Scholars have long looked for an explanation of the Goths' sudden and destructive entrance into history in the middle of the 3rd century. They have generally attributed Gothic movements to a response to the marauding Huns who came swiftly from the east and attacked and displaced the formerly sedentary Goths. Of course this begs the question as to the reason for the Huns' entrance into eastern Europe: overpopulation, drought, or the search for richer grazing areas have all been suggested as possibilities.
The Huns first attacked and subdued the Alans, a nomadic Iranian people neighboring the Goths to the east of the Don. Together the Huns and Alans attacked the Goths. Their combined forces first attacked the Greuthungi, whose leader was Ermenaric. Upon his death, Vithimer became leader of the Greuthungi and paid some Huns to fight alongside the Goths. Vithimer was eventually killed in battle against a force consisting mostly of Alans, and the subsequent leaders Alatheus and Saphrax led a retreat to the Dniester.
This westward movement of the Greuthungi was countered by the Tervingi, who, led by Athanaric, marched from the east to the Dniester to hold them off. Hunnic attacks eventually forced Athanaric to fall back, until he built a defensive wall running from the river Gerasius (modern Prut) to the Danube. Further Hunnic attacks interrupted construction of the walls, and Alavivus and Fritigern led splinter groups to seek refuge in the Roman empire across the Danube. This then left the Greuthungi free to cross the Dniester, and they too pushed to the Danube and sought entry into Roman territory. The two groups sought to enter Roman territory sometime in 376.
This rapid turn of events is, however, likely a synopsis of a situation which developed over a substantial period of time. It is more likely that Huns did not come in the form of a lightning storm of invaders, but rather that pressure upon neighboring Gothic tribes built up over time. In fact the Tervingi request for asylum presumably involved several stages, all taking considerable time: (1) deliberations among the Goths themselves as to how best to escape the Huns; (2) a request made to local Roman officials for permission to enter Roman territory; (3) referral of the matter to the emperor Valens, to whom the Goths eventually sent embassies; (4) a period of waiting while Valens made a decision from his present location in Antioch; (5) another waiting period while the embassies returned from Antioch, travelling over 1000km each way.
As it turns out, the Goths themselves still remained the major concern of the Roman empire in the region of the Danube in 376 and after. The Huns by contrast only operated in small raiding parties at the time. Athanaric's Tervingi established a new settlement in the Carpathians in late 370s. When Athanaric was ousted c. 380, the Goths he ruled remained in north of the Danube. This suggests that the Huns were not such oppressive raiders that the Goths were in a particular hurry to flee. Another Gothic group under Arimer, perhaps the former subjects of Athanaric, also remained north of the Danube until the mid 380s. Yet another group of Greuthungi under Odotheus tried in 386 to cross south into Roman territory. They were defeated and resettled to Asia Minor. Much later, in 405-406, the Gothic king Radagaisus crossed the Roman border and invaded Italy. But though Odotheus and Radagaisus may have been Hunnic refugees, no sources contradict the possibility that they were simply leaders of independent groups of Goths.
The Huns themselves did not press the Roman border: in 395 (20 years after the initial Gothic requests to pass into Roman territory), a large group of Huns crossed the Caucasus. One part headed for Persia, another for Roman territories in Armenia, Cappadocia, and Syria, going as far as Antioch, Edessa, and Cilicia. Though these may have been Huns from the Danube, this would have involved a journey of more than 1000km around the Black Sea and through the difficult Caucasus, a harsh journey for men and horses alike. It is likely that the Huns' center was somewhat father east of the Danube, closer to the Don and Volga.
