Everything about Proto-celtic totally explained
The
Proto-Celtic language, also called
Common Celtic, is the putative ancestor of all the known
Celtic languages. Its
lexis can be confidently reconstructed on the basis of the
comparative method of
historical linguistics. Proto-Celtic is an
Indo-European language of the
Centum group, possibly via a common
Italo-Celtic stage or
Sprachbund.
The area in which the language seems to have first become distinguishably Proto-Celtic may correspond to the
Hallstatt culture, on the western fringes of the
Urnfield in the early
1st millennium BC.
The reconstruction of Proto-Celtic is currently being undertaken. While
Continental Celtic presents much substantiation for
phonology, and some for
morphology, recorded material is largely still too scanty to allow a secure reconstruction of
syntax. Although some complete sentences are recorded in
Gaulish and
Celtiberian, the oldest substantial Celtic
literature is found in
Old Irish, the earliest recorded of the
Insular Celtic languages.
Phonological reconstruction
Consonants
The phonological changes from
Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Celtic
consonants may be summarised as follows. (An asterisk [*] prior to a letter or word designates that the
phoneme or
lexeme isn't attested but is a hypothetical, reconstructed form.)
| PIE |
Proto-Celtic |
Example |
| * |
* |
* > * 'father' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'three' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'sing'
* > * 'hundred' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'four' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'deep' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'see' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'to glue'
* > * 'jaw' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'woman' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'carry' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'suck' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'take'
* > * 'sickness' |
| * |
* |
*gʷʰn̥- > * 'kill, wound' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'old' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'mother' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'nephew' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'lick' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'king' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'young' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'dominion' |
In contrast to the parent language, Proto-Celtic doesn't use
aspiration as a
feature for distinguishing
phonemes. So the Proto-Indo-European
voiced aspirated stops *, *, * merged with *, *, *. The voiced aspirate
labiovelar * didn't merge with *, though: plain * became * in Proto-Celtic, while aspirated * became *. Thus, while PIE * 'woman' became Old Irish
ben and Welsh
benyw, PIE * 'to kill, to wound' is the source of Old Irish
gonaid and Welsh
gwanu.
Proto-Indo-European * was lost in Proto-Celtic, apparently going through the stages * (as in the table above) and * (perhaps attested by the
toponym Hercynia if this is of Celtic origin) before being lost completely word-initially and between vowels. Adjacent to consonants, Proto-Celtic * underwent different changes: the
clusters * and * became * and * respectively already in Proto-Celtic. PIE * became Old Irish
s and Brythonic
f; while Schrijver (1995, 348) argues there was an intermediate stage * (in which * remained an independent phoneme until after Proto-Insular Celtic had diverged into Goidelic and Brythonic), McCone (1996, 44–45) finds it more economical to believe that * remained unchanged in PC, that is, the change * to * didn't happen when * preceded. (Similarly,
Grimm's law didn't apply to
*p, t, k after *
s in
Germanic.)
| Proto-Celtic |
Old Irish |
Welsh |
| * > * 'shine' |
las-aid |
llach-ar |
| * > * 'seven' |
secht |
saith |
| * or * 'heel' |
seir |
ffêr |
In
Gaulish and the
Brythonic languages, a new * sound has arisen as a reflex of the Proto-Indo-European * phoneme. Consequently one finds Gaulish
petuar[ios],
Welsh pedwar "four", compared to
Old Irish *
cethair and
Latin quattuor. In so far as this new /p/ fills the space in the phoneme inventory which was lost by the disappearance of the equivalent stop in PIE, we may think of this as a
chain shift.
The terms
P-Celtic and
Q-Celtic are useful when we wish to group the Celtic languages according to the way they handle this one phoneme. However a simple division into P- and Q-Celtic may be untenable, as it doesn't do justice to the evidence of the ancient
Continental Celtic languages. The large number of unusual shared innovations among the
Insular Celtic languages are often also presented as evidence against a P-Celtic
vs Q-Celtic division, but they may instead reflect a common
substratum influence from the pre-Celtic languages of Ireland, Scotland, Cornwall and Wales,
(External Link
), in which case they'd be irrelevant to Celtic language classification.
