TRACING THE LANGUAGE OF THE VANDALS *

Nicoletta FRANCOVICH ONESTI (Siena)

1. The existing linguistic evidence.

There is no record left of a text in the Vandalic language long enough to contain a
group of phrases forming at least one complete sentence. The unfortunate
circumstance that no written text in Vandalic has survived (if this language was ever
actually written down) has certainly not helped draw the attention and interest of
scholars over the years toward the language of the Vandals. And, above all, it has
surely prevented our acquisition of sufficient knowledge of this language, which
however must have belonged, like Gothic, to the East Germanic group.
As is also the case with the language spoken by the Lombards, the limited
examples of existing Vandalic mostly consist of scattered, isolated words and
personal names. In a sense, the extant records of the Vandal language are even less,
and less important, than those of the Lombard language, since no legal terms are left,
no corpus of Vandal laws remain, and no hints of Vandal juridical institutions or
traditions seem to exist. What we have instead are a few religious expressions, very
few single words mentioned in Latin or Greek texts, and one hundred and forty
personal names. Owing to the religious debate that took place in North Africa during
the fifth and sixth centuries between Catholics and the Arian Church of the Vandals, it
is not surprising that some of the Vandalic terms we can find in late antique sources
are related to religious life and Christian liturgy.
So the only complete sentence that has been handed down to us is a two-word
religious formula, the acclamation “Domine Miserere” (in Greek Κύριε ελέησον, in
English “Lord have mercy”), which was rendered as froia arme in Vandalic. We know
about this from an anti-Arian tract, written in form of a debate, usually referred to as
Collatio beati Augustini cum Pascentio ariano, dating back to the first half of the fifth
century (approximately between 430 and 450 AD). It is supposed to have been
composed at Hippo Regius, and was attributed to Vigilius of Thapsus, but actually its
author is unknown.1 In this text the Vandal formula froia arme appears in this Latin
sentence: si enim licet dicere non solum Barbaris lingua sua, sed etiam Romanis .
froia . arme . quod interpraetatur ‘Domine miserere’.
The anti-Arian Collatio beati Augustini is best preserved in a sixth-century
manuscript now in Turin (Biblioteca Nazionale Universitaria, MS G.V. 26, fol. 15 r-27r),
* In: The Vandals and the Sueves, ed. by G. Ausenda/ S. Barnish / A. Rodolfi, San Marino-
Woodbridge (in corso di stampa).
1 Mandouze (1982): 628, 827-829. It was first published by J.-P. Migne in Patrologia Latina, 33,
Paris 1845, col. 1156-1162; the Vandal formula is in col. 1162.
which is the oldest extant copy of this fifth-century North African text. The Vandal
acclamation recorded in this version of the text was studied very well by Tiefenbach in
1991, who also published the picture of the MS page (fol. 25 v) where the Vandal words
occur. As Tiefenbach clearly shows, the Turin manuscript certainly preserves the best
variant form of the Vandalic formula froia arme, which is the nearest and closest to
the fifth-century original.2 What this religious formula shows is a noun, froia (= Lat.
‘Domine’) and a verb in the imperative, arme (= Lat. ‘miserere’), perfectly
corresponding to the Latin or Greek original. Roman letters in this case render the
sound of a liturgical acclamation as it was heard in the Arian churches of North Africa.
In Wulfila’s Gothic alphabet it would correspond to <frauja *armai>, from P-Gmc.
*frawja- ‘lord’ (> Goth. frauja, OE. frea, OHG frô, ON Freyr), and the verb *armjan- ‘to
have mercy’ (cp. OE earmian), *armên- (cp. Goth. arman, OHG armên).3
But this very peculiar “sentence” is the only one we have. A different case is that
of line 1 of Epigram No. 285 of Anthologia Latina4, entitled “De Conviviis Barbaris”,
where five Vandalic words are mentioned all in a row: Inter ‘eils’ gothicum ‘scapia
matzia ia drincan’/ non audet quisquam dignos edicere versus. In this case we cannot
be sure they make up one sentence. They could, on the contrary, be merely cited as a
list of different and isolated terms. It is very interesting however that this epigram
records common words, and not just proper nouns (personal names, ethnic groups,
etc.).
The five words are usually understood as ‘hail!’ (eils), ‘to shape’ or ‘create’
(scapia), and ‘to eat and drink’ (matzia ia drincan), and the verse apparently alludes
to the barbarians’ feasting. Another possible interpretation is that they could allude to
a community or ritual meal where Vandalic words were used, probably with polemical
implications and a hidden allusion to the Arian liturgy and religious customs 5. In such a
case, the text would also owe its existence to the fact of being related to religious life
and to the cultural tension present in the Vandal kingdom.
Both the Vandalic liturgical acclamation and Epigram No. 285 were well known to
Ferdinand Wrede, the scholar who in 1886 collected and analysed all surviving traces
of the Vandal language that were known to his time. 6 His book was the first serious
attempt to treat all Vandalic linguistic evidence in a comprehensive and exhaustive

