Gothic is neat. Very cool and very strange. The language, I mean. If you look into it at all, it will make those ridiculous "goths" who wear all black and spikes and things seem very...silly. SO silly you may have to stifle extreme laughter while in their presence.
´Cause they just don´t know what they´re missin'.
Gothic is an extremely old East-Germanic language, and it looks like nothing you've ever seen before. I'm certainly no expert, so I'll let Alexander Arguelles tell you all about it. This guy is amazing. He has tons of Youtube videos (mostly of Germanic languages, but a few other things as well) that are extremely interesting and informative. Through him I've gotten a pretty fair appreciation of the so-called "harsh" and "unmelodic" Germanic languages. They aren't harsh - they're strong. And I wouldn't say unmelodic, I would say that they are, as Legolas Greenleaf said, "like to the land itself, rich and rolling in part, and else hard and stern as the mountains...laden with the sadness of Mortal Men" (Legolas was referring to Rohirric, which is more or less the same as Old English. As for the "sadness of Mortal Men" part...well, that's just an Elf's perspective).
Anyway, here's Dr. Arguelles:
After you've become intrigued by this tongue of tongues, you may be interested in this little-known poem by the Good Professor (Tolkien, that is). Being a philologist interested in these types of things, he went ahead and wrote an entire poem in Gothic. Yes, an ENTIRE, WELL WRITTEN POEM IN A COMPLETELY DEAD, KIND OF OBSCURE LANGUAGE WITHOUT THE INTERNET! That's what's so neat about philology. Many people may disagree with me on this point, but I think that even though it's great to be able to speak four or five different languages (polyglottery), it's even better to be able to simply read and write in (and perhaps speak a bit of) an untold number of languages (philology). That is, being able to delve deeply without devoting an entire life to just a few tongues. I guess I'm just fascinated by the fact that Tolkien was able to have a good enough grasp on the Gothic language to write poetry in it and no one ever really gives it a second thought. Nowadays it seems like it would take forever to be able to do something like that, even with our unlimited modern resourses.
Enough of that; here's the poem:
Bagme Bloma
Brunaim bairiþ bairka bogum
laubans liubans liudandei,
gilwagroni, glitmunjandei,
bagme bloma, blauandei,
fagrafahsa, liþulinþi,
fraujinondei fairguni,
Wopjand windos, wagjand lindos,
lutiþ limam laikandei;
slaihta, raihta, hweitarinda,
razda rodeiþ reirandei,
bandwa bairhta, runa goda,
þiuda meina þiuþjandei.
Andanahti milhmam neipiþ,
liuhteiþ liuhmam lauhmuni;
laubos liubai fliugand lausai,
tulgus, triggwa, standandei.
Bairka baza beidiþ blaika
fraujinondei fairguni.
The Bitter Scroll has come up with a pretty good English translation, which I've given you below, but his notes on it are very interesting and worth checking out at his site.
The Flower of the Trees
On glorious branches, glittering and
Pale green as she grows,
The birch tree bears her lovely leaves,
The flower of flowering trees,
Fair of hair and lithe of limb,
The mistress of the mountain.
The winds now call, soft winds are stirring,
She lowers her limbs in play.
Sleek and straight and white of bark,
She utters a trembling tongue.
Great mystery, bright token is she,
A blessing on my people.
The twilit sky obscured by clouds
Is bright again with lightning.
And standing strong and faithful while
Her lovely leaves take flight,
The birch will wait there, bare and white,
Still mistress of the mountain.
Pretty neat, huh? More and more am I growing weary of rhyme and becoming fond of alliteration...
So I ask you, what's more Gothic?
This...
´Cause they just don´t know what they´re missin'.
Gothic is an extremely old East-Germanic language, and it looks like nothing you've ever seen before. I'm certainly no expert, so I'll let Alexander Arguelles tell you all about it. This guy is amazing. He has tons of Youtube videos (mostly of Germanic languages, but a few other things as well) that are extremely interesting and informative. Through him I've gotten a pretty fair appreciation of the so-called "harsh" and "unmelodic" Germanic languages. They aren't harsh - they're strong. And I wouldn't say unmelodic, I would say that they are, as Legolas Greenleaf said, "like to the land itself, rich and rolling in part, and else hard and stern as the mountains...laden with the sadness of Mortal Men" (Legolas was referring to Rohirric, which is more or less the same as Old English. As for the "sadness of Mortal Men" part...well, that's just an Elf's perspective).
Anyway, here's Dr. Arguelles:
After you've become intrigued by this tongue of tongues, you may be interested in this little-known poem by the Good Professor (Tolkien, that is). Being a philologist interested in these types of things, he went ahead and wrote an entire poem in Gothic. Yes, an ENTIRE, WELL WRITTEN POEM IN A COMPLETELY DEAD, KIND OF OBSCURE LANGUAGE WITHOUT THE INTERNET! That's what's so neat about philology. Many people may disagree with me on this point, but I think that even though it's great to be able to speak four or five different languages (polyglottery), it's even better to be able to simply read and write in (and perhaps speak a bit of) an untold number of languages (philology). That is, being able to delve deeply without devoting an entire life to just a few tongues. I guess I'm just fascinated by the fact that Tolkien was able to have a good enough grasp on the Gothic language to write poetry in it and no one ever really gives it a second thought. Nowadays it seems like it would take forever to be able to do something like that, even with our unlimited modern resourses.
Enough of that; here's the poem:
Bagme Bloma
Brunaim bairiþ bairka bogum
laubans liubans liudandei,
gilwagroni, glitmunjandei,
bagme bloma, blauandei,
fagrafahsa, liþulinþi,
fraujinondei fairguni,
Wopjand windos, wagjand lindos,
lutiþ limam laikandei;
slaihta, raihta, hweitarinda,
razda rodeiþ reirandei,
bandwa bairhta, runa goda,
þiuda meina þiuþjandei.
Andanahti milhmam neipiþ,
liuhteiþ liuhmam lauhmuni;
laubos liubai fliugand lausai,
tulgus, triggwa, standandei.
Bairka baza beidiþ blaika
fraujinondei fairguni.
The Bitter Scroll has come up with a pretty good English translation, which I've given you below, but his notes on it are very interesting and worth checking out at his site.
The Flower of the Trees
On glorious branches, glittering and
Pale green as she grows,
The birch tree bears her lovely leaves,
The flower of flowering trees,
Fair of hair and lithe of limb,
The mistress of the mountain.
The winds now call, soft winds are stirring,
She lowers her limbs in play.
Sleek and straight and white of bark,
She utters a trembling tongue.
Great mystery, bright token is she,
A blessing on my people.
The twilit sky obscured by clouds
Is bright again with lightning.
And standing strong and faithful while
Her lovely leaves take flight,
The birch will wait there, bare and white,
Still mistress of the mountain.
Pretty neat, huh? More and more am I growing weary of rhyme and becoming fond of alliteration...
So I ask you, what's more Gothic?
This...
Or this?
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