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Phonetic changes in the Old Irish language From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Old Irish was affected by a series of phonological changes that radically altered its appearance compared with Proto-Celtic and older Celtic languages (such as Gaulish, which still had the appearance of typical early Indo-European languages such as Latin or Ancient Greek). The changes occurred at a fairly rapid pace between 350 and 550 CE.[1]
A capsule summary of the most important changes is (in approximate order):[2][3]
They led to the following effects:
The following are some examples of changes between Primitive Irish and Old Irish.
Primitive Irish | Old Irish | Meaning |
---|---|---|
inigena[4]: 18 | ingen | daughter |
qrimitir[4]: 137 | cruimther | priest |
maqqi[4]: 181 | maicc | son (gen.) |
velitas[4]: 58 | filed | poet (gen.) |
Lugudeccas[4]: 98 | Luigdech | genitive of Lug(u)id (name) |
Anavlamattias[4]: 192–193 | Anfolmithe | genitive of Anblamath (name) |
Coillabotas[4]: 42 | Coílbad | genitive of name |
These various changes, especially syncope, produced quite complex allomorphy, because the addition of prefixes or various pre-verbal particles (proclitics) in Proto-Celtic changed the syllable containing the stress: According to the Celtic variant of Wackernagel's law, the stress fell on the second syllable of the verbal complex, including any prefixes and clitics. By the Old Irish period, most of this allomorphy still remained, although it was rapidly eliminated beginning in the Middle Irish period.
Among the most striking changes are in prefixed verbs with or without pre-verbal particles. With a single prefix and without a proclitic, stress falls on the verbal root, which assumes the deuterotonic ("second-stressed") form. With a prefix and also with a proclitic, stress falls on the prefix, and the verb assumes the prototonic ("first-stressed") form. Rather extreme allomorphic differences can result:
Earlier form | Deuterotonic | Meaning | Prototonic | Meaning |
---|---|---|---|---|
*ess-bero(n)t < PIE *-bʰeronti | as·berat /as-ˈbʲerəd/ | they say | ní-epret/Nʲiː-ˈhebrʲəd/ | they do not say |
*cum-uss-ana | con·osna | he rests | ní-cumsana | he does not rest |
*de-ro-uss-scochi | do·rósc(a)i | he surpasses | ní-derscaigi | he does not surpass |
*de-lugi < PIE *-logʰeyeti | do·lug(a)i | he pardons | ní-dílg(a)i | he does not pardon |
*de-ro-gn... | do·róna | he may do | ní-derna | he may not do |
The following table shows how these forms might have been derived:
"they say" | "they do not say" | "he rests" | "he does not rest" | "he surpasses" | "he does not surpass" | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Post-PIE | eks bʰeronti | nē eks bʰeronti | kom uks h₂eneh₂ti | nē kom uks h₂eneh₂ti | dē pro uks skokeyeti | nē dē pro uks skokeyeti |
Proto-Celtic | eks ˈberonti | nī ˈeks-beronti | kom ˈuks-anāti | nī ˈkom-uks-anāti | dī ˈɸro-uks-skokīti | nī ˈdī-ɸro-uks-skokīti |
Early Irish | ess-es ˈberont | ní-s ˈess-beront | kon-es ˈuss-anát | ní-s ˈkom-uss-anát | dí-s ˈro-uss-skokít | ní-s ˈdi-ro-uss-skokít |
Nasal assimilation | ess-es ˈberodd | ní-s ˈess-berodd | — | — | — | — |
Lenition | es-eh ˈberod | Ní-h ˈes-berod | kon-eh ˈus-anáθ | Ní-h ˈkow̃-us-anáθ | dí-h ˈRo-us-skoxíθ | Ní-h ˈdi-ro-us-skoxíθ |