2 The form reported in Patrologia Latina, on the basis of later MSS, was sihoraarmen; Wrede
(1886): 18, 71 ff. reconstructed *frôja armês, while the form given by Reichert (1987: I, 270)
fhrotiarmes actually has no philological or textual basis.
3 Feist (1939): 57, 166; De Vries (1977): 142.
4 Anthologia Latina is an early sixth-century collection of Latin poems put together in Carthage
during the Vandals’ rule. See Rosenblum (1961).
5 This particular interpretation was suggested by Scardigli (1974).
6 Wrede (1886); in his book however he did not consider the form froia arme in the Turin MS,
but he reconstructed *<frôja armês> on the basis of Migne (1845).
way. Other scattered, and sometimes problematic, words are to be found in late
antique literary sources.7 Among these we can mention Vand. Baudus ‘master’, also
used as a nickname (Anthologia Latina No. 307, l. 5) and the compound Vandalirice
‘king of the Vandals’, a royal epithet for King Hilderic (523-530; also in Anthologia
Latina No. 215). This latter form could be made up of a first element in the genitive
plural *wandalê with Late Latin spelling <i> for long /e:/.
But since Wrede’s study of 1886 much new linguistic material has emerged from
the area of the Vandal kingdom in North Africa for the period 429-534 and the
immediately following years, which calls for a new general investigation and
reassessment of what we know about Vandalic. This new material consists of ninety
new personal names, quite a few if compared to the fifty or so names known in
Wrede’s time, when he could have at his disposal only names mentioned in traditional
historical or literary sources, or occurring on a few coins and inscriptions. It is in fact
from newly excavated inscriptions that these new ninety Vandal personal names
come, because during the twentieth century many mosaics, tombstones and
engraved objects were discovered and their inscriptions published, providing more
Vandalic names.
Then in 1928 the so-called “Tablettes Albertini” were found along the border
between Algeria and Tunisia, in the area of ancient Numidia. They are rather well-
preserved fifth-century wooden tablets, written with ink, containing a number of legal
documents dating back to 493-496, during the reign of King Gunthamund (484-496) 8.
They are composed in an everyday Latin, written down by non-professional scribes,
and contain a few personal names, some of which are of possible Vandal origin, like
Sigibali (Francovich Onesti [2002]: 172) or Gudulus (see infra, § 3). The corpus of
Vandalic names is liable to be still further increased with forthcoming publications and
future archaeological activities. So far, we have at the moment 141 personal names,
of which 90 could not have been mentioned in Wrede’s book.

7See the complete list of Vandalic terms in Francovich Onesti (2002): 139-143.
8They are now in Algiers at the Musée National des Antiquités, and were published in 1952 by
C. Courtois et al.
 2. Sueves and Alans in Vandal Africa.
Out of the total number of personal names from the fifth and sixth-century Vandal
kingdom, five do not belong to the Vandals, but to the Sueves. They bear great
historical importance, since there is no other evidence of Sueves having migrated to
Africa with the Vandals, outside of these particular burial inscriptions with Suevic
names. The five names were all found in the two towns of Hippo Regius and
Ammædara (and published between 1951 and 1975), which suggests that the Sueves
were few, and probably settled in small numbers in a limited area of the Vandal
kingdom.
The names of Suevic (West Germanic) origin are: 1- Ermengon suaba: she was a
Suevic woman married to Ingomaris (their gravestone, dated 474, is from the basilica
of Hippo Regius).9 Her name is found once again in that of another woman called
Ermengon in Spain.10 2- Ingomaris was Ermengon’s husband (same gravestone from
Hippo Regius); the form –maris (< P-Gmc. *mêrija-z ‘famous’) clearly denotes its West
Germanic origin. 3- Hildiger appears on a gravestone from Ammædara 11, probably
from the late 5th century, showing in its second element (< P-Gmc. *gaiza- ‘spear’) the
West Germanic development [r] < P-Gmc. *-z-, as well as the continental West
Germanic development –e- from P-Gmc. *-ai-. 4- Ildiger is the same name (but
belonging to another person): again from Ammædara (6 th century), with loss of initial
h- due to Romanization of P-Gmc. *hildjô ‘battle’. 5- Suabila on a gravestone from
Hippo Regius12, showing the West Germanic development /a:/ from P-Gmc. *ê 1 (<
*Swêba- ‘Sueve’), as in Ingo-maris.
Such material clearly shows how valuable onomastic studies can be, when names
– as in this case – constitute a particular kind of historical source and linguistic
evidence.
There are other names from Vandal North Africa that are not Vandalic at all,
indeed they are not even Germanic, but seem to have an Alan (Iranian) origin. This is
the case of about ten onomastic forms such as Basa (from a 6th-century stone slab
found in 1941 at Ammædara), Baza (from Ammædara13), Safrac (from Carthage14),
Sersao (a relation of King Geiseric’s15), Tzazo (King Gelimer’s brother)16, and others17.

