56. Gothic alphabet

Gothic was originally written with a runic alphabet about which little is known. One theory of the origins of Runes is that they were invented by the Goths, but this is impossible to prove as very few inscriptions of writing in Gothic runes survive.
The Gothic alphabet was invented around middle the 4th century AD by Bishop Wulfila (311-383 AD), the religious leader of the Visigoths, to provide his people with a written language and a means of reading his translation of the Bible. It is based on the Greek alphabet, with some extra letters from the Latin and Runic alphabets.

Used to write:

Gothic, an extinct East Germanic language that was spoken in parts of the Crimea until the 17th century.
The Goths were divided into two main tribes: the Ostrogothi or Greutungi (dune-dwellers) and the Visigothi or Tervingi (steppe-dwellers). Related tribes included the Burgundians and the Vandals.

Gothic alphabet

There are no separate numerals, but each letter has a numeric value.

Downloads

Download a Gothic alphabet chart in Excel, Word or PDF format

Sample text in Gothic (The Lord's Prayer)

Transliteration
atta unsar þu in himinan weihnai namo þein
qimai þiudinassus þeins wairþai wilja þeins
swe in himina jah ana airþai
hlaif unsarana þana sinteinan gif uns himma daga
jah weis afletam þai skulam unsaraim
jah ni briggais uns in fraistubnjai
ak lausai uns of þamma ubilin
unte þeina ist þiudangardi
jah mahts jah wulþus in aiwins
amen
Here a recording of this text
Source: www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-gothic.html
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Links

Information about Gothic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_language
http://www.wulfila.be/gothic/gotica/
http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/gotol-0-X.html
http://www.ancientscripts.com/gothic.html
http://lingunetics.net/gothic.html
An introductory overview of the Gothic language
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkKrS5yOPFI
Online Gothic lessons
http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/gotol-0-X.html
http://ling.everywitchway.net/germanic/east/gothic/gothic-for-goths
Online Gothic dictionary
http://www.freelang.net/online/gothic.php
Gothic Grammar
http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~kurisuto/germanic/goth_wright_about.html
http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/texts/goth_wright_about.html
Project Wulfila - digital library of texts in Gothic and other Old Germanic languages
http://www.wulfila.be/
Gothic Texts
http://www.sacred-texts.com/goth/index.htm
Free Gothic fonts
http://www.wazu.jp/gallery/Fonts_Gothic.html
http://simplythebest.net/fonts/fonts/gothic_1.html

ALPHABETUM - a Unicode font specifically designed for ancient scripts, including classical & medieval Latin, ancient Greek, Etruscan, Oscan, Umbrian, Faliscan, Messapic, Picene, Iberian, Celtiberian, Gothic, Runic, Old & Middle English, Hebrew, Sanskrit, Old Nordic, Ogham, Kharosthi, Glagolitic, Old Cyrillic, Phoenician, Avestan, Ugaritic, Linear B, Anatolian scripts, Coptic, Cypriot, Brahmi, Old Persian cuneiform: http://guindo.pntic.mec.es/~jmag0042/alphabet.html

Information about other East and Ancient Germanic languages