𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳

Forms

𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (waurd), a neuter a-stem noun.^[1][2][3] The Wulfila project counts 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (waurd) 102 times, 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳𐌰 (waurda) 58, 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳𐌴 (waurde) 19, 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳𐌹𐍃 (waurdis) 15 and 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳𐌰𐌼 (waurdam) 14 times.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *wurdą (“word”),^[5][2] from Proto-Indo-European *werdʰom.^[5] The Germanic cognates are Old Norse orð, Old English word, Old Frisian word, Old Saxon word and Old High German wort.^[6][7] Casaretto counts it among the a-stems with no Germanic base word and notes the exact match Old Prussian wirds (“word”).^[8] Outside Germanic, Feist and Lehmann also compare Latin verbum (“word”) and Lithuanian vardas (“name”).^[6][9] Feist and Uhlenbeck reconstruct a root Proto-Indo-European *werdʰ-, an extension of the root seen in Ancient Greek εἴρω (eírō, “to say”).^[6][7] Lehmann analyses it as *wer- (“to speak”) with a dental suffix, "something spoken", and Köbler likewise derives it from *wer- "to say".^[9][2]

Attestation

The Wulfila project counts 208 tokens and Köbler 186 records, in all four Gospels, in the Pauline epistles, in Nehemiah and in the Skeireins.^[4][2] The Wulfila project finds it in manuscripts CA, A, B, C, D, E and Speyer, and the first record in canonical order is Matthew 5:37 in CA.^[4] In the Gospels and Epistles PROIEL aligns it with Ancient Greek λόγος (lógos) 130 times and with ῥῆμα (rhêma) 39 times.^[10] Matthew 5:37 begins sijaiþ þan waurd izwar ja ja, ne ne ("let your word be yes, yes, no, no").^[11]

Meanings

1. A word, an utterance or saying, for λόγος and ῥῆμα.^[1][12][10]
2. speech, talk.^[3][13]
3. A thing or matter, a topic.^[12]

Word family

• 𐌲𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌸𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (gabaurþiwaurd, “genealogy”)
• 𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳𐌹 (andawaurdi, “answer”)
• 𐌰𐌽𐌳𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (andwaurdjan, “to answer”)
• 𐌲𐌰𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳𐌹 (gawaurdi, “conversation”)
• 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳𐌰𐌷𐍃 (waurdahs, “of words, verbal”)
• 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳𐌰𐌾𐌹𐌿𐌺𐌰 (waurdajiuka, “dispute about words”)
• 𐌻𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌰𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳𐍃 (lausawaurds, “talking idly”)
• 𐌻𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌰𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳𐌹 (lausawaurdi, “empty talk”)
• 𐌻𐌰𐌿𐍃𐌰𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳𐌴𐌹 (lausawaurdei, “empty talk”)
• 𐌿𐌱𐌹𐌻𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳𐍃 (ubilwaurds, “abusive”)
• 𐌰𐌲𐌻𐌰𐌹𐍄𐌹𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳𐌴𐌹 (aglaitiwaurdei, “obscene talk”)
• 𐌳𐍅𐌰𐌻𐌰𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳𐌴𐌹 (dwalawaurdei, “foolish talk”)
• 𐍆𐌹𐌻𐌿𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳𐌴𐌹 (filuwaurdei, “wordiness”)
• 𐍆𐌹𐌻𐌿𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (filuwaurdjan, “to use many words”)

References

1. ^ a b Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. waurd
2. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. waúrd
3. ^ a b Braune, Wilhelm; Heidermanns, Frank (2004), Gotische Grammatik, mit Lesestücken und Wörterverzeichnis, 20th ed., Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte A 1, Tübingen: Niemeyer, p. 302
4. ^ a b c 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
5. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳
6. ^ a b c Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. waurd
7. ^ a b Uhlenbeck, C. C. (1900), Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Müller, p. 168
8. ^ Casaretto, Antje (2004), Nominale Wortbildung der gotischen Sprache: Die Derivation der Substantive, Heidelberg: Winter
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. waurd
10. ^ 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
11. ^ 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 5:37
12. ^ a b Lambdin, Thomas O. (2006), An Introduction to the Gothic Language, Eugene, Or.: Wipf and Stock, p. 13
13. ^ 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. 489