Q-Celtic languages may also have /p/ in loan words, though in some early borrowings from Welsh into Irish /k/ was used by sound substitution, as in Gaelic
Cothrige, an early form of
"Padraig". Gaelic
póg "kiss" was a later borrowing (from the second word of the Latin phrase
osculum pacis "kiss of peace") at a stage where
p was borrowed directly as
p, without substituting
c.
Vowels
The Proto-Celtic vowel system is highly comparable to that reconstructed for
Proto-Indo-European by
Antoine Meillet. Dissimilarities include the incidence of Celtic *
ī for Proto-Indo-European *
ē (for example, Gaulish
rix and Irish
rí, "king"; compare Latin
rēx) and *
ā in place of *
ō.
| PIE |
Proto-Celtic |
Example |
| * |
* |
* > * 'river' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'brother' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'old' |
| * (any laryngeal between consonants) |
* |
* > * 'father' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'true' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'wheel' |
| * |
in final syllable, * |
* > * 'nephew' |
| elsewhere, * |
* > * 'gift' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'world' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'number' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'blind'
* > * 'age' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'god' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'one' |
| * |
before, |
* > * 'young' |
| elsewhere, * |
* > * 'stream' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'mystery' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'silent' |
*;
* |
* |
* > * 'people'
* > * |
| * |
before stops, * |
* > * 'wide' |
| before other consonants, * |
* > * 'rooster' |
|
before stops, * |
* > * 'act of bearing; mind' |
| before other consonants, * |
* > * 'dead' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'subdue' |
| * |
* |
* > * 'tooth' |
| * |
before obstruents, * |
* > * 'lordship' |
| before sonorants, * |
* > * 'hand' |
| * |
before obstruents, * |
* > * 'betrayal' |
| before sonorants, * |
* > * 'grain' |
| * |
*
(presumably same distribution as above) |
(none?) |
| * |
* or *
(presumably same distribution as above) |
probably * > * 'knowing' |
The vowel * is the so-called "
schwa indogermanicum", now interpreted as a laryngeal between two consonants.
Transition to Welsh and Cornish
The regular
consonantal
sound changes from Proto-Celtic to the
Welsh language and
Cornish language may be summarised in the following table. Where the Welsh graphemes have a different value from the corresponding IPA symbols, the IPA equivalent is indicated between solidi. V represents a vowel; C represents a consonant.
| Proto-Celtic consonant |
Late Brythonic consonant |
Welsh consonant |
Cornish consonant |
| *b- |
*b |
b |
b |
| *-bb- |
*-b- |
b |
b |
| *-VbV- |
*v/b? |
f /v/ |
v |
| *d- |
*d |
d |
d |
| *-dd- |
*-d- |
d |
d |
| *-VdV- |
*-d-? -ð- |
dd /ð/ |
d |
| *g- |
*g- |
g |
g |
| *-gg- |
*-g- |
g |
g |
| *-VgV- |
*-VjV- |
(lost) |
(lost) |
| *h- |
(lost) |
(lost) |
(lost) |
| *-h- |
(lost) |
(lost) |
(lost) |
| *j- |
*i- |
i |
i |
| *-j |
*-ð |
-dd (ð) |
*-dh (ð) |
| *k- |
*c- |
c |
k |
| *-kk- |
*-cc- |
ch /x/ |
gh |
| *-VkV- |
*-c-? -g-? |
g |
g |
| *kʷ- |
*p- |
p |
p |
| *-kʷ- |
*-b- |
b |
