𐍈𐌰𐍃

Forms

𐍈𐌰𐍃 (ƕas), the interrogative pronoun, used as a noun; the feminine is 𐍈𐍉 (ƕō) and the neuter 𐍈𐌰 (ƕa).^[1][2] The Wulfila project counts the forms 𐍈𐌰 (ƕa, 212 times), 𐍈𐌰𐍃 (ƕas, 149), 𐍈𐍉 (ƕō, 28), 𐍈𐌰𐌼𐌼𐌰 (ƕamma, 16), 𐍈𐌰𐌽𐌰 (ƕana, 15), 𐍈𐌹𐍃 (ƕis, 12), 𐍈𐌴 (ƕē, 6) and 𐍈𐌹𐌶𐌰𐌹 (ƕizai, 4).^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Germanic *hwaz (“who, what”),^[4][5] which continues Proto-Indo-European *kʷos.^[6] The other Germanic languages have Old Norse hverr, Old English hwā, Old Frisian hwā, Old Saxon hwē and Old High German hwer.^[6][7] The neuter goes back to Proto-Germanic *hwat, as do hvat, hwæt, hwat and hwaz.^[8] Orel asks whether its -t was lost in unaccented position, and Lehmann explains the loss of the ending in the neuter, and in the Old English masculine, the same way.^[8][7] The feminine is found only in Gothic and is modelled on the demonstrative 𐍃𐍉 (sō).^[7] Outside Germanic, Orel and Uhlenbeck compare Lithuanian kàs (“who”) and Latin quod.^[6][9] Uhlenbeck sets the stem with i of quis and Ancient Greek τίς (tís) beside it.^[6][9]

Attestation

The Wulfila project counts 443 tokens (seven of them ambiguous); Köbler's entry gives the count as 404=401.^[3][5] It occurs in the four Gospels, in thirteen Epistles from Romans to Philemon and once in the Skeireins; most records are in manuscripts CA (241), A (102) and B (88).^[3] The first in canonical order is Matthew 5:23.^[3] PROIEL tags 265 tokens as interrogative, mostly for Ancient Greek τίς (tís) (232 times) and ποῖος (poîos) (8), and 124 as indefinite, mostly for the enclitic τὶς (tis) (104 times).^[10] In Matthew 5:39 it is indefinite: jabai ƕas þuk stautai bi taihswon þeina kinnu, "if anyone strikes you on your right cheek".^[11]

Meanings

1. who?, what?, for Greek tís; with a noun, "what (man)?".^[1][2][10]
2. The neuter ƕa as an adverb: why?, what for?, how?^[2][5]
3. anyone, anything, someone, for Greek tis.^[10][12] Streitberg notes that it is always affirmative, in negative sentences too.^[1][10][12]
4. In phrases: in ƕis, "on account of what?, wherefore?", for diatí, und ƕa, "how long?", and ƕo ƕeilo, "for a while".^[2][5]

Word family

• 𐍈𐌰𐍃𐌷𐌿𐌽 (ƕashun, “anyone”)
• 𐍈𐌰𐌶𐌿𐌷 (ƕazuh, “each, everyone”)
• 𐍃𐌰𐍈𐌰𐌶𐌿𐌷 (saƕazuh)
• 𐌸𐌹𐍃𐍈𐌰𐌶𐌿𐌷 (þisƕazuh)
• 𐌸𐌰𐍄𐌰𐍈𐌰𐌷 (þataƕah)

Related words

• 𐍃𐌰 (sa, “the, that”)
• 𐍈𐌰𐌸𐌰𐍂 (ƕaþar, “which of two”)
• 𐍈𐌰𐍂𐌾𐌹𐍃 (ƕarjis, “which”)
• 𐍈𐌴 (ƕē)

References

1. ^ a b c Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910), Die gotische Bibel, II: Gotisch-griechisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. ƕas
2. ^ a b c d Regan, Brian T. (1974), Dictionary of the Biblical Gothic Language, Phoenix: Wulfila House, p. 84
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. 𐍈𐌰𐍃
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Gotisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. ƕas
6. ^ a b c d Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. *xwaz
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. ƕas
8. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. s.v. *xwat
9. ^ a b Uhlenbeck, C. C. (1900), Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache, 2nd ed., Amsterdam: Müller, p. 86
10. ^ a b c d 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 5:39
12. ^ a b Wright, Joseph (1910), Grammar of the Gothic Language, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. ƕas