Palatalization | es-eh ˈbʲerod | Nʲí-h ˈes-bʲerod | — | Nʲí-h ˈkow̃-us-anáθ | dʲí-h ˈRo-us-skoxʲíθ | Nʲí-h ˈdʲi-ro-us-skoxʲíθ |
Hiatus reduction | — | — | — | — | dʲí-h ˈRós-skoxʲíθ | Nʲí-h ˈdʲi-rós-skoxʲíθ |
Umlaut (vowel affection) | — | — | kon-eh ˈos-anáθ | Nʲí-h ˈkuw̃-us-anáθ | — | Nʲí-h ˈdʲe-rós-skoxʲíθ |
Shortening of absolutely final vowel | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Loss/assimilation of final consonant(s) | es-e bʲ-ˈbʲerod | Nʲí h-ˈes-bʲerod | kon-e h-ˈos-aná | Nʲí k-ˈkuw̃-us-aná | dʲí R-ˈRós-skoxʲí | Nʲí d-ˈdʲe-rós-skoxʲí |
Mora reduction in unstressed final vowel | es bʲ-ˈbʲerod | — | kon h-ˈos-ana | Nʲí k-ˈkuw̃-us-ana | dʲí R-ˈRós-skoxʲi | Nʲí d-ˈdʲe-rós-skoxʲi |
Consonant assimilation | es ˈbʲerod | Nʲí h-ˈebʲ-bʲerod | — | — | — | — |
Syncope | es ˈbʲerod | Nʲí h-ˈebʲbʲrod | kon h-ˈosna | Nʲí k-ˈkuw̃sana | dʲí R-ˈRósskxʲi | Nʲíd-ˈdʲersskoxʲi |
Further consonant assimilation | — | Nʲí h-ˈebʲbʲrʲod | kon ˈosna | — | dʲí R-ˈRósski | Nʲíd-ˈdʲerskoxʲi |
Unstressed vowel reduction | es ˈbʲerəd | Nʲí h-ˈebʲbʲrʲəd | — | Nʲí k-ˈkuw̃səna | di R-ˈRósski | Nʲí d-ˈdʲerskəxʲi |
Prepositional modification | as ˈbʲerəd | — | — | — | do R-ˈRósski | — |
Geminate reduction (non-vocalic-adjacent); sandhi geminate reduction | as·ˈbʲerəd | Nʲíh-ˈebrʲəd | kon·ˈosna | Nʲí-ˈkuw̃səna | do·ˈRóski | Nʲí-ˈdʲerskəxʲi |
Fricative voicing between unstressed syllables | — | — | — | — | — | Nʲíd-ˈdʲerskəɣʲi |
Old Irish pronunciation | as·ˈbʲerəd | Nʲí-h-ˈebrʲəd | kon·ˈosna | Nʲí-ˈkuw̃səna | do·ˈRóski | Nʲí-ˈdʲerskəɣʲi |
Old Irish spelling | as·berat | ní-epret | con·osna | ní-(c)cumsana | do·rósc(a)i | ní-(d)derscaigi |
The most extreme allomorphy of all came from the third person singular of the s-subjunctive because an athematic person marker -t was used, added directly onto the verbal stem (formed by adding -s directly onto the root). That led to a complex word-final cluster, which was deleted entirely. In the prototonic form (after two proclitics), the root was unstressed and thus the root vowel was also deleted, leaving only the first consonant:
Present Indicative | Present Subjunctive | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Positive (Deuterotonic) | Negative (Prototonic) | Positive (Deuterotonic) | Negative (Prototonic) | |||||
Primitive Irish | Old Irish | Primitive Irish | Old Irish | Primitive Irish | Old Irish | Primitive Irish | Old Irish | |
"he refuses" | *uss ˈbond-et(i) | as·boind | *nís ˈuss-bond-et(i) | ní op(a)ind /obənʲdʲ/ | *uss 'bod-s-t | as·bó | *nís ˈuss-bod-s-t | ní op /ob/ |
"he remains over" | *di ˈwo-uss-ret-et(i) | do·fúarat | *nís ˈdi-wo-uss-ret-et(i) | ní díurat | *di ˈwo-uss-ret-s-t | do·fúair | *nís ˈdi-wo-uss-ret-s-t | ní diúair |
"he repeats, amends" | *ad ˈess-reg-et(i) | ad·eirrig | *nís ˈ*ad-ess-reg-et(i) | (ní aithrig?? >) ní aithirrig | *ad ˈess-reg-s-t | ath·e(i)rr | *nís ˈad-ess-reg-s-t | ní aithir |
"he can" | *con ˈink-et(i) | com·ic | *nís ˈcom-ink-et(i) | ní cum(a)ic > ní cum(u)ing, ní cumaing | *con ˈink-s-t | con·í | *nís ˈcom-ink-s-t, *nís ˈcom-ink-ā-t | ní cum, ní cumai |
"it happens" | *ad ˈcom-ink-et(i) | (ad·cum(a)ic >) ad·cumaing | *nís ˈad-com-ink-et(i) | (ní ecm(a)ic >) ní ecmaing | *ad ˈcom-ink-ā-t | ad·cumai | *nís ˈad-com-ink-ā-t | ní ecm(a)i |
In more detail, syncope of internal syllables involved the following steps (in approximate order):
Proto-Celtic final syllables were often reduced or deleted by Old Irish times.
