Vandalic was the Germanic language spoken by the Vandals during roughly the 3rd to 6th centuries. It was probably closely related to Gothic, and, as such, is traditionally classified as an East Germanic language.^[1]: 9 Its attestation is very fragmentary, mainly due to the Vandals' constant migrations and late adoption of writing. All modern sources from the time when Vandalic was spoken are protohistoric.^{[2]: 43–44}

Classification

Vandalic is traditionally classified as an East Germanic language,^{[3]: 4 [4]} while the reasons for this classification are mostly historical and not linguistical.^[1]: 7 Due to the perception of Vandalic as an East Germanic language, its reconstruction from onomastics recorded by Greek and Roman sources relies on Gothic forms. Therefore, it is difficult to assess whether or not Vandalic is closely related to Gothic.^[1]: 9

Theories range from Gothic and Vandalic, together with Burgundian, form a dialect continuum,^[5] or that language of the Vandals was actually Gothic,^[2]: 47 to them being different languages separating early on, without having an intermediary East Germanic ancestor.^[6]

History

According to their own mythology, the Goths originally came from Scandinavia. It is therefore debated, whether Gothic and by extension Vandalic, came from Scandinavia or not. Linguistic evidence shows no specific relation between North Germanic and either Gothic or Vandalic. Still, it is possible that both the Goths and the Vandals migrated from Scandinavia southwards, where their respective languages started to diverge from Proto-Germanic.^[6]

The linguistic urheimat of Vandalic probably lies south of the Baltic sea. They crossed the Rhine in the fifth century,^[6] establishing themselves together with the Hasdingi and the Silingi in Gallaecia (northern Portugal and Galicia) and in southern Spain, following other Germanic and non-Germanic peoples (Visigoths, Alans and Suebi) in c. 410 before they moved to North Africa in the 430s. Their kingdom flourished in the early 6th century, but after their defeat in 534 they were placed under Byzantine administration.^[7][8]: 1 The Vandalic language is presumed to still have been spoken at the time of the Byzantine conquest.^[8]: 95 It likely disappeared before the end of the century.^[4]

Attestation

Very little is known about the Vandalic language other than various phrases and a small number of personal names of Vandalic origin, mainly known from documents and coins.^{[1]: 7 [2]: 44} Most Vandalic names were recorded by native speakers of Latin or Greek, who might have misinterpreted phonemes or assimilated names to those common in their mother tongue.^[2]

The regional name Andalusia is traditionally believed to have derived from Vandalic, although this claim is contested. Following the Umayyad conquest of Hispania, from the 8th century to the end of the 15th the region was called Al-Andalus.^[9]

In one inscription from the Vandal Kingdom, the Christian incantation of Kyrie eleison is given in Vandalic as "Froia arme" ("Lord, have mercy!").^[10][11] The same phrase appears in Collatio Beati Augustini cum Pascentio ariano 15 by Pseudo-Augustine: "Froja armes".^[12] It is possible that this sentence is, in fact, Gothic since the Vandals might have used Gothic as liturgical language.^[11]: 262

The epigram De conviviis barbaris in the Latin Anthology, of North African origin and disputed date, contains a fragment in a Germanic language that some authors believe to be Vandalic,^{[13][2]: 49–50} although the fragment itself refers to the language as "Gothic". This may be because both languages were East Germanic and closely related; scholars have pointed out in this context^[2]: 48 that Procopius refers to the Goths, Vandals, Visigoths, and Gepids as "Gothic nations" and opines that they "are all of the Arian faith, and have one language called Gothic".^[14] The fragment reads:

Other surviving Vandalic words are Baudus, "master" ^[16] and Vandalirice, "King of the Vandals".^[17]

Phonology

The phonological features of Vandalic are similar to those of Gothic.^[3]: 7

Vowels

The following vowel inventory is based on Wrede:^{[3]: 91–101}

• Vandalic /i/ was sometimes written ⟨e⟩ by Latin authors.^[2]: 96

The Proto-Germanic long vowel */e:/ is often written in Vandalic names as ⟨e⟩ (Gunthimer, Geilimer), but it is also represented as ⟨i⟩ Geilamir, Vitarit.^[3]: 91

The Proto-Germanic short vowel */e/ is often written as ⟨i⟩ in Vandalic^[2]: 96 when it was not preceded by */r, h, w/. For example, Sigisteun contains -i because g precedes the vowel, but Beremut retains the *e since r precedes the vowel.^{[citation needed]} It could either mean that */e/ turned into /i/ in Vandalic^[18] or that the Vandalic short /e/ was interpreted as /i/ by non-natives.^[2]: 97

