Wiktionary:About Proto-Celtic

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This page contains guidelines for Proto-Celtic reconstructions—notation, templates, and formatting. Proto-Celtic reconstructions are created in the Reconstruction namespace, as subpages, e.g. Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/makʷos for the reconstruction *makʷos.

Phonology

There is very little agreement between authors on the notation used to represent Proto-Celtic. Here at Wiktionary we use the following symbols; please use only these symbols in reconstructions, adapting the source notation as necessary.

Vowels

Short vowels	a	e	i	o	u
Long vowels	ā		ī		ū
Diphthongs	au	āu	ai	āi	ei^{[V 1]}	ou	oi

Notes

^ The Proto-Indo-European diphthong ey passed through a phase *ei on its way to Celtic. In most Celtic languages, a monophthongization of *ei to ē in prehistory is evident, but how early this occurred is unclear. The reflex of this diphthong is sometimes spelled ei in Celtiberian, leading to a common stance that the monophthongization of ei to ē had not happened yet in Late Proto-Celtic. However, it is also possible that Celtiberian ei was only an orthographic diphthong and represented a spoken monophthong.

Consonants

Labial consonants		b	ɸ^{[C 1]}	β^{[C 2]}	m
Dental/alveolar consonants	t	d	s	z^{[C 3]}	n	l^{[C 4]}	r^{[C 4]}
Palatal consonant						y
Velar consonants	k	g	x^{[C 3]}
Labiovelar consonants	kʷ	gʷ				w

Notes

^ Proto-Celtic ɸ is often spelled f in other resources, but we use ɸ here. This sound disappeared in almost all positions before Late Proto-Celtic, but it left traces in a few places: sɸ- developed differently from s-, and -ɸl- and -ɸr- after a vowel were voiced to -bl- and -br- in Old Irish ·ebla and ebarthi. For this reason, we use it in reconstructions in all places where it is etymologically expected.
^ Late Celtic lenition of bilabial consonants before nasals: ${\begin{Bmatrix}b\\\phi \end{Bmatrix}}$ > ${\begin{Bmatrix}\beta \\w\end{Bmatrix}}$ /V_N^[1]^[2]
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 The sounds z and x were not phonemes of Proto-Celtic but allophones of s and k respectively. Nevertheless, we use them in reconstructions in the positions where they occur.
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 The clusters rs and ls had already assimilated to rr and ll before Late Proto-Celtic, so we use the assimilated spellings here. For the clusters sr, sl, sn, sm, and ly, it is less clear that assimilation was complete before the end of Proto-Celtic, so we use the unassimilated spellings.

Morphology

Nominals

Nouns, adjectives, and pronouns are cited in their full nominative singular (masculine) forms (e.g. *makʷos, not *makʷo-, *windos, not *windo- or *windo/ā- or the like).

Verbs

The lemma form for verbs is the third-person singular present indicative, as it is for both Proto-Indo-European verbs and Old Irish verbs.

References

^ Matasović, Ranko (2009) Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 9
^ Stifter, David (2017–2018) “Chapter XI: Celtic”, in Klein, Jared S., Joseph, Brian D., Fritz, Matthias, editors, Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics: An International Handbook (Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft [Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication Science]; 41.2), Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, →ISBN, § The phonology of Celtic, page 1193

[1] The Proto-Indo-European diphthong ey passed through a phase *ei on its way to Celtic. In most Celtic languages, a monophthongization of *ei to ē in prehistory is evident, but how early this occurred is unclear. The reflex of this diphthong is sometimes spelled ei in Celtiberian, leading to a common stance that the monophthongization of ei to ē had not happened yet in Late Proto-Celtic. However, it is also possible that Celtiberian ei was only an orthographic diphthong and represented a spoken monophthong.

[2] Proto-Celtic ɸ is often spelled f in other resources, but we use ɸ here. This sound disappeared in almost all positions before Late Proto-Celtic, but it left traces in a few places: sɸ- developed differently from s-, and -ɸl- and -ɸr- after a vowel were voiced to -bl- and -br- in Old Irish ·ebla and ebarthi. For this reason, we use it in reconstructions in all places where it is etymologically expected.

[5] Late Celtic lenition of bilabial consonants before nasals: ${\begin{Bmatrix}b\\\phi \end{Bmatrix}}$ > ${\begin{Bmatrix}\beta \\w\end{Bmatrix}}$ /V_N^[1]^[2]

[xz-6] 3.0 ^3.1 The sounds z and x were not phonemes of Proto-Celtic but allophones of s and k respectively. Nevertheless, we use them in reconstructions in the positions where they occur.

[rl-7] 4.0 ^4.1 The clusters rs and ls had already assimilated to rr and ll before Late Proto-Celtic, so we use the assimilated spellings here. For the clusters sr, sl, sn, sm, and ly, it is less clear that assimilation was complete before the end of Proto-Celtic, so we use the unassimilated spellings.

[3] Matasović, Ranko (2009) Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 9

[4] Stifter, David (2017–2018) “Chapter XI: Celtic”, in Klein, Jared S., Joseph, Brian D., Fritz, Matthias, editors, Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics: An International Handbook (Handbücher zur Sprach- und Kommunikationswissenschaft [Handbooks of Linguistics and Communication Science]; 41.2), Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, →ISBN, § The phonology of Celtic, page 1193

[V 1]

[C 1]

[C 2]

[C 3]

[C 4]

[1]

[2]

Wiktionary:About Proto-Celtic

Contents

Phonology

Vowels

Notes

Consonants

Notes

Morphology

Nominals

Verbs

References

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Wiktionary:About Proto-Celtic

Phonology

Vowels

Notes

Consonants

Notes

Morphology

Nominals

Verbs

References

Navigation menu

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