Unstressed Proto-Celtic -es- became -is- early on if immediately followed by a vowel. The resulting -is- triggers i-affection on preceding stressed syllables as it evolved into *-ih- and then *-iy- in Primitive Irish before either remaining as -i or undergoing a-affection to -e by Old Irish. This raising of *-es- occurred before the early deletion of final *-i.[6]: 99–100 McCone lists the following examples of this raising:
The absolute-conjunct distinction in Old Irish non-prefixed verbs is generally explained via the apocope of final *-i in multiple Indo-European primary person-number endings that ended in *-i. This normally happens in the conjunct forms, while in the absolute forms the apocope was blocked due to a succeeding enclitic element.[7]: 106–109 Contrast:
The identification of the enclitic that was used to create Old Irish's absolute verb forms has been subject to controversy. At first, Warren Cowgill and Frederik Kortlandt supposed that the protective enclitic was a particle derived from *est(i) "is". The current mainstream explanation, pioneered by Peter Schrijver in the 1990s, identifies this particle as derived from *éti "beyond", cognate to Latin et "and". Kim McCone on the other hand refuses to identify any specific particle responsible.
The environment of final i-deletion is also controversial. McCone believes that all final *-i was lost by default, while Schrijver limits the apocope to just after *t, *s and also *k.[8]
After the lenition of post-vocalic consonants in unstressed syllables and the apocope of -i, an early Primitive Irish syncope occurred to vowels between two dental fricatives or two rhotics in final unstressed syllables preceded by another unstressed syllable.[6]: 105–106 For dental fricatives, the result of their collision due to the syncope was originally /t/ but would then become /d/ due to a later voicing in the same environment as the syncope.[9] On the other hand, collision of two rhotics over this syncope would result in unlenited rhotic rr. Unlike the main early Irish syncope, this syncope could never palatalise the resulting consonant produced by the collision of involved continuants, no matter what vowel was between them. Instances of this syncope include:
McCone envisions the evolution of final syllables across Primitive Irish into Old Irish as follows.[6]: 120–121
Proto-Celtic unstressed long vowels were shortened unless protected by a following Primitive Irish final *-h, whether that *-h came from a final -s (as in several nominal inflectional endings) or -ti (as in 3rd-person singular present forms of verbs). These shortened long vowels included the feminine ā-stem nominative singular ending *-ā and the masculine and neuter o-stem ending *-ī.
Then, absolutely word-final -h, vowels, and nasals caused initial mutations if possible, possibly by resegmentation onto the following word. Any remaining final-syllable short vowels, -h, and nasals after this stage are deleted, while remaining final long vowels (which were subsequently shortened in Old Irish) remained. It is also apparent in Ogham inscriptions that final-syllable Proto-Celtic *o had become *a by Primitive Irish before its loss.
In the following table, the cover symbol C refers to any consonant.
