Vandalic

Vandalic was the language of the Vandal people and was spoken in Spain and North Africa.

For this language we have little evidence, a few Vandal names from Spain and only three Vandal phrases mentioned in works written in Latin, one of which is probably the beginning of the prayer 'Lord, have mercy'.

From this scanty evidence at our disposal some conclusions have been drawn about the phonology of the Vandal language and its classification; it belongs to the East Germanic branch and was very closely related to Gothic.

Linguists speculate that Vandalic, Gepidic and Gothic were very closely related languages to each other, all of which were known as Gothic in their day.

Some Vandalic phrases that we know of:

Eils!

Scapia matzia ia drincan!

Froja armes - Sir, have mercy.

The Vandals were a Germanic people originally from the Scandinavian peninsula; they subsequently crossed over to the opposite Baltic coast and settled in present-day Poland.

In the 5th century AD the Vandals began to invade the western Roman Empire, crossing the entire Gaul and killing and pillaging their way to the Iberian Peninsula where they established Vandal kingdoms in what is now northern Portugal and southern Spain.

They later migrated to the opposite coast, conquering the Roman province of North Africa and the Apennine Islands, the Balearic Islands, Sardinia, Sicily and Corsica.They posed a serious threat to the Romans and even conquered and sacked Rome itself in 455 AD.

Their kingdom survived until the middle of the 6th century when the Byzantine general Belisarius sent by emperor Justinian captured and annexed Vandal North Africa in the so-called Vandal Wars in just five months ending their existence.

Their name became synonymous with destruction and pillage.

The Vandals were Christians who believed in the Arian doctrine.

The Vandalic War!

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