Modern Danubian Gothic Scratchpad
Posted: 17 Jan 2021 00:44
Meanwhile let's do a "Gothlang" because why not. Let's see which, of Tocharian and this language, takes off, and which, if not both, gets stuck in the mud and back into the shelf.
Background
Modern Danubian or Dobrogean Gothic (dunviska gutska) is a language spoken in the country of Dobruja (Dobredzia), centred in the city of Tomes / Tomgerd (before 1952 : Kostecia) by the Danubian Goths. The ethnogenesis and ultimate origins of the Danubian Goths remain a point of contention among scholars. It is, though, widely agreed upon that their descendants are more affiliated with the Ostrogoths of old than the Visigoths.
Relations with the Crimean Goths and Goths of Olbia have remained... cordial, though the Danubian Goths tend to see themselves to be the purer of the Goths and deride their cousins across the Black Sea as being more "Saxonised" in food, language, dress, and other facets of their way of life (never mind the Ottoman ciesmas centring the squares of virtually every town and village in Dobruja!
On to the language -- the chief... hurdle that I predict may be faced in making the language are matters of lexicology -- lexical innovations and borrowings. Sound changes and morphology triffle in comparison; I have even sketched out some details of both in mind. Busbecq's Letters show us that Crimean Gothic has borrowed and innovated a great deal of its vocabulary. Of the latter it may be said that lexical changes to words deriving from "Ulfilan" or Bible Gothic or another form thereof can get quite... quirky sometimes. Crim. Fers 'man, vir' is cognate with Ulfilan fairhwus 'world' (Stearns, 1978 -- also all following etymologies posited). And knauen 'good' cognate with some forms in Old Norse meaning 'capable, to know how'. Words for things and concepts pertaining to various spheres of society's lays are borrowed. It is noteworthy that even the word for 'soldier', cadariou (misspelt for *cadarion // Dan. kanderia?) was borrowed, either from Latin centurion or catervarius, notwithstanding the military prowess of the Goths, while some words of Germanic provenance that are not attested in Ulfilan did turn up in Busbecq's little lexicon: Stega for 20 and the kilems 'drink up, gulp?' of the Kilemschkop. Also Gadeltha 'pretty' purported to connect with several cognates in West Germanic languages meaning 'fitting', etc.
This 'sneak-peak' of the lexicon of Crimean Gothic means that Danubian Gothic, its sibling, will have to innovate, alter, restructure its semantics and borrow its words.. on a scale much more drastic than did Romanian. Greek will be the primary contributor (as the Letters show, more than the glossa did in Romanian) and also Turkish, the Slavic languages, some Dacian substrate, etc. This would require many sources (on Gothic, on surrounding languages), and, more essentially, the fullest of one's creative faculties.
Having demanded the hassle of attention on so long an introduction...
... here's some views of Dobrogea. Being in the process of creating an alternate language, and therefore alternate history, I retain alt-historic license-- the license to alter history-- time, peoples, and places-- as I see fit.
A typical bazaar found in many towns and villages of Dobruja:
https://i2.wp.com/www.skytrip.ro/images ... 095846.jpg
The casino -- this pops up much in Google. Quite a stately building, I must say:
https://storage0.dms.mpinteractiv.ro/me ... ?width=600
Bird's-eye view of the Danubian Delta. Ah, the refreshing scents and sounds of the snevs. Strauss must've gone here, hasn't he?
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/80/11/3c ... 0ec8d9.jpg
Background
Modern Danubian or Dobrogean Gothic (dunviska gutska) is a language spoken in the country of Dobruja (Dobredzia), centred in the city of Tomes / Tomgerd (before 1952 : Kostecia) by the Danubian Goths. The ethnogenesis and ultimate origins of the Danubian Goths remain a point of contention among scholars. It is, though, widely agreed upon that their descendants are more affiliated with the Ostrogoths of old than the Visigoths.
Relations with the Crimean Goths and Goths of Olbia have remained... cordial, though the Danubian Goths tend to see themselves to be the purer of the Goths and deride their cousins across the Black Sea as being more "Saxonised" in food, language, dress, and other facets of their way of life (never mind the Ottoman ciesmas centring the squares of virtually every town and village in Dobruja!
On to the language -- the chief... hurdle that I predict may be faced in making the language are matters of lexicology -- lexical innovations and borrowings. Sound changes and morphology triffle in comparison; I have even sketched out some details of both in mind. Busbecq's Letters show us that Crimean Gothic has borrowed and innovated a great deal of its vocabulary. Of the latter it may be said that lexical changes to words deriving from "Ulfilan" or Bible Gothic or another form thereof can get quite... quirky sometimes. Crim. Fers 'man, vir' is cognate with Ulfilan fairhwus 'world' (Stearns, 1978 -- also all following etymologies posited). And knauen 'good' cognate with some forms in Old Norse meaning 'capable, to know how'. Words for things and concepts pertaining to various spheres of society's lays are borrowed. It is noteworthy that even the word for 'soldier', cadariou (misspelt for *cadarion // Dan. kanderia?) was borrowed, either from Latin centurion or catervarius, notwithstanding the military prowess of the Goths, while some words of Germanic provenance that are not attested in Ulfilan did turn up in Busbecq's little lexicon: Stega for 20 and the kilems 'drink up, gulp?' of the Kilemschkop. Also Gadeltha 'pretty' purported to connect with several cognates in West Germanic languages meaning 'fitting', etc.
This 'sneak-peak' of the lexicon of Crimean Gothic means that Danubian Gothic, its sibling, will have to innovate, alter, restructure its semantics and borrow its words.. on a scale much more drastic than did Romanian. Greek will be the primary contributor (as the Letters show, more than the glossa did in Romanian) and also Turkish, the Slavic languages, some Dacian substrate, etc. This would require many sources (on Gothic, on surrounding languages), and, more essentially, the fullest of one's creative faculties.
Having demanded the hassle of attention on so long an introduction...
... here's some views of Dobrogea. Being in the process of creating an alternate language, and therefore alternate history, I retain alt-historic license-- the license to alter history-- time, peoples, and places-- as I see fit.
A typical bazaar found in many towns and villages of Dobruja:
https://i2.wp.com/www.skytrip.ro/images ... 095846.jpg
The casino -- this pops up much in Google. Quite a stately building, I must say:
https://storage0.dms.mpinteractiv.ro/me ... ?width=600
Bird's-eye view of the Danubian Delta. Ah, the refreshing scents and sounds of the snevs. Strauss must've gone here, hasn't he?
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/80/11/3c ... 0ec8d9.jpg