Vandalic language

Vandalic was the Germanic language spoken by the Vandals during roughly the 3rd to 6th centuries. It was probably closely related to Gothic, and, as such, is traditionally classified as an East Germanic language.Template:Rp Its attestation is very fragmentary, mainly due to the Vandals' constant migrations and late adoption of writing. All modern sources from the time when Vandalic was spoken are protohistoric.Template:Rp

Classification

Vandalic is traditionally classified as an East Germanic language,Template:Rp though the reasons for this classification are mostly historical and not linguistic.Template:R Due to the perception of Vandalic as an East Germanic language, its reconstruction from onomastics recorded by Greek and Roman sources relies on Gothic forms. Therefore, it is difficult to assess whether or not Vandalic is closely related to Gothic.Template:R

Theories include that Vandalic together with Gothic and Burgundian formed a dialect continuum; that the language of the Vandals was actually Gothic;Template:R and that they were different languages that separated early on, without having an intermediary East Germanic ancestor.

History

File:Vandals Migration pt.gif

The Vandals during the Migration Period

According to their own mythology, the Goths originally came from Scandinavia. It is debated whether Gothic, and by extension Vandalic, came from Scandinavia, as linguistic evidence shows no specific relation between North Germanic and either Gothic or Vandalic. Still, it is possible that both the Goths and the Vandals migrated from Scandinavia southwards, where their respective languages started to diverge from Proto-Germanic.

The linguistic urheimat of Vandalic probably lies south of the Baltic sea. They crossed the Rhine in the fifth century, establishing themselves together with the Hasdingi and the Silingi in Gallaecia (northern Portugal and Galicia) and in southern Spain, following other Germanic and non-Germanic peoples (Visigoths, Alans and Suebi) in c. 410 before they moved to North Africa in the 430s. Their kingdom flourished in the early 6th century, but after their defeat in 534 they were placed under Byzantine administration.Template:Rp The Vandalic language is presumed to still have been spoken at the time of the Byzantine conquest.Template:R It likely disappeared before the end of the century.

Attestation

Very little is known about the Vandalic language other than various phrases and a small number of personal names of Vandalic origin, mainly known from documents and coins.Template:RTemplate:R Most Vandalic names were recorded by native speakers of Latin or Greek, who might have misinterpreted phonemes or assimilated names to those common in their mother tongue.Template:R

The regional name Andalusia is traditionally believed to have derived from Vandalic, although this claim is contested. Following the Umayyad conquest of Hispania, from the 8th century to the end of the 15th the region was called Template:Transliteration.

In one inscription from the Vandal Kingdom, the Christian incantation of Template:Transliteration ("Lord, have mercy!") is given in Vandalic as "". The same phrase appears in 15 by Pseudo-Augustine: "". It is possible that this sentence is, in fact, Gothic, since the Vandals might have used Gothic as liturgical language.Template:R

The epigram in the Latin Anthology, of North African origin and disputed date, contains a fragment in a Germanic language that some authors believe to be Vandalic,Template:R although the fragment itself refers to the language as "Gothic". This may be because both languages were East Germanic and closely related; scholars have pointed out in this contextTemplate:R that Procopius refers to the Goths, Vandals, Visigoths, and Gepids as "Gothic nations" and opines that they "are all of the Arian faith, and have one language called Gothic". The fragment reads: Template:Verse translation Other surviving Vandalic words are , "master" and , "King of the Vandals".

Phonology

The phonological features of Vandalic are similar to those of Gothic.Template:R

Vowels

The following vowel inventory is based on Wrede:Template:R

		Front		Central		Back
		short	long	short	long	short	long
High
Mid
Low

• Vandalic was sometimes written Template:Angbr by Latin authors.Template:R

The Proto-Germanic long vowel * is often written in Vandalic names as Template:Angbr (, ), but it is also represented as Template:Angbr , .Template:R

The Proto-Germanic short vowel * is often written as Template:Angbr in VandalicTemplate:R when it was not preceded by *. For example, contains -i because g precedes the vowel, but retains the *e since r precedes the vowel. It could either mean that * turned into in Vandalic or that the Vandalic short was interpreted as by non-natives.Template:R

Similar to Gothic, Vandalic does not seem to have i-umlaut. One example of items that demonstrate the lack of umlaut are names that contain the form * (< Proto-Germanic 'army'): , , , vs. Old English , the latter of which does show umlaut with the Proto-Germanic *a having shifted to e.

Proto-Germanic * is written Template:Angbr; (compare Proto-Germanic ), . This could either mean that * turned into in Vandalic or that it is a misinterpretation of the sound by Latin authors.Template:R In Gothic documents, * is mostly written Template:Angbr, but sometimes also Template:Angbr.Template:R

The Proto-Germanic diphthong *eu tends to come down to Vandalic as eu. Take for example the form - ('people'), as opposed to the Gothic (), where it has changed to .

