| Language | Common Germanic |
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| Language Subtitle | A Newly Germanic Language |
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| Year | 2003 |
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| Translator | James R. Johnson |
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| Introduction | Common Germanic is a Germanic-based language intended to bring Germanic-speakers back from Romance influence, and restore as much Germanic syntax and vocabulary as possible. |
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| Verse 1 | 1: And þe hale Erðe hadde an Spræc, and fewe Worde. |
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| Verse 2 | 2: And als Menn ferdent fram þem Easten, fundent sie anen Feld im Lande Scinars; and setteldent þær. |
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| Verse 3 | 3: And sagdent toeinoðer, "Kommem, læssem we Brikke maken, and brennim sie þurh." And sie haddent Brikk for Stan, and Scleim for Mortar. |
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| Verse 4 | 4: And sie sagdent, "Kommem, læssem we uns ane Burg buen, and an Turr mid his Toppe in þen Hefnen, and læssem anen Namen for unsselfen maken, lest we siscatterdem weid am Gesihte þes halen Erðes. |
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| Verse 5 | 5: And þe Lord kam dun, þat Burg and þat Turr to seen, þe þe cilder Menns gebuen haddent. |
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| Verse 6 | 6: And þe Lord sagde, "Beholdeð, sie sind ane Leode, and habbent alle an Spræc, and þies beginnent don: and nu naht, þat þe proposent, sei unmaglic hinen. |
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| Verse 7 | 7: Kommem, læssem dungan, and þær confusim hir Spræc, þat sie ne understandint einoðers Spræc." |
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| Verse 8 | 8: So þe Lord scattrede sie weid þænen ofer þem Geihte alle þes Erðes: and sie ferdent, þat Burg to buen. |
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| Verse 9 | 9: Þærfor heisst his Name Babel; forþem þe Lord confundede þat Spræc þes allen Erðes; and þærfrom scattrede þe Lord sie weid ofer þem Gesihte þes allen Erðes. |
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| Interlinear Translation 1 | And the whole earth had one language, and few words. |
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| Translation 2 | And as men fared from the east, they found a field in the land of Shinar; and they settled there. |
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| Translation 3 | And they said to one another, "Come, let's make bricks, and burn them through." And they had bricks for stone, and slime for mortar. |
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| Translation 4 | And they said, "Come, let's build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let's make a name for ourselves, lest we may be scattered wide on the face of the whole earth. |
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| Translation 5 | And the Lord came down, to see the city and the tower, that the children of men had built. |
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| Translation 6 | And the Lord said, "Behold, they are one people, and have all one language, and this they begin to do: and now nothing, that they propose, may be impossible for them. |
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| Translation 7 | Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's language." |
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| Translation 8 | So the Lord scattered them wide thence ofer the face all of the earth: and they fared, to build the city. |
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| Translation 9 | Therefore its name is called Babel; because the Lord confounded the language all of the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them wide over the face all of the earth. |
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| English Paraphrase 1 | And the whole earth had one language, and few words. |
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| Paraphrase 2 | And as men traveled from the east, they found a field in the land of Shinar; and they settled there. |
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| Paraphrase 3 | And they said to one another, "Come, let's make bricks, and burn them through." And they had bricks for stone, and slime for mortar. |
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| Paraphrase 4 | And they said, "Come, let's build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let's make a name for ourselves, lest we may be scattered wide on the face of the whole earth. |
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| Paraphrase 5 | And the Lord came down, to see the city and the tower, that the children of men had built. |
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| Paraphrase 6 | And the Lord said, "Behold, they are one people, and have all one language, and this they begin to do: and now nothing, that they propose, may be impossible for them. |
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| Paraphrase 7 | Come, let us go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's language." |
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| Paraphrase 8 | So the Lord scattered them wide thence ofer the face all of the earth: and they traveled, to build the city. |
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| Paraphrase 9 | Therefore its name is called Babel; because the Lord confounded the language all of the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them wide over the face all of the earth. |
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| Notes 1 | Earth is correctly a neuter noun, with 'þat' as a neuter article, but poetically it is feminine. Nouns are capitalized to distinguish them from other words. |
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| Notes 2 | 'als' is a subordinating conjunction requiring simple past tense. Simple tenses are preferred over compound tenses. That was the reason behind an inflected passive and subjunctive tenses. |
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| Notes 3 | "Let's" verbs are in the 1st person plural subjunctive. þurhbrennen is a separable prefix verb. |
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| Notes 4 | siscatterdem" - "if we are scattered" is in the subjunctive passive 1st person plural past tense. A subjunctive in the first position indicates "if we do..." and is usually followed by a result clause telling what would happen as a result, also in the subjunctive, with or without "þenn. |
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| Notes 5 | Dungan is a separable prefix verb, "to go down." |
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| Notes 6 | unmaglic takes a dative noun, meaning "impossible for someone" |
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| Notes 7 | understandint - they may understand. Einoðer is a pronoun, meaning "one another," and has genitive "einoðers", dative "einoðrem," instrumental "einoðre" and accusative "einoðern." It has feminine and neuter forms as well. It is inflected as an adjective. |
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| Notes 8 | An infinitive clause, "þat Burg to buen," meaning "in order to build the city" is used here, and set off by a comma. Such infinitive clauses, if they contain more than an infinitive. |
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| Notes 9 | þærfor, þærfrom - these primarily have the meanings "for that/it" and "from it/that." Any non-human thing requires such a compound. Humans require use of a pronoun, "from him/her," and using a compound implies an insult from the speaker to the person spoken of. |
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| Submitted By | James R. Johnson |
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| Date Submitted | Wednesday, December 03, 2003 |
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| Date Edited | Wednesday, December 03, 2003 |
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| Date To Headline | Wednesday, December 03, 2003 |
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