Proto-Celtic language

Proto-Celtic
PC, Common Celtic
Reconstruction of	Celtic languages
Region	CentralorWestern Europe
Era	ca. 1300–800 BC
Reconstructed ancestor	Proto-Indo-European

Proto-Celtic,orCommon Celtic,is the hypothetical ancestralproto-languageof all knownCeltic languages,and a descendant ofProto-Indo-European.It is not attested in writing but has been partlyreconstructedthrough thecomparative 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 theUrnfield cultureand particularly with theHallstatt culture.Celtic languages share common features withItalic languagesthat are not found in other branches of Indo-European, suggesting the possibility of an earlierItalo-Celticlinguistic unity.

Proto-Celtic is currently being reconstructed through the comparative method by relying on later Celtic languages. ThoughContinental Celticpresents much substantiation for Proto-Celticphonology,and some for itsmorphology,recorded material is too scanty to allow a secure reconstruction ofsyntax,though some complete sentences are recorded in the ContinentalGaulishandCeltiberian.So the main sources for reconstruction come fromInsular Celtic languageswith the oldestliteraturefound inOld IrishandMiddle Welsh,dating back to authors flourishing in the 6th century AD.

Dating

Proto-Celtic is usually dated to theLate 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, Schumacherand Schrijversuggest a date for Proto-Celtic as early as the 13th century BC, the time of theCanegrate culture,in northwest Italy, and theUrnfield culturein Central Europe, implying that the divergence may have already started in the Bronze Age.

Sound changes from Proto-Indo-European

The phonological changes fromProto-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 adjacentlaryngealconsonant:
  • 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 syllabicsonorantif 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 incompensatory 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 theItalic languagesin particular, and are cited in support of theItalo-Celtichypothesis.

• 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 initialstress,following the previous two changes. But note that this seems to have been an areal feature, shared, for example with the Indo-EuropeanGermanic languagesand the non-Indo-EuropeanEtruscan 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 (> Latinem~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 thiscounterfeedsthe previous change, so *gʷʰ > *gʷ doesn't result in a merger; that is, the change*gʷʰ > *gʷmust crucially happenafterthe sound changegʷ > bhas 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	beforewa	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	beforeobstruents	*la	*h₂wlh₁tí-	*wlatis	lordship	flaith		gwlad	country
	beforesonorants	*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 manifestsimilarly 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 likeWelsh,Breton, and all modernGoidelic languageshave such plosive aspiration and voice allophony already attested. (But there is no trace of this in Gaulish.)
• Several old Celtic languages (such asOld Irish,Old Welsh,andLepontic) 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 Alpha bet was derived from Etruscan, which has no voice contrasts in plosives.)
• The CeltiberianLuzaga's Bronzehas the curious spelling of an accusative determinersdam,where thedis clearly meant to spell [t]. This implies that Celtiberian /d/ had a voiceless allophone[t].

Evolution of plosives

Proto-Indo-European (PIE)voicedaspirate stops *bʰ,*dʰ,*gʰ/ǵʰ,merge with *b,*d,*g/ǵin PC. The voiced aspiratelabiovelar*gʷʰdid not merge with *gʷ,though: plain *gʷbecame PC *b,while aspirated *gʷʰbecame *gʷ.Thus, PIE *gʷen-'woman' became Old Irish and Old Welshben,but PIE *gʷʰn̥-'to kill, wound' became Old Irishgonaidand Welshgwanu.

PIE *pis lost in PC, apparently going through the stages *ɸ(possibly a stage *[pʰ])and *h(perhaps seen in the nameHercyniaif this is of Celtic origin) before being completely lost word-initially and between vowels. Next to consonants, PC *ɸunderwent different changes: theclusters*ɸsand *ɸtbecame *xsand *xtrespectively already in PC. PIE *sp-became Old Irishs(f-when lenited, exactly as for PIE *sw-) and Brythonicf;whileSchrijver 1995,p. 348 argues there was an intermediate stage *sɸ-(in which *ɸremained an independent phoneme until after Proto-Insular Celtic had diverged into Goidelic and Brythonic),McCone 1996,pp. 44–45 finds it more economical to believe that *sp-remained unchanged in PC, that is, the change *pto *ɸdid not happen when *spreceded. (Similarly,Grimm's lawdid not apply to *p, t, kafter *sinGermanic,and the same exception occurred again in theHigh 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

InGaulishand theBrittonic languages,the Proto-Indo-European *kʷphoneme becomes a new *psound. Thus, Gaulishpetuar[ios],Welshpedwar"four", butOld IrishcethairandLatinquattuor.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 achain shift.

