌴𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌽 (gaspeiwan, “to spit”)

Related words

• 𐍃𐍀𐌰𐌹𐍃𐌺𐌿𐌻𐌳𐍂 (spaiskuldr, “saliva”)

References

1. ^ a b Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. speiwan
2. ^ Braune, Wilhelm; Heidermanns, Frank (2004), Gotische Grammatik, mit Lesestücken und Wörterverzeichnis, 20th ed., Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte A 1, Tübingen: Niemeyer, p. 295
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. speiwan
4. ^ Miller, D. Gary (2019), The Oxford Gothic Grammar, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 179
5. ^ a b 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
6. ^ Stamm, Friedrich Ludwig; Heyne, Moriz (1920), Ulfilas oder die uns erhaltenen Denkmäler der gotischen Sprache: Text, Wörterbuch und Grammatik, 13th–14th ed. by Ferdinand Wrede, Paderborn: Schöningh, p. 467
7. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐍃𐍀𐌴𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌽
8. ^ a b Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 468
9. ^ a b Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. speiwan
10. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. *spīwanan
11. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *spīwaną
12. ^ Uhlenbeck, C. C. (1900), Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Müller, p. 138
13. ^ 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. speiwan
14. ^ 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
15. ^ 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 26:67
16. ^ Balg, G. H. (1887–1889), A Comparative Glossary of the Gothic Language, with Especial Reference to English and German, Mayville, Wis.: the author, p. 387