𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂

Forms

𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂 (wair), a masculine noun of the a-stem class.^[1][2][3] The nominative singular has no ending -s, which Gothic drops after r preceded by a short vowel, as in 𐍃𐍄𐌹𐌿𐍂 (stiur).^[4][5] The Wulfila project records the nominative plural 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂𐍉𐍃 (wairos, ten times), the nominative singular 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂 (wair, eight), the dative singular 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌰 (waira, six), the genitive plural 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌴 (waire, three), the accusative plural 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌰𐌽𐍃 (wairans, three) and the dative plural 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌰𐌼 (wairam, once).^[6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *wiraz (“man”),^[7][8][9] from Proto-Indo-European *wiHrós (“man”).^[7][9] The same word is Old Norse verr in Old Norse and wer in Old English, Old Saxon and Old High German.^[9][8][4] Outside Germanic it corresponds to Latin vir, Old Irish fer in Old Irish, Lithuanian výras in Lithuanian and Sanskrit वीर (vīrá, “man, hero”) in Sanskrit.^[9][7][10] Orel separates a form with short i (Latin, Celtic) from one with long ī (Sanskrit, Avestan, Umbrian, Lithuanian), and Lehmann ascribes the long vowel to the eastern dialects.^[8][4] Feist calls a link with Latin vīs (“strength”) unprovable, while Uhlenbeck allowed it.^[5][10]

Attestation

The Wulfila project counts 31 tokens, in Matthew, John, Luke, Mark, Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1 Timothy, Nehemiah and the Skeireins.^[6] Köbler counts 29 records.^[6][2] They are in manuscripts CA (10), A (9), B (5), D (6) and E (1).^[6] The first in canonical order is waira at Matthew 7:24 in CA.^[6] PROIEL aligns all 22 of its tokens with Ancient Greek ἀνήρ (anḗr).^[11] Matthew 7:24 reads 𐌲𐌰𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍉 𐌹𐌽𐌰 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌰 𐍆𐍂𐍉𐌳𐌰𐌼𐌼𐌰 (galeiko ina waira frodamma), "I will liken him to a wise man".^[12]

Meanings

1. A man, an adult male, for ἀνήρ.^[13][2][1]

Word family

• 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌰𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍉 (wairaleikō, “in a manly way”)
• 𐌿𐍆𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌰 (ufwaira, “married”)

References

1. ^ a b Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. wair
2. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wair
3. ^ Braune, Wilhelm; Heidermanns, Frank (2004), Gotische Grammatik, mit Lesestücken und Wörterverzeichnis, 20th ed., Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte A 1, Tübingen: Niemeyer, p. 301
4. ^ 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. wair
5. ^ a b Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. wair
6. ^ a b c d e 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
7. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐍅𐌰𐌹𐍂
8. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 463
9. ^ a b c d Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 588
10. ^ a b Uhlenbeck, C. C. (1900), Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Müller, p. 164
11. ^ 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
12. ^ 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 7:24
13. ^ Regan, Brian T. (1974), Dictionary of the Biblical Gothic Language, Phoenix: Wulfila House, p. 174