GOTHIC LANGUAGE. 74 GOTHS. beside Gothic uhtiiu, Krim singhen, 'to sing,' bo- side (lotliic siiif/u-dii, Jvi'im tag (for *dag], 'day,' beside (Jothic dags, it would seem that a change had taken place within the twelve centuries be- tween Ulfilas and Busbeck, which was. roughly speakinj;. analogois to the transition from Old to ilidiUe lligli German. To the same Kast Germanic group as the Gotliic lielong the Vandal and Burgundian lan- guages, of which only scant}' fragments, chiefly proper names, survive. The Gothic al|)habet was invented by Ulfilas. He took as his basis the Greek letters, adding some Latin characters, and a few signs from the runes which were previously in use among the Goths. The nmnber of letters Avas twenty-seven, of which two, corresponding to the Greek koppa and sampi, had numerical values alone, and a third, the equivalent of the Greek chi, was used only in foreign proper names. The alphabet really consisted, therefore, of twenty-four letters, which are, in modern editions of Gothic texts, transliterated into the ordinary Roman alphabet with the addition of p and h>. Consult: Bernhardt, Kurzgefasste gotische Grammatik (Halle, 18S5) : Braune, Gotische Grammatik (4th ed., ib., 189.5); Streitberg, Gotisches Elementarbtich (Heidelberg, 1S9C) ; Wright, T'riiiifr of the Gothic Language (2d ed., Oxford, 1890) : Kluge, "C4eschichte der gotisehen Sprache," in Paul, Grtindriss der germaiiisrlien Philologie, vol. i. (2d ed.. Strassburg, 1901); Skeat, Mceso-Gothic Glossarj/ (London, 1868) ; Balz,' Comparative Glossary of the Gothic Lan- guage (Mayville, Wis., 1887-89); Feist, Grund- riss der gotisehen Etymologie (Strassburg, 1888) ; Uhlenbeek, Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Wortcrbueli der gotisehen Hpraehe (2d ed., Am- sterdam, IDdO) ; Tomaschek, Die Goten in Tau- rien (Vienna, 1881); Loewe, Die Eeste der Gerinanen am Hehwarzen Mcere (Halle, 1S96) ; Wrede, Veher die Sprache der Wandalen { Strass- burg, 1886) ; id., Ueber die Sprache der Ost- gotcn in Italien (ib., 1891). For editions of the Gothic texts, see tlic l)ibliography on Ulfilas. GOTHIC VERSION. See Bible. GOTHTLiAND. See Gotland. GOTH'OFEED. See Godefroy. GOTH'OFRE'DUS. See Abelin, Johann PniLipp. GOTHS. The name of a powerful nation of an- tiquity, l>clonging to the Germanic race. By some writers they are thought to have had a Scandi- navian origin, which was the belief of their own historian. .Tordanes. The earliest notice of them extant among the writers of antiquity is that of Pytheas of Marseilles, who lived about the time of Alexander the Great, and wrote a book of travels, some fragments of which have been pre- served in the works of other writers. In one of the.=;e fragments, quoted by Pliny, we find men- tion made of a tribe of Gnttones bordering upon the Germans, and living rovuid a gulf of the sea called INTentononion, a day's sail from the island of Abalus, where they used to gather amber and sell it to the neighboring Teutones. This gulf, there is every reason to believe, was the Frisrhcs Itnff. situated nn the Prussian shore of the Baltic. The next notice that occurs of the Goths is in the Germania of Tacitus, in which they are called Gothones, and are represented as dwelling beyond the Lygii, in the same direction as the one pointed out by Pytheas, though not on the seacoast. Tacitus also distinguishes them from the Gothini, a tribe east of the Quadi and the Marcomanni, and represented by him as using the Gallic tongue. The Gothones, accord- ing to this historian, were under regal govern- ment, and on that account not quite so free as the otiier tribes of Germany, but still tlicy en- joyed a considerable amount of lilierty. The tribes ne.xt beyond them, and dwelling immedi- ately on the seacoast, were the Kugii and Lemovii, whose form of government was also moiiareliical and their weapons, like those of the Gothones, round shields and short swords. We next hear of the Goths as settled on the coast of the Black Sea, about the mouths of the Danube, early in the third century. But at what time, or under what circumstances, their migration from the Baltic to the Euxine took place, it is impossible to ascertain. In their new home, which was also the country of the (ictiB (whence, perhaps, the error that confounded them ■with that ]ieople ) . the Goths increased in both numbers and strength, so that, as early as the reign of Alexander Severus (a.d. 222-235), they made some formidable inroads into the Roman Province of Dacia. In the reign of Philip (a.d. 244-249) they ravaged that province, and even advanced to the siege of Jlarcianopolis in Miesia Secunda. The inhabitants ransomed their lives and property with a large sum of money, and the invaders withdrew for a time to their own coun- try. Lender Decius. however, they again entered Mcesia to the number of about 70,000. led by a King named Cniva. Decius himself advanced to meet them, and found them before Nicopolis. On his approach they raised the siege and marched away to Philippopolis. a city of Thrace, near the foot of Mount H,T?mus. Decius pursued them by forced marches, but the Goths turned with fury upon the Roman legions and utterly defeated them. Philippopolis next fell before them by storm, after a long resistance, during which, and the massacre that followed, 100,000 of its in- habitants are reported to have been slain. This was in a.d. 2,50. In the following year another tremendous battle took place near an obscure town called Forum Trebonii. in Mo-sia. in which the Romans were again defeated with great slaughter, the Emperor Decius and his son being in the number of the slain. The succeeding Em- peror, Gallus, purchased their retreat by an immediate present of a large sum of money and the promise of an annual tribute for the future. The Goths now set themselves to the acquisition of a fleet, and with this, in 253, advanced to the conquest of Pityus. a Greek town on the north- east coast of the Black Sea, which they com- pletely destroyed. In 258 they besieged and took Trebizond. Ahen a great fleet of ships that were in the port fell into their hands. In these they deposited the booty of the city, which was of immense value; chained the youth of the sea- coast to their oars; and returned in triumph to the Kingdom of Bosporus. In the following year, with a still more powerful force of men and ships, they took Chalcedon, Nicomedia, Xice, Prusa, Apamea. and Cius. In a third expedition, which numbered as many as 500 vessels, they took Cyzicus, then sailed down the .Egean. rav- aged the coast of Attica, and in 262 anchored at the Pira'us. Athens was now taken and plun- dered, and many other renowned places in Greece
