I did prepare this for someone who had made a translation of a 12th Century French poem, not only because I was sincerily moved by her (?) acceptation of my proposal, which she frankly improved, but this is exactly the point. Proposals come from someone who doesn’t share the context and thus just sees something like a light in the middle of Oceans: it is to the one who receives it to put it into the general context, so that I found the interaction most positive and even exemplary. (For more: http://sonjakasten.wordpress.com under literature)

I’m sure this poor person does little know about oldest German, but am certain she (?) will enjoy the quizz and arising questions, and even hints to possible anwers, as it should usually happen with people who have a liking for forlorn words.

This is the oldest German ‘Our father’, written early sixth century, source Codex Argenteus, and it may all alone by itself shatter whatever theories there are about German history: the translation is word by word in order to allow to find similarity even with English.

Atta unser, thu in himinam, weihnai namo thein

(Father ours, you in heavens, holy is the name of yours)

Qimai thiudinassus theins.

(Come the kingdom of yours)

Wairthai wilja theins, swe in himina jah ana airthai

(Be the will of yours, as well in heaven as on earth)

Hlaif unsarana thana sinteinan gif uns himma daga

(the bread of ours every day’s give us the today’s day)

Jah aflet uns thatei skulans sijaima, swaswe jah weis afletam thaim skulam unsaraim.

(And forgive us that sinners we were, as also we know to forgive the sinners towards us)

Jah ni briggais uns in fraistubnjai, ak lausei uns af thamma ubilin.

(And don’t bring us in ‘temptation’, but free (loose) us of all evil.)

Unte theina ist thiudangardi jah  mahts jah wul;us in aiwins

(Because yours is the kingdom and might and glory for ever).

Already quite peculiar is the similarity with actual English and German. But the thing that should strike an expert’s mind, is the appearance of two very strange words: atta and aflet. Both exist still in the Turkish language. Atta (known in Ata Türk, father of Turks) means father, and aflet (very similar words) means forgive (in forgive me: Affet edersin). There could be more, but my knowledge of Turkish is not very deep.

Now, the Turkish people did arrive from the wide steppes of Siberia around the 8th Century and left reminders of there somewhat barbarian irruption in occidental culture all over (Turkmenistan does clearly say, but all the actual muslim countries south to the Russian State do speak Turkish related languages).

Goth appear bothering Constantinople around the 3rd Century and general theories say it was a German tribe that went down to the East (until Georgia) and South (through Spain to Marocco), visigoths and ostrogoths. Or, Constantinople registers christianization of the very wild tribe of Goth during Arianism (one of the most persecuted deviations in theology consisting in refusing the divinity of the son), and give these people (staying actually at the actual Rumanian borders of the Empire) an own scripture (gothic) and a translation of the new testament (perhaps also of the old, but there is no record: the oldest new testament in gothic scripture is kept actually in a museum in Holland and has a special name, though I don’t remember). Perhaps Silberbibel.

When Goths arrive in Spain in the 4th and 5th Century they are already Christians and give mainly Seville gravest headache in the attempt to get them out of arianism. (Birth of the ‘filioque’ argument, violently rejected by Constantinople and reason of division of Empires as Charlemagne, 8th Century, does accept it as dogma.)

Taking all these facts together, it would rather seem, that Goths are not German at all: a Turkish related tribe far from over the Urals (as Mongols and Tartars and Turk), as they show all similar language characteristics. Irrupting in Europe about the second or third Century they may have ravaged slav kept territory (Russia and other) until they are pushed down to the Byzantine Empire’s borders. Christianized, they are pushed again to the north (common strategy of Byzance was to push troublemakers either to the north or through Albania to Italy). Arriving to Germany, some stay and submit the German tribes already in problem with Huns (Name of actual Hungary), – if Huns and Goths are not exactly the same people, Huns beeing the former name and Goths the name given after Christianization (See similarity between word Goth and God or Gott) -, and others continue to the south. This would explain very much of the cold separation between aristocratic Goths and German tribes or people: as said, Gotha, is the book keeping record of the authentic descendants of Goth, who did never mix with German.

With two words you may destroy the absurd maintainance of German scientific thought, race would always have been kept pure: probably only valid for very, very closed goth aristocracy, who does keep the same blood for 1.700 years!!! Now count how many there are: isn’t it a reason to get mad?

This concerns the importance language has in the reconstruction of history. Remark though extremely developed gramatical structures in the 3rd century, that are not influenced by Greek: genitive personal pronoun (thein), dative personal pronoun (uns), and thus probable accusative already, in differentiated neutral, male, female nouns, balanced expressions of opposition  (jah … swaswe, or jah … ak, swe … jah) or similarity, clear use of future as order (wairthai, weihnai) if not already a subjunctive. Where did these ‘barbarian’ get this from? Which historical and memorable theft made them pick accusatives and datives and transport them all over the Siberian steps?

Structures are not similar to Turkish structures who do scotch the verb to the personal pronoun or noun (benim: mine, from ben and im) and usually patch everything together: iyi-mi-sin? well ? are you? the question mark does substitute the ‘mi’ for necessarily inserted syllab to indicate a question, while the former text does separate everything. I always had the suspicion that Goths had taken some refracted culture of the Chinese (adoption through eventual commercial relationship), but I don’t know a word of Chinese. Does anyone know to establish a potential relationship between given Chinese and structures as reflected in old German??

I would pay for the answer with … publication!

Posted by Sonja Kasten in Sonja Kasten.wordpress.com Wednesday, November 1st 2006. http://sonjakasten1.wordpress.com Sonja_Kasten.wordpress.com