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Proto-Celtic language facts for kids

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Proto-Celtic
PC, Common Celtic
Reconstruction of Celtic languages
Region Central or Western Europe
Era ca. 1300–800 BC
Reconstructed
ancestor


Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the hypothetical ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly reconstructed through the comparative method. Proto-Celtic is generally thought to have been spoken between 1300 and 800 BC, after which it began to split into different languages. Proto-Celtic is often associated with the Urnfield culture and particularly with the Hallstatt culture. Celtic languages share common features with Italic languages that are not found in other branches of Indo-European, suggesting the possibility of an earlier Italo-Celtic linguistic unity.

Proto-Celtic is currently being reconstructed through the comparative method by relying on later Celtic languages. Though Continental Celtic presents much substantiation for Proto-Celtic phonology, and some for its morphology, recorded material is too scanty to allow a secure reconstruction of syntax, though some complete sentences are recorded in the Continental Gaulish and Celtiberian. So the main sources for reconstruction come from Insular Celtic languages with the oldest literature found in Old Irish and Middle Welsh, dating back to authors flourishing in the 6th century AD.

Dating

Proto-Celtic is usually dated to the Late Bronze Age, ca. 1200–900 BC. The fact that it is possible to reconstruct a Proto-Celtic word for 'iron' (traditionally reconstructed as *īsarnom) has long been taken as an indication that the divergence into individual Celtic languages did not start until the Iron Age (8th century BCE to 1st century BCE); otherwise, descendant languages would have developed their own, unrelated words for their metal. However, Schumacher and Schrijver suggest a date for Proto-Celtic as early as the 13th century BC, the time of the Canegrate culture, in northwest Italy, and the Urnfield culture in Central Europe, implying that the divergence may have already started in the Bronze Age.

Sound changes from Proto-Indo-European

The phonological changes from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) to Proto-Celtic (PC) may be summarized as follows. The changes are roughly in chronological order, with changes that operate on the outcome of earlier ones appearing later in the list.

Late PIE

These changes are shared by several other Indo-European branches.

  • *e is colored by an adjacent laryngeal consonant:
    • eh₂, h₂e > ah₂, h₂a
    • eh₃, h₃e > oh₃, h₃o
  • Palatovelars merge into the plain velars:
    • ḱ > k
    • ǵ > g
    • ǵʰ > gʰ
  • Epenthetic *a is inserted after a syllabic sonorant if a laryngeal and another sonorant follow (R̥HR > RaHR)
  • Laryngeals are lost:
    • before a following vowel (HV > V)
    • following a vowel in syllables before the accent (VHC´ > VC´)
    • following a vowel before a consonant, or word finally, resulting in compensatory lengthening, thus (VHC > V̄C, VH# > V̄#)
    • between plosives in non-initial syllables (CHC > CC)
  • Two adjacent dentals become two adjacent sibilants (TT > TsT > ss)

Italo-Celtic

The following sound changes are shared with the Italic languages in particular, and are cited in support of the Italo-Celtic hypothesis.

  • Dybo's rule: long close vowels are shortened (or a laryngeal is lost) before resonant + stressed vowel. Note that something like Dybo's rule seems to have also operated in Germanic (Old English wer < *wiHró-).
    • īR´ / ? *iHR´ > iR´
    • ūR´ / ? *uHR´ > uR´
  • Possibly, post-consonantal laryngeals are lost when before pre-tonic close vowels:
    • CHiC´ > CiC´
    • CHuC´ > CuC´
  • Development of initial stress, following the previous two changes. But note that this seems to have been an areal feature, shared, for example with the Indo-European Germanic languages and the non-Indo-European Etruscan language.
  • Possibly, vocalization of laryngeals to *ī between a *CR cluster and consonantal *j (CRHjV > CRījV)
  • Syllabic laryngeals become *a (CHC > CaC)
  • Syllabic resonants before a voiced unaspirated stop become *Ra (R̩D > RaD)
  • *m is assimilated or lost before a glide:
    • mj > nj
    • mw > w
  • *p assimilates to *kʷ when another *kʷ follows later in the word (p...kʷ > kʷ...kʷ). But Matasovic points out that: A) this change may have occurred late in Celtic; B) it seems not to have operated on some words in Irish; and C) a very similar assimilation (though in reverse) also occurred in Germanic.

One change shows non-exact parallels in Italic: vocalization of syllabic resonants next to laryngeals depending on the environment. Similar developments appear in Italic, but for the syllabic nasals *m̩, *n̩, the result is Proto-Italic *əm, *ən (> Latin em ~ im, en ~ in).

