Gothic/1/Alphabet

Historically, there are two scripts in which Gothic has been written. The first is the Ulfilan alphabet, attributed to the Gothic bishop Ulfilas. The second is the Elder Futhark runes. Few Gothic runic inscriptions have been found. However, in grammars and primes the Latin alphabet is used. The alphabet this tutorial will focus on using is the Latin alphabet.

Hails!

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Appendix

The Gothic Alphabet

Note: Two letters have been removed for this lesson, as they merely represent numbers.

Consonants

Consonants - as far as this book is concerned - are all the letters in the alphabet which do not represent vowel sounds. Unlike vowels, they require articulation of various parts of the mouth and lips. The names of some of the letters have been reconstructed

Gothic	Latin	Pronunciation
𐌱 *bairka "birch"	b	Beginning of a word, or after a consonant /b/ Between Vowels [β]
𐌲 giba "gift"	g	Normally /g/ At the end of a word /ç/
𐌳 dags "day"	d	Beginning of a word, or after a consonant /d/ Between two vowels /ð/
𐌵 *qairþra? or qairna "millstone"	q	/kʷ/
𐌶 ezec ?	z	/z/
𐌷 hagal or hagls "hail"	h	Before Vowels /h/ Before Consonants /x/
𐌸 þiuþ "good" or þaurnus "thorn"	þ	/θ/ Never pronounced /ð/
𐌺 *kusma or kōnja "pine sap"	k	/k/
𐌻 *lagus "sea, lake"	l	/l/
𐌼 manna "man"	m	/m/
𐌽 nauþs "need"	n	/n/
𐌾 jēr "year"	j	/j/
𐍀 *pairþa ?	p	/p/
𐍂 *raida "wagon"	r	/r/
𐍃 sauil or sōjil "sun"	s	/s/
𐍄 *tius "the god Týr"	t	/t/
𐍅 winja "field, pasture" or winna "pain"	w	Normally /w/ When in position where normal pronunciation is difficult /y/

Vowels

Gothic	Latin	Pronunciation
𐌰 *ans "god" or asks "ash"	a	Before 𐌷 /ɑː/ Elsewhere /a/
𐌴 aiƕs "horse" or eiws "yew"	e	/eː/
𐌹/ *eis "ice"	i	/ɪ/ rarely /iː/
𐌿 *ūrus "aurochs"	u	/ʊ/, or /uː/
𐍉 *ōþal "ancestral land"	o	/oː/

Diphthongs

Gothic	Latin	Pronnounciation
𐌰𐌹	ái	/aɪ/
	aí	/ε/
	ai	/eː/ Occurs before a vowel
𐌰𐌿	áu	/aʊ/
	aú	/ɒ/ Appears only before Raido or Hagl
	au	/ɔ/
𐌲𐌲	gg	/ŋ/
𐌲𐌲𐍅	ggw	/ŋw/
𐌴𐌹	ei	/iː/
𐌹𐌿	iu	/iu̯/
𐌲𐍃	gs	/ç/ At the end of a word, only.

You will also notice, as you advance through the language, that some words will end abruptly without a vowel, as is the case in the word figgr (meaning finger). Attempt to pronounce words such as this as if there isn't a vowel between the two consonants; the required vowel will come naturally to you.

Numbers

Like Ancient Hebrew and Ancient Greek, letters are assigned corresponding numerical values. Two letters of the Gothic alphabet were also used to specifically refer to numbers. An interpunct is inserted before and after a number to differentiate it from a normal word. Right now, it is not necessarily important to know what numbers correspond to what letters. Numbers will be dealt with in a later chapter.

Nevertheless, this table shows the letters in their proper order.