Proto-Celtic ending | Pre-Irish stages | Old Irish outcome | Function |
---|---|---|---|
-Cos | -Cah (no mutation) | -C | nominative singular ending of masculine o-stems and neuter s-stems, genitive singular ending of consonant stems |
-Com | -Can (triggers nasalization) | -C | nominative and accusative singular ending of neuter o-stems, accusative singular of masculine o-stems, genitive plural for all declension classes |
-Cā | -Ca (with shortening, triggers lenition) | -C | nominative singular ending of feminine ā-stems |
-Cās | -Cāh (without shortening) | -Ca | nominative plural of feminine ā-stems |
-Cams | -Cās > -Cāh (without shortening) | -Ca | accusative plural of consonant stems |
-Cāti | -Cāt (special loss of final -i in verbs) > -Cāθ > -Cāh (without shortening) | -Ca | conjunct 3rd-person singular ending for the presents of A I verbs |
-Cai | -Cī > -Ci (with shortening, triggers lenition) | -Cʲ | dative singular of ā-stems |
-Cis | -Cih | -Cʲ | nominative singular for i-stems |
-Cīs | -Cīh (without shortening) | -C(ʲ)i | nominative plural for i-stems |
-Cī | -Ci (with shortening) | -Cʲ | genitive singular ending of o-stems, nominative plural of masculine o-stems, nominative singular of feminine ī-stems |
-Cūs | -Cūh (without shortening) | -Cu | accusative plural ending for masculine o-stems |
-Cūi | -Cū > -Cu (with shortening, triggers lenition) | -(u)C | dative singular for o-stems |
-Cus | -Cuh | -(u)C | nominative singular for u-stems |
-Cous | -Cōs > -ōh (without shortening, no mutation) | -Co | genitive singular ending of u-stems |
After the general final-syllable deletion processes, newly word-final consonant clusters ending in sonorant consonants like liquids and nasals in early Irish that were not simplified with compensatory lengthening gained a schwa between the sonorant and the rest of the cluster. The schwa was often rendered with rounded vowel letters like o or u in early texts if next to a labial consonant.[6]: 127 For instance:
Voiceless obstruents, including voiceless stops and voiceless fricatives, were often voiced word-initially and word-finally in unstressed syllables. Each type of voiceless obstruent however had different triggers for them being voiced. These voicings occurred around AD 700.[6]: 132–134 These voicings are collectively labelled McCone's law by David Stifter after their main formulator Kim McCone.[10]
Dental obstruents /t, θ/ were voiced in word-initial and word-final unstressed syllables, in addition to between two unstressed syllables. This wave of voicing is also believed to underlie the voicing of t- to d- in proclitics.[9]
Happening along with the voicing of dental obstruents was the voicing of f to /v/, spelled b. The voicing of f has been believed to occur in near-identical environments to the voicing of dentals. Schrijver and McCone think the voicing of f could also happen word-finally in stressed syllables as well, but Stifter is not confident in the evidence.[11]
Palatalised voiceless velar fricatives /xʲ/ became their voiced counterparts /ɣʲ/ word-finally and between unstressed vowels.
This voicing of palatalised velar fricatives created paradigmatic alternations in noun declension where final unpalatalised voiceless velar fricatives alternated with palatalised voiced velar fricatives. Occasionally, nouns originally ending in non-palatal /ɣ/ in their paradigms had those unpalatalised voiced velar fricatives analogically devoiced to /x/, for instance in tech < teg < *tegos "house".
Intervocalic single Proto-Celtic *-s- was lenited to -h- and then lost in the following manners:[12]
Vowels surrounding a former intervocalic -s-, a glide *w or *y, or both underwent special changes by Old Irish.
In unstressed syllables, such vowels generally fused into /e/.[6]: 131–132
All five Proto-Celtic short vowels (*a, *e, *i, *o, *u) survived into Primitive Irish more or less unchanged in stressed syllables.
