Proto-Celtic language facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Proto-Celtic |
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|---|---|
| PC, Common Celtic | |
| Reconstruction of | Celtic languages |
| Region | Central or Western Europe |
| Era | ca. 1300–800 BC |
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Reconstructed
ancestor |
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Proto-Celtic, also known as Common Celtic, is the ancient language that all known Celtic languages came from. Think of it as the "grandparent" language of modern Celtic languages like Irish, Welsh, and Scottish Gaelic. It's a descendant of an even older language called Proto-Indo-European.
We don't have any written records of Proto-Celtic. Scientists have figured out what it might have sounded like and how it worked by studying later Celtic languages. They use a method called linguistic reconstruction. Experts believe Proto-Celtic was spoken between 1300 and 800 BC. After this time, it started to split into different languages. Proto-Celtic is often linked to ancient cultures in Europe, like the Urnfield culture and the Hallstatt culture.
Some features of Celtic languages are similar to Italic languages (like Latin). This suggests that there might have been an even older language family called Italo-Celtic that both came from.
Scientists mainly use Insular Celtic languages (like Old Irish and Middle Welsh) to reconstruct Proto-Celtic. This is because these languages have the oldest written stories. Some information also comes from Continental Celtic languages, which were spoken on mainland Europe. These old texts help us understand the sounds and grammar of Proto-Celtic.
Contents
When Was Proto-Celtic Spoken?
Proto-Celtic is usually dated to the Late Bronze Age, around 1200 to 900 BC. One interesting clue about its age is the word for 'iron'. The reconstructed Proto-Celtic word for iron is *īsarnom. This suggests that the different Celtic languages probably didn't start to separate until the Iron Age (around 800 BC). If they had split earlier, each language might have made up its own word for this important metal.
However, some experts think Proto-Celtic might have started even earlier, around 1300 BC. This was the time of the Canegrate culture in Italy and the Urnfield culture in Central Europe. This idea means the languages might have begun to diverge during the Bronze Age itself.
How Proto-Celtic Sounds Changed
Languages change over time. The sounds in Proto-Indo-European (PIE) changed to become the sounds in Proto-Celtic (PC). Here are some of the main ways sounds shifted.
Some sound changes in Proto-Celtic are also seen in other language families that came from Proto-Indo-European. For example, certain "laryngeal" sounds (like 'h' sounds) in PIE changed how nearby vowels sounded. Also, some velar sounds (made at the back of the throat) merged together.
Special Italo-Celtic Sound Changes
Some sound changes are unique to both Italic and Celtic languages. This supports the idea that they once shared a common ancestor (Italo-Celtic). For example, long vowels often became shorter before certain sounds. Also, the stress in words moved to the beginning of the word.
Later Proto-Celtic Sound Changes
As Proto-Celtic developed, more sound changes happened.
- Some sounds made with the lips and back of the throat (labiovelars) changed.
- Aspirated stops (sounds like 'ph' or 'th') lost their "puff of air" and became regular 'p' or 't' sounds.
- The sound 'p' often changed to 'ɸ' (a 'f'-like sound) or even disappeared completely.
- Long 'o' sounds changed to long 'a' sounds.
Examples of Sound Changes
This table shows how some sounds from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) changed into Proto-Celtic (PC) and then into Old Irish and Welsh.
| 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 | |
Sounds of Proto-Celtic
Scientists have reconstructed the sounds that Proto-Celtic likely had. This includes both consonant and vowel sounds.
Proto-Celtic Consonants
Here are the consonants that experts believe were in Proto-Celtic:
| 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 | |||||
How Plosive Sounds Changed
In Proto-Celtic, voiceless stop sounds like /t/ and /k/ were probably pronounced with a puff of air (aspirated) at the beginning of a word. This is similar to how 't' and 'k' are often said in English. Also, voiced stops like /b/, /d/, and /g/ might have sounded more like voiceless sounds (like 'p', 't', 'k') at the start of a word.
This idea comes from how modern Celtic languages like Welsh and Irish pronounce these sounds. Also, some old Celtic languages used the same letters for both voiced and voiceless sounds, especially in the middle or end of words.
Evolution of 'P' and Other Sounds
The sound *p from Proto-Indo-European (PIE) mostly disappeared in Proto-Celtic. It might have first changed to a 'ɸ' sound (like 'f') and then to an 'h' sound before vanishing. However, if *p was next to an *s sound (like in *sp-), it often stayed.
In some Celtic languages, like Gaulish and Brittonic languages (Welsh, Cornish, Breton), the PIE *kʷ sound (like 'kw') changed into a new *p sound. For example, the word for "four" is pedwar in Welsh but cethair in Old Irish. This is why Celtic languages are sometimes divided into "P-Celtic" and "Q-Celtic" groups.
- P-Celtic languages (like Welsh) changed the *kʷ sound to *p.
- Q-Celtic languages (like Irish) kept the *kʷ sound (which later became 'c' or 'k').
However, this division isn't always simple because ancient Continental Celtic languages show different patterns. Also, Insular Celtic languages (those from Britain and Ireland) share many unique features. These might be due to old languages spoken in those areas before Celtic arrived, or just from continued contact between them.