The termsP-CelticandQ-Celticare 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 ancientContinental Celtic languages.The many unusual shared innovations among theInsular Celtic languagesare often also presented as evidence against a P-vsQ-Celtic division, but they may instead reflect a commonsubstratuminfluence 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:

• LatinPatricius"Saint Patrick"' > Welsh > Primitive IrishQatricias> Old IrishCothrige,laterPádraig;
• Latinpresbyter"priest" > early form of word seen inOld Welshpremter primter> Primitive Irishqrimitir> Old Irishcruimther.

Gaelicpóg"kiss" was a later borrowing (from the second word of the Latin phraseosculum pacis"kiss of peace" ) at a stage wherepwas borrowed directly asp,without substitutingc.

Vowels

The PC vowel system is highly comparable to that reconstructed for PIE byAntoine Meillet.The followingmonophthongsare reconstructed:

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

The followingdiphthongshave also been reconstructed:

Type	With-i	With-u
Witha-	ai	au
Witho-	oi	ou

Morphology

Nouns

Themorphological(structure) ofnounsandadjectivesdemonstrates no arresting alterations from the parent language. Proto-Celtic is believed to have had nouns in threegenders,threenumbersand 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 consideredrather unambiguous despite appeals to archaic retentions ormorphological leveling.These cases werenominative,vocative,accusative,dative,genitive,ablative,locativeandinstrumental.

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

• makkʷos'son' (masculine) (Old Irishmac~Welsh,CornishandBretonmab)

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-orather 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 Irishlám;Welshllaw,Cornishleuv,Old Bretonlom)

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) (Brittonicsulis~Old Irishsúil)

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) (GaulishMori- ~Old Irishmuir~Welshmôr)

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) (GaulishBitu- ~Old Irishbith~Welshbyd~Bretonbed)

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"rotisseriespit "(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*-sof the nominative singular, a velar consonant wasfricatedto*-x:*rīg-"king" >*rīxs.Likewise, final*-ddevoicedto*-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 *-ūin 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*-osin 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 *-tīrin 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 firstBotorrita plaque:The formio-sin line 10 is the nominative singular masculine of the relative pronoun from Proto-Indo-European*yo-(Sanskritya-,Greekhos), which shows up in Old Irish only as the aspiration for leniting relative verb forms. Line 7 has the accusative singulario-mand the dative singulario-muiof the same root.

Adjectives

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

Positive-degree inflection classes

Four inflection classes for positive-degree adjectives are known. Most adjectives belonged to theo-āclass, in which the adjectives inflected like masculineo-stems, neutero-stems and feminineā-stems when agreeing with nouns of their respective genders. A much smaller minority of adjectives werei- andu-stems.

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

Comparative degree

The comparative degree was formed on most adjectives by attaching*-yūsto the adjective stem. For instance,*senos"old" would have a comparative*senyūs"older". However, someCaland systemadjectives 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*-isamosto the adjective stem. In some adjectives where the stem ends in*s,the suffix is truncated to*-(s)amosbyhaplology.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. 1stsg.Gaulishdelgu"I hold", Old Irishtongu"I swear"
• imperative— seen in e.g. 3rdsg.Celtiberianusabituz,Gaulishappisetu
• subjunctive— seen in e.g. 3rdsg.Gaulishbuetid"may he be", Celtiberianasekati

and four tenses:

• present— seen in e.g. Gaulishuediíu-mi"I pray", Celtiberianzizonti"they sow"
• preterite— seen in e.g. 3rdsg.Gaulishsioxti,LeponticKariTe
• imperfect— perhaps in Celtiberiankombalkez,atibion
• future— seen in e.g. 3rdsg.Gaulishbissiet,Old Irishbieid"he shall be"

A probableoptative moodalso features in Gaulish (tixsintor) and aninfinitive(with a characteristic ending-unei) in Celtiberian.

Verbs were formed by addingsuffixesto averbalstem.The stem might bethematicorathematic,anopenor aclosed 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
1stsg.	*-ū(thematic) *-mi(athematic)	*-ūr	*-ū	*-ūr
2ndsg.	*-si	*-tar	*-esi	*-etar
3rdsg.	*-ti	*-tor	*-eti	*-etor
1stpl.	*-mosi	*-mor	*-omosi	*-omor
2ndpl.	*-tesi	*-dwe	*-etesi	*-edwe
3rdpl.	*-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*-miinstead of*-ū.

These two inflectional categories can themselves be subdivided based on the means of derivation from a verb root via a combination of rootablautgrades 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-Europeannasal infixpresents split into two categories: ones originally derived from laryngeal-final roots (i.e.seṭroots in Sanskrit), and ones that were not (i.e. fromaniṭroots). Inseṭverbs, the nasal appears at the end of the present stem, while inaniṭ-derived verbs the nasal was followed by a root-final stop (generally-g-in Old Irish).

Toaniṭroots

Aniṭnasal 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 betweenoin 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*CeyC-roots:*dingeti,*grindeti,*indeti,*linkʷeti
• Double-nasal presents:*ganndeti,*glanndeti,*skanndeti
• To*CewC-roots:*bundeti,*bungeti,*dlungeti,*exsstungeti,*lungeti,*rundeti,*slunketi,*tungeti,*unketi
• Others:*annketi,*dringeti

Toseṭroots

On the other hand, theseṭpresents 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.