b |
| *l- |
*l- |
ll /ɬ/ |
l |
| *-ll- |
*-l- |
l |
l |
| *-VlV- |
*-l- |
l |
l |
| *m- |
*m- |
m |
m |
| *-mb- |
*m? mb? |
m |
m |
| *-Cm- |
*m |
m |
m |
| *-m- |
*v? m? |
f /v/ |
v |
| *n- |
*n- |
n |
n |
| *-n- |
*-n- |
n |
n |
| *-nd- |
*n / nn |
n, nn |
n, nn |
| *-nt- |
*nt / nh |
nt, nh |
n, nn |
| *r- |
*r- |
rh /r̥/ |
r |
| *-r- |
*-r- |
r |
r |
| *s- |
*h-, s |
h, s |
h |
| *-s- |
*-s- |
s |
s |
| *t |
*t |
t |
t |
| *-t- |
*-d-? -t-? |
d |
dh |
| *-tt-, *-ct- |
*th? *tt? |
th /θ/ |
th |
| *w- |
*v- |
gw |
gw |
| *sw- |
*hw- |
chw /xw/ |
hw |
| *VwV |
*w |
dd |
dh |
| final vowel |
Vh |
Vch |
Vgh |
Morphology
Nouns
The
morphology (structure) of
nouns and
adjectives demonstrates no arresting alterations from the parent language. Proto-Celtic is believed to have had nouns in three genders, three numbers and five to eight cases. The genders were the normal masculine, feminine and neuter, the three numbers were singular, plural and dual. The number of cases is a subject of contention : while Old Irish may have only five, the evidence from Continental Celtic is considered rather unambiguous despite appeals to "
archaic retentions" or "
analogical levelling". These cases were nominative, vocative, accusative, dative, genitive, ablative, locative and instrumental.
Nouns fall into nine or so declensions, depending on the stem. There are *
o-stems, *
ā-stems, *
i-stems, *
u-stems, dental stems, velar stems, nasal stems, *
r-stems and *
s-stems.
*o-stem nouns
*
wiros ‘man’ (
masculine)
*
dūnom ‘stronghold’ (
neuter)
*ā-stem nouns
alisā ‘
alder tree’ (
feminine?)
E.g. *
kumbās ‘
coomb’ (
masculine)
*u-stem nouns
E.g. *
matus ‘he-
bear’ (
masculine)
E.g. *
dānu ‘
valley river’ (
neuter?)
*i-stems
E.g. *
albis ‘
alp’ (
masculine?)
E.g. *
rīganīs ‘
queen’ (
feminine)
E.g. *
blawi ‘hair’ (
neuter?)
Before the *-
s of the nominative singular, a velar consonant was neutralised to *-
x-: *
rīg- "king" > *
rīxs. Likewise, final *-
d became *-
t-: *
druwid- "druid" > *
druwits.
E.g.
rīxs ‘king’ (
masculine)
E.g. *
druwits ‘
druid’ (
masculine)
E.g. *
karnuxs ‘
carnyx’ (
masculine?)
E.g. *
dants ‘
tooth’ (
masculine)
Generally, nasal stems end in *-
on-, this becomes *-
ū in the nominative singular: *
abon-- "river" > *
abū.
E.g. *
abū ‘
river’ (
feminine)
kangsmã ‘
step’ (
masculine)
*s-stem nouns
Generally, *
s-stems end in *-
es-, which becomes *-
os in the nominative singular: *
teges- ‘house’ > *
tegos.
E.g. *
tegos ‘
house’ (
masculine)
*r-stem nouns
- r-stems are rare and principally confined to names of relatives. Typically they end in *-ter-, which becomes *-tīr in the nominative and *-tr- in all other cases aside from the accusative: *φater- ‘father’ > *φatīr, *φatros.
E.g. *
φatīr ‘
father’ (
masculine)
E.g. *
mātīr ‘
mother’ (
feminine)
Verbs
The Insular Celtic
verb shows a peculiar feature unknown in any other attested
Indo-European language: verbs have different
conjugational forms depending on whether they appear in absolute initial position in the sentence (Insular Celtic having
Verb Subject Object or VSO word order) or whether they're preceded by a preverbal
particle. The situation is most robustly attested in
Old Irish, but it has remained to some extent in
Scottish Gaelic and traces of it are present in Middle
Welsh as well.
