I sent this to the precursor Gothic-L list last year, but as that list was
having technical trouble at the time I have no idea if it was ever received
or re-transmitted or not. I certainly never got a copy back. I hope no
one will object if I send it again.

The eighty-odd words, and the handful of phrases, collected by Ogier
Ghislain de Busbecq in Constantinople from two envoys to the Turkish
capital from the Crimea, are generally accepted as more or less (usually
less) accurate renditions of a late local development of the Gothic
language in the area. The meeting between Busbecq (a Flemish ambassador
from Habsburg Austria) and the Crimeans took place probably in the period
1560-1562, possibly somewhat earlier (but not before 1556).
A great deal of ink has been spilt regarding the nature of the
communication between Busbecq and the Crimeans, their competence in
'Crimean Gothic' (which Busbecq indirectly impeaches) and Busbecq's own
assessment of their vocabulary. The question is not generally raised as to
whether their language was actually Gothic.
Busbecq recognized a large number of 'Crimean Gothic' (KG) forms as
being cognate to Germanic words he knew, either from his native Flemish or
from High German. Even a cursory inspection of the material reveals that
many of the forms he recorded look more like German or Dutch than Gothic.
There are at least two possible reasons for this.
Busbecq himself writes of his Crimean 'Goths' that "I cannot determine
if these people are Goths or Saxons. If they are Saxons, I suppose them to
have removed in the time of Charles the Great, who dispersed that people
through the various regions of the world [orbis terrarum]. To which thing
the Transylvanian cities, even today dwelt in by Saxon inhabitants, bear
witness." Busbecq suspects that they might be a far-flung branch of these
Transylvanian Saxons.
The other possibility, strongly favored by most investigators, is that
Busbecq himself introduced the German or Dutch element, assimilating words
he heard to their nearest cognate in one of those languages and spelling
them accordingly.
I think there is a third possibility: that the Crimean Goths, living
in an area repeatedly penetrated by non-Gothic peoples of all kinds
(Greeks, Huns, Avars, Bulgars, Khazars, Magyars, Petchenegs, Cumans,
Mongols, Italians, and various kinds of Turks) had developed a very mixed
language. Busbecq was chiefly interested in recording the Germanic
elements (as he perceived them) of this language; but he would not have
been able to distinguish between native KG cognates, and any loan-words
from non-KG Germanic languages that might have been introduced through any
source.
Whatever the truth of the matter, I think that these words, whether
German or Dutch in origin, or assimilated to them by Busbecq, are thereby
rendered worthless for reconstructing the development of KG.
Below follows a list of all the KG words both recorded and glossed by
Busbecq, together with possibly related words in Ulfila's Gothic and
German. Where no Gothic cognate is clearly evident, the Gothic word with
the same meaning is given in square brackets. A + precedes those KG words
which Busbecq noted as not being obvious cognates to words that he knew. A
- precedes the words (numbers and the article the, tho) about whose cognate
status Busbecq made no observations. Asterisks (*) mark reconstructed
words; words asterisked and in parentheses are conjectural reconstructions
of the form originally written by Busbecq (the printed text is evidently
corrupt). In a fourth column the words are translated into English, square
brackets surrounding those translations which do not happen to be cognate
to the KG words.

