A Gothic Grammar. Braune Wilhelm
fish; asneis, hired man; hansa, host; aúhsa, ox; þaúrsus, witherd.
(c) Also final s remains unchanged; as, gras, grass; mês, table; was (prt. of wisan), was; hals, neck.
Note 1. ss occurs frequently; e. g., ƕassei, sharpness; qiss, speech; wissa (prt. of witan); suff. -assus (þiudinassus, kingdom, etc.).
Note 2. Final s stands in most cases for medial z, especially the final inflectional s. Cp. § 78; dropping of the s of the nominativ in § 78, n. 2.
Note 3. For s from t, þ, d, before consonants (t), s. § 69, n. 2; § 71, n. 3; § 75, n. 1.
Note 4. Concerning the fonetic distinction between the spirants s and þ, cp. IF., 342.
§ 77. The sign z corresponds in Greek words to ζ; as, Zaíbaídaius, Ζεβεδαῖος; azymus, ἄζυμος. Its sound, like that of the Gr. ζ both at Wulfila's time and in New Greek, was the corresponding soft sound of s, hense a voiced dental spirant (E. z).
§ 78. (a) In Goth. words z occurs never initially.
(b) Medial z is frequent. But final z becums s, the corresponding hard sound (cp. § 79). E. g.
azêts, easy; hazjan, to praise; hazeins, praise; dius, gen. diuzis, animal; hatis, gen. hatizis, hatred; hatizôn, to be angry; huzd, trezure; gazds, sting; mizdô, reward; azgô, ashes; marzjan, to offend; talzjan, to teach; – comparativs: maiza, 'major'; frôdôza, alþiza, etc.; – pronominal forms; as, izwara, þizôs, þizê, blindaizôs; 2nd pers. sing. midl: haitaza.
(c) Most of the Gothic final ss represent z, especially the inflectional s; this reappears as z when it becums medial by an enclitic addition, for exampl, the s of the nom. ƕas, who?, but ƕazuh; is, he, but izei, who; us, out, but uzuh, uzu; dis- (as in dizuhþansat; Mk. XVI, 8); þôs, nom. pl. f., but þôzuh; weis, we; weizuh; wileis, 2nd pers. sg., but wileizu; advs.: mais (compar. maiza), more; áiris, erlier (compar. áiriza), etc.
Note 1. z is but rarely employd for final s: minz, less; II. Cor. XII, 15 (Codex B), for mins elsewhere; riqiz (4 times), darkness, beside riqis, gen. riqizis; aiz, brass, muney (only Mk. VI, 8); mimz, flesh; I. Cor. VIII, 13. – For a different view of final s for z, s. Wilmanns, Dtsch. Gramm., I, p. 86.
Note 2. The s (z) of the nom. sg. is dropt (1) after s (ss, z): drus, m., gen. drusis, fall; swês, gen. swêsis, adj., one's own; laus, lausis, loose; us-stass, f., gen. usstassais, resurrection; (2) after r immediately preceded by a short vowel: waír, waíris, man; baúr, sun; kaisar, Cæsar; anþar, other; unsar, our; but s remains unchanged after a long syllabl: akrs, field; hôrs, whoremonger; skeirs, clear; swêrs, honord; gáurs, sorrowful. An exception is the onse occurring nom. stiur, steer, calf. Cp. Brgm., I, 516; II, 531; Wrede, 'Ostg.', 177 et seq. – At a later stage of development, especially in East-Gothic, the loss of the nominativ-s occurs more extensivly. So alredy in the Documents (Neap. Doc.: Gudilub, Ufitahari); cp. Wrede, loc. cit.
Note 3. z and s interchange in the prt. of slêpan; saíslêp; Mt. VIII, 24. Lu. VIII, 23. I. Thess. IV, 14; saízlêp; Jo. XI, 11. I. Cor. XV, 6; – in the neuters in -is (gen. agisis and gen. hatizis); s. 94, n. 5.
Note 4. The z (s. c, abuv) of the prep. us is in compounds assimilated to a following r (cp. § 24, n. 2); e. g., urruns, a running out; urreisan, to (a)rise; urrûmnan (beside usrûmnan, in Codex B, II. Cor. VI, 11), to expand; onse ur for the prep. us: ur riqiza; II. Cor. IV, 6. —us remains unchanged before other sounds in cpds.; as, usagjan, to frighten; usbeidan, to abide, expect (cp. § 56, n. 2). z for s before a vowel appears only in uzôn (prt. of *usanan, to expire); Mk. XV, 37. 39; and in uzêtin (dat. of *usêta, manger); Lu. II, 7. 12. 16.
Note 5. When us is affixt to a word beginning with st, only one s is sumtimes writn: ustaig (prt. of us-steigan); Mk. III, 13; ustôþ; Lu. VIII, 55. X, 25; ustandiþ (prt. and prs. of us-standan); Mk. X, 34; ustassai (nom. usstass); Lu. XIV, 14. – Cp. twistandans (in B = twis-standans in A); II. Cor. II, 13; diskritnan (for dis-skritnan); Mt. XXVII, 51; there is no analogon for sp.
APPENDIX
GENERAL REMARKS ON THE CONSONANTS
§ 79. The Gothic soft spirants, b, d, z, finally and before the s of the nom. (cp. §§ 56. 74. 78) ar changed into the corresponding hard sounds, f, þ, s, while the fourth soft spirant, medial g, remains unchanged when final (§ 66; § 65, n. 2).
Note 1. Also the final b, d, z hav sumtimes remaind unchanged, i. e. z rarely (§ 78, n. 1), but b and d especially often in certain parts where also other forms show a later stage of development. Cp. § 56, n. 1; § 74, n. 1, and Zs. fda., 25, 226 et seq.
Note 2. Interchange between f