One story of the Huns' arrival is given in the Ecclesiatical History of the 5th century church historian Sozomen (translated in Heather and Matthews, 1991):
|2||The Goths, who in former times inhabited the region beyond the Ister and were masters of the other barbarians, were driven from their lands by the people called the Huns and crossed over into Roman territory.|
|3||Now this race, so they say, was previously unknown to the Thracians living by the Ister and to the Goths themselves, and lived as their neighbors without either party realising it -- the reason for their ignorance being that a huge lake lay between them, each people believing that the country in which they lived was the last dry land to exist, and that beyond lay sea and an infinite expanse of water. It came about, however, that an ox, driven mad by insects, ran through the lake and was follwoed by its herdsman, who saw the land on the other side and reported it to his fellow-tribesmen.|
|4||Others say that a deer, fleeing in the chase, showed its Hunnish pursuers the way, which lay concealed by the surface of the water; and that the hunters, admiring the country with its gentler climate and ease of cultivation, at once turned back and reported what they had seen to the ruler of their race.|
|5||The Huns first tried the strength of the Goths with a small force of men, and later attacked in full force, defeating the Goths in battle and taking possession of their entire country. The victims of the attack made to cross the river, and coming over to the Roman frontiers sent envoys to the emperor, promising their services as his allies in the future and asking his agreement to settle wherever he chose.|
|6||The leader of this embassy was Ulphilas, the bishop of the Goths; and, negotiations proceeding as they hoped, they were allowed to live in Thrace.|
In this account, Sozomen seems to pass over the fact that Wulfila (here Ulphilas, for Ulfila) was expelled from Gothic lands during the persecutions of the 340s, and so likely had no personal connection to the events of the 370s related here. However it was possible during that period to pass somewhat freely over the imperial borders, and so it is not impossible that Wulfila maintained some connection with these events.
Ambrose of Milan, writing c. 380, sums up the story of the Huns' arrival thus (quoted in Heather, 1996):
|The Huns threw themselves upon the Alans, the Alans upon the Goths, and the Goths upon the Taifali and Sarmatae... and this is not yet the end.|
Evidence of more permanent Hunnic presence on the Danube only begins c. 400 AD, when a leader of the Huns called Uldin announced his presence by sending the head of an imperial general Gainas to imperial authorities in Constantinople.
The following passage is Matthew 6.1-15, relating the famous Sermon on the Mount. The Gothic selection contains numerous possessive forms, as in Matthew 6.1: izwara 'your'. This form could be either the genitive plural of þu 'thou' or the feminine singular nominative or accusative of the possessive adjective izwar 'your, yours'. The possessive adjectives are in fact derived from appending adjectival endings to the genitive of the personal pronouns. Compare Modern English mine to the Old English genitive singular of the first person pronoun: mīn. The decision as to which analysis should be given to izwara is based primarily on proximity to the form izwaramma, which is unambiguously adjectival, as well as on parallelism in the structures of the following verses. Similar ambiguity surrounds þeina in verses 6.3-4 and 6.13.
In Matthew 6.3 we find iþ þuk táujandan armaiōn 'but when thou doest alms'. This is an example of an accusative absolute, consisting of a substantive (here þuk) and an associated participle (here táujandan) placed in the accusative case to related information that would generally occupy a full subordinate clause in Modern English. Such constructions are far less common in Gothic than their dative counterpart.
We also find in this passage several uses of the present subjunctive, most frequently here equivalent to imperatives. The use in Matthew 6.5 -- jah þan bidjaiþ 'when you pray' -- shows use of the present subjunctive to denote hypotheical events in the future. In the jargon of traditional grammars of Greek and Latin, this is a present subjunctive in the protasis of a present general condition.
In this reading we encounter several terms of relating to tribal structure. In particular we find the general term þiuda 'people' (Matthew 6.7). This seems to denote any ethnically or culturally identifiable group, as the Gothic term of self-reference, Gut-þiuda 'Gothic people', attests. We also find the term þiudinassus 'kingdom' (Matthew 6.10) and þiudangardi 'kingdom' (Matthew 6.13), built from þiudans 'head of a þiuda, king'.
The last part of Matthew 6.13, untē þeina ist þiudangardi jah mahts jah wulþus in áiwins 'for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever', is a phrase which is absent from the traditional Greek text, as well as from the Old English translation of c. 995, Wycliffe's translation of 1389, and Tyndale's of 1526.
