View source for Social:Gothic alphabet

{{Short description|Alphabet used for writing the Gothic language}}
{{Infobox Writing system
|name= Gothic
|languages= [[Social:Gothic language|Gothic]]
|type= [[Social:Alphabet|Alphabet]]
|time= From c. 350, in decline by 600
|fam1= Greek script augmented with Latin and possibly Runic (questionable)
|unicode= [https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U10330.pdf U+10330–U+1034F]
|iso15924= Goth
|sample= Wulfila bibel.jpg
|imagesize= 200px
}}

The '''Gothic alphabet''' is an [[Social:Alphabet|alphabet]] used for writing the [[Social:Gothic language|Gothic language]]. It was developed in the 4th century AD by Ulfilas (or Wulfila), a Gothic preacher of Cappadocian Greek descent, for the purpose of [[Religion:Bible translations|translating the Bible]].<ref>According to the testimony of the historians Philostorgius, Socrates of Constantinople and Sozomen. Cf. Streitberg (1910:20).</ref>

The alphabet essentially uses [[Social:Uncial script|uncial]] forms of the Greek alphabet, with a few additional letters to express Gothic phonology:

* Latin F and G
* a questionably Runic letter to distinguish the {{IPAslink|w}} glide from vocalic {{IPAslink|u}}
* the letter [[Social:Hwair|hwair]] ({{char|𐍈}}) to express the Gothic labiovelar.

==Origin==
Ulfilas is thought to have consciously chosen to avoid the use of the older Runic alphabet for this purpose, as it was heavily connected with pagan beliefs and customs.<ref>Cf. Jensen (1969:474).</ref> Also, the Greek-based script probably helped to integrate the Gothic nation into the dominant [[History:Greco-Roman world|Greco-Roman]] culture around the Black Sea.<ref>Cf. Haarmann (1991:434).</ref>

==Letters==
Below is a table of the Gothic alphabet.<ref>For a discussion of the Gothic alphabet see also Fausto Cercignani, ''The Elaboration of the Gothic Alphabet and Orthography'', in "Indogermanische Forschungen", 93, 1988, pp. 168–185.</ref> Two letters used in its transliteration are not used in current English: thorn ''þ'' (representing {{IPAslink|θ}}), and hwair {{not a typo|''[[Social:Hwair|ƕ]]''}} (representing {{IPAslink|ʍ|hʷ}}).

As with the Greek alphabet, Gothic letters were also assigned numerical values. When used as numerals, letters were written either between two dots (•{{lang|got|𐌹𐌱}}• = 12) or with an overline (<span style="text-decoration: overline">{{lang|got|𐌹𐌱}}</span> = 12). Two letters, {{lang|got|𐍁}} (90) and {{lang|got|𐍊}} (900), have no phonetic value.