Krim-Gutiska Gutiska Thiudiska Aggliska
+ada *addi Ei egg, ME ey

+ael ?hallus [stains] [stone]
alt altheis alt old
+ano *hanjo Henne hen
apel *apals, *aplus? Apfel apple
-athe ahtau acht eight
+atochta [ubils] [bad thing]
+baar barn? baur? [boy]
bars *bards Bart beard
boga *buga Bogen bow
+borrotsch [wilja] [will]
breen *briuwan braten, brauen? [roast]
broe *brauth, -d- Brot bread
bruder brothar Bruder brother
brunna brunna Brunnen [well]
+cadariou [gadrauhts] (Gk. kentyrion?) [soldier]
eriten (*griten) gretan [cry]
+fers fairhwus? [man] cf. OE fiiras
fisct (*fisch) fisks Fisch fish
-furdeithien fidwortaihun vierzig forty
-fyder fidwor vier four
-fyuf (*fynf) fimf fuenf five
+gadeltha [beautiful thing]
geen [gaggan] gehen go
goltz (*golth) gulth Gold gold
handa *handus Hand hand
-hazer [thusundi] [thousand]
hoef(*t) haubith, -d- Haupt head
hus -hus Haus house
+ich ik ich I
+iel *hail Heil [health]
+ieltsch *hails heil whole
+ies is er [he]
-ita ainata, ita? ein one
+knauen [goths, -d-] [good]
kommen qiman kommen come
+kop *kuppa [stikls, aurkeis] (kopf) cup
kor(*n) kaurn Korn corn
lachen hlahjan lachen laugh
+lista *leit(il)ista least
+malthata mathlida [said] OE mathelode
+marzus [*liugains](cf. maritus?) [marriage]
miera *miurja, *meira? [ant] (cf. pismire)
+menus (*mems?) mims [flesh]
mine mena Mond moon
+mycha mekeis [sword] OE mece
-nyne niun neun nine
oegene augona Augen eyes
plut bloth, -d- Blut blood
reghen rign Regen rain
rinck, ringo *hriggs Ring ring
+rintsch [fairguni, *bairgs] [mountain]
-sada [hund] cf. Persian 'sad' [hundred]
salt salt Salz salt
+schediit [liuhath,-d-] [light]
schieten *skiutan schiessen shoot
schlipen slepan schlafen sleep
+schuos [bruths] [bride]
schwalth *swults? cf. swiltan [death]
schwester swistar Schwester sister
-seis saihs sechs six
-sevene sibun sieben seven
silvir silubr Silber silver
singhen siggwan singen sing
+stap [gaits] [goat]
+statz (*stath) staths, -th- [land]
-stega [twai tigjus] [twenty]
stein (*stern) stairno Stern star
stul stols Stuhl stool
sune sunna, sunno Sonne sun
tag dags Tag day
+telich dwals, *dwalisks? [foolish]
-the sa, *tha der the
-tho so, *tho die the
-thiine taihun zehn ten
-thiinita [ainlif] [eleven]
-thunetria (*thii-) [*threitaihun] [thirteen]
-thunetua (*thii-) [twalif] [twelve]
thurn daur, dauro Tor, Tuer door
-treithyen threis tigjus dreizig thirty
-tria thrija drei three
-tua twa zwei two
+tzo (*tho) thu du thou
+vburt (*wurt) wairth [be, become]
waghen *wagns Wagen wagon
+warthata waurhta, *waurhtida? wirkte [did]
+wichtgata [hweits] [white thing]
wingart weinagards? Weingarten? [grapevine]
wintch winds Wind wind

Phrases:
+iel vburt (*wurt) hail wairth heil werde [be (it) healthy]
+tzo warthata thu waurhtes du wirktest [thou didst]
+ies warthata is waurhta er wirkte [he did]
+kilemschkop [drigk aurki, drigk stikl] [drink (the) cup]

There are also the first three lines of a song, possibly very corruptly
transmitted and not glossed:
wara wara ingdolou / scu te gira galtzou / hćmisclep dorbiza ea

I will now divide the vocabulary into four groups. The first will be of
those words where I judge the similarity to be closest between the KG word
and the Gothic cognate; the second, those words where the similarity seems
to be closest between KG and German; the third, where the KG words could
correspond to either the Gothic or the German, or perhaps are not
particularly close to either; and a fourth, consisting of a number of
'dubious' words, many of which may not be of Germanic origin at all.

I. Closest cognates in Gothic
KG Gutiska Thiudiska Aggliska
+ada *addi Ei egg, ME ey

+ano *hanjo Henne hen
apel *apals, *aplus? Apfel apple
athe ahtau acht eight
+baar barn? baur? [boy]
boga *buga Bogen bow
brunna brunna Brunnen [well]
eriten (*griten) gretan [cry]
+fers fairhwus? [man] cf. OE fiiras
-furdeithien fidwortaihun vierzig forty
-fyder fidwor, fidur- vier four
goltz (*golth) gulth Gold gold
hus -hus Haus house
+ieltsch *hails heil whole
+ies is er [he]
+malthata mathlida [said] OE mathelode
+menus (*mems?) mims [flesh]
mine mena Mond moon
+mycha mekeis [sword] OE mece
salt salt Salz salt
schieten *skiutan schiessen
shoot
schlipen slepan schlafen sleep
schwalth *swults? cf. swiltan [death]
+statz(*stath) staths, -th- [land]
-the sa, *tha der the
-tho so, *tho die the
-thiine taihun zehn ten
-treithyen threis tigjus dreizig thirty
-tria thrija drei three
-tua twa zwei two
+tzo (*tho) thu du thou
+warthata waurhta, *waurhtida? wirkte [did]
wintch winds Wind wind

Some of these words, especially mine 'moon' and mems (if the
reconstruction is accurate) are especially convincing in arguing for a
Gothic origin. It is also observable that the High German developments of
medial -t- > -ss- and -p- > -f-, -pf-, are absent. Also lacking is the
development th- > d-; Busbecq shows tz for th in a number of places (but
this may be due to printer's error).