6:1 - Atsaiƕiþ armaion izwara ni taujan in andwairþja manne du saiƕan im; aiþþau laun ni habaiþ fram attin izwaramma þamma in himinam.
2 - þan nu taujais armaion, ni haurnjais faura þus, swaswe þai liutans taujand in gaqumþim jah in garunsim, ei hauhjaindau fram mannam; amen qiþa izwis: andnemun mizdon seina.
3 - iþ þuk taujandan armaion ni witi hleidumei þeina, ƕa taujiþ taihswo þeina,
4 - ei sijai so armahairtiþa þeina in fulhsnja, jah atta þeins saei saiƕiþ in fulhsnja, usgibiþ þus in bairhtein.
5 - jah þan bidjaiþ, ni sijaiþ swaswe þai liutans, unte frijond in gaqumþim jah waihstam plapjo standandans bidjan, ei gaumjaindau mannam. Amen, qiþa izwis þatei haband mizdon seina.
6 - iþ þu þan bidjais, gagg in heþjon þeina jah galukands haurdai þeinai bidei du attin þeinamma þamma in fulhsnja, jah atta þeins saei saiƕiþ in fulhsnja, usgibiþ þus in bairhtein.
7 - bidjandansuþ-þan ni filuwaurdjaiþ, swaswe þai þiudo; þugkeiþ im auk ei in filuwaurdein seinai andhausjaindau.
8 - ni galeikoþ nu þaim; wait auk atta izwar þizei jus þaurbuþ, faurþizei jus bidjaiþ ina.
9 - swa nu bidjaiþ jus:
atta unsar þu in himinam,
weihnai namo þein.
10 - qimai þiudinassus þeins.
wairþai wilja þeins,
swe in himina jah ana airþai.
11 - hlaif unsarana þana sinteinan gif uns himma daga.
12 - jah aflet uns þatei skulans sijaima,
swaswe jah weis afletam þaim skulam unsaraim.
13 - jah ni briggais uns in fraistubnjai,
ak lausei uns af þamma ubilin;
unte þeina ist þiudangardi jah mahts
jah wulþus in aiwins. amen.
14 - unte jabai afletiþ mannam missadedins ize, afletiþ jah izwis atta izwar sa ufar himinam.
15 - iþ jabai ni afletiþ mannam missadedins ize, ni þau atta izwar afletiþ missadedins izwaros.
6:1 Atsaiƕiþ armaion izwara ni taujan in andwairþja manne du saiƕan im; aiþþau laun ni habaiþ fram attin izwaramma þamma in himinam.
2 þan nu taujais armaion, ni haurnjais faura þus, swaswe þai liutans taujand in gaqumþim jah in garunsim, ei hauhjaindau fram mannam; amen qiþa izwis: andnemun mizdon seina. 3 iþ þuk taujandan armaion ni witi hleidumei þeina, ƕa taujiþ taihswo þeina, 4 ei sijai so armahairtiþa þeina in fulhsnja, jah atta þeins saei saiƕiþ in fulhsnja, usgibiþ þus in bairhtein.
5 jah þan bidjaiþ, ni sijaiþ swaswe þai liutans, unte frijond in gaqumþim jah waihstam plapjo standandans bidjan, ei gaumjaindau mannam. Amen, qiþa izwis þatei haband mizdon seina. 6 iþ þu þan bidjais, gagg in heþjon þeina jah galukands haurdai þeinai bidei du attin þeinamma þamma in fulhsnja, jah atta þeins saei saiƕiþ in fulhsnja, usgibiþ þus in bairhtein.
7 bidjandansuþ-þan ni filuwaurdjaiþ, swaswe þai þiudo; þugkeiþ im auk ei in filuwaurdein seinai andhausjaindau. 8 ni galeikoþ nu þaim; wait auk atta izwar þizei jus þaurbuþ, faurþizei jus bidjaiþ ina.