Old Content to be Revised

Gothic	Gothic Name	Futhark	Futhark Name	Latin	IPA Pronunciation
𐌰	Ahsa	ᚨ	Ansuz	A	/a, aː/
𐌱	Bairkan	ᛒ	Berkanan	B	/b/
𐌲	Giba	ᚷ	Gyfu	G	/ɡ/
𐌳	Dags	ᛞ	Dagaz	D	/d, ð/
𐌴	aiƕus	ᛖ	Ehwaz	E	/e, eː/
𐌵	qairþra		(No Equivalent)	Q	/kʷ/
𐌶	Ezec	ᛉ	Algiz	Z	/z/
𐌷	Hagl	ᚺ	Haglaz	H	/h/
𐌸	þiuþ	ᚦ	Þurisaz	þ	/θ/
𐌹	Eis	ᛁ	Isaz	I	/i, iː/
𐌺	Kusma	ᚲ	Kaunan	K	/k/
𐌻	Lagus	ᛚ	Laguz	L	/l/
𐌼	Manna	ᛗ	Mannaz	M	/m/
𐌽	Nauþs	ᚾ	Naudiz	N	/n/
𐌾	Jer	ᛃ	Jeran	J	/j/
𐌿	Urus	ᚢ	Ur	U	/u, uː/
𐍀	Pairþa	ᛈ	Peorð	P	/p/
𐍁			(no equivalent)
𐍂	Raida	ᚱ	Raido	R	/r/
𐍃	Sauil	ᛊ	Sowilo	S	/s/
𐍄	Teiws	ᛏ	Tiwaz	T	/t/
𐍅	Winja	ᚹ	Wynn	W	/w, y/
𐍆	Faihu	ᚠ	Fe	F	/f/
𐍇	iggws		(no equivalent)	X	/kʰ/
𐍈	ƕair		(no equivalent)	ƕ	/ʍ/
𐍉	Oþal	ᛟ	Odal	O	/o, oː/
𐍊			(no equivalent)

*Sounds like p in Futhark

Hwair is a difficult letter to wrap your head around without a good description of the sound. It sounds similar to the Scottish "ch" Lo"ch" (if you approximate this to a k, it is actually pronnounced as a light hissing noise) with a "w" attached to the end of it.

Sound Changes

Certain letters of the alphabet will change sound in certain situations.

Bairkan will change sounds from /b/ to /β/ when in-between two vowels or diphthongs.
Dags will change sounds from /d/ to /ð/ when in-between two vowels or diphthongs.
Giba will change sounds from /ɡ/ to /ʒ/ when in-between two vowels.
Giba will change sounds from /ɡ/ to /x/ after a vowel, but only if it isn't considered a diphthong (see below).
Hagl will change sounds from /h/ to /x/ when not in-between two vowels.
Winja will change sounds from /w/ to an /ɪ/ when it is used as a vowel after a diphthong, long vowel, or consonants not following a vowel (with Hagl an exception).

Diphthongs

Now that you know the basic sounds of the alphabet, we can examine the sounds that Gothic creates with two or more letters. Luckily for you, there are less of them than in English. These sounds are unmarked on the traditional Gothic alphabet, but can be determined by other letters around it. Note that there are two other variations on 𐌰𐌹 and 𐌰𐌿 which are not currently discussed here, and have a harder time trying to be pronounced by English toungues.

Diphthong	IPA Pronnounciation
𐍃𐌺	/ʃ/
𐌰𐌹	/æ/, /aɪ/ /eɪ/
𐌰𐌿	/ɑ/ or /aʊ/
𐌹𐌿	/ju/
𐌲𐌲 *	/ŋ/
𐌴𐌹	/eɪ/

* Compounding certain consonants with Giba after it, particularly Quairþa and Lagus, will produce this sound. Be aware of this. As a side note, "𐌲𐌲𐍅", is pronnounced /ŋw/.

Determining when to use the correct sounds for 𐌰𐌹 and 𐌰𐌿

This comes down to stress, as can be shown by the forms for ai - ai, ái, and aí, and au - au, áu, and aú. At times it also comes down to the letter which comes before it:

aí, which represents a sound which approximates /æ/, only occurs before r, h, and ƕ.
ái, which represents /aɪ/, generally occurs before consonants
ai, which represents /eɪ/, generally occurs before vowels
aú, which represents /ɑ/, only occurs before r, and h.
áu, which represents /aʊ/, generally has no recognizable pattern
au, which represents /ɔ/, generally occurs before consonants

Other General Rules

Assume that a vowel is short unless it becomes before 𐌷(and not 𐌸), as in that case it will be long.
If you encounter an Eis with two dots on top, it will mean that you should separate the letter from the syllable. It also occurs in words whose first letter is Eis. When working in the Latin alphabet, it will not be distinguished.
Aiƕus is always pronounced long.
The letter thorn is always used to represent the "th sound" when using the Latin alphabet rather than the "th" sound, which has a double meaning for both the thorn (þ as in teeth) and eth (ð as in then). The Eth sound is only represented by Dags in certain situations.