  • Word-initially, HR̩C > aRC
  • Before voiceless stops, CR̩HT > CRaT
  • CR̩HV > CaRHV
  • CR̩HC > CRāC

Early PC

  • Sequences of velar and *w merge into the labiovelars (it is uncertain if this preceded or followed the next change; that is, whether gw > b or gw > gʷ, but Schumacher 2004 argues on p. 372 that this change came first; moreover, it is also found in Proto-Italic, and thus arguably belongs to the previous section):
    • kw > kʷ
    • gw > gʷ
    • gʰw > gʷʰ
    • gʷ > b
  • Aspirated stops lose their aspiration and merge with the voiced stops (except that this counterfeeds the previous change, so *gʷʰ > *gʷ doesn't result in a merger; that is, the change *gʷʰ > *gʷ must crucially happen after the sound change gʷ > b has been completed):
    • bʰ > b
    • dʰ > d
    • gʰ > g
    • gʷʰ > gʷ
  • *e before a resonant and *a (but not *ā) becomes *a as well (eRa > aRa): *ǵʰelH-ro > *gelaro > *galaro / *gérH-no > *gerano > *garano (Joseph's rule).
  • Epenthetic *i is inserted after syllabic liquids when followed by a plosive:
    • l̩T > liT
    • r̩T > riT
  • Epenthetic *a is inserted before the remaining syllabic resonants:
    • m̩ > am
    • n̩ > an
    • l̩ > al
    • r̩ > ar
  • All remaining nonsyllabic laryngeals are lost.
  • ē > ī
  • ō > ū in final syllables
  • Long vowels are shortened before a syllable-final resonant (V:RC > VRC); this also shortens long diphthongs. (Osthoff's law)

Late PC

  • Plosives become *x before a different plosive or *s (C₁C₂ > xC₂, Cs > xs)
  • p > b before liquids (pL > bL)
  • p > w before nasals (pN > wN)
  • p > ɸ (except possibly after *s)
  • ō > ā
  • ey > ē (but not in Celtiberian or Lepontic)
  • ew > ow
  • uwa > owa

Examples

PIE PC Example
PIE Proto-Celtic Old Irish Welsh
*p *ɸ *ph₂tḗr *ɸatīr father athir edrydd cf. home (< *ɸatrijo-)
*t *t *tréyes *trīs three trí tri
*k, ḱ *k *kh₂n̥-e-
*ḱm̥tom		 *kan-o-
*kantom		 sing
hundred		 canaid
cét /kʲeːd/		 canu
cant
*kʷ *kʷ *kʷetwores *kʷetwares four ceth(a)ir pedwar
*b *b *h₂ébōl *abalom apple uball afal
*d *d *derḱ- *derk- see derc eye drych sight
*g, ǵ *g *gleh₁i-
*ǵen-u-		 *gli-na-
*genu-		 to glue
jaw		 glen(a)id
giun, gin		 (he) sticks fast
mouth		 glynu
gên		 adhere
jaw
*gʷ *b *gʷenh₂ *bena woman ben O.W. ben
*bʰ *b *bʰére- *ber-o- carry berid (he) carries adfer
cymeryd		 to restore
to take
*dʰ *d *dʰeh₁i- *di-na- suck denait they suck dynu, denu
*gʰ, ǵʰ *g *gʰh₁bʰ-(e)y-
*ǵʰelH-ro-		 *gab-i-
*galaro-		 take
sickness		 ga(i)bid
galar		 (he) takes
sickness		 gafael
galar		 hold
grief
*gʷʰ *gʷ *gʷʰn̥- *gʷan-o- kill, wound gonaid (he) wounds, slays gwanu stab
*s *s *sen-o- *senos old sen hen
*m *m *méh₂tēr *mātīr mother máthir modryb cf. aunt
*n *n *h₂nép-ōt- *neɸūts nephew niad nai
*l *l *leyǵʰ- *lig-e/o- lick ligid (he) licks llyo, llyfu
*r *r *h₃rēǵ-s *rīgs king rí (gen. ríg) rhi
*j *j *h₂yuh₁n-ḱós *juwankos young óac ieuanc
*w *w *h₂wl̥h₁tí- *wlatis rulership flaith gwlad country
PIE PC Example
PIE PC Old Irish Welsh
*a, *h₂e *a *h₂ep-h₃ōn- *abū
acc. *abonen		 river aub afon
*ā, *eh₂ *ā *bʰréh₂tēr *brātīr brother bráthir brawd
*e, h₁e *e *sen-o- *senos old sen hen
*H between
consonants		 *a *ph₂tḗr *ɸatīr father athir edrydd cf. home
*ē, eh₁ *ī *weh₁-ro- *wīros true fír gwir
*o, Ho, h₃e *o *Hroth₂o- *rotos wheel roth rhod
*ō, eh₃ in final syllable *ū *h₂nép-ōt- *neɸūts nephew niæ nai
elsewhere *ā *deh₃no- *dāno- gift dán dawn
*i *i *gʷih₃-tu- *bitus world bith byd
*ī, iH *ī *rīmeh₂ *rīmā number rím rhif
*ai, h₂ei, eh₂i *ai *kaikos
*seh₂itlo-		 *kaikos
*saitlo-		 blind
age		 cáech
—		 one-eyed
—		 coeg
hoedl		 empty, one-eyed
age
*(h₁)ei, ēi, eh₁i *ei *deywos *deiwos god día duw
*oi, ōi, h₃ei, eh₃i *oi *oynos *oinos one óen oín;
áen aín		 un
*u before wa o *h₂yuh₁n-ḱós *juwankos >
*jowankos		 young óac ieuanc
elsewhere *u *srutos *srutos stream sruth ffrwd
*ū, uH *ū *ruHneh₂ *rūnā mystery rún rhin
*au, h₂eu, eh₂u *au *tausos *tausos silent táue silence
(*tausijā)		 taw
*(h₁)eu, ēu, eh₁u;
*ou, ōu, h₃eu, eh₃u		 *ou *tewteh₂
*gʷeh₃-u-s		 *toutā
*bows		 people
cow		 túath
bó		 tud
M.W. bu, biw
*l̥ before stops *li *pl̥th₂nós *ɸlitanos wide lethan llydan
before other
consonants		 *al *kl̥h₁- *kaljākos rooster cailech
(Ogham gen. caliaci)		 ceiliog
*r̩ before stops *ri *bʰr̩ti- *briti- act of bearing; mind breth, brith bryd
before other
consonants		 *ar *mr̩wos *marwos dead marb marw
*m̩ *am *dm̩-nh₂- *damna- subdue M.Ir.
damnaid		 he ties,
fastens,
binds		 —
*n̩ *an *h₃dn̥t- *dant tooth dét /dʲeːd/ dant
*l̩H before obstruents *la *h₂wlh₁tí- *wlatis lordship flaith gwlad country
before sonorants *lā *pl̩Hmeh₂ *ɸlāmā hand lám llaw
*r̩H before obstruents *ra *mr̩Htom *mratom betrayal mrath brad
before sonorants *rā *ǵr̩Hnom *grānom grain grán grawn
*m̩H (presumably with
same distribution
as above)		 *am/mā *dm̩h₂-ye/o- *damje/o- to tame daimid
fodam-		 daimid
-		 goddef endure, suffer
*n̩H *an/nā *ǵn̩h₃to- ? *gnātos known gnáth gnawd customary