Q-Celtic languages can have the 'p' sound, but usually only in words borrowed from other languages. For example, the Latin name Patricius became Cothrige in early Irish (using 'c' for 'p') but later changed to Pádraig (using 'p' directly).
Proto-Celtic Vowels
Proto-Celtic had a vowel system similar to Proto-Indo-European. It had both short and long vowels.
Here are the main single vowel sounds (monophthongs):
| Type | Front | Central | Back | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| long | short | long | short | long | short | |
| Close | iː | i | uː | u | ||
| Mid | eː | e | o | |||
| Open | aː | a | ||||
Proto-Celtic also had diphthongs, which are vowel sounds that combine two vowel sounds in one syllable (like the 'oy' in 'boy').
| Type | With -i | With -u |
|---|---|---|
| With a- | ai | au |
| With o- | oi | ou |
Proto-Celtic Grammar
The way words were formed and used in Proto-Celtic (its morphology) was quite similar to its parent language, Proto-Indo-European.
Nouns and Adjectives
Proto-Celtic nouns and adjectives had:
- Three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter.
- Three numbers: singular (one), plural (more than one), and dual (exactly two).
- Five to eight cases: Cases are different forms of a noun that show its job in a sentence (like subject, object, or showing possession). The exact number of cases is debated, but they included nominative, vocative, accusative, dative, genitive, ablative, locative, and instrumental.
Nouns were grouped into different "declensions" based on how they changed their endings. These groups included *o-stems, *ā-stems, *i-stems, *u-stems, and others based on the last sound of their stem.
Example: *o-stem nouns
Let's look at *makkʷos, meaning 'son' (masculine). This word became mac in Old Irish and mab in Welsh.
| 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 |
Pronouns
Proto-Celtic also had personal pronouns (like 'I', 'you', 'he', 'she', 'it', 'we', 'they'). Here are some examples:
| Case | First-person | Second-person | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | *mī (I) | *snī (we) | *tū (you) | *swī (you all) |
| Accusative | *me (me) | *snos (us) | *tu (you) | *swes (you all) |
| Genitive | *mene (my/mine) | ? | *towe (your/yours) | ? |
Adjectives
Adjectives in Proto-Celtic could show different levels of comparison, just like in English (e.g., "old," "older," "oldest").
- Positive degree: The basic form (e.g., "old").
- Comparative degree: Used to compare two things (e.g., "older"). This was often formed by adding *-yūs to the adjective.
- Superlative degree: Used to compare three or more things (e.g., "oldest"). This was usually formed by adding *-isamos.
Verbs
Proto-Celtic verbs had different forms to show when an action happened (tenses) and the speaker's attitude (moods). From studying Gaulish, Celtiberian, and Insular Celtic languages, we know Proto-Celtic verbs had:
- Moods:
* Indicative: For facts (e.g., "I hold"). * Imperative: For commands (e.g., "Hold!"). * Subjunctive: For possibilities or wishes (e.g., "May he be"). * A possible optative mood (for wishes) and an infinitive (the "to do" form) also existed.
- Tenses:
* Present: For actions happening now. * Preterite: For past actions (like the simple past). * Imperfect: For ongoing past actions. * Future: For actions that will happen.
Verbs were formed by adding endings to a verb stem. These stems could be "thematic" (with a connecting vowel) or "athematic" (without one).
Verb Endings
Verbs used different endings depending on the tense, mood, and who was doing the action (person and number).
Here are the main endings for present, future, and subjunctive verbs:
| 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 |
Example Verb Conjugation
Here's how a verb like *bere/o- 'bear, carry, flow' might have been conjugated:
| 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 | |
The Verb "To Be"
The verb "to be" (*esti) was special and didn't follow all the regular rules. It had different forms depending on whether it was at the beginning of a sentence or not.
| Person | Present | |
|---|---|---|
| Athematic | Thematic | |
| 1st sg. | *esmi (I am) | *esū (I am) |
| 2nd sg. | *esi (you are) | *esesi (you are) |
| 3rd sg. | *esti (he/she/it is) | *eseti (he/she/it is) |
| 1st pl. | *esmosi (we are) | *esomosi (we are) |
| 2nd pl. | **estes (you all are) | *esetes (you all are) |
| 3rd pl. | *senti (they are) | **esonti (they are) |
Proto-Celtic Words
Most of the words we can reconstruct for Proto-Celtic have clear links to other Indo-European words. This means they share a common origin. For example, over 90% of the basic vocabulary words in Proto-Celtic come from Proto-Indo-European.
However, a few words don't seem to have Indo-European relatives. These might be words borrowed from older languages spoken in Europe before Celtic arrived. Some examples include words for "yellow" (*bodyo-), "good" (*kani), and "stone" (*klukka). Interestingly, experts have reconstructed 32 different words in Proto-Celtic that all mean "fight"!
See also
- Pre-Celtic
- Italo-Celtic
- Beaker culture
- Urnfield
- Hallstatt culture
- La Tène culture
- Goidelic substrate hypothesis
- Ligures
- Azilian