Recognized as cognate by OGB: 13
Not recognized: 12
Other: 8
Total number: 33
Non-reconstructed Gothic cognates: 22

II. Closest cognates in German
KG Gutiska Thiudiska Aggliska
alt altheis alt old
bruder brothar Bruder brother
fisct (*fisch) fisks Fisch fish
geen [gaggan] gehen go
+ich ik ich I
kommen qiman kommen come
lachen hlahjan lachen laugh
plut bloth, -d- Blut blood
reghen rign Regen rain
singhen siggwan singen sing
stul stols Stuhl stool
schwester swistar Schwester sister
tag dags Tag day
thurn daur, dauro Tor, Tuer door
waghen *wagns Wagen wagon, wain

In all of these the resemblance between KG and German is very close; in
some of them it is very hard to argue for a Gothic origin, e.g. kommen.
'Plut' for 'blut' resembles an ultra-High Germanism. Initial t- for Gothic
d- is less diagnostic, since Busbecq only uses initial d- in his fragmetary
song and elsewhere may lump t, th, and d together.

Recognized as cognate by OGB: 14
Not recognized: 1
Total number: 15
Non-reconstructed Gothic cognates: 13

III. Closest cognates either or neither Gothic or German
Krim-Gotisch Gutiska Thiudiska Aggliska
bars *bards Bart beard
breen *briuwan braten, brauen? [roast]
broe *brauth, -d- Brot bread
fyuf (*fynf) fimf fuenf five
handa *handus Hand hand
hoef(*t) haubith, -d- Haupt head
+iel *hail Heil [health]
-ita ainata? ita? ein one
kor(*n) kaurn Korn corn
+lista *leit(il)ista [too little] cf. least
miera *miurja, *meira? [ant] cf. (pis)mire
oegene augona Augen eyes
-nyne niun neun nine
rinck, ringo *hriggs Ring ring
-seis saihs sechs six
sevene sibun sieben seven
silvir silubr Silber silver
stein (*stern) stairno Stern star
sune sunna, sunno Sonne sun
-thiinita [ainlif] [eleven]
-thunetua (*thii-) [twalif] [twelve]
-thunetria (*thii-) [*threitaihun] [thirteen]
+vburt (*wurt) wairth werde [be, become]
wingart weinagards? Weingarten? [grapevine]

Recognized as cognate by OGB: 15
Not recognized: 3
Other: 6
Total number: 24
Non-reconstructed Gothic cognates: 13

IV. Dubious words
KG Gutiska Thiudiska Aggliska
+ael ?hallus [stains] [stone]
+atochta [ubils] [bad thing]
+borrotsch [wilja] [will]
+cadariou [gadrauhts] (Gk. kentyrion?) [soldier]
+gadeltha [beautiful thing]
-hazer (cf. Persian hazaar) [thusundi] [thousand]
+knauen [goths, -d-] [good]
+kop *kuppa [stikls, aurkeis] (kopf) cup
+marzus [*liugains](cf. maritus?) [marriage]
+rintsch [fairguni, *bairgs]
[mountain]
-sada (cf. Persian sad) [hund] [hundred]
+schediit [liuhath,-d-] [light]
+schuos [bruths] [bride]
+stap [gaits] [goat]
-stega [twai tigjus] [twenty]
+telich ?dwals, *dwalisks [foolish]
+wichtgata [hweits] [white thing]

Recognized as cognate by OGB: 0
Not recognized: 14
Other: 3
Total number: 17
Non-reconstructed Gothic cognates: 1

The difficulties in making an accurate assessment of KG are pretty big.
It does seem evident that there is a real Gothic element in KG. We are in
no position, however, to assess the size of this element relative to other
words in the vocabulary, given the selective nature of Busbecq's inquiry.
Even in his selection, however, there are a fair number of words which can
hardly be Germanic. There is also a considerable group (II) which is
either of German origin, or which have been so assimilated to German by
Busbecq that it is impossible to deduce any underlying KG form. Another
large group (III) may also contain a number of assimilated forms. Any
assessment of the phonetic structure and history of KG will therefore have
to start with (I), those words which have a more clearly Gothic origin, and
to a lesser extent (as warranted by the evidence of (I)) with (III).

Daweid




/\ WISTR LAG WIGS RAIHTS
\/ WRAIQS NU IST <> David Salo
<dsalo@...> <>



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