Phonological reconstruction

Consonants

The following consonants have been reconstructed for Proto-Celtic (PC):

Manner Voicing  Bilabial   Alveolar   Palatal   Velar 
plain labialized
Plosive voiceless t k kʷ
voiced b d ɡ ɡʷ
Fricative ɸ s x
Nasal m n
Approximant l j w
Trill r

Allophones of plosives

Eska has recently proposed that PC stops allophonically manifest similarly to those in English. Voiceless stop phonemes /t k/ were aspirated word-initially except when preceded by /s/, hence aspirate allophones [tʰ kʰ]. And unaspirated voiced stops /b d ɡ/ were devoiced to [p t k] word-initially.

This allophony may be reconstructed to PC from the following evidence:

  • Modern Celtic languages like Welsh, Breton, and all modern Goidelic languages have such plosive aspiration and voice allophony already attested. (But there is no trace of this in Gaulish.)
  • Several old Celtic languages (such as Old Irish, Old Welsh, and Lepontic) used letters for voiceless stop phonemes to write both voiceless stop phonemes and their voiced counterparts, especially non-word-initially. (But in the case of Lepontic, this is because the alphabet was derived from Etruscan, which has no voice contrasts in plosives.)
  • The Celtiberian Luzaga's Bronze has the curious spelling of an accusative determiner sdam, where the d is clearly meant to spell [t]. This implies that Celtiberian /d/ had a voiceless allophone [t].

Evolution of plosives

Proto-Indo-European (PIE) voiced aspirate stops *bʰ, *dʰ, *gʰ/ǵʰ, merge with *b, *d, *g/ǵ in PC. The voiced aspirate labiovelar *gʷʰ did not merge with *gʷ, though: plain *gʷ became PC *b, while aspirated *gʷʰ became *gʷ. Thus, PIE *gʷen- 'woman' became Old Irish and Old Welsh ben, but PIE *gʷʰn̥- 'to kill, wound' became Old Irish gonaid and Welsh gwanu.

PIE *p is lost in PC, apparently going through the stages *ɸ (possibly a stage *[pʰ]) and *h (perhaps seen in the name Hercynia if this is of Celtic origin) before being completely lost word-initially and between vowels. Next to consonants, PC *ɸ underwent different changes: the clusters *ɸs and *ɸt became *xs and *xt respectively already in PC. PIE *sp- became Old Irish s (f- when lenited, exactly as for PIE *sw-) and Brythonic f; while argues there was an intermediate stage *sɸ- (in which *ɸ remained an independent phoneme until after Proto-Insular Celtic had diverged into Goidelic and Brythonic), finds it more economical to believe that *sp- remained unchanged in PC, that is, the change *p to *ɸ did not happen when *s preceded. (Similarly, Grimm's law did not apply to *p, t, k after *s in Germanic, and the same exception occurred again in the High German consonant shift.)

Proto-Celtic Old Irish Welsh
*laɸs- > *laxs- 'shine' las-aid llach-ar
*seɸtam > *sextam 'seven' secht saith
*sɸeret- or *speret- 'heel' seir ffêr

In Gaulish and the Brittonic languages, the Proto-Indo-European *kʷ phoneme becomes a new *p sound. Thus, Gaulish petuar[ios], Welsh pedwar "four", but Old Irish cethair and Latin quattuor. Insofar as this new /p/ fills the gap in the phoneme inventory which was left 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 for grouping Celtic languages based on the way they handle this one phoneme. But a simple division into P- / Q-Celtic may be untenable, as it does not do justice to the evidence of the ancient Continental Celtic languages. The many unusual shared innovations among the Insular Celtic languages are often also presented as evidence against a P- vs Q-Celtic division, but they may instead reflect a common substratum influence from the pre-Celtic languages of Britain and Ireland,[1], or simply continuing contact between the insular languages; in either case they would be irrelevant to the genetic classification of Celtic languages.

