𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐍄𐍃

Forms

𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐍄𐍃 (waurts), a feminine noun of the i-declension.^[1][2][3] Köbler records the nominative singular 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐍄𐍃 (waurts, five times), the form 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐍄 (waurt, once), the dative plural 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐍄𐌹𐌼 (waurtim, three times) and the accusative plural 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐍄𐌹𐌽𐍃 (waurtins, three times), and reads 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌷𐍄𐌰𐌹 (waurhtai, Romans 11:17) as a scribal error for waurtai.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *wurt- (“root”), in Wiktionary's analysis the oblique stem of the root noun meaning "root",^[4] a feminine i-stem in Kroonen's and Orel's reconstruction.^[5][6][3] The cognates are Old Norse urt, Old English wyrt, Old Saxon wurt and Old High German wurz, which mean "plant, herb" as well as "root".^[5][6][7] Outside Germanic, the sources compare Latin rādīx (“root”), Ancient Greek ῥίζα (rhíza, “root”), Old Irish frén (“root”) and Welsh gwraidd (“root”);^[5][6][8] Casaretto, following Vine, traces the Latin and Greek nouns to the same Proto-Indo-European noun,^[3] while Uhlenbeck thought the Greek connection doubtful.^[8] Whether 𐌰𐌿𐍂𐍄𐌹𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌳𐍃 (aurtigards, “garden”) contains an ablaut variant of the same word is disputed: Feist asks whether it does, and Lehmann notes that some relate it while it has also been taken as a loanword,^[9][7] and Pronk-Tiethoff finds its correspondence with the regular reflex problematic.^[10]

Attestation

The Wulfila project and Köbler count twelve records, in Luke, Mark, Romans and 1 Timothy, in manuscripts CA, A, B and Car.^[11][2] The first in canonical order is Luke 3:9.^[11] In PROIEL's alignment ten of its twelve tokens render Ancient Greek ῥίζα (rhíza).^[12] Luke 3:9 reads aþþan ju so aqizi at waurtim bagme ligiþ, "but already the axe lies at the roots of the trees".^[13]

Meanings

1. A root of a plant; the Gothic plural renders a Greek singular in Mark 4:6 and 4:17 and Luke 3:9 and 8:13, and uslausjan us waurtim means "to pull up by the roots" (Luke 17:6).^[14][2]
2. A root in the figurative sense: a source, or a line of descent.^[4]

Word family

• 𐌲𐌰𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐍄𐍃 (gawaurts, “rooted”)

Related words

• 𐌰𐌿𐍂𐍄𐌹𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌳𐍃 (aurtigards, “garden”)

Usage notes

The adjective 𐌲𐌰𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐍄𐍃 (gawaurts) "rooted" is Feist's conjecture for gawaurhts at Ephesians 3:18;^[9][7] Köbler sets up a simple adjective *waurts only as the base of that compound.^[15]

References

1. ^ Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. waurts
2. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. waúrts 1
3. ^ a b c Casaretto, Antje (2004), Nominale Wortbildung der gotischen Sprache: Die Derivation der Substantive, Heidelberg: Winter
4. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐍄𐍃
5. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 600
6. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 476
7. ^ 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. waurts
8. ^ a b Uhlenbeck, C. C. (1900), Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Müller, p. s.v. waúrts
9. ^ a b Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. waurts
10. ^ Pronk-Tiethoff, Saskia (2013), The Germanic Loanwords in Proto-Slavic, Leiden Studies in Indo-European 20, Amsterdam / New York: Rodopi
11. ^ 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
12. ^ 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. Lk 3:9
14. ^ Balg, G. H. (1887–1889), A Comparative Glossary of the Gothic Language, with Especial Reference to English and German, Mayville, Wis.: the author, p. 539
15. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. waurts 2