𐍅𐌹𐌲𐍃

Forms

𐍅𐌹𐌲𐍃 (wigs), a masculine a-stem noun.^[1][2][3] The Wulfila project records the accusative singular 𐍅𐌹𐌲 (wig, 24 times), the dative singular 𐍅𐌹𐌲𐌰 (wiga, 10), the nominative singular 𐍅𐌹𐌲𐍃 (wigs, 3), the accusative plural 𐍅𐌹𐌲𐌰𐌽𐍃 (wigans, 2), the dative plural 𐍅𐌹𐌲𐌰𐌼 (wigam, 1) and the nominative plural 𐍅𐌹𐌲𐍉𐍃 (wigōs, 1).^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *wegaz (“way”),^[5][6][7] derived from the strong verb *weganą.^[6][7] In Gothic the verb survives only in the compound 𐌲𐌰𐍅𐌹𐌲𐌰𐌽 (gawigan, “to shake”).^[8][9] The cognates are Old Norse vegr, Old English weg, Old Frisian wei, Old Saxon weg and Old High German weg.^[6][8][10] The root is PIE *weǵʰ- (“to move, carry in a vehicle”);^[10][11] Feist and Lehmann compare a Lithuanian word for the track of a wagon or sled, and Uhlenbeck thinks Latin via (“way”) may belong here too.^[8][10][9]

Attestation

The Wulfila project and Köbler both count 41 records, in Matthew, John, Luke and Mark, in Romans and 1 Thessalonians, and once in the Skeireins.^[4][11] Nearly all are in manuscript CA (38), one each in Car, B and E.^[4] In canonical order the first is Matthew 5:25.^[4] PROIEL aligns 38 of its 39 tokens with Ancient Greek ὁδός (hodós).^[12] Matthew 7:13 reads braid daur jah rums wigs sa brigganda in fralustai, "wide is the gate and broad the way that leads to destruction".^[13]

Meanings

1. way, road; for Ancient Greek ὁδός (hodós).^[1][2][11]
2. journey.^[14][15]

Word family

• 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌼𐍅𐌹𐌲𐌹𐍃 (framwigis, “continually, forever”)

Related words

• 𐌲𐌰𐍅𐌹𐌲𐌰𐌽 (gawigan, “to shake together”)
• 𐍅𐌴𐌲𐍃 (wēgs, “wave, storm at sea”)

Usage notes

Köbler sets up a separate, unattested *wigs "fight", from Proto-Germanic *wīgą.^[16][17]

References

1. ^ a b Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. wigs
2. ^ a b Regan, Brian T. (1974), Dictionary of the Biblical Gothic Language, Phoenix: Wulfila House, p. 181
3. ^ Braune, Wilhelm; Heidermanns, Frank (2004), Gotische Grammatik, mit Lesestücken und Wörterverzeichnis, 20th ed., Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte A 1, Tübingen: Niemeyer, p. 303
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐍅𐌹𐌲𐍃
6. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 577
7. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 452
8. ^ a b c Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. wigs
9. ^ a b Uhlenbeck, C. C. (1900), Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Müller, p. 171
10. ^ 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. wigs
11. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wigs 1
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. Mt 7:13
14. ^ Wright, Joseph (1910), Grammar of the Gothic Language, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. wigs
15. ^ Lambdin, Thomas O. (2006), An Introduction to the Gothic Language, Eugene, Or.: Wipf and Stock, p. 187
16. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wigs 2
17. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. *wīgą