9 Courtois (1955): 375; Francovich Onesti (2002): 182. The inscription reads die III. idvs
septembres recessit Ermengon svaba bone memorie in pace ann. XXXV conivves Ingomaris.
10 Inscription of 624 AD, from Pontevedra (Galicia, Spain), in the area of the ancient Suevic
kingdom. Reichert (1987): I, 253.
11 [h]ic in pace Hildiger positus; see Duval-Prévot (1975): 52, fig. 35.
12 Février (1972): 144.
13 These two names are related to Middle Persian bâz ‘falcon’; see Francovich Onesti (2002):
179.
14 Cf. Wagner (1979): 15-16.
 3. Vandalic Names.
We shall now proceed to treat the Vandalic names themselves. They are
mentioned in Latin and Greek historical sources 18, or else they appear on 5 th and 6th-
century inscriptions, on coins, and even on other archaeological finds (like ostraka
from Algeria, a golden ring from Ibiza 19). A few examples will suffice to illustrate their
characteristics: that is, what name-elements and types of compounds were preferred,
what their phonetics was like, and their degree of adaptation to Late Latin sounds and
spelling.
Among the new names, which obviously could not be discussed in Wrede’s book
as they were found and published only in the 20 th century, we can list the following
examples: 1- Agisild, a feminine name from a Carthage inscription 20 (< P-Gmc. *agiz
‘fear’ + *hildjô ‘battle’); 2- Arifridos from a basilica mosaic in Thuburbo Maius (Africa
Proconsularis)21: Arifridos in pa[ce] vixit annos.. (< P-Gmc. *harja- ‘army’ + *friþuz
‘pacifier’); 3- Beremut from a gravestone in Carthage 22: Beremut /Beremuda fid[eles]
(< P-Gmc. *bera- ‘bear’ + *môða-z ‘courage’); 4- Dagili[a] from a woman’s gravestone
in the basilica of Hippo Regius 23 (< P-Gmc. *daga- ‘day’ + suffixes) is very similar to
Vand. Dagila (see below, and § 5.; Wrede [1886]: 62, Francovich Onesti [2002],: 151);
5- Feua appears as “cognomen” on the gravestone of Ponponius Feua24, and it is the
same hypocoristic name designating the Rugian king Fewa, in turn a reduction of his
full name ‘Feletheus’; 6- Fridila on an inscription from Cherchel (ancient Caesarea) 25 is
the diminutive of P-Gmc. *friþu- ‘pacifier’ + suffix –ila; 7- Geisirith26 from P-Gmc.
*gaiza- ‘spear’ + *rêðaz ‘advice, counsel’; 8- Gudulo from a 6th-century Numidian
inscription27 and Gudulus in the 5th-century “Tablettes Albertini” 28 are both derived
from the P-Gmc. stem *gôða- ‘good’ with a Latin suffix; 9- Guiliaruna appears on a