Q-Celtic languages may also have /p/ in loan words, though in early borrowings from Welsh into Primitive Irish, /kʷ/ was used by sound substitution due to a lack of a /p/ phoneme at the time:

  • Latin Patricius "Saint Patrick"' > Welsh > Primitive Irish Qatricias > Old Irish Cothrige, later Pádraig;
  • Latin presbyter "priest" > early form of word seen in Old Welsh premter primter > Primitive Irish qrimitir > Old Irish cruimther.

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 PC vowel system is highly comparable to that reconstructed for PIE by Antoine Meillet. The following monophthongs are reconstructed:

Type Front Central Back
 long   short   long   short   long   short 
Close iː i   uː u
Mid eː e   o
Open   aː a  

The following diphthongs have also been reconstructed:

Type With -i With -u
With a- ai au
With o- oi ou

Morphology

Nouns

The morphological (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 masculine, feminine and neuter; the 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 morphological leveling. These cases were nominative, vocative, accusative, dative, genitive, ablative, locative and instrumental.

Nouns fall into nine or so declensions, depending on 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

Case Singular Dual Plural
Nominative *makkʷos *makkʷou *makkʷoi
Vocative *makkʷe *makkʷou *makkʷūs
Accusative *makkʷom *makkʷou *makkʷūs
Genitive *makkʷī *makkʷūs *makkʷom
Dative *makkʷūi *makkʷobom *makkʷobos
Ablative *makkʷū *makkʷobim *makkʷobis
Instrumental *makkʷū *makkʷobim *makkʷūs
Locative *makkʷei *makkʷou *makkʷobis

However, Celtiberian shows -o- stem genitives ending in -o rather than -ī: aualo "[son] of Avalos".

  • dūnom 'stronghold' (neuter)
Case Singular Dual Plural
Nominative *dūnom *dūnou *dūnā
Vocative *dūnom *dūnou *dūnā
Accusative *dūnom *dūnou *dūnā
Genitive *dūnī *dūnūs *dūnom
Dative *dūnūi *dūnobom *dūnobos
Ablative *dūnū *dūnobim *dūnobis
Instrumental *dūnū *dūnobim *dūnūs
Locative *dūnei *dūnou *dūnobis

*ā-stem nouns

E.g. *ɸlāmā 'hand' (feminine) (Old Irish lám; Welsh llaw, Cornish leuv, Old Breton lom)

Case Singular Dual Plural
Nominative *ɸlāmā *ɸlāmai *ɸlāmās
Vocative *ɸlāmā *ɸlāmai *ɸlāmās
Accusative *ɸlāmām *ɸlāmai *ɸlāmās
Genitive *ɸlāmās *ɸlāmajous *ɸlāmom
Dative *ɸlāmāi *ɸlāmābom *ɸlāmābos
Ablative *ɸlāmī *ɸlāmābim *ɸlāmābis
Instrumental *ɸlāmī *ɸlāmābim *ɸlāmābis
Locative *ɸlāmāi *ɸlāmābim *ɸlāmābis

*i-stems

E.g. *sūlis 'sight, view, eye' (feminine) (Brittonic sulis ~ Old Irish súil)

Case Singular Dual Plural
Nominative *sūlis *sūlī *sūlīs
Vocative *sūli *sūlī *sūlīs
Accusative *sūlim *sūlī *sūlīs
Genitive *sūleis *sūljous *sūljom
Dative *sūlei *sūlibom *sūlibos
Ablative *sūlī *sūlibim *sūlibis
Instrumental *sūlī *sūlibim *sūlibis
Locative *sūlī *sūlibim *sūlibis

E.g. *mori 'body of water, sea' (neuter) (Gaulish Mori- ~ Old Irish muir ~ Welsh môr)

Case Singular Dual Plural
Nominative *mori *morī *moryā
Vocative *mori *morī *moryā
Accusative *mori *morī *moryā
Genitive *moreis *moryous *moryom
Dative *morei *moribom *moribos
Ablative *morī *moribim *moribis
Instrumental *morī *moribim *moribis
Locative *morī *moribim *moribis

*u-stem nouns

E.g. *bitus 'world, existence' (masculine) (Gaulish Bitu- ~ Old Irish bith ~ Welsh byd ~ Breton bed)

Case Singular Dual Plural
Nominative *bitus *bitou *bitowes
Vocative *bitu *bitou *bitowes
Accusative *bitum *bitou *bitūs
Genitive *bitous *bitowou *bitowom
Dative *bitou *bitubom *bitubos
Ablative *bitū *bitubim *bitubis
Instrumental *bitū *bitubim *bitubis
Locative *bitū *bitubim *bitubis

E.g. *beru "rotisserie spit" (neuter)

Case Singular Dual Plural
Nominative *beru *berou *berwā
Vocative *beru *berou *berwā
Accusative *beru *berou *berwā
Genitive *berous *berowou *berowom
Dative *berou *berubom *berubos
Ablative *berū *berubim *berubis
Instrumental *berū *berubim *berubis
Locative *berū *berubim *berubis

Velar and dental stems

Before the *-s of the nominative singular, a velar consonant was fricated to *-x : *rīg- "king" > *rīxs. Likewise, final *-d devoiced to *-t-: *druwid- "druid" > *druwits.