9 swa nu bidjaiþ jus:
atta unsar þu in himinam,
weihnai namo þein.
10 qimai þiudinassus þeins.
wairþai wilja þeins,
swe in himina jah ana airþai.
11 hlaif unsarana þana sinteinan gif uns himma daga.
12 jah aflet uns þatei skulans sijaima,
swaswe jah weis afletam þaim skulam unsaraim.
13 jah ni briggais uns in fraistubnjai,
ak lausei uns af þamma ubilin;
unte þeina ist þiudangardi jah mahts
jah wulþus in aiwins. amen.
14 unte jabai afletiþ mannam missadedins ize, afletiþ jah izwis atta izwar sa ufar himinam. 15 iþ jabai ni afletiþ mannam missadedins ize, ni þau atta izwar afletiþ missadedins izwaros.
From the King James version:
6:1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: 4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
9 After this manner therefore pray ye:
|Our Father which art in heaven,|
|Hallowed be thy name.|
|10 Thy kingdom come.|
|Thy will be done|
|in earth, as it is in heaven.|
|11 Give us this day our daily bread.|
|12 And forgive us our debts,|
|as we forgive our debtors.|
|13 And lead us not into temptation,|
|but deliver us from evil:|
|For thine is the kingdom, and the power,|
|and the glory, for ever. Amen.|
14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
The interrogative ƕaþar forms a distributive by addition of the particle -uh: ƕaþaruh 'each (of two)'. Only the dative masculine occurs, both alone (ƕaþarammēh) and in composition (áinƕaþarammēh 'to each one (of two)').
The pronoun ƕas, ƕa, ƕō also forms a distributive by suffixing -uh: ƕazuh, ƕah, ƕōh 'each, every'. The declension is as follows.
The only plural form is the masculine accusative plural ƕanzuh. Before -uh, an s changes to z. The u of the suffix -uh drops after a long vowel or stressed a.
The adjective ƕarjis likewise forms a distributive by affixing -uh: ƕarjizuh 'each, every'. The declension is as follows.
This adjective occurs with the uninflected prefix áin- to form the compound áinƕarjizuh 'every one'. The attested forms are as follows.
|áinƕarjizuh 'every one'||Masculine||Neuter||Feminine|
The stem ba- 'both' only survives in a few forms, naturally plural. The attested forms are as follows.
|N Pl.||bái, bajōþs||ba|
The particle -hun is suffixed to forms of ƕas 'who', manna 'man', and áins 'one' to form indefinite pronouns, ƕashun, mannahun, áinshun. These always occur with the negative particle ni in the meaning 'no one, nothing, no, none'. The compound form of ƕas occurs only in the nominative singular masculine: ni ƕashun 'no one'. The compound forms of manna occur only in the masculine singular. The compound forms of áins occur at least in part for all genders. The attested forms of these pronouns are as follows.
Note that the first element of each compound declines, while only the -hun remains invariant. The base áins- declines according to the strong declension of blinds (Section 13.1), except that is has -ē- or -ō- where blinds has a final -a. Note also the forms áin-(n)ō-hun (masc. acc.; compare blind-ana) and áin-ummē-hun (masc. dat.; compare blind-amma). For the particle -hun, compare Sanskrit -ca-ná (where -na is a negative particle) in kás caná 'any one'. Note also -que in Latin quisque 'whoever'.
The feminine noun waíhts 'thing, matter' occurs with the negative ni 'no, not', as does a neuter form waíht, to express 'nothing' (Greek oudén or mēdén).
