Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Task 1.1 - Gothic Scripts (1/16)

Ancient Scripts: Gothic 

The Gothic language was the first recorded Germanic language. The Goths were becoming Christianized by the fourth century CE. At that time, Goths had their own alphabet (Futhark). Since it was a pagan invention, Bishop Wulfila, with the help of a Greek missionary, "took the Greek alphabet, added letters from Latin and Futhark alphabets, and created a new alphabet to write the Gothic language."(Lawrence 1996-2012)



The original manuscripts were written during the period of Ostrogothic rule in northern Italy. Some include "portions of the New Testament and a minor part of the Old Testament". (Project Wulfila, 2004)


Gothic alphabet

Since the letters were adopted from the Greek, two letters don't make any sound. Each letter of the Classical Greek alphabet has a number associated to it.
The Gothic alphabet faded in most of Europe by the ninth century CE. Although the Gothic language survived in theatres, it still became extinct in the seventeenth century CE.


Ancient Scripts, 2014. Gothic. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.ancientscripts.com/gothic.html. [Accessed 22 April 2014].

Gotica, 2014. About the Gothic language. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.wulfila.be/gothic/gotica/. [Accessed 22 April 2014].

No comments:

Post a Comment