Wulfila Bible

The Wulfila Bible (or Gothic Bible) is a translation of parts of the Bible into the Gothic language. It was done by an Arian Christian Bishop, called Wulfila, in the 3rd century. It contains mainly a translation of the New Testament. The basis for the translation was a Greek version of the Bible. Up till then, the Goths had used runes to write. This was impractical, though. For this reason Wulfila also invented the Gothic alphabet. The Gothic alphabet is based on the Greek one.

Many copies of parts of the text still exist today. Most of them are from the 6th to 8th century. The Wulfila bible is the oldest written text of a Germanic language. It is very important for studying language development. 

 Text of The Lord's Prayer in the Wulfilabible 
þ is pronounced like the English th in the.

atta unsar þu ïn himina
weihnai namo þein
qimai þiudinassus þeins
wairþai wilja þeins
swe ïn himina jah ana airþai
hlaif unsarana þana sinteinan gif uns himma daga
jah aflet uns þatei skulans sijai ma
swaswe jah weis afletam þaim skulam unsaraim
jah ni briggais uns ïn fraistubnjai
ak lausei uns af þamma ubilin
unte þeina ïst þiudangardi
jah mahts jah wulþus ïn aiwins
amen

 Other websites 
 Full text of the Wulfilabible 
 Smaller gothic fragments

Category:Bible versions
Category:3rd-century works