E.g. *rīxs "king" (masculine)

Case Singular Dual Plural
Nominative *rīxs *rīge *rīges
Vocative *rīxs *rīge *rīges
Accusative *rīgam *rīge *rīgās
Genitive *rīgos *rīgou *rīgom
Dative *rīgei *rīgobom *rīgobos
Ablative *rīgī *rīgobim *rīgobis
Instrumental *rīge *rīgobim *rīgobis
Locative *rīgi *rīgobim *rīgobis

E.g. *druwits "druid" (masculine)

Case Singular Dual Plural
Nominative *druwits *druwide *druwides
Vocative *druwits *druwide *druwides
Accusative *druwidem *druwide *druwidās
Genitive *druwidos *druwidou *druwidom
Dative *druwidei *druwidobom *druwidobos
Ablative *druwidī *druwidobim *druwidobis
Instrumental *druwide *druwidobim *druwidobis
Locative *druwidi *druwidobim *druwidobis

E.g. *karants "friend" (masculine)

Case Singular Dual Plural
Nominative *karants *karante *karantes
Vocative *karants *karante *karantes
Accusative *karantam *karante *karantās
Genitive *karantos *karantou *karantom
Dative *karantei *karantobom *karantobos
Ablative *karantī *karantobim *karantobis
Instrumental *karante *karantobim *karantobis
Locative *karanti *karantobim *karantobis

Nasal stems

Generally, nasal stems end in *-on-; this becomes *-ū in the nominative singular: *abon- "river" > *abū.

E.g. *abū "river" (feminine)

Case Singular Dual Plural
Nominative *abū *abone *abones
Vocative *abū *abone *abones
Accusative *abonam *abone *abonās
Genitive *abonos *abonou *abonom
Dative *abonei *abnobom *abnobos
Ablative *abonī *abnobim *abnobis
Instrumental *abone *abnobim *abnobis
Locative *aboni *abnobim *abnobis

E.g. *anman "name" (neuter)

Case Singular Dual Plural
Nominative *anman *anmanī *anmanā
Vocative *anman *anmanī *anmanā
Accusative *anman *anmanī *anmanā
Genitive *anmēs *anmanou *anmanom
Dative *anmanei *anmambom *anmambos
Ablative *anmanī *anmambim *anmambis
Instrumental *anmane *anmambim *anmambis
Locative *anmani *anmambim *anmambis

*s-stem nouns

Generally,*s-stems contain an *-es-, which becomes *-os in the nominative singular: *teges- 'house' > *tegos.

E.g.*tegos "house" (neuter)

Case Singular Dual Plural
Nominative *tegos *tegese *tegesa
Vocative *tegos *tegese *tegesa
Accusative *tegos *tegese *tegesa
Genitive *tegesos *tegesou *tegesom
Dative *tegesi *tegesobom *tegesobos
Ablative *tegesī *tegesobim *tegesobis
Instrumental *tegese *tegesobim *tegesobis
Locative *tegesi *tegesobim *tegesobis

*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: *ɸater- 'father' > *ɸatīr, *ɸatros.

E.g. *ɸatīr 'father' (masculine)

Case Singular Dual Plural
Nominative *ɸatīr *ɸatere *ɸateres
Vocative *ɸatīr *ɸatere *ɸateres
Accusative *ɸateram *ɸatere *ɸaterās
Genitive *ɸatros *ɸatrou *ɸatrom
Dative *ɸatrei *ɸatrebom *ɸatrebos
Ablative *ɸatrī *ɸatrebim *ɸatrebis
Instrumental *ɸatre *ɸatrebim *ɸatrebis
Locative *ɸatri *ɸatrebim *ɸatrebis

E.g. *mātīr 'mother' (feminine)

Case Singular Dual Plural
Nominative *mātīr *mātere *māteres
Vocative *mātīr *mātere *māteres
Accusative *māteram *mātere *māterās
Genitive *mātros *mātrou *mātrom
Dative *mātrei *mātrebom *mātrebos
Ablative *mātrī *mātrebim *mātrebis
Instrumental *mātre *mātrebim *mātrebis
Locative *mātri *mātrebim *mātrebis

Pronouns

The following personal pronouns in Celtic can be reconstructed as follows:

Case First-person Second-person
Singular Plural Singular Plural
Nominative *mī *snī *tū *swī
Accusative *me *snos *tu *swes
Genitive *mene  ? *towe  ?

The following third-person pronouns in Proto-Celtic may also be reconstructed.

Case Singular Plural
Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative *es, *ēs *sī *ed *eyes
Accusative *em *seyam? *sīm? *sūs
Genitive *esyo *esyās *esyo *ēsom? *esom?
Dative
Instrumental
Locative		 *e(s)yōi *esyāi *e(s)yōi *ēbis

Forms of the masculine singular relative pronoun *yo- can be found in the first Botorrita plaque: The form io-s in line 10 is the nominative singular masculine of the relative pronoun from Proto-Indo-European *yo- (Sanskrit ya-, Greek hos), which shows up in Old Irish only as the aspiration for leniting relative verb forms. Line 7 has the accusative singular io-m and the dative singular io-mui of the same root.