Below is a list of the attested cardinal and ordinal numerals in Gothic.
|1||áins 'one'||fruma (frumists) 'first'|
|11||*áinlif (dat. áinlibim)|
|12||twalif (dat. twalibim)|
|15||fimftaíhun||fimftataíhunda (dat. fimftataíhundin)|
|30||*þreis tigjus (acc. þrins tiguns)|
|90||niuntēhund (gen. niuntēhundis)|
|3,000||g (= þreis) þūsundjōs|
|10,000||dat. taíhun þūsundjōm|
|20,000||dat. twáim tigum þūsundjō|
The form tigjus which appears in the cardinal decades 20-60 is the nominative plural of a u-stem noun meaning 'group of ten, decade' (cf. Section 7.2). These numerals govern the genitive case. The hundreds 200, 300, 500, 900 combine the individual units and the neuter noun hund 'hundred', which declines like the neuter a-stem waúrd (Section 3.1). These numerals govern the genitive case. The feminine noun þūsundi 'thousand' declines like the jō-stem noun bandi (Section 3.2). The numerals denoting thousands govern the genitive case.
The cardinal numbers 1 through 3 are decline as adjectives, agreeing with the noun they modify in gender, number, and case. The numeral áins 'one' occurs in both singular and plural; in the plural it means 'only, alone'. It follows the strong a-stem adjective declension of blinds. The cardinals 2 and 3 naturally occur only in the plural. No forms of 3 occur in the nominative, though the expected masculine and feminine form is *þreis, and neuter *þrija mimicking the accusative. The declensions are given below.
|N Sg.||áins||áin, áinata||áina|
The cardinal numbers 4-15 generally remain uninflected, though some inflected forms occur. The attested forms are genitive and dative plurals exhibiting i-stem declension. For example, dative forms are fidwōrim, taíhunim, áinlibim, twalibim, fimf taíhunim; genitives are niunē, twalibē.
The attested ordinals decline as adjectives. The ordinal fruma 'first' (cf. Section 17.2) declines as a weak adjective, with the feminine following the īn-stem declension of managei. The forms are as follows.
The form frumists may be declined strong (following blinds) or weak, though when weak it does not take the pronominal ending -ata in the neuter singular nominative and accusative. The ordinal anþar 'second' only declines strong like blinds, and likewise does not take the ending -ata: N sg. masc. anþar, neut. anþar, fem. anþara. The other ordinals -- þridja 'third', fimfta 'fifth', saíhsta 'sixth', ahtuda 'eighth', niunda 'ninth', taíhunda 'tenth', fimftataíhunda 'fifteenth' -- all decline weak according to the pattern of blinda.
The distributive ba- signifies 'both', occurring in only a few forms. See Section 21.1 above.
The only distributive numeral is tweihnái 'two each'. Only the feminine accusative tweihnōs and dative tweihnáim are attested. Otherwise, distributive numerals are expressed by phrases involving a preposition or a distributive pronoun such as ƕazuh 'each, every' or ƕarjizuh 'each, every'. For example, bi twans aíþþáu máist þrins 'by twos or at most (by) threes'; ana ƕarjanōh fimftiguns 'by fifties in each' (more literally 'according to each fifty(es)'); insandida ins twans ƕanzuh 'he sent them forth two each', i.e. 'two and two' or 'by twos'.
The adjective -falþ, corresponding to Modern English '-fold' in e.g. 'manifold', is appended to cardinals to form multiplicative numerals. The following are attested: áinfalþs 'onefold, simple'; fidurfalþs 'fourfold'; taíhuntaíhundfalþs 'hundredfold'; managfalþs 'manifold'.
Numeral adverbs denoting frequency or the number of times of occurrence are composed of a numeral in conjunction with the dative singular or plural of the noun *sinþs 'a going, time'. These are áinamma sinþa 'once'; anþaramma sinþa 'a second time'; twáim sinþam 'twice'; þrim sinþam 'thrice'; fimf sinþam 'five times'; sibun sinþam 'seven times'.
