Wiktionary:About Proto-Celtic

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Policies – Entries: CFI - EL - NORM - NPOV - QUOTE - REDIR - DELETE. Languages: LT - AXX. Others: BLOCK - BOTS - VOTES.

Shortcut:
WT:ACEL

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 edit

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 edit

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

Notes edit

^ 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 the possibility 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 edit

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 edit

^ 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 edit

Nominals edit

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 edit

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 edit

^ 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 the possibility 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]