The Gothic Genitive Plural in /-ee/ Yet Again: A Sarmatian Solution

Reasons are given to think that the Gothic GPL in /-ee/ (< /-ɛɛ/) developed in the M /n/-stems by analogy with GPL /-ↄↄnↄↄ/ in F /n/-stems: NSG /-ↄ/ : GPL /-ↄↄnↄↄ/ = NSG /-ɛ/ : GPL /-ɛɛnɛɛ/. This analogy was externally motivated, due to various features of Iranian causing Gothic F /-ↄↄnↄↄ/ and M /-ↄnↄↄ/ to both be rendered as /-aanaa/ in Sarmatian-accented Gothic. As levels of competence increased, /-aanaa/ was “genderized” (and “Gothicized”) by replacing gender-neutral /-aanaa-/ with F /-ↄↄnↄ/ (which spread to Pre-OHG) and M /-ɛɛnɛɛ/. Historical and lexical evidence is given indicating that Gothic culture and language were significantly influenced by their Sarmatian analogues, and additional cases where Gothic shows unusual grammatical resemblances to Iranian are adduced.