15 He is mentioned in the 5th-century History of Victor of Vita, I, 35. Wrede (1886): 66-67;
Maenchen-Helfen (1957): 281.
16 Cp. Wrede (1886): 83-84; according to Mitzka (1967): 257, this name is probably a cognate
of the Ossetic (Iranian) name Tsata.
17 See the complete list of all possible Alan names in Francovich Onesti (2002): 179-182.
18 A useful list of classical, late antique and early medieval historical and literary sources
containing Vandal words and proper nouns is to be found in Wrede (1886): 20-35.
19 See Bonnal - Février (1966-67) for the ostraka, and König (1981): 345 for the Ibiza ring.
20 CIL VIII, 10540: Agisild[is?] fidelis.. vixit.. Courtois (1955): 385; Reichert (1987): I, 15.
21 In his tomb jewels were also found, which Courtois (1955): 382, planche X, and König (1981):
301, 311-312, 324, 328, fig. 6d, 11, plate 48c, considered as Vandalic; Reichert (1987): I, 65.
22 From the basilica of Sainte Monique, see Ennabli (1975): 215-216; not cited by Reichert.
23 Année Epigraphique 1958, No. 293; König (1981): 301, 304-5, 334.
24 CIL VIII, 21698; Courtois (1955): 380.
25 CIL VIII, 21424; Courtois (1955): 387; Reichert (1987): I, 290.
26 Mentioned by the 6th-century African poet Corippus in his Johannis, II, 188; Reichert (1987):
I, 314; Francovich Onesti (2001): 35.
27 From Aïn el-Ksar (Algeria), near ancient Casae; Courtois (1955): 387.
28 Francovich Onesti (2002): 160.
burial mosaic from Hippo Regius (second half of the 5th century) 29: Gvi+liarvna
presbiterissa qviebit in pace (< P-Gmc. *wilja- ‘will’ + *rûnô ‘secret’); 10- Guitifrida
from a 6th-century inscription in Ammædara (Proconsularis) is formed with P-Gmc.
*wîti- ‘struggle’ + *friþu- ‘pacifier’; 11- Gunda from Cirta30 and Guntha31 are masculine
hypocoristic forms from P-Gmc. *gunþjô ‘battle’; 12- Guntari from the same 6th-
century inscription of Gudulo (see No. 8 above; < P-Gmc. *gunþjô ‘battle’ + *harja-z
‘army’); 13- Iuliateus is a hybrid made up of Lat. Iulius, Iulia and the P-Gmc. stem
*þewaz ‘slave, dedicated’32; 14- Merobaudes from an inscription of Proconsularis33 (<
P-Gmc. *mêrija- ‘famous’ + *bauðiz ‘master’); 15- Muritta is formed with Lat. Mor-,
Maurus ‘Moor’ and the East-Gmc. suffix –itta 34; 16- Scarila lived in the early 6th
century,35 his name is the diminutive of P-Gmc. *skara- ‘band’; 17- Sifila from a Leptis
Magna inscription36 is a masc. diminutive of *sibjô ‘kindred’ with the suffix -ila; 18-
Sigisteus lived in Carthage at the end of the 5th century 37 (< P-Gmc. *segiz ‘victory’ +
*þewaz ‘slave, dedicated’); 19- Silibudi, from an inscription of Tebessa (Numidia), 38 is
perhaps composed with the ethnic name Sil-(ing) + P-Gmc. *buða- ‘messenger’; 20-
Sindivult from a mosaic inscription in Tipasa 39 (< P-Gmc. *sinþa- ‘travel, path’ +
*wulþu- ‘glory’); 21- Tanca, from an early 6th-century Carthage gravestone 40, is the
hypocoristic of *þanka- ‘thank’; 22- Theudo[... vi]xit incomplete name from a Carthage
inscription41 (< P-Gmc. *þeuðô ‘people’); 23- Trigari from a gravestone of Sétif42 (< P-
Gmc. *triwwa- ‘loyal, true’ + *harja-z ‘army’); 24- Trioua43 is a fem. hypocoristic < P-
Gmc. *triwwa ‘loyal, true’; 25- Untancus44 is composed with the prefix *un- + P-Gmc.
*þanka- ‘thank’; 26- Valilu is a fem. name from a burial inscription of Hippo Regius 45 (<
P-Gmc. *walja- ‘choose’ + fem. suffix *-ilô); 27-Vifrede is carved on a golden ring from
29 In the ‘Great Basilica’ of the town: Année Epigraphique 1958, No. 290; König (1981): 301,
303, 334, plate 48.
30 CIL VIII, 7394: Gvnda v.a. LXVII cum filio s[uo ..]remiro; Reichert (1987): I, 395.
31 On a mosaic inscription from Sidi Bou Ali (Tunisia), Année Epigraphique 1961, No. 202;
Reichert (1987): I, 402.
32 He was a friend of St. Fulgentius of Ruspe in 518-519 AD, see Mandouze (1982): 617.
33 CIL VIII, 27545; Reichert (1987): I, 505.
34 Mentioned by Victor of Vita (History II, 36-7); the –itta suffix is also employed in Gothic
names like Nevitta, Fravitta (4th and 5th century).
35 He is mentioned in St. Fulgentius’ Epistolae, see Mandouze (1982): 1044; Wagner (1982):
368.
36 Reichert (1987): I, 600.
37 Mandouze (1982): 1077; Francovich Onesti (2002): 172. His name is not mentioned by
Wrede or by Reichert.
38 Courtois (1955): 386.
39 Courtois (1955): 387; Reichert (1987): I, 611.
40 Tanca fidelis in pace vixit annos… Courtois (1955): 384.
41 Courtois (1955): 384; Reichert (1987): I, 693.
42 CIL VIII, 8650; Reichert (1987): I, 721.
43 From a Carthage epitaph: Trioua fidelis in pace deposita, Courtois (1955): 384.
44 From a 5th-century inscription of Sétif, CIL VIII 8650; König (1981): 302.
Ibiza (Balearic Islands)46, from P-Gmc. *wih- ‘struggle’ + *friþuz ‘pacifier’; 28- Vilimut
from a Carthage inscription47 (< P-Gmc. *wilja- ‘will’ + *môða- ‘courage’).
Among the names traditionally known from literary and historical sources, that
were gathered and analyzed by Wrede in 1886, we can mention the following:
1- Anduit was a 5th century Arian priest (< P-Gmc. prefix *and- ‘against’ + *wîti-
‘combat’)48; 2- Ariarith was a 6th-century soldier of Vandal origin 49 (<P-Gmc. *harja-
‘army’ + *rêðaz ‘counsellor’); 3- Blumarit is mentioned by the poet Luxorius50 (P-Gmc.
*blôma-n ‘bloom’ + *rêðaz ‘counsellor’); 4- Dagila lived in the fifth century under King
Huniric51 (< P-Gmc. *daga- ‘day’ + suffix –ila); 5- Euageis is only recorded in the Greek
accusative form Euagein52 (<P-Gmc. *ehwa- ‘horse’ + *gaiza- ‘spear’); 6- Fredbalum
was king of the Silings in the 5th century (< P-Gmc. *friþu- ‘pacifier’ + *bala-
‘shining’53); 7- Fridamal is mentioned by Luxorius54 (< P-Gmc. *friþu- ‘pacifier’ + Amal
‘Amal’); 8- Gaisericus 5th-century Vandal king (< P-Gmc. *gaiza- ‘spear’ + *rîka-z
‘mighty, king’)55; 9- Geilamir /Gelimer was the last Vandal king56 (< P-Gmc. *gaila- ‘joy’
+ *mêrijaz ‘famous’); 10- Geilaridos is the genitive of *Geilarith57 (< P-Gmc. *gaila-
‘joy’ + *rêðaz ‘counsellor’); 11- Gibamundus belonged to the Hasding royal clan58 (< P-
Gmc. *geba- ‘gift’ + *munduz ‘defender’); 12- Godigisclos was Geiseric’s father59 (< P-
Gmc. *gôða- ‘good’ + *gîsila- ‘arrow’); 13- Gunthimer was King Geilimer’s brother 60 (<
P-Gmc. *gunþjô ‘battle’ + *mêrijaz ‘famous’); 14- Hildimer lived under Hilderic (523-
530)61, his name is made up of P-Gmc. *hildjô ‘battle’ + *mêrijaz ‘famous’; 15- Hildirix

