Attestation
The existence of a Germanic dialect in the Crimea is attested in a number of sources from the 9th century to the 18th century. However, only a single source provides any details of the language itself: a letter by the Flemish ambassador Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, dated 1562 and first published in 1589, gives a list of some eighty words and a song supposedly in the language.
Busbecq's information is problematic in a number of ways: his informants were not unimpeachable (one was a Greek speaker who knew Crimean Gothic as a second language, the other a Goth who had abandoned his native language in favour of Greek); there is the possibility that Busbecq's transcription was influenced by his own language (a Flemish dialect of Dutch); there are undoubted misprints in the printed text, which is the only source.
Nonetheless, much of the vocabulary cited by Busbecq is unmistakably Germanic and was recognised by him as such:
| Crimean Gothic | English | Bible Gothic | German | Dutch | Faroese | Icelandic | Swedish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| apel | apple | apls (m.) | Apfel | appel | súrepli | epli | (vild-)apel, äpple |
| handa | hand | handus (f.) | Hand | hand | hond | hönd | hand |
| schuuester | sister | swistar (f.) | Schwester | zus(ter) | systir | systir | syster |
| hus | house | -hūs (n.) | Haus | huis | hús | hús | hus |
| reghen | rain | rign (n.) | Regen | regen | regn | regn | regn |
| singhen | sing | siggwan (vb.) | singen | zingen | syngja | syngja | sjunga |
| geen | go | gaggan (vb.) | gehen | gaan | ganga | ganga | gå |
Busbecq also cites a number of words which he did not recognise but which are now known to have Germanic cognates:
| Crimean Gothic | English | Bible Gothic | German | Dutch | Faroese | Icelandic | Swedish | Old English | Old Saxon | Old High German |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ano | hen | hana (m.) | Hahn | haan | hani | hani | (Archaic: hane) | hana | hano | hano |
| malthata | 'said' | (unattested) | - | - | mælti | mælti | (Archaic: mälte) | maþelode | gimahlida | gimahalta |
| rintsch | 'hill/mountain' ridge | (unattested) | Rücken | rug | riggur | hryggur | rygg | hrycg | hruggi | ruggi |
Read more about this topic: Crimean Gothic