Adjectives

Adjectives in Proto-Celtic had positive, comparative, superlative and equative degrees of comparison.

Positive-degree inflection classes

Four inflection classes for positive-degree adjectives are known. Most adjectives belonged to the o-ā class, in which the adjectives inflected like masculine o-stems, neuter o-stems and feminine ā-stems when agreeing with nouns of their respective genders. A much smaller minority of adjectives were i- and u-stems.

Consonant-stem adjectives also existed but were vanishingly rare, with only relics in Old Irish like té "hot" < *teɸents.

Comparative degree

The comparative degree was formed on most adjectives by attaching *-yūs to the adjective stem. For instance, *senos "old" would have a comparative *senyūs "older". However, some Caland system adjectives instead had a comparative ending in *-is, which was then extended to *-ais. For example, *ɸlitanos "wide" had a comparative *ɸletais.

Superlative degree

The superlative was formed by simply attaching *-isamos to the adjective stem. In some adjectives where the stem ends in *s, the suffix is truncated to *-(s)amos by haplology. Thus, *senos "old" would have a superlative *senisamos "oldest" but *trexsnos (stem *trexs-) would have a superlative *trexsamos.

Verbs

From comparison between early Old Irish and Gaulish forms it seems that Continental and Insular Celtic verbs developed differently and so the study of Irish and Welsh may have unduly weighted past opinion of Proto-Celtic verb morphology. It can be inferred from Gaulish and Celtiberian as well as Insular Celtic that the Proto-Celtic verb had at least three moods:

  • indicative — seen in e.g. 1st sg. Gaulish delgu "I hold", Old Irish tongu "I swear"
  • imperative — seen in e.g. 3rd sg. Celtiberian usabituz, Gaulish appisetu
  • subjunctive — seen in e.g. 3rd sg. Gaulish buetid "may he be", Celtiberian asekati

and four tenses:

  • present — seen in e.g. Gaulish uediíu-mi "I pray", Celtiberian zizonti "they sow"
  • preterite — seen in e.g. 3rd sg. Gaulish sioxti, Lepontic KariTe
  • imperfect — perhaps in Celtiberian kombalkez, atibion
  • future — seen in e.g. 3rd sg. Gaulish bissiet, Old Irish bieid "he shall be"

A probable optative mood also features in Gaulish (tixsintor) and an infinitive (with a characteristic ending -unei) in Celtiberian.

Verbs were formed by adding suffixes to a verbal stem. The stem might be thematic or athematic, an open or a closed syllable.

Primary endings

The primary endings in Proto-Celtic were as follows. They were used to form the present, future, and subjunctive conjugations.

Proto-Celtic primary endings
Person and number Basic endings Thematic present
Active Mediopassive Active Mediopassive
1st sg. *-ū (thematic)
*-mi (athematic)		 *-ūr *-ū *-ūr
2nd sg. *-si *-tar *-esi *-etar
3rd sg. *-ti *-tor *-eti *-etor
1st pl. *-mosi *-mor *-omosi *-omor
2nd pl. *-tesi *-dwe *-etesi *-edwe
3rd pl. *-nti *-ntor *-onti *-ontor

Present-stem formations

Proto-Celtic possessed a diverse set of ways to form present stems. They can be roughly be divided into two broad categories of athematic and thematic.

  • Thematic verbs feature a connecting vowel between the present stem and the basic primary endings. This vowel is -o- in the first-person and third-person plural and -e- in the third-person singular and second-person forms. The first-person singular of these verbs end in *-ū.
  • Athematic verbs feature no such connecting vowel, and their 1st-person singular forms end in *-mi instead of *-ū.

These two inflectional categories can themselves be subdivided based on the means of derivation from a verb root via a combination of root ablaut grades and suffixes. These derivational classes include:

Derivational classes of Proto-Celtic verbs
Inflectional class Root ablaut Affix Class KPV designation
Thematic e-grade (none) Simple thematic A-1
*-ye- e-grade *-ye- A-5
*-de- e-grade -de- A-6
o-grade *-ī-
*-eyo-		 *-eye- causative/iterative (none)
zero grade (none) Thematized root athematic A-2
tudáti-type thematic
*-ske- *-ske- inchoative A-3
*-ye- zero-grade *-ye- A-4
Nasal infix Aniṭ-root nasal-infix A-8
i-reduplication i-reduplicated present A-15
(varied) *-āye- Denominative (none)
Athematic e-grade (none) CeRH-root present A-13
zero grade *-na- (when levelled) seṭ-root nasal-infix A-8
*-nu- -new- present A-10
*-ī- essive A-7
(varied) *-ā- factitive (none)

Nasal-infix presents

In Proto-Celtic, the Indo-European nasal infix presents split into two categories: ones originally derived from laryngeal-final roots (i.e. seṭ roots in Sanskrit), and ones that were not (i.e. from aniṭ roots). In seṭ verbs, the nasal appears at the end of the present stem, while in aniṭ-derived verbs the nasal was followed by a root-final stop (generally -g- in Old Irish).

