Nunc igitur ad alteram linguam, quae Gotica doctissimi cujusque apud Colonienses iudicio habetur, veniamus [...]
Goropius Becanus, Origines Antwerpianae, 1569.
Project Wulfila is a small digital library dedicated to the study of the Gothic language. The primary goal is an online edition of the Gothic Bible and minor fragments, linked to linguistic annotations, interlinear translations and a dictionary. The site also provide facsimiles of some relevant textbooks that are now in the public domain.
The website was hosted by the University of Antwerp from 1999 to 2025. The project originally also covered the Old Saxon Heliand and Middle and Early Modern Dutch documents; the present focus is on Gothic.
Incidentally, the first publication of fragments of the Gothic Bible took place in Antwerp. In 1569, Ioannes Goropius Becanus published samples from the Codex Argenteus (notably the Lord's Prayer and excerpts from Mark) in his Origines Antwerpianae, printed by Plantin. His famously fanciful attempts to identify and interpret the language sparked the interest of other scholars and may be considered the beginning of Gothic philology (see Van De Velde 1966, pp. 24–35 for a detailed account; von Friesen & Grape 1928, pp. 128–129; Stutz 1966, pp. 83–84).
Notice
After more than 25 years at the University of Antwerp, the project is moving to the Royal Academy of Dutch Language and Literature (KANTL).
The transfer takes some time. Web technology changed considerably, and the site was built on an outdated platform that had become unsustainable.
Most pages have now been converted, and the site is fully functional again. We expect to transfer an updated and modernized version to the Academy in 2026.
Tom De Herdt – May 1, 2026
News
- 2026-04-29
- Updated the text index, with a new option to show missing parts.
- 2026-04-21
- Updated the facsimile editions. The entire website has now been converted to static HTML.
- 2026-03-16
- Added folio markers for Codex Argenteus and linked the text to a manuscript facsimile. Fixed word analysis page, added keyboard shortcuts. Various minor improvements.
- 2026-02-05
- Converted the text source file from TEI P4 to P5.
Gothic Bible and minor fragments
An evolving lemmatized and POS-tagged edition of the Gothic Bible, based on Streitberg.
Facsimile editions
Scans of books related to Gothic and Old Saxon:
- Streitberg: Gotisch–Griechisch–Deutsches Wörterbuch (1910)
- Streitberg: Gotisches Elementarbuch (1920)
- Sievers: Heliand (1878)
More
Not related to Gothic:
- Gysseling: Toponymisch woordenboek (1960). Database, search engine and facsimile. This project moved to the KANTL in 2013.
- Munters: Dagboek van Gebeurtenissen (1529–1545). Transcription of an Early Modern Dutch personal diary, describing events in 16th century Kuringen.