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๐…๐Œน๐ƒ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ

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Etymology and origin of the Gothic word ๐…๐Œน๐ƒ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ

Gothic has two verbs spelled wisan: the common verb "to be, to remain" and a rare verb "to feast, make merry", which most etymological dictionaries derive from a different root.[1][2][3]

๐…๐Œน๐ƒ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ1 be, remain

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
340โ€“380 Wulfila's Bible translation
Inherited from
Proto-Germanic *wesanฤ…
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *hโ‚‚wes-

Forms

๐…๐Œน๐ƒ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ (wisan), a strong verb of class 5 with an irregular present.[4][5][6] The present is built on another stem: ๐Œน๐Œผ (im, "I am"), ๐Œน๐ƒ (is, "you are"), ๐Œน๐ƒ๐„ (ist, "is"), plural ๐ƒ๐Œน๐Œพ๐Œฟ๐Œผ (sijum), ๐ƒ๐Œน๐Œพ๐Œฟ๐Œธ (sijuรพ), ๐ƒ๐Œน๐Œฝ๐Œณ (sind), optative ๐ƒ๐Œน๐Œพ๐Œฐ๐Œฟ (sijau), ๐ƒ๐Œน๐Œพ๐Œฐ๐Œน (sijai).[7][8][9] The forms of the stem wis- are the preterite ๐…๐Œฐ๐ƒ (was), plural ๐…๐Œด๐ƒ๐Œฟ๐Œผ (wesum), ๐…๐Œด๐ƒ๐Œฟ๐Œฝ (wesun), the infinitive and the present participle ๐…๐Œน๐ƒ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ๐Œณ๐ƒ (wisands).[10][8] The commonest forms are ist (650 tokens), is (419), was (268), sind (140) and im (113).[8] With the negation ni, ist becomes ๐Œฝ๐Œน๐ƒ๐„ (nist, "is not").[6][4] The verb has no past participle.[11] In the sense "remain" the present indicative and optative of wisan itself are also used, as ๐…๐Œน๐ƒ๐Œน๐Œธ (wisiรพ) at 2 Corinthians 3:14.[4]

Etymology

The verb for "to be" is inherited from Proto-Germanic *wesanฤ… (โ€œto be, remainโ€),[12][13][14] the strong verb also continued by Old Norse vesa (later vera), Old English wesan, Old Frisian wesa, Old Saxon wesan and Old High German wesan.[10][13] It goes back to the root Proto-Indo-European *hโ‚‚wes-, "to stay, dwell",[12][10] seen in Sanskrit เคตเคธเคคเคฟ (vรกsati, โ€œdwellsโ€), the Greek aorist Ancient Greek แผ„ฮตฯƒฮฑ (รกesa, โ€œspent the nightโ€) and Latin Vesta (โ€œgoddess of the hearthโ€).[10][14][12] Kroonen reconstructs a thematic present Proto-Indo-European *hโ‚‚uรฉs-e- and compares Hittite แธซuiลกzi (โ€œto liveโ€).[13] The present forms are suppletive: they continue another verb for "to be", Proto-Indo-European *hโ‚รฉsti,[12] and the third person singular continues Proto-Germanic *esti, matching Ancient Greek แผฯƒฯ„ฮฏ (estรญ) and Latin est.[15][7] Streitberg and the Wulfila project list "to remain" as a verb of its own, but Kรถbler, Krause and Lehmann regard it as etymologically the same word as "to be".[1][8][16][17][10]

Attestation

The verb is among the commonest words of the corpus: ist is the eighth and im the fourteenth most frequent Gothic word in Lehmann's count.[7] The Wulfila project has three lemmas wisan and gives 2,230 tokens to "be, exist", 876 of them ambiguous, and 480 to "remain, stay", 466 of them ambiguous: forms such as was and wisan are counted under each lemma they may belong to.[8] Kรถbler counts 1,676 attestations of wisan "to be" and about 33 of wisan "to remain".[6][16] It occurs throughout the Gothic Bible and in the Skeireins (manuscript E), and the first record in canonical order is Matthew 5:21, in CA.[8][6] PROIEL aligns "be" 1,008 times with Ancient Greek ฮตแผฐฮผฮฏ (eimรญ), 14 times each with Ancient Greek ฮผฮญฮฝฯ‰ (mรฉnล) and Ancient Greek ฮณฮฏฮณฮฝฮฟฮผฮฑฮน (gรญgnomai) and 12 times with Ancient Greek แฝ‘ฯ€ฮฌฯฯ‡ฯ‰ (hupรกrkhล).[18] The verb "remain" renders mรฉnล 20 times out of 25.[18] Luke 1:18 reads ik raihtis im sineigs, "for I am an old man".[19]