During approximately A.D. 450-550 (just before the Old Irish period, c. 600-900), however, there occurred several vowel-changes (umlauts). Former vowels are modified in various ways depending on the following vowels (or sometimes surrounding consonants). The mutations are known in Celtic literature as affections or infections such as these, the most important ones:[4]: 46–50, 57
Nominal examples (reconstructed forms are Primitive Irish unless otherwise indicated):
Before i-affection occurred, there was also a lowering of initial-syllable Proto-Celtic e to a before palatalized reflexes of *g, *gʷ, unless a /j/ followed them in the next syllable in Primitive Irish (no matter the /j/'s origin) which would instead lead to i-affection to i. For instance, Proto-Celtic *legeti-s "(s)he lies" vs. *legonti-s "they lie" vs. *legyom "lying" led to a three-way split in Old Irish laigid, legait, and lige respectively.[6]: 111
Verbal paradigm example:
form | Pronunciation | Meaning | Prim Irish | Post-PIE | Comments | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Absolute 1sg | biru | /bʲiru/ | "I carry" | *berūs | *bʰerō + -s | i-affection |
Absolute 2sg | biri | /bʲirʲi/ | "you (sg.) carry" | *berisis | *bʰeresi + -s | i-affection (unstressed *-es- > *-is- in Primitive Irish, also found in s-stems) |
Absolute 3sg | beirid | /bʲerʲəðʲ/ | "he carries" | *beretis | *bʰereti + -s | Unstressed i = /ə/ with surrounding palatalised consonants; see #Orthography |
Conjunct 1sg | ·biur | /bʲĭŭr/ | "I carry" | *beru < *berū | *bʰerō | i-affection + u-affection |
Conjunct 2sg | bir | /bʲirʲ/ | "you (sg.) carry" | *beris < *berisi | *bʰeresi | i-affection (unstressed *-es- > *-is- in Primitive Irish) |
Conjunct 3sg | beir | /bʲerʲ/ | "he carries" | *beret < *bereti | *bʰereti | i in ei signals palatalisation of following consonant; see #Orthography |
The result of i-affection and a-affection is that it is often impossible to distinguish whether the root vowel was originally *e or *i (sen < *senos and fer < *wiros have identical declensions). However, note the cases of nert vs. fiurt above for which i-affection, but not a-affection, was blocked by an intervening rt.
The result of u-infection of *a eventually reduced to /u/ during the Old Irish period. It does not share its later evolution with original *au, which instead became ó (or broken into úa) in Old Irish.[12]
In addition, the u-affection of a when the u preceded a palatalized consonant originally turned the a into an /œ/, whose spelling varied among au, ai, i, e, and u depending on the scribe. /œ/ then spread to various terms prefixed with ar- "fore-" and ad- "ad-".[12]
Stressed short front vowels in hiatus underwent a loop throughout Primitive Irish and early Old Irish in which they would repeatedly switch between i and e. McCone outlines the loop as follows:[6]: 109, 130
Examples of words that went through this loop include:
Proto-Celtic *a before nasals followed by a stop manifested as the allophone [æ] in the prehistory of Irish.
Short vowels [æ] and *e, and *i regularly became e before nasals followed by originally voiceless stops, which then lengthened to é in stressed syllables.
But a different development of [æ] occurred before nasals followed by voiced stops. According to Schrijver, this [æ] became i when affected by i-affection and a when it was not.[13] McCone however instead believes that i was the default outcome of [æ] before voiced nasals unless a-affection applied, lowering it down to a.[6] Some examples of these developments include:
Additionally, [æ] and *e were also raised to i when followed by a nasal, a voiced stop, and then either *e or a word-final *a followed by a nasal, despite those vowels not triggering i-affection.
In Primitive Irish, *a and *i were rounded to o and u respectively when preceded by Celtic labiovelars *kʷ and *gʷ or a consonant cluster containing them. The rounding of *i also required the following consonant to be palatalised. This rounding occurred after i-affection as ·guid "prays" (< *gʷedyeti) faced rounding even though the rounded vowel was originally an *e.[14] Since ·cren "buys" (< *kʷrinati) faced no rounding even though its stressed vowel was originally an *i, the rounding may also have taken place after a-affection as well,[6]: 118 but Schrijver does not find the evidence for that to be reliable.[13]
Examples of this rounding process include:
