A number of foren words from the Latin and Greek wer fully adopted into the Gothic language thru commercial and political intercourse, so that their inflection is the same as that of purely Gothic words; e. g., pund, n., pound; marikreitus, m., perl; Krêks, m., Greek; karkara, f., 'carcer'; alêw, n., oil; kaisar, m., Cæsar.
§ 120. A second portion of foren words wer at a later period forced on the Gothic language by Christianity and especially by the version of the Bible. To these belong for the most part proper nouns which ar stil felt to be foren elements and hav but imperfectly adopted the Gothic inflection. For their treatment in Gothic no fixt rules can be givn. Sumtimes they retain their Greek inflection, sumtimes they take either similar or arbitrarily formd case-endings. – Cp. Bernhardt's 'Vulfila', p. XXVIII, and especially M. H. Jellinek, 'Beitr. zur erklärung der german. flexion' (Berlin 1891), pp. 76-84.
Note 1. Most consistent is the treatment of the Gr. masculins in – ος, Lt. – us, which inflect in Gothic according to the u-decl. (§§ 104, 105); e. g., Paítrus, Barþaúlaúmaius, Teitus, aípiskaúpus, ἐπίσκοπος; apaústaúlus, ἀπόστολος; aggilus, ἄγγελος; sabbatus, sabbath. But only in the sg. pl. forms follow mostly the i-decl.; e. g., apaústaúleis, sabbatins, aggileis, aggilê beside aggiljus.
Note 2. Greek case-endings ar retaind in the neuters alabalstraún, ἀλάβαστρον; praitôriaún, πραιτώριον, etc.; Israêleitês has the nom. pl. Israêleitai = Ἰσραηλῖται; Rom. IX, 4; or (with Gothic inflection) Israêleiteis; II. Cor. XI, 22.
Note 3. The following exampl may illustrate arbitrary inflection. The Gr. ἐπιστολή is represented in Goth. by aípistaúlê (nom. sg.). But the dat. sg. is aípistaúlein, the dat. pl. aípistaúlêm, and the acc. pl. aípistaúlans.
CHAP. II. DECLENSION OF ADJECTIVS
§ 121. In Gothic, as in all other Germanic languages, adjectivs hav two kinds of inflection, the strong and the weak. The strong inflection is the original one corresponding to that of the cognate languages, the weak originated on Germanic soil. Every normal adj. may hav both a strong and a weak inflection. The distinction is a syntactic one: the weak form is employd after the articl (rarely in other positions), the strong form in all other cases, especially when the adj. is uzed predicativly, or attributivly without the articl. Cp. Zs. fda., 18, 17-43.
A. STRONG ADJECTIVS
§ 122. The strong inflection of adjectivs is in part the same as the vocalic (or strong) inflection of the substantivs with which it was originally identical. In Germanic, however, sum cases of the adj. hav adopted the pronominal inflection, so that the identity between the adjectival inflection and that of the substantivs is now confined to certain cases. The nom. and acc. sg. of the neuter gender hav two forms of the same value, a substantival and a pronominal one (in -ata). The latter, however, is not uzed predicativly.
The Gothic adjectiv, like the substantiv, has three vocalic declensions: (1) Adjectivs of the a-declension which correspond to the substantival a-declension in the m. and n. (§ 89 et seq.) and in the f. of the ô-declension (§ 96 et seq.). – A subdivision is formd by the ja-stems, just as in the case of the corresponding substantivs. (2) Adjectivs of the i-declension which correspond to the substantivs in §§ 99-103. (3) Adjectivs of the u-declension belonging to the substantivs in §§ 104-106.
Classes (2) and (3), however, contain but very few remains in Gothic. The few adjectival ja-stems hav in most of the inflectional cases past over to the 1st class, so that the normal strong declension of the adjectivs in Gothic embraces only the a-declension and its subdivision, the ja-stems.
Note. Subject to strong inflection ar all pronouns (except sama and silba, § 132, n. 3), the cardinal numbers, inasmuch as they inflect adjectivly, and anþar, the second; also the adjectivs of a more general meaning: alls, all; ganôhs, enuf; halbs, half; midjis, 'medius'; fulls, ful.
§ 123. Paradim of the strong adjectival declension: blinds, blind. The pronominal forms differing from the inflection of the corresponding substantivs ar in the following paradim put in Italics:
§ 124. Here belong most of the extant adjectivs; e. g., hails, hole, helthy; siuks, sik; juggs, yung; triggws, tru, faithful; swinþs, strong; ubils, evil; aiweins, eternal; haiþiwisks, wild; mahteigs, mighty; ansteigs, gracious; manags, much, many; môdags, angry; handugs, wise. – Also adjectiv pronouns; as, meins, mine, my; þeins, thine, thy; seins, his; jains, yun; the superlativs (§ 137) and pps. pass.; as, numans, taken; nasiþs, saved (cp. § 134).
Note 1. According to § 78, n. 2, the s of the nom. sg. is dropt, (1) after s; e. g., swês, swêsis, own; gaqiss, gaqissis, consenting. (2) after r preceded by a short vowel: anþar, the second, the other; unsar, our; izwar, your; ƕaþar, which of the two. Accordingly, the nom. pl. warai must hav had a nom. sg. war, wary.
Note 2. The rules for the hardening of final soft spirants (79) must be noted; as, frôþs, frôdis, wise; gôþs, gôdis, good (§ 74); liufs, liubis, dear; daufs, daubis, def (§ 56, n. 1).
Note 3. Stems having a w before the case-endings ar subject to the rule for final w (§ 42) in the nom. sg. m. and n. The three words of this kind occur only in other cases. Therefore the noms. pl. fawai, qiwai, usskawai suggest as noms. sg. m. and n. faus, fau, few; qius, qiu, alive; usskaus, usskau, wakeful. According to usskawjan (to awake, § 42, n. 2), also usskaws might be supposed insted of usskaus. For lasiws, s. § 42, n. 1.