45 König (1981): 301-6, plate 48b: Valilv fidelis in pace A+w. In the 1950s two golden earrings
were found in her grave in the ‘Great Basilica’.
46 König (1981): 345-6: In D(omi)no benedicto tec(um) Vifrede vita.
47 Courtois (1955): 384.
48 Wrede (1886): 62.
49 Wrede (1886): 89; Schönfeld (1911): 25.
50 Anthologia Latina No. 326; Happ (1986): 292; Wrede (1886): 76.
51 Victor of Vita III, 33; Wrede (1886): 62.
52 Eujagevhn in Procopius’ Bellum Vandalicum I, 9 and 17. Its reconstructed nominative must
have been Eujagevhß with Late Greek <eh> for the diphthong [ei], see Francovich Onesti
(2002): 152; Wrede (1886): 77, 79.
53 Wrede (1886): 52-53 offers a different interpretation.
54 Anthologia Latina No. 304; Wrede (1886): 75.
55 This form regularly occurs in the 5th-century Chronicle of Hydatius; in later sources his name
appears as Geisericus (Victor of Vita and other African authors), then Gezericus (Jordanes) and
Geze-, Gizevricoß (Priscus, Procopius), and finally Gensericus (Cassiodorus); Schönfeld (1911):
99-101.
56 Geilamir was the official form used on coins and on contemporary inscriptions; Procopius has
Gelivmer, gen. -meroß, dat. -meri, acc. -mera. Francovich Onesti (2002): 156-7.
57 Bellum Vandalicum I, 9: Geilavridoß. Wrede (1886): 73.
58 He died in 533; in Procopius’ Greek spelling: Gibamou`ndoß (Bell. Vand. I, 18).
59 He died in 407. In Latin letters Godegisilus (Gregory of Tours, Hist. Franc. II, 9), in Greek
Gwdigiskloß (Bell. Vand. I, 3). Wrede (1886): 51.
60 Wrede (1886): 84.
61 Corippus, Johann. III, 198. Wrede (1886): 105.
king 523-530 (< P-Gmc. *hildjô ‘battle’ + *rîkaz ‘king’) 62; 16- Hunirix king 477-484 (<
*huni- ‘Hun’ + *rîkaz ‘king’) 63; 17- Oageis is mentioned by the poet Luxorius 64 (< P-
Gmc. *hauha- ‘high’ + *gaiza- ‘spear’); 18- Obadus was “praepositus regni” in 483
under King Hunirix65 (< P-Gmc. *wadaz ‘walker’); 19- Raginari from a Carthage
inscription66 (< P-Gmc. *ragina- ‘destiny’ + *harjaz ‘army’); 20- Stilico, a Roman
general of Vandal origin (360-408) 67, probably formed with *P-Gmc. *stelan- ‘to steal
away’ + suffix –ika-n; 21- Theodoricus was King Geiseric’s son68 (< P-Gmc. *þeuðô
‘people’ + *rîkaz ‘king’); 22- Thrasamunds king (496-523)69 from P-Gmc. *þrasa-
‘challenge’ + *munduz ‘defender’; 23- Vitarit was the royal “notarius” in Carthage 70 (<
P-Gmc. *wîti- ‘struggle’ + *rêðaz ‘advice’).

4. Main features.
The typical East Germanic name elements appearing in the above mentioned
Vandalic personal names are the following: 1) as the first elements of compounds:
*and- (see for ex. Ostrogothic Andela, Anduit), *blôma-, *gaila- (cp. Visigothic Gaile-
svinda, Geilanem, Gili-mirus), *geba- (cp. Ostrog. Gevica, Gibila, Gibi-mer, Ghive-ric),
*hauha- (cp. Goth. Ao-ricus, Visig. Au-redus), *sibjô (Ostrog. Sibia, Sive-gerna, Sifilo),
*sinþa- (Ostrog. Sindila, Sinthilanis), *skara-, *stelan-, *swarta- ‘black’ (cp. Herulian
Swartya; see below § 5, note 88), *triwwa- (Ostrog. Triggua, Triuuila, Triuuane),
*þanka- (Ostrog. Tancila, Tancane), *wada- (Ostrog. Waduulfo), *walja- (Visig. Valia),
and *wilja- (Ostrog. Wilja-rith). 2) As the second elements of compounded names:
Amal- (cp. Ostrog. Amala-frida), *bala- (Visig. Vini-bal), *buða- (Ostrog. Hos-but, Visig.
Sisi-butus, Burgundian Frede-bodus), *friðô (Ostrog. fem. Ricci-frida, Amala-frida),
*gisila- (Ostrog. Witi-gisclus, Uli-gisalos), *wada-z (Ostrog. Sunhi-vadus, Visig. Traso-
vado), *wîti- (Ostrog. And-uit), *wulþu-z (Ostrog. Sigis-vultus, Visig. Sis-uldus), and the
East-Gmc. forms –rith, -mer, -mir from *rêða- and *mêrija- respectively. Although
these stems are not exclusively East Germanic, it is nonetheless in East Germanic

