Tarran Etymologies: Gospel

Gospel

Tautisca words: suyaudimun, wandílin, ewangelin

When the Tauta came into contact with Christianity in the 4th - 5th century AD, they loaned the word Lat. evangelium in the form it seems to have been pronounced in the contemporary Romance dialect of the Southern coast. The pronunciation seems to have been something like [van'dʲɛʎu], which must have been rendered in Southern Tautisca as ['vandijeljin > 'vandijilin]. This in turn was taken over by the Central dialects as ['wandi:lin], with the regular substitutions of /w/ for Southern /v/ and /i:/ for Southern /i(j)i/. The word relatively quickly broadened its meaning to "bible, Christian doctrine, Christianity", and wandíliscus became a synonym for cristian(isc)us "Christian", especially among pagans.

As part of his tendency to coin words based on native material instead of using loans, St. Ambrósis rendered "gospel" in his bible translation of 750-780 by suyaudimun (from su- "good" and yaudimun, gen. -munus n. "message". Although not all his coinages were successful, this one was, probably due to the extended range of meanings that wandílin had acquired and due to its prominent use by pagans. Suyaudimun has remained the common word for "gospel" since the 8th century. Wandílin and wandíliscus in the meanings "Christianity , Christian" remained in use:

1) In the pagan far North until the 13th/14th century. From there, the word entered Ilan (as n. fyndî, adj. fyndilis) designing at first adherents to fedisca Christianity and later the Tauta in general. The words also remain in use in the Tautisca boreal woodland dialects, designating non-woodlanders.

2) In the Caprupisca and some other Eastern mountain dialects, the words came to be used as an ethnonym to designate the Christianised tribes that today speak Mədan.

Especially in theological literature, Latin evangelium is occasionally loaned in the form ewangelin; this is a learned borrowing without wider currency in the written or spoken language.

The Romance form [van'dʲɛʎu] that is behind wandílin has survived in Ilan fynzei "bible, scripture"; in the meaning of "gospel" all Modern Tarran Romance languages use direct loans from Latin (LR [ɛvɔn'ʤɛl:u]) or forms loaned from Latin through Lemba Romana (Mədan [vun'ʤɛlu], Ilan [efanyzeu]).