Gothic: Difference between revisions

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According to [[Lisa Star]], Tolkien also devised a [[tengwar]] mode for Gothic is known to exist, but remain unpublished to date [http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/9902/unpub.html]
According to [[Lisa Star]], Tolkien also devised a [[tengwar]] mode for Gothic is known to exist, but remain unpublished to date [http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/9902/unpub.html]


[[category:Real-world]]
[[category:Languages (real-world)]]

Revision as of 18:51, 6 April 2009

Gothic was the language of the Goths; the oldest known Germanic language, it is now extinct and left no descendants. As a Germanic language, Gothic was related to Old English and Old Norse.

Gothic was the first language that J.R.R. Tolkien studied for his own pleasure, and it may have given an impulsion in the first development of Qenya. Tolkien even attempted to reconstruct some parts of the language and such elements survived in Taliska, the language he created for the Edain of the First Age. He also composed a full poem, Bagme Bloma "The Flower of the Trees" in Gothic.

Since in The Lord of the Rings Old English represents Rohirric, Tolkien used Gothic to represent the earlier language of the Northmen of Rhovanion in order to show the relationship between these languages. However, in reality Gothic had no descendants, so Old English is not directly related to it; therefore this simulation does not reflect exactly the relationship between Northern and Rohirric.

Names like Vidumavi or Vidugavia are of Gothic etymology.

According to Lisa Star, Tolkien also devised a tengwar mode for Gothic is known to exist, but remain unpublished to date [1]