62 Hildirix is the official form appearing on coins and inscriptions (see for ex. Duval – Prévot
[1975]: 273-76); other spellings are Hildericus, Ildirix. Wrede (1886): 32, 78.
63 Hunirix is the official form recorded by his contemporary Victor of Vita (History, II, 2), who
also employs the Romanised form Huniricus (II, 1).
64 Anthologia Latina No. 345. Tiefenbach (1991): 262; Wrede (1886): 77.
65 Victor of Vita II, 43-4. The <ob> spelling, like <ub>, <uu>, stands for the initial [w-] sound,
as in Visig. Ubili-gisclus for <Wili-gisclus> (from 6th-century Spain, see Reichert [1987]: I,
779). Wrede (1886): 67; Francovich Onesti (2002): 169.
66 Courtois (1955): 384; CIL VIII, 22655.
67 Other forms are Stillico, Stelicho, Istiliconis, Stelivcwn, Stiliconoß; Schönfeld (1911): 209-11;
Wrede (1886): 49; Reichert (1987): I, 618-26; Francovich Onesti (2002): 172-3.
68 Victor of Vita I, 44; Wrede (1886): 61-66.
69 This form appears on coins minted at Carthage; other forms: Thrasamundus, Trasamundus,
Thrasamuds, Transamundus, see Wrede (1886): 74; Francovich Onesti (2002): 174-5.
70 In 480-483, see Victor of Vita, History, II, 3-5, 41. Wrede (1886): 68.
name-forms that they all occur most frequently. The same is true of the Gmc.
diminutive suffix –ila, which is frequently employed in East Gmc. onomastics. The
suffix –itta, though, (see Muritta above and note 34) seems to be exclusively East
Germanic.
Vandal linguistic forms also clearly show a few characteristic East Germanic
developments, such as:
1) P-Gmc. long *ê1 is normally preserved, as in Vand. Gunthi-mer, Hildi-mer, Oa-
mer, Geili-mer, Mero-baudes; in unstressed conditions it can produce i: Vand. Geila-
mir, Aria-rith, Bluma-rit, Vita-rit. This clearly contrasts with the Suevic (West
Germanic) development of *ê1 > /a:/, cp. Suevic Ingo-maris, Suabila, respectively < P-
Gmc. *mêrijaz ‘famous’ and *swêba- ‘Sueve’.
2) P-Gmc. short *e > Vand. i, unless it was followed by original */r, h, w/; thus for
example Giba-mundus, Sigis-teus, Stilico.71 But Bere-mut (< *bera-), Eua-geis (<
*ehwa-) and Sigis-teus (< *þewaz).
3) P-Gmc. *z is always preserved and has not shifted to > r. So we have for
example Gaise-ricus, Geisi-rith from P-Gmc. *gaiza- ‘spear-point’ (cp. instead Lombard
[West Gmc.] gaire-thinx); as a second element compare on the one hand Vand. Oa-
geis, Ostrog. Rada-gaisus, and on the other Suevic (West Gmc.) Hildi-ger, Ildi-ger,
Frank. Liut-ger(us), Lombard Leode–garius. In Greek letters the voiced sibilant /z/ is
rendered with <z>, which in the sixth century had in fact acquired a sibilant
pronunciation: for ex. Gezevricoß.
4) Lack of vowel mutation (Umlaut); see for ex. Vand. Aria-rith, Ari-fridos, Gunt-
ari, Ragin-ari < P-Gmc. *harjaz.
5) The conjunction ia ‘and’ (see above § 1, note 4; cp. Gothic jah ‘and’) is almost
unknown to West and North-Germanic languages.
6) The epithet Vandali-rice could hint to a Vand. genitive plural ending –ê (=
Gothic –ê) in this case written <i>;72 while non-East Germanic languages have gen.
plur. ending < P-Gmc. *-ôn.
7) While in West-Gmc. languages it had disappeared very early, in Vandalic the
ending of nominative masc. singular (< P-Gmc. *-z) is preserved in a number of cases,
although not regularly, and rendered with –s or –x spellings. Examples are eils,
Hunirix, Hildirix, Thrasamunds, Thrasamuds, etc. But this ending was dropped in
names like Ariarith, Fronimuth, Geilamir, Vitarit, and in other cases. It seems that the
official names of kings as they appear on Vandal coins present an archaized form
retaining the –s ending, while more popular and unofficial writings leave it out. In
71Spellings like Geba-mundus and Stelicho also exist, though they are much less frequent.
72Wrede (1886): 78, reports the mistaken form <Vandala-rice>, but see Anthologia Latina No.
215. For the specific Gothic gen.plur. ending –ê see Panieri (2000).
Ostrogothic names from 6th-century Italy the –s ending had already dropped, see for
ex. Ostrog. Angelfrid, Optarit, Viliarit, Ghiveric, Sinderith, Gibimer, Felithanc, Ebremud,
etc.
8) Lack of West Germanic consonant gemination; see for ex. Vand. Guilia-runa,
Vili-mut, Valilu, Sifila, respectively < P-Gmc. *wilja-, *walja-, *sibjô (to contrast for ex.
with OE willan, OHG wellen, OE sibbian).
9) The P-Gmc. cluster *-ww- can be strengthened as –g-, see for ex. Vand. Trigari
(but also Trioua), to be compared with Ostrog. Triguila (but also Triuuila).
A few phonetic developments of Vandalic are similar to those observed in Late
Ostrogothic names from 6th-century Italy:
1) As in Ostrogothic, P-Gmc. *ô > Vand. u; thus we have Bluma-rit, Vili-mut, to be
compared with Ostrog. Dum-ilda, Dume-rit (< P-Gmc. *dôm-, cp. the different
development in Biblical Gothic: bloma ‘bloom’, moþs ‘mood’, doms ‘doom’)73.
2) As in Ostrogothic names, Vandalic too can present, in many cases, the loss of
final -s as the ending of masc. nominative sing.: Geilamir, Oamer, Sindivult, Vitarit,
and many more examples (see above at 7).
3) Vandal names tend to preserve the P-Gmc. diphthong *eu, as in Theudo-,
Theodo-ricus. The same is also true of most Ostrogothic names (like Theudo-ricus,
Theoda-hathus), while Biblical Gothic has –iu- as in þiuda ‘people’. The evidence,
though, is not so clear-cut as to allow a division between Vandal and Ostrogothic on
the one hand (with *eu > eu, eo) and Visigothic on the other (with iu, ju, as in
Wulfila)74.
At this point we can outline the main Vandalic linguistic characteristics which
identify the language within the East Germanic group.
1) P-Gmc. */ai/ can be preserved as ai, then it tends in time to change into >
Vand. ei. For ex. the form Gaisericus (king 428-477)75 is regularly found in a 5th-
century Spanish source like Hydatius, and seldom in Victor of Vita. In this author
(Africa, 2nd half of the 5th century) and in other North African sources the usual form
is Geisericus. Later on, we find the simplified or popular spelling Gesiric76, in Greek
sources <e> (Priscus : Γεζέριχος) and in the 6th century <i> (Procopius: Γιζέριχος).
The name of King Gelimer (530-534), son of Geilarith, is officially Geilamir,
Geilimer on Vandal coins and inscriptions; then Γελίμερ in Procopius.