To aniṭ roots

Aniṭ nasal infix verbs conjugated exactly like basic thematic verbs in the present tense.

However, the origin of the invariant root vowel in -o- in *CewC- roots in Old Irish is unclear. Usually, it is held that the consonantism in these verbs was generalized in favour of the plural stem *CunC- in Old Irish. One would expect alternation between o in the 1st- and 3rd- person plural and -u- elsewhere in the present; but for both contexts Old Irish only attests -o-.

The following verbs can be reconstructed in this class:

To seṭ roots

On the other hand, the seṭ presents originally had a long vowel after the nasal in the singular and -a- after the nasal in the plural, but the attested Celtic languages levelled this alternation away. Gaulish shows traces of the singular long-vowel vocalism while Old Irish generalized the plural -a- to the singular.

The seṭ nasal-infix presents were further subdivided into subcategories based on the root-final laryngeal. Traditionally two subclasses have long been accepted, the *h₁ subclass (cited with a -ni- suffix) and *h₂ (cited with a -na- suffix). *h₃ nasal-infixed verbs were often leveled to act like *h₂ verbs, being also cited with a -na- suffix; the only original difference between the two would have been the 3rd-person plural ending in *-nonti instead of *-nanti.

The nasal-infix seṭ verbs in Proto-Celtic underwent multiple levelings. First, the suffixal vowel in the plural forms was harmonized so that they would all be the short counterpart to the vowel in the singular forms. Then all the long vowels in the singular were shortened to make the suffix vowel identical in quality and length across all person-number combinations.

Evolution of Proto-Celtic ablaut in the nasal infix for seṭ roots
Person and number Pre-leveling Leveling of vowel quality Leveling of vowel length
*h₁ verbs *h₂ verbs *h₃ verbs *h₁ verbs *h₂ and *h₃ verbs *h₁ verbs *h₂ and *h₃ verbs
1st sg. *-nīmi *-nāmi *-nāmi *-nīmi *-nāmi *-nimi *-nami
2nd sg. *-nīsi *-nāsi *-nāsi *-nīsi *-nāsi *-nisi *-nasi
3rd sg. *-nīti *-nāti *-nāti *-nīti *-nāti *-niti *-nati
1st pl. *-namosi *-namosi *-namosi *-nimosi *-namosi *-nimosi *-namosi
2nd pl. *-natesi *-natesi *-natesi *-nitesi *-natesi *-nitesi *-natesi
3rd pl. *-nenti *-nanti *-nonti *-ninti *-nanti *-ninti *-nanti

The following seṭ-root nasal presents are reconstructible for Proto-Celtic:

Preterite formations

There were two or three major preterite formations in Proto-Celtic, plus another moribund type.

  • The s-preterite
  • The reduplicated suffixless preterite (originating from the PIE reduplicated stative)
  • The t-preterite
  • The root aorist

The s-, t-, and root aorist preterites take Indo-European secondary endings, while the reduplicated suffix preterite took stative endings. These endings are:

Proto-Celtic preterite endings
Person and number Ending type
Secondary endings Stative endings
1st sg. *-am *-a
2nd sg. *-s *-as
3rd sg. *-t *-e
1st pl. *-mo(s) *-mo
2nd pl. *-te(s) *-te
3rd pl. *-ant *-ar
t-preterite

The Old Irish t-preterite was traditionally assumed to be a divergent evolution from the s-preterite, but that derivation was challenged by Jay Jasanoff, who alleges that they were instead imperfects of Narten presents. Either derivation requires Narten ablaut anyway, leading to a stem vowel i in the singular and e in the plural. The stem vowel in the t-preterite was leveled to *e if the next consonant was either velar or *m, and *i in front of *r or *l.

Suffixless preterites

Many suffixless preterite formations featured reduplication. The nature of the reduplication depends on the structure of the root.

Proto-Celtic suffixless preterites
Root Meaning Shape Preterite stem Notes
*keng- "to step" Other root types *ke-kong- Classic Indo-European reduplication, where the root is put in the o-grade and the prefixed reduplicant is formed with the first consonant followed by *e.
*nigʷ- "to wash" *C(R)eiT- *ni-noig- In Proto-Celtic, roots with a semivowel (PIE *-y- or *-w-) before a non-laryngeal consonant have the reduplicant formed not with the first consonant of the root followed by *e, but instead the first consonant of the root followed by the semivowel. The root itself remains in the o-grade.
*duk- "to lead, carry" *C(R)euT- *du-douk-
*gʷed- "to pray" *CeT- *gʷād- Roots ending in only a single stop as their coda generally merely change the stem vowel to *ā to form their preterite, without apparent reduplication. It originally spread from *ād- (from *h₁e-h₁od-), the preterite stem for *ed- "to eat".
*kerd- "to throw, put" *CeRT- *kard- A few roots in *CeRT- also had the *CeT- preterite formation applied to them but the long *ā was shortened due to Osthoff's law.
*dā- "to give" *C(C)eH- *de-dū (singular)
*ded(a)- (plural)		 Laryngeal-final roots produced long vowels in the root syllable in the singular, but not in the plural (where the root was in the zero-grade instead). Usually the singular stem was generalized in Celtic, but in these cases the plural stem was generalized.
*kʷri- "to buy" *C(R)eiH- *kʷi-kʷr- The treatment for *CeH- roots was also extended to *C(R)eiH- roots. Due to the roots' semivowel, the reduplicant also contains the semivowel.