Meanings

  1. to be, to exist, for Ancient Greek ฮตแผฐฮผฮฏ (eimรญ) and Ancient Greek แฝ‘ฯ€ฮฌฯฯ‡ฯ‰ (hupรกrkhล); with a genitive, to belong to.[1][6][20][18]
  2. with a dative, to have.[4]
  3. to remain, to stay, for Ancient Greek ฮผฮญฮฝฯ‰ (mรฉnล).[1][16][18] Wintru wisan is "to spend the winter", for Ancient Greek ฯ€ฮฑฯฮฑฯ‡ฮตฮนฮผฮฌฮถฯ‰ (parakheimรกzล).[16]

Word family

  • ๐Œฐ๐„๐…๐Œน๐ƒ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ (atwisan)
  • ๐†๐Œฐ๐Œฟ๐‚๐Œฐ๐…๐Œน๐ƒ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ (faurawisan)
  • ๐Œฒ๐Œฐ๐…๐Œน๐ƒ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ (gawisan)
  • ๐Œน๐Œฝ๐…๐Œน๐ƒ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ๐Œณ๐ƒ (inwisands)
  • ๐Œผ๐Œน๐Œธ๐…๐Œน๐ƒ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ (miรพwisan)
  • ๐Œผ๐Œน๐Œธ๐Œฒ๐Œฐ๐…๐Œน๐ƒ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ (miรพgawisan)
  • ๐Œธ๐Œฐ๐Œน๐‚๐Œท๐…๐Œน๐ƒ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ (รพairhwisan)
  • ๐Œฟ๐†๐Œฐ๐‚๐…๐Œน๐ƒ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ (ufarwisan)
  • ๐…๐Œน๐ƒ๐„๐ƒ (wists)
  • ๐Œฑ๐Œฐ๐Œป๐…๐Œฐ๐…๐Œด๐ƒ๐Œด๐Œน (balwawฤ“sei)

๐…๐Œน๐ƒ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ2 feast, make merry

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Inherited
First attested
340โ€“380 Wulfila's Bible translation
Inherited from
Proto-Germanic *wesanฤ…
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic *wesanฤ…

Forms

๐…๐Œน๐ƒ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ (wisan), a strong verb of class 5.[1][2] Kรถbler records four forms: ๐…๐Œน๐ƒ๐Œฐ๐Œผ (wisam, "let us make merry") at Luke 15:23, ๐…๐Œน๐ƒ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ (wisan) at Luke 15:24 and 15:32, and the participle ๐…๐Œน๐ƒ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ๐Œณ๐ƒ (wisands) at Luke 16:19.[2]

Etymology

The verb for "to feast" is inherited from Proto-Germanic *wesan- (โ€œto consume, feastโ€),[12][13] cognate with Old English wesan (โ€œto feastโ€) (only in Beowulf) and Old High German firwesan (โ€œto consumeโ€), and with Old Norse vist, wist and wist "food".[3][21][13] Wiktionary traces it to a root Proto-Indo-European *wes- (โ€œto grazeโ€),[12] and Kroonen and Lehmann compare Hittite weลกi- (โ€œpastureโ€) and weลกija- (โ€œto grazeโ€).[13][3] Lehmann adds, with hesitation, Latin vescor (โ€œto eatโ€), and also Old Irish feis.[3] Uhlenbeck held it to be the same verb as the one meaning "to be", which in his view had already come to mean "to be well off, enjoy oneself" before Germanic, and Lehmann reports that Rosen (1984) argues strongly against a separate root.[22][3]

Attestation

Kรถbler counts four attestations, all in Luke and in manuscript CA.[2] The Wulfila project gives 465 tokens to this lemma, every one of them ambiguous with the other verbs wisan.[8] Three times, at Luke 15:23, 15:32 and 16:19, it is qualified by ๐…๐Œฐ๐Œน๐Œป๐Œฐ (waila, โ€œwellโ€), and waila wisan seems to be modelled on Ancient Greek ฮตแฝฯ†ฯฮฑฮฏฮฝฮตฯƒฮธฮฑฮน (euphraรญnesthai), which it translates; at Luke 15:24 the same Greek verb is rendered by wisan alone.[12][3] PROIEL aligns it three times with this Greek verb.[18]