Original *a preceded by a labiovelar consonant and followed by *n and an originally voiceless stop was rounded and then broken into Old Irish óe, oí /oi̯/.[15]
After a-affection occurred in Primitive Irish, dental and velar fricatives were dropped when immediately preceding a sonorant consonant, but transformed the preceding vowel into a long vowel or a diphthong. This development affected both stressed and unstressed syllables.[6]: 122–123
Proto-Celtic etymon | Primitive Irish | Old Irish | Meaning | Comments |
---|---|---|---|---|
*ɸetnos | *eθn | én | "bird" (nominative singular) | *e before a lost fricative became é before non-palatal sonorants but diphthongised into éu before palatal sonorants. |
*ɸetnī | *eθʲnʲ | éuin | "bird" (genitive singular) | |
*agrom | *aɣr | ár | "slaughter, carnage" | The outcome of Primitive Irish *aɣ before a sonorant contrasts with the outcome of *axr. |
*dakru | *daxr | dér | "teardrop" | Special outcome of Primitive Irish *axr. |
*kenetlom | *kʲenʲeθl | cenél | "tribe, people" | Fricative-induced lengthening also applied to unstressed syllables. |
*kuklowe | *koxlowe | cúalae | "(s)he heard" | ó created by this compensatory lengthening may break into úa. Also demonstrates how a-affection occurred before this lengthening. |
*kikrīsonti | *kixrīsod | (ara)·chíurat | "they will perish" | *i before a lost fricative diphthongised into íu. |
Proto-Celtic long vowels and diphthongs develop in stressed syllables as follows:
Proto-Celtic | archaic Old Irish | later Old Irish | Example(s) |
---|---|---|---|
*ī | í | rí (gen. ríg) "king" (cf. Latin rēx, Sanskrit rājan-) rím "number" (cf. Old English rīm, Latin rītus "rite") | |
*ā | á | máthir "mother" (cf. Latin māter) dán "gift" (cf. Latin dōnum) | |
*ū | ú | cúl "back" (cf. Latin cūlus "ass, buttocks") | |
*ai | /ai/ (spelled áe or aí) | merged (both spellings used) | cáech "one-eyed" < PC *kaikos < PIE *keh₂i-ko- (cf. Latin caecus "blind", Gothic háihs "one-eyed") |
*oi | /oi/ (spelled óe or oí) | oín, óen "one" < PIE *oinos (cf. archaic Latin oenos) | |
*ei > ē | é | ía[* 1] | ·tíagat "they go" < archaic ·tégot < PIE *steigʰ- (cf. Ancient Greek steíkhein "to walk", Gothic steigan 'to go up')[4]: 36 |
é[* 2] | ·téig "you go", also from PIE *steigʰ- | ||
*au (+C)[* 3] > ō | ó | úa | úaithed, úathad "singleness" < PC *autīto- < IE *h₂eu "again" + *to- "that" (cf. Ancient Greek autós "self") |
*eu/ou (+C)[* 3] > ō | núa, núë "new" < archaic núae < PC *noujos (cf. Gaulish novios) < IE *neu-io-s (cf. Gothic niujis) túath "tribe, people" < PC *toutā < IE *teutā (cf. Gothic þiuda) rúad "red" < PC *roudos < PIE *h₁reudʰ- (cf. Gothic rauþs) | ||
*au (not +C)[* 4] | áu | ó | ó "ear" < archaic áu, aue < PC *ausos < IE *h₂eus- (cf. Latin auris) nó "ship" < archaic náu < PC *nāwā < PIE *neh₂u- (cf. Latin nāvis) |
*ou (not +C)[* 4] | óu > áu | bó 'cow' < archaic báu < early archaic bóu (c. a.d. 700) < PC *bowos (gen.sg.) < PIE *gʷh₃-eu- |
The Old Irish diphthongs úi, éu, íu stem from earlier sequences of short vowels separated by *w, e.g. drúid- "druid" < *dru-wid- "tree-knower".
Most instances of é and ó in nonarchaic Old Irish are due to compensatory lengthening of short vowels before lost consonants or to the merging of two short vowels in hiatus: cét /kʲeːd/ 'hundred' < Proto-Celtic kantom (cf. Welsh cant) < PIE *kṃtóm.
See Proto-Celtic for various changes that occurred in all the Celtic languages, but these are the most important:
From Proto-Celtic to Old Irish, the most important changes are these:
Old Irish preserves, intact, most initial clusters unlike many other Indo-European languages.
Preserved initial clusters:[4]: 128–140
Modified initial clusters:[4]: 123–139
The palatalized consonants arose in multiple stages.[3][6]: 115–119 In theories of palatalization, the front vowels are Proto-Celtic e, ē, i and ī.
The first palatalization affected single consonants and sequences of a nasal consonant followed by a homorganic voiced stop. The palatalization depended on not only the vowel after the consonant, but also the vowel before the consonant. The following Proto-Celtic vowel setups were eligible for the first palatalization:
The first palatalization must have occurred before a-affection, because otherwise the presence of palatalization of the genitive singular of ā-stems (ending in *-iyās > *-iyāh > *-eyāh > -e) would be dependent on root shape, yet only nigh-inevitable palatalization is actually attested in such forms.
