The so-called "Crimean Gothic" vocabulary was recorded in Constantinople during the period 1560-62 by Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq, a Flemish nobleman who was serving Ferdinand I of Austria as Imperial Ambassador to the Ottoman Porte. This vocabulary, which Busbecq includes in a report in the last of his four "Turkish letters", consists of two lists of words and phrases glossed in Latin, eighteen cardinal numbers, and the unglossed, three-line beginning of a song, the "cantilena", all told a mere 101 separate forms. These meager data are the only traces of a Germanic language once spoken in the Crimea, but extinct since the end of the 18th century.
Author(s): MacDonald Stearns
Series: Studia linguistica et philologica, 6
Publisher: Anma Libri
Year: 1978
Language: English
Pages: 184
City: Saratoga
Acknowledgments v
Abbreviations vii
PART I: ANALYSIS 1
0. Introduction 3
1. Reports of the Language of the Crimean Goths 4
1.0 Introductory 4
1.1 Reports preceding Busbecq’s 4
1.2 Busbecq's Report: The Crimean Gothic Corpus 9
1.3 Reports Following Busbecq’s 15
2. A Chronological Survey of Crimean Gothic Studies 27
2.1 16th Century 27
2.2 17th Century 27
2.3 18th Century 27
2.4 19th Century 28
2.5 20th Century 31
3. Problems and Procedures 37
3.1 Problems 37
3.2 Procedures 39
4. Textual Criticism 41
4.1 The Textual Tradition 41
4.2 Errors by Copyist and Typesetter 42
5. Busbecq's Informant 45
5.1 Nationality of the Informant 45
5.2 Competence of the Informant 47
5.3 Native Language of the Informant 48
5.3.1 Identification 48
5.3.2 Methodology of Reconstruction 48
5.3.3 The Vowels of Crimean Greek 50
5.3.4 The Consonants of Crimean Greek 51
5.4 Distortion by the Nonnative Informant 52
5.4.1 The Vowels 53
5.4.2 The Consonants 57
6. Busbecq: The 'fieldworker' 64
6.1 Biography 64
6.2 Linguistic Background 65
6.3 The Recording of the Crimean Gothic Data 68
6.4 Busbecq's Competence 69
6.5 Distortion by the 'Fieldworker' 71
6.5.1 Phonological Interference 71
6.5.2 Orthographic Influence 72
6.6 Busbecq's System of Transcription 73
6.6.1 The Vowels (alphabetically arranged) 74
6.6.2 The Consonants (alphabetically arranged) 80
7. Crimean Gothic Phonology: Its Development from Proto-Germanic 87
7.1 The Vowels 87
7.1.1 Short Vowels in Stressed Syllable 87
7.1.2 Long Vowels and Diphthongs in Stressed Syllable 89
7.1.3 Vowels in Unstressed Syllable 90
7.1.4 The Vowel System of Native Crimean Gothic 91
7.2 The Consonants 92
7.2.1 Labials 92
7.2.2 Dentals 93
7.2.3 Velars 95
7.2.4 Sibilants 97
7.2.5 Liquids, Nasals, and Semivowels 98
7.2.6 The Consonant System of Native Crimean Gothic 99
8. Crimean Gothic Morphology and Syntax 101
8.1 Morphology 101
8.1.1 Nouns 101
8.1.2 Pronouns 102
8.1.3 Adjectives 103
8.1.4 Adverb 103
8.1.5 Numerals 104
8.1.6 Verbs 105
8.2 Syntax 107
9. The Position of Crimean Gothic in the Family of Germanic Languages 109
9.0 Introductory 109
9.1 Phonology 110
9.1.1 Vowels 110
9.1.2 Consonants 112
9.2 Morphology 114
9.3 Lexicon 115
9.4 Summary and Conclusion 118
10. The 'Cantilena' 121
PART II: ETYMOLOGY 125
Bibliography of Works Cited 165