The Proto-Germanic diphthong *ai is preserved as , but tends to become later on. For example, the name changes to in later documents.

Consonants

The Vandalic consonant inventory according to Wrede.Template:R

	Labial		Dental		Alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Labiovelar	Glottal
Nasal	Template:Angbr				Template:Angbr				Template:Angbr
Stop	Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr			Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr
Fricative	Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr			? Template:Angbr	? Template:Angbr		? Template:Angbr
Approximant					Template:Angbr		Template:Angbr				Template:Angbr
Trill					Template:Angbr

• It is unclear how Template:Angbr was originally pronounced.Template:RTemplate:R
• It is likely that [] occurred in Vandalic, but there is not enough evidence for the sound.Template:R

The Proto-Germanic * is also preserved in the language as a sibilant (always found written Template:Angbr or as part of Template:Angbr), as opposed to having undergone rhotacism as it has in North or West Germanic. For example, compare the Vandalic form (as in ) 'spear' to Old English .

The word-initial inherited from Proto-Germanic does not consistently appear in Vandalic names recorded by Greek or Latin authors (e.g., the element in and , from Proto-Germanic 'army'). Sometimes the same name appears with and without Template:Angbr, depending on the author. However, royal names on Vandal coins use a conservative official spelling, with the Template:Angbr always being written. This could point to either a loss of the sound represented by Template:Angbr or errors introduced by authors unfamiliar with the sound.Template:RTemplate:R

The Proto-Germanic fricatives * and * often turned into or , but there are also some names in which they were retained or otherwise represented distinctly: , .

Initial is sometimes written as Template:Angbr.Template:R This could be an issue of Latin spellingTemplate:R or a point to the development of . Examples are , < Proto-Germanic and , < .

The Proto-Germanic cluster * can be found strengthened to .

The Proto-Germanic cluster * can become , as in from Proto-Germanic .

Grammar

Very little is known about Vandalic grammar, but some things can be extracted from extant Vandalic material.Template:R

Morphology

The original Proto-Germanic *-z used to mark the nominative masculine singular in nominals, which was lost in West Germanic early on, is attested within some preserved Vandalic forms as -s or as part of -x (occasionally found Romanized in some name attestations as -us). This marker is potentially to be deemed an archaic feature since it is lost in most words, with complete loss in Ostrogothic names from the 6th century onward.Template:R

The epithet 'king of the Vandals' gives possible attestation of a genitive plural ending -e (cf. Gothic -ē), albeit written as Template:Angbr within this form. Old Germanic languages outside of East Germanic have -a (as in Old English and Old Norse) or -o (as in Old Dutch or Old High German) as their equivalents of this ending instead; compare Old English against the potential Vandalic form *.

Vocabulary

The tables below show various Vandalic words, phrases and forms that survive in (or as) names and various Latin texts. The majority of these were taken from Template:Ill.Template:Clarification needed

Vandalic words attested outside of names

Attested Vandalic form	Gothic cognate	Gloss of Vandalic form
	𐌹 () (2.sg.ipv. form of ())	'have mercy!'
(cf. -)	—	'ruler, master'
	()	'drink (inf.)'
	()	'hail!' (greeting)
	()	'and'
	()	'lord, (the) Lord'
	()	'eat (inf.), have one's meal (inf.)'
	* (*), cf. ()	'make, create'
	— (- ())	'king of the Vandals'

Vandalic words and forms attested in or as personal names

Attested Vandalic form(s)	Gothic cognate	Proto-Germanic etymon	Old English cognate	Gloss of Vandalic form
	()			'army'
(cf. )	—		—	'master, ruler'
	()			'bear, carry'
	()		*	'bloom, flower'
	* (*) cf. ()			'day (dim.)'
	* (*)		(cf. MnE †frith)	'peace'
	* (*)		(cf. MnE garlic)	'spear'
	—			'battle'
,	()			'battle'
	* (*)	,	(cf. MnE ‡mere)	'famous'
	—		(cf. MnE ‡mound)	'defender'
	() ('mood, anger')		(cf. MnE mood)	'courage'
	()			'high'
	* (*)			'east'
	() ('to advise')		, (cf. MnE †rede)	'advice, counsel'
	()		('dominion')	'king'
	()		(cf. MnE †roun, rune)	'secret'
	—		(cf. MnE share)	'band (dim.)'
	()		(cf. MnE sibling)	'kindred (dim.)'
	() ('time, occurrence')		(cf. MnE send)	'travel, path'
	()			'loyal, true (f.)'
	()		(cf. MnE †thew)	'slave, servant'
	()		(cf. MnE †thede)	'folk'
,	()			'will (noun)'
	()		—	'struggle, combat'
	()			'glory'

Writing system

The few names on coins issued by the Vandalic kingdom were written in Latin script.

See also

• Vandals
• Gothic language
• East Germanic languages
• Languages of the Roman Empire