Forms that appear in sentence-initial position are called
absolute, those that appear after a particle are called
conjunct. The
paradigm of the
present active indicative of the Old Irish verb
beirid "carry" is as follows; the conjunct forms are illustrated with the particle
ní "not".
| |
Absolute |
Conjunct |
| 1st person singular |
biru "I carry" |
ní biur "I don't carry" |
| 2nd person singular |
biri "you carry" |
ní bir "you don't carry" |
| 3rd person singular |
beirid "s/he carries" |
ní beir "she/he doesn't carry" |
| 1st person plural |
bermai "we carry" |
ní beram "we don't carry" |
| 2nd person plural |
beirthe "you carry" |
ní beirid "you don't carry" |
| 3rd person plural |
berait "they carry" |
ní berat "they don't carry" |
In Scottish Gaelic this distinction is still found in certain verb-forms:
| Absolute |
Conjunct |
| cuiridh "puts/will put" |
cha chuir "doesn't put/will not put" |
| òlaidh "drinks/will drink" |
chan òl "doesn't drink/will not drink" |
| ceannaichidh "buys/will buy" |
cha cheannaich "doesn't buy/will not buy" |
In Middle Welsh, the distinction is seen most clearly in proverbs following the formula "X happens, Y doesn't happen" (Evans 1964: 119):
Pereid y rycheu, ny phara a'e goreu "The furrows last, he who made them lasts not"
Trenghit golut, ny threingk molut "Wealth perishes, fame perishes not"
Tyuit maban, ny thyf y gadachan "An infant grows, his swaddling-clothes grow not"
Chwaryit mab noeth, ny chware mab newynawc "A naked boy plays, a hungry boy plays not"
The older analysis of the distinction, as reported by Thurneysen (1946, 360 ff.), held that the absolute endings derive from Proto-Indo-European "primary endings" (used in present and future tenses) while the conjunct endings derive from the "secondary endings" (used in past tenses). Thus Old Irish absolute beirid "s/he carries" was thought to be from * (compare Sanskrit bharati "s/he carries"), while conjunct beir was thought to be from * (compare Sanskrit a-bharat "s/he was carrying").
Today, however, most Celticists agree that Cowgill (1975), following an idea present already in Pedersen (1913, 340 ff.), found the correct solution to the origin of the absolute/conjunct distinction: an enclitic particle, reconstructed as * after consonants and * after vowels, came in second position in the sentence. If the first word in the sentence was another particle, * came after that and thus before the verb, but if the verb was the first word in the sentence, * was cliticized to it. Under this theory, then, Old Irish absolute beirid comes from Proto-Celtic *, while conjunct ní beir comes from *.
The identity of the * particle remains uncertain. Cowgill suggests it might be a semantically degraded form of * "is", while Schrijver (1994) has argued it's derived from the particle * "and then", which is attested in Gaulish.
Continental Celtic languages can't be shown to have any absolute/conjunct distinction. However, they seem to show only SVO and SOV word orders, as in other Indo-European languages. The absolute/conjunct distinction may thus be an artifact of the VSO word order that arose in Insular Celtic.
Dating
The date when Proto-Celtic became a separate language is controversial. In the past an association with particular archaeological cultures had been assumed, then the method of glottochronology was used. Both are not satisfactory for many reasons. In the last decade or so a number of groups have addressed this question using modern computational methods, with differing results. Gray and Atkinson estimated a date of 6100 BP (4100 BCE) while Forster and Toth suggest a date of 8100 BP (6100 BCE), but such early dates are not generally accepted. Both these dates are subject to considerable estimating uncertainty, perhaps +/-1500 years. In the Paleolithic Continuity Theory Celtic is proposed to have emerged from the Iberian refuge after the Last Glacial Maximum, but this theory isn't generally accepted.
Proto-Celtic may have been spoken to as late as 800 BCE, see Celtic languages.
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