Similar to Gothic, Vandalic does not seem to have i-umlaut. One example of items that demonstrate the lack of umlaut are names that contain the form *ari (< Proto-Germanic *harjaz 'army'): Ariarith, Arifridos, Guntari, Raginari vs. Old English here, the latter of which does show umlaut with the Proto-Germanic *a having shifted to e.^[18]

Proto-Germanic */o:/ is written ⟨u⟩; Blumarit (compare Proto-Germanic *blōmô), Vilimut.^[18] This could either mean that */o:/ turned into /u/ in Vandalic^[18] or that it is a misinterpretation of the sound by Latin authors.^[2]: 98 In Gothic documents, */o:/ is mostly written ⟨o⟩, but sometimes also ⟨u⟩.^[2]: 98

The Proto-Germanic diphthong *eu tends to come down to Vandalic as eu. Take for example the form theudo- ('people'),^[18] as opposed to the Gothic 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰 (þiuda),^[19] where it has changed to /iu/.^[18]

The Proto-Germanic diphthong *ai is preserved as /ai/, but tends to become /ei/ later on. For example, the name Gaisericus changes to Geiseric in later documents.^[18]

Consonants

The Vandalic consonant inventory according to Wrede.^{[3]: 101–109}

• It is unclear, how ⟨h⟩ was originally pronounced.^{[3]: 107–108 [2]: 101}
• It is likely that [ɣ] occurred in Vandalic, but there is not enough evidence for the sound.^[3]: 107

The Proto-Germanic */z/ is also preserved in the language as a sibilant (always found written ⟨s⟩ or as part of ⟨x⟩), as opposed to having undergone rhotacism as it has in North or West Germanic.^[20] For example, compare the Vandalic form geis (as in Geiseric) 'spear' to Old English gār.^{[citation needed]}

The word-initial /h/ inherited from Proto-Germanic does not consistently appear in Vandalic names recorded by Greek or Latin authors (e.g., the element ari in Arifridos and Guntari, from Proto-Germanic *harja- 'army'). Sometimes the same name appears with and without ⟨h⟩, depending on the author. However, royal names on Vandal coins use a conservative official spelling, with the ⟨h⟩ always being written.^[18] This could point to either a loss of the sound represented by ⟨h⟩^[18] or errors introduced by authors unfamiliar with the sound.^{[3]: 107 [2]: 100}

The Proto-Germanic fricatives */þ/ and */ð/ often turned into /t/ or /d/, but there are also some names in which they were retained or otherwise represented distinctly: Thrasamundus, Guntha.^[18]

Initial /w/ is sometimes written as ⟨gu⟩.^{[2]: 104 [18]} This could be an issue of Latin spelling^[2]: 104 or a point to the development of /gw/. Examples are Guiliaruna, < Proto-Germanic *wilja- and Guitifrida, < *wīti-.^[18]

The Proto-Germanic cluster */-ww-/ can be found strengthened to /-g-/.^[18]

The Proto-Germanic cluster */-tj-/ can become [tsj], as in matzia from Proto-Germanic *matjaną.^[18]

Grammar

Very little is known about Vandalic grammar, but some things can be extracted from extant Vandalic material.^[2]: 105

Morphology

The original Proto-Germanic *-z used to mark the nominative masculine singular in nominals, which was lost in West Germanic early on, is attested within some preserved Vandalic forms as -s or as part of -x (occasionally found Romanized in some name attestations as -us). This marker is potentially to be deemed an archaic feature since it is lost in most words, with complete lost within Ostrogothic names from the 6th century onward.^{[18][2]: 106}

The epithet Vandalirice 'king of the Vandals' gives possible attestation of a genitive plural ending -e (cf. Gothic -ē), albeit written as ⟨i⟩ within this form.^[18][11] Old Germanic languages outside of East Germanic have -a (as in Old English and Old Norse)^[21][22] or -o (as in Old Dutch or Old High German) as their equivalents of this ending instead;^[23][24] compare Old English Wendla against the potential Vandalic form *Vandali.^{[citation needed]}

Vocabulary

The tables below show various Vandalic words, phrases and forms that survive in (or as) names and various Latin texts. The majority of these were taken from Nicoletta Francovich Onesti [fr].^{[18][clarification needed]}

Writing system

The few names on coins issued by the Vandalic kingdom were written in Latin script.^[25]