Demonstrations of the first palatalization include:
Environment | Old Irish form | Meaning | Proto-forms | Palatalized? | Comments |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
*eCe | beirid | "carries" | *bereti- | Yes | Led to alternation between palatalization and non-palatalization in many S1/B I verbs |
laigid | "lies (physically)" | *legeti- | Yes | Lowering of root vowel from e to a before lenited palatalized g occurred after the first palatalization, and in this case was in fact triggered by it | |
*aCe | canaid | "sings" | *kaneti- | No | Led to all present forms of canaid to not be palatalized except in the conjunct third-person-singular, which was affected by the second palatalization |
*āCi, *āCī usually | máthair | "mother" | *mātīr | No | No palatalization in *āCī if no *y follows |
*āCiy | áithe | "sharpness" | *ātiyā | Yes | But *āCiy leads to palatalization except if analogically removed (as is the case in W2/A II verb paradigms) |
*oCi, *uCi, etc. | umae | "bronze" | *omiyom | No | No palatalization by *i/ī of non-coronal consonants after a rounded vowel |
do·lugai | "forgives" | *dī-logīti | No | ||
*oTi, *uTi, etc. | tuirem | "recounting" | *torīmā | Yes | Palatalization of coronal consonants preceded by a rounded vowel and followed by *i/ī |
VCCV | áram | "counting" | *adrīmā | No | No palatalization over consonant clusters not consisting of a nasal followed by a homorganic stop, even if the cluster itself fails to survive into Old Irish. |
erbaid | "entrusts" | *erbyeti- | No | ||
VNDV | sluindid | "signifies" | *slondīti- | Yes | Consonant clusters consisting of a nasal followed by a homorganic stop are subject to the first palatalization according to the same rules as their corresponding lone intervocalic consonants. |
cingid | "steps" | *kengeti- | Yes | ||
ungae | "ounce" | Latin uncia | No |
After the first palatalization, another palatalization ensued. Final-syllable Primitive Irish front vowels, after merging into a "palatal schwa", forced the palatalization of any consonants preceding them except the consonant cluster cht /xt/, which could never be palatalized. Greene labels this stage the second palatalization, while McCone treats this as a substage of the first palatalization.
The third palatalization entailed any front vowel in a second or fourth syllable of a Primitive Irish word causing the palatalization of the preceding consonants. Like with the final-syllable palatalization, these front vowels were generally assumed to merge into a palatalizing schwa before causing palatalization.
The following Primitive Irish vowels merged into the palatalizing schwa in second or fourth non-final syllables:[16]
Other vowels were reduced to non-palatalizing schwas. After syncope regularly removed these vowels, the palatalization (or lack thereof) tended to spread across the resulting consonant cluster.
However, if syncope results in a sonorant becoming surrounded by a consonant before it and a consonant after it, the effects of the third palatalization (or lack thereof) are often overridden by a special set of sound laws, presumed to be caused by the stranded sonorant assuming the role of syllable nucleus until epenthesis occurs before the sonorant.[17]
Original Primitive Irish syllable | Old Irish outcome | Examples |
---|---|---|
CREC | CəRʲCʲ | ·comainsea /ˈkoṽənʲsʲa/ ("spurns") < *kom-ni-stāyeti |
CRACʲ | CəRʲCʲ | ingainnti /ˈiŋɡəNʲtʲi/ ("unusualness") < *in-gnātiyā |
CERC | CəRC | sonartu /ˈsonərtu/ ("stronger, firmer") < *su-nertyūs |
C(C)Eh < C(C)Es | CC | cuccu /ˈkuku/ ("to them") < *kʷunkʷe sūs impu /ˈimpu/ ("around them") < *ambi sūs intaml- /ˈintəṽl-/ (prototonic stem of in·samlathar "imitates, emulates") < *ande-samal- |
Lenited fricatives and /l/ straddling the boundary between a stressed syllable and an unstressed one tend to disappear if there is a homorganic consonant near the end of the next syllable. If a non-front vowel comes into contact with a front vowel after it due to this deletion, the two vowels fuse into a diphthong like oí or aí. Otherwise a hiatus between the two vowels may be formed instead.[18]
For the purposes of this sound law, /h/ is treated as if homorganic with s, due to its general origin in lenitions of Proto-Celtic *s.