The letter names are recorded in a 9th-century manuscript of [[Biography:Alcuin|Alcuin]] (Codex Vindobonensis 795). Most of them seem to be Gothic forms of names also appearing in the [[Place:Rune poem|rune poem]]s. The names are given in their attested forms followed by the reconstructed Gothic forms and their meanings.<ref>The forms which are not attested in the Gothic corpus are marked with an asterisk. For a detailed discussion of the reconstructed forms, cf. Kirchhoff (1854). For a survey of the relevant literature, cf. Zacher (1855).</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto;"
! colspan="2" style="background:#ccf;" | Letter || style="background:#ccf;" |Translit. || style="background:#ccf;"|Compare || style="background:#ccf;"|Gothic name || style="background:#ccf;"|PGmc rune name || style="background:#ccf;"|IPA || style="background:#ccf;"|Numeric value || style="background:#ccf;"|[[Numeric character reference|XML entity]]
|-
| [[File:Gothic letter ahsa.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐌰}} || a || Α, [[Social:Coptic script|Ⲁ]]|| ''aza'' < *''ans'' "[[Religion:Æsir|god]]" or ''asks'' "[[Biology:Fraxinus|ash]]" || *ansuz || {{IPAslink|a|a, aː}} || 1 || &amp;#x10330;
|-
| [[File:Gothic letter bairkan.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐌱}} || b || Β, Ⲃ || ''bercna'' < *''bairka'' "[[Biology:Birch|birch]]" || *berkanan || {{IPAslink|b}} [{{IPA link|b}}, {{IPA link|β}}] || 2 || &amp;#x10331;
|-
| [[File:Gothic letter giba.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐌲}} || g || Γ, Ⲅ || ''geuua'' < ''giba'' "gift" || *gebō || {{IPAslink|ɡ}} [{{IPA link|ɡ}}, {{IPA link|ɣ}}, {{IPA link|x}}]; {{IPAslink|n}} [{{IPA link|ŋ}}] || 3 || &amp;#x10332;
|-
| [[File:Gothic letter dags.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐌳}} || d || Δ, D, Ⲇ || ''daaz'' < ''dags'' "day" || *dagaz || {{IPAslink|d}} [{{IPA link|d}}, {{IPA link|ð}}] || 4 || &amp;#x10333;
|-
| [[File:Gothic letter aihvus.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐌴}} || e || Ε, Ⲉ || ''eyz'' < ''{{lang|got|aiƕs}}'' "horse" or ''eiws'' "[[Biology:Taxus baccata|yew]]" || *eihwaz, *ehwaz || {{IPAslink|e|eː}} || 5 || &amp;#x10334;
|-
| [[File:Gothic letter qairthra.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐌵}} || q || [[File:Greek Digamma cursive 06.svg|x16px]] (Ϛ), , Ⲋ(?) || ''quetra'' < *''qairþra'' ? or ''qairna'' "millstone" || (see *perþō) || {{IPAslink|kʷ}} || 6 || &amp;#x10335;
|-
| [[File:Gothic letter iuja.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐌶}} || z || Ζ, Ⲍ || ''ezec'' < (?)<ref>Zacher arrives at *''iuya'', *''iwja'' or *''ius'', cognate to ON ''ȳr'', OE ''īw, ēow'', OHG ''īwa'' "yew tree", though he admits having no ready explanation for the form ''ezec''. Cf. Zacher (1855:10–13).</ref> || *algiz || {{IPAslink|z}} || 7 || &amp;#x10336;
|-
| [[File:Gothic letter hagl.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐌷}} || h || Η, Ⲏ || ''haal'' < *''hagal'' or *''hagls'' "hail" || *haglaz || {{IPAslink|h}}, {{IPAslink|x}} || 8 || &amp;#x10337;
|-
| [[File:Gothic letter thiuth.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐌸}} || þ (th) || Φ, Ψ, Ⲑ || ''thyth'' < ''þiuþ'' "good" or ''þaurnus'' "thorn" || *thurisaz || {{IPAslink|θ}} || 9 || &amp;#x10338;
|-
| [[File:Gothic letter eis.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐌹}} || i || Ι, Ⲓ || ''iiz'' < *''eis'' "ice" || *īsaz || {{IPAslink|i|i}} || 10 || &amp;#x10339;
|-
| [[File:Gothic letter kusma.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐌺}} || k || Κ, Ⲕ || ''chozma'' < *''kusma'' or ''kōnja'' "pine sap" || *kaunan || {{IPAslink|k}} || 20 || &amp;#x1033A;
|-
| [[File:Gothic letter lagus.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐌻}} || l || Λ, Ⲗ || ''laaz'' < *''lagus'' "sea, lake" || *laguz || {{IPAslink|l}} || 30 || &amp;#x1033B;
|-
| [[File:Gothic letter manna.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐌼}} || m || Μ, Ⲙ || ''manna'' < ''manna'' "man" || *mannaz || {{IPAslink|m}} || 40 || &amp;#x1033C;
|-
| [[File:Gothic letter nauthus.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐌽}} || n || Ν, Ⲛ || ''noicz'' < ''nauþs'' "need" || *naudiz || {{IPAslink|n}} || 50 || &amp;#x1033D;
|-
| [[File:Gothic letter jer.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐌾}} || j || G, ᛃ, Ⲝ(?) || ''gaar'' < ''jēr'' "year" || *jēran || {{IPAslink|j}} || 60 || &amp;#x1033E;
|-
| [[File:Gothic letter urus.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐌿}} || u || {{script|Runr|ᚢ}}, Ⲟ(?) || ''uraz'' < *''ūrus'' "[[Biology:Aurochs|aurochs]]" || *ūruz || {{IPAslink|ʊ}}, {{IPAslink|u|uː}}|| 70 || &amp;#x1033F;
|-
| [[File:Gothic letter pairthra.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐍀}} || p || Π, Ⲡ || ''pertra'' < *''pairþa'' ? || *perþō || {{IPAslink|p}} || 80  || &amp;#x10340;
|-
| [[File:Gothic numeral ninety.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐍁}} ||  || Ϙ, Ϥ || || 90 || || 90 || &amp;#x10341;
|-
| [[File:Gothic letter raida.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐍂}} || r || R, Ⲣ || ''reda'' < *''raida'' "wagon" || *raidō || {{IPAslink|r}} || 100 || &amp;#x10342;
|-
| [[File:Gothic letter sauil.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐍃}} || s || S, Ⲥ || ''sugil'' < ''sauil'' or ''sōjil'' "sun" || *sôwilô || {{IPAslink|s}} || 200 || &amp;#x10343;
|-
| [[File:Gothic letter teiws.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐍄}} || t || Τ, ᛏ, Ⲧ || ''tyz'' < *''tius'' "the god Týr" || *tīwaz || {{IPAslink|t}} || 300 || &amp;#x10344;
|-
| [[File:Gothic letter winja.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐍅}} || w || Υ, Ⲩ || ''uuinne'' < ''winja'' "field, pasture" or ''winna'' "pain" || *wunjō || {{IPA|/w/}}, {{IPA|/y/}} || 400 || &amp;#x10345;
|-
| [[File:Gothic letter faihu.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐍆}} || f || Ϝ, F, Ⲫ(?) || ''fe'' < ''faihu'' "cattle, wealth" || *fehu || {{IPAslink|ɸ}} || 500 || &amp;#x10346;
|-
| [[File:Gothic letter iggws.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐍇}} || x || Χ, Ⲭ || ''enguz'' < *''iggus'' or *''iggws'' "the god Yngvi" || *ingwaz || {{IPAslink|k}}<ref>Streitberg, p. 47</ref> || 600 || &amp;#x10347;
|-
| [[File:Gothic letter hwair.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐍈}} || (hw) || Θ, Ⲯ(?) || ''uuaer'' < *''[[Social:Hwair|hwair]]'' "kettle" || || {{IPAslink|ʍ|hʷ}}, {{IPA|/ʍ/}}|| 700 || &amp;#x10348;
|-
| [[File:Gothic letter othal.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐍉}} || ō || Ω, Ο, {{script|Runr|ᛟ}}, Ⲱ || ''utal'' < *''ōþal'' "ancestral land" || *[[Odal (rune)|ōþala]] || {{IPAslink|o|oː}} || 800 || &amp;#x10349;
|-
| [[File:Gothic numeral nine hundred.svg|x32px]]
| {{lang|got|𐍊}} || 900 || ᛏ, Ͳ (Ϡ), Ⳁ || ||   ||   || 900 || &amp;#x1034a;
|}
Most of the letters have been taken over directly from the Greek alphabet, though a few have been created or modified from Latin and possibly (more controversially<ref name=Contact />) Runic letters to express unique phonological features of Gothic. These are:

