Crimean Gothic
East Germanic language extinct by the 18th century / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Crimean Gothic?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
Crimean Gothic was a Germanic, probably East Germanic, language spoken by the Crimean Goths in some isolated locations in Crimea until the late 18th century. Crimea was inhabited by the Goths in Late Antiquity and the Gothic language is known to have been in written use there until at least the mid 9th century CE. However, the exact relation of Crimean Gothic and “Biblical Gothic” is disputed.
Crimean Gothic | |
---|---|
Native to | Formerly Crimea |
Ethnicity | Crimean Goths |
Extinct | Late 18th century |
Indo-European
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
Glottolog | crim1255 |
IETF | gem-u-sd-ua43 |
Only about a hundred words of the Crimean Gothic language have been preserved in a letter written by Flemish diplomat Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq in 1562 and later published in 1589. Various issues such as the fact that Busbecq’s source was not a native speaker of Crimean Gothic, that Busbecq recognized the language as Germanic and may have altered some words, and errors made by the printers mean that Busbecq’s letter is a flawed source of information. The letter shows various phonological features and words that are clearly of East Germanic origin while also lacking some features typical of Biblical Gothic.