𐍄𐌰𐌿𐌾𐌰𐌽

Forms

𐍄𐌰𐌿𐌾𐌰𐌽 (taujan), a weak verb of the first class, with the preterite 𐍄𐌰𐍅𐌹𐌳𐌰 (tawida) and the past participle tawiþs.^[1][2] The Wulfila project lists 25 forms; the commonest are 𐍄𐌰𐌿𐌾𐌹𐌸 (taujiþ, 35), 𐍄𐌰𐌿𐌾𐌰𐌽 (taujan, 34), taujaiþ (21) and tauja (19), and the preterite occurs as tawida (7), tawideduþ (4), tawidedeina (3) and 𐍄𐌰𐍅𐌹𐌳𐌴𐌳𐌿𐌽 (tawidedun, 2).^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *tawjaną (“to make”).^[4][5] The same verb is recorded in the runic preterite Proto-Norse tawido (“I made”) on the Gallehus horn, and in Old English tawian (“to prepare”), Middle Low German touwen (“to prepare”) and Old High German zouwen (“to make ready”).^[6][7][5][8] Lehmann lists derived nouns for tools, such as Old Norse tól and Old English tōl, and specialised meanings such as "to dress skins" in English taw.^[9] Lehmann finds no accepted etymology beyond Germanic.^[9] Orel derives the verb from the noun Proto-Germanic *tawō, with a shift from a concrete to an abstract meaning.^[5] Osthoff (reported by Uhlenbeck) joined it to Avestan and Sanskrit words for "far", with an original sense "to bring forward".^[10]

Attestation

The Wulfila project counts 220 tokens, in all four Gospels, in most of the Epistles, in Nehemiah and in the Skeireins.^[3] Köbler counts 212 records.^[11] The tokens are in manuscripts CA (128), A (41), B (39), C, Car, D and E.^[3] The first in canonical order is at Matthew 5:19.^[3] In PROIEL it renders Ancient Greek ποιέω (poiéō) 173 times and πράσσω (prássō) eight times, and it forms phrases for Greek compounds such as ἀγαθοποιέω (agathopoiéō) (four times).^[12] Matthew 5:19 reads iþ saei taujiþ jah laisjai swa, sah mikils haitada in þiudangardjai himine, "but whoever does and teaches so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven".^[13]

Meanings

1. to do, act, carry out; for Ancient Greek ποιέω (poiéō) and πράσσω (prássō).^[1][2][12]
2. to make, form, produce; bring about.^[2][11]
3. With a noun or adverb, a light verb rendering a single Greek verb: þiuþ taujan "to do good" for ἀγαθοποιέω (agathopoiéō), gawairþi taujan "to make peace" for εἰρηνοποιέω (eirēnopoiéō).^[11][2]

Word family

• 𐌲𐌰𐍄𐌰𐌿𐌾𐌰𐌽 (gataujan, “to do, accomplish”)
• 𐌼𐌹𐍃𐍃𐌰𐍄𐌰𐌿𐌾𐌰𐌽 (missataujan, “to transgress”)
• 𐍄𐌰𐌿𐌹 (taui, “work, deed”)
• 𐍆𐌿𐌻𐌻𐌰𐍄𐍉𐌾𐌹𐍃 (fullatōjis, “perfect”)
• 𐌿𐌱𐌹𐌻𐍄𐍉𐌾𐌹𐍃 (ubiltōjis, “evildoer”)

Borrowings into other languages

• Spanish: ataviar^[4][14]
• Portuguese: ataviar^[4][14]
• Galician: ataviar^[4]
• Asturian: ataviar^[4]

Related words

• 𐍄𐌴𐍅𐌰 (tēwa, “order”)

Usage notes

Regan notes that taujan often only supplies the verbal force of a phrase whose meaning lies in a noun or adjective, much like English do.^[2] The Romance verbs mean "to adorn"; Čevelová and Blažek trace them to this word, and Gamillscheg treats it in Romania Germanica III, 75.^[14][15]

References

1. ^ a b Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. taujan
2. ^ a b c d e Regan, Brian T. (1974), Dictionary of the Biblical Gothic Language, Phoenix: Wulfila House, p. 151
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. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐍄𐌰𐌿𐌾𐌰𐌽
5. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. *tawjanan
6. ^ Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. taujan
7. ^ Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 511
8. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Gotisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. 107
9. ^ 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. taujan
10. ^ Uhlenbeck, C. C. (1900), Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Müller, p. 146
11. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. taujan
12. ^ 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
13. ^ 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 5:19
14. ^ a b c Čevelová, Dana; Blažek, Václav (2009), Gothic loans in Romance languages, Linguistica Brunensia 57, 143–167
15. ^ Gamillscheg, Ernst (1970), Romania Germanica: Sprach- und Siedlungsgeschichte der Germanen auf dem Boden des alten Römerreichs, vol. 1: Zu den ältesten Berührungen zwischen Römern und Germanen. Die Franken, 2nd ed., Berlin: de Gruyter, p. 308