* {{lang|got|𐌸}} (þ; derived either from Greek phi (Φ) /f/ or psi (Ψ) /ps/ with phonetic reassignment, or Runic {{script|Runr|ᚦ}})<ref>Cf. Mees (2002/2003:65).</ref>
* {{lang|got|𐌾}} (j; derived from Latin G /ɡ/<ref name=Contact />)
* {{lang|got|𐌿}} (u; possibly an allograph of Greek Ο (cf. the numerical values), or from Runic {{script|Runr|ᚢ}} /u/)<ref>Cf. Kirchhoff (1854:55).</ref>
* {{lang|got|𐍈}} ( ; derived from Greek [[Biology:Theta|Θ]] /θ/ with phonetic reassignment; possibly the letterform was switched with {{lang|got|𐌸}})<ref name=Contact />
* {{lang|got|𐍉}} (o; derived either from Greek Ω or from Runic {{script|Runr|ᛟ}},<ref>Haarmann (1991:434).</ref> or from a cursive form of Greek Ο, as such a form was more common for omicron than for omega in this time period, and as the sound values of omicron and omega had already merged by this time.<ref name=Contact />)

{{lang|got|𐍂}} (r), {{lang|got|𐍃}} (s) and {{lang|got|𐍆}} (f) appear to be derived from their Latin equivalents rather than from the Greek, although the equivalent Runic letters ({{script|Runr|ᚱ}}, {{script|Runr|ᛋ}} and {{script|Runr|ᚠ}}), assumed to have been part of the Gothic futhark, possibly played some role in this choice.<ref>Cf. Kirchhoff (1854:55–56); Friesen (1915:306–310).</ref> However, Snædal claims that "Wulfila's knowledge of runes was questionable to say the least", as the paucity of inscriptions attests that knowledge and use of runes was rare among the East Germanic peoples.<ref name=Contact /> Some variants of {{lang|got|𐍃}} (s) are shaped like a sigma and more obviously derive from the Greek Σ.<ref name=Contact />

