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Goidelic substrate hypothesis

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TheGoidelic substrate hypothesisrefers to the hypothesized language or languages spoken inIrelandbefore the arrival of theGoidelic languages.

Hypothesis of non-Indo-European languages[edit]

Ireland was settled,like the rest ofnorthern Europe,after the retreat of theice sheetsc. 10,500 BC.[1]Indo-European languagesare usually thought to have been a much later arrival. Some scholars hypothesize that the Goidelic languages may have been brought by theBell Beaker culturecirca 2500 BC. This dating is supported by DNA analysis indicating large-scale Indo-European migration to Britain about that time.[2]In contrast, other scholars argue for a much later date of arrival of Goidelic languages to Ireland based on linguistic evidence.Peter Schrijverhas suggested that Irish was perhaps preceded by an earlier wave of Celtic-speaking colonists (based on population names attested inPtolemy'sGeography) who were displaced by a later wave of proto-Irish speakers only in the 1st century AD, following a migration in the wake of theRoman conquest of Britain,with Irish andBritish Celtic languagesonly branching off from a common Insular Celtic language around that time.[3]

Scholars have suggested:

  • that an older language or languages could have beenreplacedby theInsular Celtic languages;and
  • that words and grammatical constructs from the original language, or languages, may nevertheless persist as asubstratein the Celtic languages, especially in placenames and personal names.[4][5]

Suggested non-Indo-European words in Irish[edit]

Gearóid Mac Eoinproposes the following words, some of which are found only inEarly Irish literature,as deriving from the substrate

He also puts forward the following place names, also from old Irish literature:

Gerry Smyth,inSpace and the Irish Cultural Imagination,suggested thatDothar,theOld Irishname for theRiver Dodder,could be a substrate word.[7]

Peter Schrijversubmits the following words as deriving from the substrate:

  • partán'crab'
  • Partraige(ethnonym), (note thatpartaing"crimson (Parthian) red" is a loanword from Lat.parthicus)
  • pattu'hare'
  • petta'pet, lap-dog'
  • pell'horse'
  • pít'portion of food'
  • pluc'(round) mass'
  • prapp'rapid'
  • gliomach'lobster'
  • faochán'periwinkle'
  • ciotóg'left hand'
  • bradán'salmon'
  • scadán'herring'[8]

Schrijver noted the numerousness of words relating to fishing. He suggested that the presence ofunlenitedstops among these fishing words may indicate that these words entered Irish as late as 500AD.[9]In a further study he gives counter-arguments against some criticisms byGraham Isaac.[10]

Ranko Matasovićlists the following words

  • lacha'duck'
  • sinnach'fox'
  • luis'rowan'
  • lon'blackbird'
  • dega'beetle'
  • ness'stoat'.[11]

He also points out that there are words of possibly or probably non-Indo-European origin in other Celtic languages as well; therefore, the substrate may not have been in contact withPrimitive Irishbut rather withProto-Celtic.[12]Examples of words found in more than one branch of Celtic but with no obvious cognates outside Celtic include:

  • Middle Irishainder'young woman', Middle Welshanneir'heifer', perhaps Gaulishanderon(possibly connected with Basqueandere'lady, woman')
  • Old Irishberr'short', Middle Welshbyrr'short', GaulishBirrus(name); possibly related to thebirrus,a short cloak or hood
  • Old Irishbran'raven', Middle Welshbran'raven', GaulishBrano-,sometimes translated as 'crow' (name element, such asBran Ardchenn,Bran Becc mac Murchado,andBran the Blessed)
  • Middle Irishbrocc'badger', Middle Welshbroch'badger', GaulishBroco-(name element) (borrowed into English asbrock)
  • Old Irishcarpat'(war) chariot', Welshcerbyd,Gaulishcarpento-,Carbanto-
  • Old Irisheó'salmon', Middle Welshehawc'salmon', Gaulish *esoks(borrowed into Latin asesox); has been compared with Basqueizokin[13]
  • Old Irishcuit'piece', Middle Welshpeth'thing', Gaulish *pettia(borrowed into Latin aspetiaand French aspièce)
  • Old Irishmolt'wether', Middle Welshmollt'ram, wether', GaulishMoltus(name) and *multon-(borrowed into French asmouton,from which to English asmutton)

TheOld Irishword for "horn",adarc,is also listed as a potential Basque loanword; inBasquethe word isadar.[11]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^McDonagh, Marese (21 March 2016)."Bear bone opens new chapter in Ireland's archaeology".The Irish Times.Retrieved10 February2021.
  2. ^Patterson, Nick (2022)."Large-Scale Migration into Britain During the Middle to Late Bronze Age".Nature.601(7894): 588–594.Bibcode:2022Natur.601..588P.doi:10.1038/s41586-021-04287-4.PMC8889665.PMID34937049.
  3. ^Schrijver, Peter (2014).Language Contact and the Origins of the Germanic Languages.New York, London: Routledge. pp. 79–85.ISBN978-0-415-35548-3.
  4. ^Indo-European and non-Indo-European aspects to the languages and place-names in Britain and Ireland: the state of the art,by George Broderick, in 'From the Russian rivers to the North Atlantic' (2010), pp. 29–63.
  5. ^Adams, G.B. (1980)."Place-names from pre-Celtic languages in Ireland and Britain"(PDF).Nomina.4:46–63.
  6. ^Tristram, Hildegard L. C., ed. (26–27 July 2007)."The Celtic Languages in Contact"(PDF).Potsdam University Press.Retrieved10 December2012.{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal=(help)
  7. ^Smyth, Gerry (18 July 2001).Space and the Irish Cultural Imagination.Springer.ISBN9781403913678– via Google Books.
  8. ^Schrijver, Peter (January 2000)."Non-Indo-European surviving in Ireland in the first millennium AD".Ériu.51.
  9. ^Schrijver, Peter (2000)."Varia V. Non-Indo-European Surviving in Ireland in the First Millennium AD".Ériu.51:195–199.ISSN0332-0758.
  10. ^Schrijver, Peter (January 2005)."More on Non-Indo-European surviving in Ireland in the first millennium AD".Ériu.55.doi:10.1353/eri.2005.0004.S2CID245853096.
  11. ^abMatasović, Ranko (2019-04-15)."The substratum in Insular Celtic"(PDF).Journal of Language Relationship.Gorgias Press. pp. 153–160.doi:10.31826/9781463235406-010.ISBN978-1-4632-3540-6.
  12. ^Matasović, Ranko(2009).Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic.Leiden: Brill. p. 441.ISBN978-90-04-17336-1.
  13. ^Trask, R. Larry (2008), Wheeler, Max W. (ed.),Etymological Dictionary of Basque(PDF),Falmer, UK: University of Sussex, p. 236, archived fromthe original(PDF)on 7 June 2011,retrieved17 September2013
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