Strong verbs are characterized by vocalic alternation accompanying morphological change. This so-called ablaut pattern differs among verbs, but similarities are frequent enough that strong verbs fall into a small number of ablaut classes, the members of a given class sharing the same sequence of vocalic alternation. The particular sequence characterizing a given strong verb class is the result of a number of sound changes from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) to Proto-Germanic (PGmc), and from the latter to the respective daughter languages. The morpheme structure of the root in PIE uniquely characterizes the ablaut class to which a verb belongs; subsequent evolution into Germanic and the resulting daughter languages, however, has restructured this characterization. The following chart shows an example of the evolution of a verb from PIE to the PGmc class I strong conjugation, and then gives examples of class I strong verbs from Gothic.
|Class I||Root Shape||Present||Past Sg.||Past Pl.||Past Part.||Meaning|
|PGmc||(K)V(C)||ī||ai||i (EG i/e)||o (EG i/e)|
|*grīpu (EG -a)||*graip||*gripum||*gripan||'seize'|
|Goth.||ei [ī]||ái||i / aí [e]||i / aí [e]|
EG stands for East Germanic, the branch of Germanic to which Gothic belongs. K stands for any consonant sequence, C for any single consonant, V for any vowel. Items in parentheses may or may not be present. The resulting ablaut pattern characterizing the first strong conjugation in Gothic thus becomes the following.
|Class||Present||Past Sg.||Past Pl.||Past Part.|
|Ib||ei [ī]||ái||aí [e]||aí [e]|
The difference between Classes Ia and Ib lies solely in the vowel of the past plural and participle stems. The change is conditioned by the consonant following the vowel. Generally the vowel i occurs, but this is replaced by aí when followed by h. Take for example the past participles stigans vs. þaíhans.
The verb greipa 'seize', with prinicpal parts greipa -- gráip -- gripum -- gripans, serves to illustrate the forms of the first conjugation. The forms are as follows.
The second strong conjugation comprises verbs whose present system often shows the diphthong iu. The historical evolution of these verbs is shown in the chart below.
|Class II||Root Shape||Present||Past Sg.||Past Pl.||Past Part.||Meaning|
|PGmc||(K)V(C)||eu (EG iu)||au||u (EG u/o)||o (EG u/o)|
|*néutu (EG *níuta)||*naut||*nutum||*notan (EG *nutan)||'enjoy'|
|Goth.||iu||áu||u / aú [o]||u / aú [o]|
Note that the root shape, though distinct from Class I in the PIE period, is no longer distinct in the PGmc period. At this stage, only the choice of V distinguishes the classes: V = ī in the Class I present, V = eu or V = iu in the Class II present. The resulting ablaut pattern characterizing the second strong conjugation in Gothic thus becomes the following.
|Class||Present||Past Sg.||Past Pl.||Past Part.|
|IIb||iu||áu||aú [o]||aú [o]|
As in the first strong conjugation, the difference between Classes IIa and IIb lies solely in the vowel of the past plural and participle stems. This change is also conditioned by the consonant following the vowel. Generally the vowel u occurs, but this is replaced by aú when followed by h. Take for example the past plural forms drusum vs. taúhum.
The verb niuta 'enjoy', with prinicpal parts niuta -- náut -- nutum -- nutans, serves to illustrate the forms of the second conjugation. The forms are as follows.
For consonant changes before the second person singular past indicative ending, see Section 6.3.
Gothic employs various mechanisms for deriving adverbs. A few of these methods are described below.
Genitive case. Nouns may stand in the genitive and adverbially qualify a clause as a whole, rather than qualify a specific noun. Examples are allis 'in general, wholly'; and-waírþis 'over against'; nahts 'at night'; raíhtis 'however, indeed'.
Suffix -ba. This suffix generally derives adverbs of manner from associated adjectives. For example, agluba 'with difficulty'; ana-láugniba 'secretly'; baírtaba 'brightly'; báitraba 'bitterly'; balþaba 'boldly'; ga-tēmiba 'fitly'; glaggwaba, glaggwuba 'diligently, precisely'; hardaba, harduba 'grievously'; háuhaba 'highly'; ƕassaba 'sharply'; manwuba 'in readiness'; mikilaba 'greatly'; raíhtaba 'rightly'; sunjaba 'truly'; ubilaba 'evilly'.