Future formations

One major formation of the future in Celtic, the s-future. It is a descendant of the Proto-Indo-European (h₁)se-desiderative, with i-reduplication in many verbs. The Old Irish a- and s-future come from here.

Another future formation, attested only in Gaulish, is the -sye-desiderative.

Subjunctive formations

Most verbs took one subjunctive suffix in Proto-Celtic, -(a)s-, followed by the thematic primary endings. It was a descendant of the subjunctive of an Indo-European sigmatic thematic formation *-seti. The -ase- variant originated in roots that ended in a laryngeal in Proto-Indo-European; when the *-se- suffix was attached right after a laryngeal, the laryngeal regularly vocalized into *-a-. It would then analogically spread to other Celtic strong verb roots ending in sonorants in addition to the weak verbs, even if the root did not originally end in a laryngeal.

There were also three verbs that did not use -(a)se-, instead straight-out taking thematised primary endings. Two of these verbs are *bwiyeti "to be, exist" (subjunctive *bweti) and *klinutor "to hear" (subjunctive *klowetor).

Primary subjunctive formations in Proto-Celtic generally use the e-grade of the verb root, even if the present stem uses the zero-grade.

Imperative formation

Imperative endings in Proto-Celtic were as follows:

Imperative endings in Proto-Celtic
Person and number Active endings
Basic endings With thematic vowels
2nd sg. -∅, *-si *-e
3rd sg. *-tou, *-tūd, *-tu *-etou, *-etūd, *-etu
1st pl. *-mo(s) *-omo(s)
2nd pl. *-te(s) *-ete(s)
3rd pl. *-ntou, *-ntu *-ontou, *-ontu
Second-person singular imperative

The second-person singular imperative was generally endingless in the active; no ending was generally added to athematic verbs. On thematic -e/o- verbs, the imperative ended in thematic vowel *-e. However, there is also another second-person singular active imperative ending, -si, which was attached to the verb root athematically even with thematic strong verbs.

The thematic deponent second-person singular imperative ending was *-eso. The -the in Old Irish is secondary.

Third-person imperative

The third-person imperative endings in Insular Celtic, Gaulish and Celtiberian have completely separate origins from each other. The Insular Celtic endings are derived from *-tou, *-ntou, Gaulish endings from *-tu, *-ntu, and the Celtiberian third-person imperative singular ending stems from *-tūd.

Example conjugations

See also: Grammatical conjugation

Scholarly reconstructions may be summarised in tabular format.

Conjugation like *bere/o- 'bear, carry, flow'
Person Present Imperfect Future Past
Active Medio-
passive		 Active Medio-
passive		 Active Medio-
passive		 Active Medio-
passive
Indicative 1st sg. *berū *berūr *beremam — *bibrāsū *bibrāsūr *bīram —
2nd sg. *beresi *beretar *beretās — *bibrāsesi *bibrāsetar *birs —
3rd sg. *bereti *beretor *bereto — *bibrāseti *bibrāsetor *birt  ?
1st pl. *beromosi *beromor *beremo — *bibrāsomosi *bibrāsomor *berme —
2nd pl. *beretesi *beredwe  ? — *bibrāsete *bibrāsedwe *berte —
3rd pl. *beronti *berontor *berento — *bibrāsonti *bibrāsontor *berant  ?
Subjunctive 1st sg. *berasū *berasūr — — — — — —
2nd sg. *berasesi *berasetar — — — — — —
3rd sg. *beraseti *berasetor — — — — — —
1st pl. *berasomosi *berasomor — — — — — —
2nd pl. *berasetesi *berasedwe — — — — — —
3rd pl. *berasonti *berasontor — — — — — —
Imperative 2nd sg. *bere *bereso — — — — — —
3rd sg. *beretou  ? — — — — — —
1st pl. *beromos  ? — — — — — —
2nd pl. *berete  ? — — — — — —
3rd pl. *berontou  ? — — — — — —
Participle *beronts *beromnos — — — — *bertyos *britos

Copula

The copula *esti was irregular. It had both athematic and thematic conjugations in the present tense. Schrijver supposes that its athematic present was used clause-initially and the thematic conjugation was used when that was not the case.

Conjugation of *esti in Proto-Celtic
Person Present
Athematic Thematic
1st sg. *esmi *esū
2nd sg. *esi *esesi
3rd sg. *esti *eseti
1st pl. *esmosi *esomosi
2nd pl. **estes *esetes
3rd pl. *senti **esonti

Vocabulary

The vast majority of reliably reconstructible lexical items in Proto-Celtic have good Indo-European etymologies, unlike what is found in, for example, the Greek language—at least 90% according to Matasovic. These include most of the items on the Swadesh list of basic vocabulary. But a few words that do not have Indo-European cognates, so may be borrowings from substrate or adstrate Pre-Indo-European languages, are also from basic vocabulary, including *bodyo- ‘yellow’ (though this has possible cognates in Italic), *kani "good," and *klukka "stone." It is notable that fully 32 items have been reconstructed for Proto-Celtic with the meaning "fight."

See also

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