Meanings

  1. to feast, to make merry, to live in luxury, mostly as waila wisan, for Ancient Greek ฮตแฝฯ†ฯฮฑฮฏฮฝฯ‰ (euphraรญnล).[1][2][3]

Word family

  • ๐Œฑ๐Œน๐…๐Œน๐ƒ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ (biwisan)
  • ๐†๐‚๐Œฐ๐…๐Œน๐ƒ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ (frawisan)
  • ๐…๐Œน๐Œถ๐‰๐Œฝ (wizลn)
  • ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ๐Œณ๐Œฐ๐…๐Œน๐Œถ๐Œฝ๐ƒ (andawizns)
  • ๐Œฒ๐Œฐ๐…๐Œน๐Œถ๐Œฝ๐Œด๐Œน๐Œฒ๐ƒ (gawizneigs)

Usage notes

Lehmann notes that the dictionaries separate the meanings by the senses of the modern languages: forms translating Ancient Greek ฮผฮญฮฝฯ‰ (mรฉnล) are put under "be" at John 12:34 but under "remain" at John 6:27.[10] Frawisan "to squander" (Luke 15:14) may belong to either verb.[10][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wรถrterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. wisan
  2. ^ a b c d e Kรถbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wรถrterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wisan 3
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Lehmann, Winfred P. (1986), A Gothic Etymological Dictionary, based on the third edition of Vergleichendes Wรถrterbuch der gotischen Sprache by Sigmund Feist, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. 3. wisan
  4. ^ a b c d Braune, Wilhelm; Heidermanns, Frank (2004), Gotische Grammatik, mit Lesestรผcken und Wรถrterverzeichnis, 20th ed., Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte A 1, Tรผbingen: Niemeyer, p. 303
  5. ^ Binnig, Wolfgang (1999), Gotisches Elementarbuch, 5th ed., Berlin / New York: de Gruyter, p. 171
  6. ^ a b c d e Kรถbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wรถrterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wisan 1
  7. ^ a b c Lehmann, Winfred P. (1986), A Gothic Etymological Dictionary, based on the third edition of Vergleichendes Wรถrterbuch der gotischen Sprache by Sigmund Feist, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. im
  8. ^ a b c d e f g De Herdt, Tom (2004โ€“2026), Project Wulfila: digital edition of the Gothic Bible with lemma and morphological annotation, data release 2026-09-03, wulfila.be
  9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1868), A Moeso-Gothic Glossary, with an Introduction, an Outline of Moeso-Gothic Grammar, and a List of Anglo-Saxon and Old and Modern English Words Etymologically Connected with Moeso-Gothic, London: Asher, p. s.v. wisan
  10. ^ a b c d e f g Lehmann, Winfred P. (1986), A Gothic Etymological Dictionary, based on the third edition of Vergleichendes Wรถrterbuch der gotischen Sprache by Sigmund Feist, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. 1. wisan
  11. ^ Streitberg, Wilhelm (1920), Gotisches Elementarbuch, 5thโ€“6th ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 302
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. ๐…๐Œน๐ƒ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ
  13. ^ a b c d e f Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 582
  14. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 458
  15. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 86
  16. ^ a b c d Kรถbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wรถrterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. wisan 2
  17. ^ Krause, Wolfgang (1963), Handbuch des Gotischen, 2nd ed., Mรผnchen: Beck, p. ยง 230
  18. ^ a b c d e 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
  19. ^ De Herdt, Tom (2004โ€“2026), Project Wulfila: digital edition of the Gothic Bible with lemma and morphological annotation, data release 2026-09-03, wulfila.be, p. Lk 1:18
  20. ^ Stamm, Friedrich Ludwig; Heyne, Moriz (1920), Ulfilas oder die uns erhaltenen Denkmรคler der gotischen Sprache: Text, Wรถrterbuch und Grammatik, 13thโ€“14th ed. by Ferdinand Wrede, Paderborn: Schรถningh, p. 491
  21. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Gotisches etymologisches Wรถrterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. 126
  22. ^ Uhlenbeck, C. C. (1900), Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wรถrterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Mรผller, p. 172

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

โ€œ๐…๐Œน๐ƒ๐Œฐ๐Œฝ.โ€ Etymologically, 16 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/got/%F0%90%8D%85%F0%90%8C%B9%F0%90%8D%83%F0%90%8C%B0%F0%90%8C%BD. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

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