Suffix -ō. This suffix frequently derives adverbs from adjectives. For example, and-áugjō 'openly'; ana-leikō 'in like manner'; ga-leikō 'like'; glaggwō 'diligently'; sinteinō 'continually'; sniumundō 'quickly'; spráutō 'quickly'; þiubjō 'secretly'; þridjō 'for the third time'; ūhteigō 'in season'. This suffix is found with other adverbs, e.g. aftarō 'behind'; aúftō 'perhaps, surely'; missō 'one another'; sundrō 'asunder'; ufarō 'above'; undarō 'beneath'.
Suffix -ē. This suffix occurs less frequently than the others. Examples are simlē 'once'; swarē 'in vain'.
The adverb corresponding to Modern English 'Yes.' is ja or jái; that corresponding to Modern English 'No.' is nē. The adverb ni 'no' is the general negative adverb within statements.
The adverb -u is a postpositive particle marking questions, much the same as Latin -ne. For example, skuldu ist? 'is it lawful?' This adverb may also intervene between prefix and base, as in ga-u-láubjats 'do ye two believe?' Other interrogative particles are the following: an 'then'; ibái, requiring a negative answer; ja-u 'whether'; ni-u 'not'; nuh 'then'; þáu 'or', in the second of two alternative questions.
Adverbs denoting time are generally simple adverbs or are nouns or noun phrases in an oblique case. Examples of simple adverbs are the following: áir 'early'; aftra 'again'; ƕan 'when'; ju 'already'; naúh 'still'; nu 'now'; þan 'then'; ufta 'often'. Examples involving oblique nominal forms are the following: dagis ƕizuh 'day by day'; du maúrgina 'tomorrow'; fram himma nu 'henceforth'; gistra-dagis 'tomorrow'; himma daga 'today'.
There are a few common, simple adverbs referring to location or motion. These are faúr 'before'; inn 'in, within'; iup 'upwards'; nēƕ 'near, close by'; ūt 'out, forth'.
A number of suffixes are used to form adverbs expressing location or differing types or directions of motion. These are listed below.
Suffix -a. Used to denote stationary location. For example, afta 'behind'; dalaþa 'below'; faúra 'before'; inna 'within'; iupa 'above'; ūta 'without'.
Suffix -drē. Used to denote motion toward a place. For example, hidrē 'hither'; ƕadrē 'whither'; jaindrē 'thither'.
Suffix -na. Used to denote motion from a place. For example, aftana 'from behind'; hindana 'from behind'; innana 'from within'; iupana 'from above'; ūtana 'from without'.
Suffix -ō. Used to denote stationary location. See the discussion in Section 25.1 above.
Suffix -r. Used to denote stationary location. For example, hēr 'here'; ƕar 'where'; jáinar 'yonder'; þar 'there'.
Suffix -þ -(d). Used to denote motion toward a place. For example, aljaþ 'in another direction'; dalaþ 'down'; ƕaþ 'whither'; jaind 'thither'; samaþ 'to the same place'.
Suffix -þrō. Used to denote motion from a place. For example, aljaþrō 'from elsewhere'; allaþrō 'from all directions'; dalaþrō 'from below'; faírraþrō 'from afar'; ƕaþrō 'whence'; innaþrō 'from within'; iupaþrō 'from above'; jáinþrō 'thence'; þaþrō 'thence'.
The comparative degree of adverbs generally ends in -(i)s or -ōs. Examples are áiris 'earlier'; faúrþis 'beforehand'; framis 'further'; haldis 'rather'; háuhis 'higher'; máis 'more'; nēƕis 'nearer'; mins 'less'; waírs 'worse'; aljaleikōs 'otherwise'; sniumundōs 'with more haste'.
The superlative degree ends in -ist. Few superlative adverbs are attested: frumist 'first of all'; máist 'at most'.