73 Feist (1939): 100, 122, 365; see also Wrede (1891).

74 Schönfeld (1911): 229. Consider however the many Visigothic forms such as Ade-liubus,
Ede-liubus, Liuba, Liuva, Liuvigildus, Liuvi-gotoni, Svinthi-liuba, all from 6th and 7th-century
Spain (< *leuba- ‘dear’).
75 Cp. the almost contemporary Ostrogothic name Rada-gaisus (407 AD) with <ai>.
76 From a 6th-century inscription in Sufetula (Byzacena): natus anno XXVIII regis Gesiric;
Courtois (1955): 373, plate V.
 Other examples of Vand. [ei] (< *ai) are: eils, Geisi-rith, Oa-geis; in Ευα-γεη[ς] the
diphthong [ei] is rendered by Late Greek <eh>. This typical Vandalic development
clearly contrasts with Suevic name forms such as Ildi-ger, Hildi-ger.
2) The partial maintenance of the nominative –s ending can also be considered a
conservative feature of Vandalic, if compared not to Wulfila’s Biblical Gothic, but to
6th-century Ostrogothic names from Italy, where the ending had already disappeared
(see examples above at 7).

5. Romanisation
The adaptation of Vandalic forms to the Latin linguistic environment began rather
early in the fifth century. What I mean here is not the usual Romanisation of endings
in Latin texts handed down to us over the centuries (like Baud-us, Obad-us,
Gunthamund-us etc.), but actual grapho-phonetic adaptations to the North African
Latin environment or even the admixture of Vandal name-elements with others, giving
birth to hybrid names. Romanisation does not seem to have taken place before the
Vandals’ final settlement in Africa (429-439). 77 According to the evidence from
personal names, it was not yet apparently operating during their stay in the Iberian
Peninsula (409-429).
From the grapho-phonetic point of view we shall notice the following cases of
Romanisation:
1) Loss of h-, as in Arifridos, Ariarith, Gunt-ari (< *harja-), eils (< *hailaz), Oageis
(< *hauha-), Agis-ild (< *hildjô), and Asdingi (Jordanes) in addition to Hasdingi
(Cassiodorus, < *hazd-). In the very conservative and official spellings of royal names
on Vandal coins, h- is never dropped: so we have for ex. Hunirix, Hildirix.78 In Greek
writing, initial h- can be rendered with a rough breathing, as in JOavmer (Procopius; <
*hauha-).
2) The frequent development of P-Gmc. fricatives *þ, *ð into > t or d; examples
are: Tanca, Untancus, Fridila, Fridamal, Gunda, Guntari, Sindivult, Vitarit, Blumarit,
Sigisteus, Trasamundus besides the unchanged forms Thrasamundus, Guntha,
Gunthimer, Fronimuth, Ariarith, Oujlivqeoß.
3) The development of initial P-Gmc. *w- into [gw-]: thus for ex. Guiliaruna (<
*wilja-), Guitifrida (< *wîti-), and Guandalorum79 besides the more usual Vandali. This
[gw-] sound for the Vandalic is only recorded in North Africa, and not before the

77 Carthage was taken in 439, after a period when Hippo Regius had been the temporary
capital of the Vandal kingdom (435-439).
78 Vandal coins minted at Carthage provide a very important and interesting type of linguistic
evidence, as they are contemporary to kings and display the intended official form of their
names.
79 In Dracontius, a poet who lived in King Gunthamund’s time (484-496).
second half of the fifth century, the first example being Guiliaruna, from Hippo
Regius80.
4) In the verb matzia ‘to eat’ (< P-Gmc. *matjan-) mentioned in Epigram No. 285
of Anthologia Latina (see above § 1, note 4) there is perhaps an early trace of the Late
Latin development of [-tj-] > [-tsj-], which was common in 6 th-century Italy81 and still
characterizes modern Italian. What this spelling exactly means is not completely
clear: it could perhaps indicate that the Vandal word was reproduced by Afro-Roman
speakers the way they heard it and tried to repeat it. So, strictly speaking, this may
not be evidence of ‘Romanisation’ of Vandalic, but of Late Latin local phonetic
developments.
A special kind of Romanisation is the emergence of mixed names, formed with
Vandalic elements or suffixes, combined with Latin (or other) elements or suffixes. 82
This process began to take place in the second half of the fifth century, after the
Vandals had spent about fifty years in Roman provinces and in a Latin-speaking
environment. A few examples are given here to illustrate this phenomenon. A Latin
suffix could be applied to a Vand. name, as in Dagilia, Gudulus, Gudulo; “Movierung”
produced feminine names from originally masc. forms: Beremuda, Abiarica;83 a Vand.
suffix could be applied to a Latin name: Muritta; Vand. suffix applied to a Greek name:
Cyrila;84 Vand. suffix applied to an Alan name: Vasila.85 Hybrid names were formed with
Latin and Vand. elements: for ex. Iulia-teus, Maio-ricus,86 Bicto-ricus;87 but also with
Vand. and Berber elements, as in Svarti-fan;88 and even with Berber (or Punic?) and

