𐍆𐌹𐌽𐌸𐌰𐌽

Forms

𐍆𐌹𐌽𐌸𐌰𐌽 (finþan), a strong verb of class 3, which Streitberg describes as a perfective simple verb.^[1][2] The recorded forms are the third person singular preterite 𐍆𐌰𐌽𐌸 (fanþ, twice), the third person singular preterite optative 𐍆𐌿𐌽𐌸𐌹 (funþi) and the present participle 𐍆𐌹𐌽𐌸𐌰𐌽𐌳𐍃 (finþands), feminine 𐍆𐌹𐌽𐌸𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌴𐌹𐌽𐍃 (finþandeins).^[3] The infinitive itself is not recorded.^[3][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *finþaną (“to find”),^[4][5][6] with Old Norse finna, Old English findan, Old Frisian finda, Old Saxon findan and Old High German findan, all meaning "to find".^[7][5] Lehmann, Kroonen, Orel and Holthausen trace it to Proto-Indo-European *pent- (“to go, pass; path, bridge”), the root of Ancient Greek πόντος (póntos, “sea”), Latin pōns (“bridge”), Old Prussian pintis (“way”) and Proto-Slavic *pǫtь (“way”), so that "find" grew out of "go".^{[7][5][6][8][4]} For the change of meaning Lehmann compares Latin inveniō (“to find”) beside veniō (“to come”).^[7] Orel and Lehmann see the older sense of motion in Old English fēþa (“troop”) and Old High German fendo (“foot soldier, pedestrian”).^[6][7] Feist and Uhlenbeck also compare Old Irish étaim (“I find”);^[9][10] Uhlenbeck adds, after Schrader, Ancient Greek ἀπάτη (apátē, “deceit”), which Feist calls uncertain and Lehmann rejects.^[10][9][7]

Attestation

The Wulfila project counts five tokens: John 12:9, Luke 9:11, Mark 5:43 and Mark 15:45 in CA, and Romans 10:19 in A.^[11] PROIEL aligns all five with Ancient Greek γιγνώσκω (gignṓskō).^[12] The first record in the Wulfila project's order is John 12:9, fanþ þan manageins filu Iudaie þatei Iesus jainar ist, "then a great crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there".^[13]

Meanings

1. to find out, learn, come to know; with at and the dative, to learn from someone (Mark 15:45).^{[1][3][14][4]}

References

1. ^ a b Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. finþan
2. ^ 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. 276
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. finþan
4. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐍆𐌹𐌽𐌸𐌰𐌽
5. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 141
6. ^ a b c Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 99
7. ^ a b c d e 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. finþan
8. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Gotisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. 30
9. ^ a b Feist, Sigmund (1939), Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 3rd ed., Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. finþan
10. ^ a b Uhlenbeck, C. C. (1900), Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Müller, p. 46
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
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. Jn 12:9
14. ^ Lambdin, Thomas O. (2006), An Introduction to the Gothic Language, Eugene, Or.: Wipf and Stock, p. 173