{{lang|got|𐍇}} (x) is only used in proper names and loanwords containing Greek Χ  (''xristus'' "Christ", ''galiugaxristus'' "Pseudo-Christ", ''zaxarias'' "Zacharias", ''aiwxaristia'' "eucharist").<ref>Wright (1910:5).</ref>

Regarding the letters' numeric values, most correspond to those of the [[Greek numerals]]. Gothic {{lang|got|𐌵}} takes the place of Ϝ (6), {{lang|got|𐌾}} takes the place of ξ (60), {{lang|got|𐌿}} that of Ο (70), and {{lang|got|𐍈}} that of ψ (700).

==Diacritics and punctuation==
Diacritics and punctuation used in the [[Astronomy:Codex Argenteus|Codex Argenteus]] include a trema placed on  {{lang|got|𐌹}} ''i'', transliterated as ''ï'', in general applied to express diaeresis, the interpunct (·) and colon (:) as well as overlines to indicate sigla (such as <span style="text-decoration: overline">''xaus''</span> for ''xristaus'') and numerals.

==Unicode==
The Gothic alphabet was added to the [[Unicode]] Standard in March 2001 with the release of version 3.1.

The Unicode block for Gothic is U+10330– U+1034F in the ''Supplementary Multilingual Plane''. As older software that uses UCS-2 (the predecessor of [[UTF-16]]) assumes that all Unicode codepoints can be expressed as 16 [[Bit|bit]] numbers (U+FFFF or lower, the ''Basic Multilingual Plane''), problems may be encountered using the Gothic alphabet Unicode range and others outside of the ''Basic Multilingual Plane''.

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==See also==
* Ring of Pietroassa
* Help:Gothic Unicode Fonts

==References==
* Braune, Wilhelm (1952). ''Gotische Grammatik''. Halle: Max Niemeyer.
* Cercignani, Fausto (1988). "The Elaboration of the Gothic Alphabet and Orthography", in ''Indogermanische Forschungen'', 93, pp. 168–185.
* Dietrich, Franz (1862). ''Über die Aussprache des Gotischen Wärend der Zeit seines Bestehens''. Marburg: N. G. Elwert'sche Universitätsbuchhandlung.
* Friesen, Otto von (1915). "Gotische Schrift" in Hoops, J. ''Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, Bd. II''. pp.&nbsp;306–310. Strassburg: Karl J. Trübner.
* Haarmann, Harald (1991). ''Universalgeschichte der Schrift''. Frankfurt: Campus.
* Jensen, Hans (1969). ''Die Schrift in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart''. Berlin: [[Company:Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften|Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften]].
* Kirchhoff, Adolf (1854). ''Das gothische Runenalphabet''. Berlin: Wilhelm Hertz.
* Mees, Bernard (2002/2003). "Runo-Gothica: the runes and the origin of Wulfila's script", in ''Die Sprache'', 43, pp. 55–79.
* Streitberg, Wilhelm (1910). ''Gotisches Elementarbuch''. Heidelberg: Carl Winter.
* Weingärtner, Wilhelm (1858). ''Die Aussprache des Gotischen zur Zeit Ulfilas''. Leipzig: T. O. Weigel.
* Wright, Joseph (1910). ''Grammar of the Gothic Language''. Oxford: [[Organization:Oxford University Press|Oxford University Press]].
* Zacher, Julius (1855). ''Das gothische Alphabet Vulvilas und das Runenalphabet''. Leipzig: F. A. Brockhaus.

==External links==
{{InterWiki|code=got}}
*[http://www.omniglot.com/writing/gothic.htm Omniglot's Gothic writing page]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20130505053530/http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-gothic.html ''Pater Noster'' and ''Ave Maria'' in Gothic]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20051029233446/http://marnanel.org/gothic JavaScript Gothic transliterator]
*[https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U10330.pdf Unicode code chart for Gothic]
*[http://www.wazu.jp/gallery/Fonts_Gothic.html WAZU JAPAN's Gallery of Gothic Unicode Fonts]
*[http://robert-pfeffer.net/schriftarten/englisch/index.html Dr. Pfeffer's Gothic Unicode Fonts]
*[https://www.gnu.org/software/freefont/ GNU FreeFont] Unicode font family with the Gothic range in a serif face.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gothic Alphabet}}
[[Category:Alphabets]]
[[Category:Obsolete writing systems]]

{{Sourceattribution|Gothic alphabet}}