80 The inscription on her gravestone was first published in 1958, see König (1981): 334; the
later Guitifrida inscription, from Ammædara, dates to the sixth century and was published in
1941.
81 The earliest example is the Latin loan-word kawtsjon that entered Ostrogothic, recorded in
the 551 Gothic signature of papyrus Tjäder 34 now preserved in Naples, Biblioteca Nazionale
(see Scardigli [1969]: 24 = [1973]: 277). In Africa too, the parallel development of voiced [dj] >
[dz] is recorded by such spellings as zaconus for Lat. diaconus (6th century inscription from
Cirta, see Francovich Onesti [2002]:184).
82 On this particular aspect of Afro-Vandalic onomastics see Francovich Onesti, “Latin-Germanic
Hybrid Names from Vandal Africa and Related Problems”, in: ICOS 21 (Uppsala, 19-24 August
2002) [forthcoming].
83 From a Carthage inscription, Courtois (1955): 385; her name is formed with P-Gmc. *awja-
‘fortune’ + masc. *rîka-z ‘powerful, king’. Beremuda is derived from masc. Beremut, see above
§ 3, note 22.
84 Cyrila was the patriarch of the Arian church in Carthage in the 480s (Victor of Vita II, 8 etc.);
in his name a Gmc. suffix –ila is applied to a Greek stem Kuri-oß, or Kurilloß (Reichert [1987]: I,
230; Francovich Onesti [2002]: 151).
85 From a Carthage inscription, Ennabli (1975): 151. In this name the Gmc. suffix –ila is applied
to the Alan name Basa, see above § 2, note 13.
86 Victor of Vita III, 24; his name is made up of Lat. maior + P-Gmc. *rîka-z ‘powerful’.
87 From a Leptis Minor mosaic inscription, Béjaoui (1994). His name is formed with Lat. Victor +
P-Gmc. *rîkaz.
88 It is probably no coincidence that Svartifan was a Berber (Corippus, Johannis IV, 861); his
name is made up with Gmc. *swarta- ‘black’ and Berber –fan (as in Guenfan, who was chief of
Berber troops in Byzacena about 500 AD).
Vand. elements: Supse-rik.89 Finally, double names of heterogeneous origin, that is a
Latin first name with the addition of a Vandal “cognomen”, are recorded in North
Africa, such as Ponponi Feua, Sallusticius Manno, 90 and also Flavius Vitalis Vitarit.91
This last three-name formation in the classical style combines a typical Vandalic
name, well known in 5th-century Carthage, that deliberately alliterates with Lat. Vitalis,
one of the most frequent and popular names in Roman Africa.

6. Conclusions
What we can say then, after the above analysis, is that the Vandals spoke a
language that was closely related to Gothic, but with a few characteristics of its own.
These were mostly due to some conservative features, in accordance with the early
date of our evidence: that is from about the fourth to the early sixth centuries. Not
very “early” indeed if compared to Biblical Gothic, but only if compared to Ostrogothic
onomastic records of the sixth century, and to Visigothic names from Spain, the latter
going on into the early eighth century.
In addition the peripheral position of Vandalic, which in Africa was far removed
from its sister languages of the Germanic family, and its separate and autonomous
development, all contributed to the shaping of its linguistic features, where both
archaisms and early Romanisation are together at work. The scarce linguistic
materials available can perhaps suggest a vague similarity between Vandalic and the
Late Ostrogothic onomastic materials from Italy.
The traces and remains of the Vandals’ language emerged in increasing number
throughout the 20th century and their study has contributed to filling up the gaps and
lacunae in the linguistic puzzle of the early Germans. Just like Gothic, Vandalic
disappeared too, and had probably already vanished and was lost at the time of the
Byzantine conquest in 534, when the Vandal kingdom came to an end. Since Latin
was the language of royal administration at least from about 480 AD, and all known
grave epitaphs and North African inscriptions in general are in Latin, we may perhaps
surmise that the Vandal idiom had died out even earlier than 534, or at least had
already begun to fall into disuse in certain sectors of North African society from the
second half of the fifth century onwards. A bilingual period is however to be assumed
for the descendants of the Vandal invaders, especially in larger towns such as
Carthage, and in areas of more populated Vandal settlements such as the sortes

89 Epitaph from Tebessa: Supserik fidelis in pace vixit annis XXXXI (2nd half of the 5th century;
Reichert [1987]: I, 643); the first element is of unknown origin, the second < P-Gmc. *rîkaz.
90 CIL VIII 9746, from Mauretania Caesariensis; cp. Frankish and Lombard Manno, Ostrog.
Manna < P-Gmc. *mann(a)- ‘man’.
91 From gravestones (respectively CIL VIII 21698, CIL VIII 9746, and Février 1972: 148-150, from
Tebessa); for the name Vitarit see above § 3, note 70.
Vandalorum in the Proconsularis. From the analysis of personal names we can deduce
the existence of bilingual and indeed multilingual realities in North Africa, which took
shape in the last decades of the Vandal kingdom. The noteworthy linguistic exchange
between Latin and Vandalic probably followed the absorption of Alans into the Vandal
group, revealed by Alan names within the Hasding royal clan. Then the contact and
alliance between Berber and Vandal troops must have been responsible for the
creation of such names as Svartifan and Supserik. Different social groups exchanged
their cultural traditions at different levels, as names like Cyrila, Bictoricus, Muritta and
Flavius Vitalis Vitarit reflect.
In churches, where minority groups of North African Arians after 429 met with the
Arian invaders, double and bilingual liturgies had to be adopted for the Roman and
Vandal public. It is precisely in this milieu that religious formulas both in Latin and
Vandalic were heard at one time by local people and newcomers. Afro-Romans could
also learn some fragments of Vandalic expressions and titles, such as Vandalirice, at
the royal court of Carthage. At the same time administrators had had to master rather
quickly written Latin for legal purposes.
Since the language of the Vandals died out earlier than Gothic, which was still
spoken in the Ostrogothic kingdom of Italy in the 550s, only the Vandal onomastic
traditions survived for a while in North Africa after the Byzantine conquest, sometimes
mixed with other heterogeneous elements. Today the mere attempt to outline the
linguistic forms of Vandalic is a difficult and painstaking task, unless new records and
documents in the Vandal language emerge in the near future from archives or from
ongoing archaeological excavations.

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