Some examples of this sound law are given below:
This deletion and diphthong formation happened before syncope.[6]: 124 As a demonstration, coímthecht ended up syncopating its etymon's third syllable instead of the usual second. This can be explained by the first and second syllables fusing into one syllable due to dissimilatory deletion, making the etymon's third syllable the second syllable at the time of syncope.
Many intervocalic clusters are reduced, becoming either a geminate consonant or a simple consonant with compensatory lengthening of the previous vowel. During the Old Irish period, geminates are reduced to simple consonants, occurring earliest when adjacent to a consonant. By the end of the Old Irish period, written ll mm nn rr are repurposed to indicate the non-lenited sounds /L m N R/ when occurring after a vowel and not before a consonant.
Cluster reduction involving *n:
Cluster reduction involving *s *z:
Lenited stops *x *ɣ *θ *ð generally disappear before sonorants *r *l *n *m, with compensatory lengthening of the preceding vowel. Many examples occur in reduplicated preterites or words with consonant-final prefixes (such as ad-):[4]: 79
However, *θr, *βr, *βl survive: críathraid "he perforates" < PCelt *krētrāti-s; gabur "goat" < PCelt *gabros (cf. Welsh gafr); mebul "shame" < PCelt *meblā (cf. Welsh mefl).
Any /h/ that ends up in an intervocalic consonant cluster for any reason triggers the devoicing of adjacent consonants in the cluster.[6]: 130
Sequences of *-ssiy- in Primitive Irish are reduced to simple *-ss- if the vowel preceding the sequence is unstressed.[7]: 266–267
Proto-Celtic *w had a complex series of outcomes in Old Irish.[2]: 60–61 [19]
MacNeill's law refers to a sound law before and during the Old Irish period causing the loss of lenition of n and l in final unstressed syllables even though they are etymologically expected to be lenited in that position. Newly word-final n and l became unlenited nn and ll when the unstressed syllables containing them began in r, n, l, /v(ʲ)/, or /m(ʲ)/.[20]: 39–44 [10] A vowel between the trigger consonant and the affected l or n must also be present for the law to apply.[6]: 134 However, MacNeill's law often failed to apply if this vowel had been inserted by anaptyxis in the first place instead of coming from an earlier Proto-Celtic vowel.[11]
Etymon | Early Irish form | Meaning | MacNeill's law applicable? | Comments |
---|---|---|---|---|
*anmanā | anmann | "names" | Yes | MacNeill's law applies after /m/. |
*kolanī | colainn | "flesh, body" | Yes | MacNeill's law applies after l. |
*Φīweryonos | Érenn | "Ireland" (genitive singular) | Yes | MacNeill's law applies after r. |
com- + lán | comlann | "complete" | Yes | Demonstrates a contrast where the root word lán "full", which lacks MacNeill's law as it is a stressed syllable, undergoes MacNeill's law as derivation moves the morpheme to an unstressed syllable. |
*oɸibelā | oíbell | "spark" | Yes | MacNeill's law applies after /v/. |
*gablā | gabul | "fork" | No | MacNeill's law tends to fail to apply if the vowel between the b /v/ and the l did not originally exist in earlier Celtic and was only inserted in early Irish to break up a newly word-final consonant cluster. |
*andelom | indel(l) | "arrangement" | Maybe | MacNeill's law may have been still synchronically active in Early Irish, continuing to operate as the -nd- consonant cluster reduced to -nn- (and thus became a trigger) over the Old Irish period. |
Proclitics that precede a stressed syllable undergo special sound changes during the Old Irish period.
Initial s was deleted in proclitics.[4]: 111
Initial t in pretonic position was voiced to d-.[6]: 132–133
Long vowels merged with their corresponding short vowels in proclitics.[4]: 33
This was followed by o merging with u, with the resulting vowel spelled with both u and o in Old Irish.[6]: 135
At the same time, e became a in proclitics, except for e before *nt which instead merged with i with the spelling vacillating between e and i.[21]
Palatalisation was generally lost in proclitics.[6]: 135