Theseṭnasal-infix presents were further subdivided into subcategories based on the root-final laryngeal. Traditionally two subclasses have long been accepted, the*h₁subclass (cited with a-ni-suffix) and*h₂(cited with a-na-suffix).*h₃nasal-infixed verbs were often leveled to act like*h₂verbs, being also cited with a-na-suffix; the only original difference between the two would have been the 3rd-person plural ending in*-nontiinstead of*-nanti.

The nasal-infixseṭverbs in Proto-Celtic underwent multiplelevelings.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 forseṭroots

Person and number	Pre-leveling			Leveling of vowel quality		Leveling of vowel length
	*h₁verbs	*h₂verbs	*h₃verbs	*h₁verbs	*h₂and*h₃verbs	*h₁verbs	*h₂and*h₃verbs
1stsg.	*-nīmi	*-nāmi	*-nāmi	*-nīmi	*-nāmi	*-nimi	*-nami
2ndsg.	*-nīsi	*-nāsi	*-nāsi	*-nīsi	*-nāsi	*-nisi	*-nasi
3rdsg.	*-nīti	*-nāti	*-nāti	*-nīti	*-nāti	*-niti	*-nati
1stpl.	*-namosi	*-namosi	*-namosi	*-nimosi	*-namosi	*-nimosi	*-namosi
2ndpl.	*-natesi	*-natesi	*-natesi	*-nitesi	*-natesi	*-nitesi	*-natesi
3rdpl.	*-nenti	*-nanti	*-nonti	*-ninti	*-nanti	*-ninti	*-nanti

The followingseṭ-root nasal presents are reconstructible for Proto-Celtic:

• *h₁-final roots:
  • -ni-relics:*balnīti,*tinīti,*dalnīti
  • Converted to-na-before Old Irish:*dinīti,*winīti,*kʷalnīti
• *h₂subclass:*kʷrināti,*rināti,*damnāti,*bināti(?),*tlināti,*ɸalnāti,*marnāti,*sannāti,*swannāti
• *h₃-final roots:*ɸarnāti,*gnināti,*starnāti
• Semivowel-final aniṭ root:*kriniti,*klinutor
• Unknown laryngeal:*glinati,*linati,*barnati,*walnator

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
1stsg.	*-am	*-a
2ndsg.	*-s	*-as
3rdsg.	*-t	*-e
1stpl.	*-mo(s)	*-mo
2ndpl.	*-te(s)	*-te
3rdpl.	*-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 byJay Jasanoff,who alleges that they were instead imperfects ofNarten presents.Either derivation requires Narten ablaut anyway, leading to a stem voweliin the singular andein the plural. The stem vowel in the t-preterite was leveled to*eif the next consonant was either velar or*m,and*iin front of*ror*l.

Suffixless preterites

Many suffixless preterite formations featuredreduplication.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 theo-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 theo-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*āto 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*āwas shortened due toOsthoff'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, thes-future. It is a descendant of the Proto-Indo-European(h₁)se-desiderative,withi-reduplication in many verbs. The Old Irisha- ands-future come from here.

Another future formation, attested only inGaulish,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 alaryngealin 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 thee-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
2ndsg.	-∅,*-si	*-e
3rdsg.	*-tou,*-tūd,*-tu	*-etou,*-etūd,*-etu
1stpl.	*-mo(s)	*-omo(s)
2ndpl.	*-te(s)	*-ete(s)
3rdpl.	*-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-thein Old Irish is secondary.

Third-person imperative

The third-person imperative endings inInsular Celtic,GaulishandCeltiberianhave 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 reconstructionsmay 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	1stsg.	*berū	*berūr	*beremam	—	*bibrāsū	*bibrāsūr	*bīram	—
	2ndsg.	*beresi	*beretar	*beretās	—	*bibrāsesi	*bibrāsetar	*birs	—
	3rdsg.	*bereti	*beretor	*bereto	—	*bibrāseti	*bibrāsetor	*birt	?
	1stpl.	*beromosi	*beromor	*beremo	—	*bibrāsomosi	*bibrāsomor	*berme	—
	2ndpl.	*beretesi	*beredwe	?	—	*bibrāsete	*bibrāsedwe	*berte	—
	3rdpl.	*beronti	*berontor	*berento	—	*bibrāsonti	*bibrāsontor	*berant	?
Subjunctive	1stsg.	*berasū	*berasūr	—	—	—	—	—	—
	2ndsg.	*berasesi	*berasetar	—	—	—	—	—	—
	3rdsg.	*beraseti	*berasetor	—	—	—	—	—	—
	1stpl.	*berasomosi	*berasomor	—	—	—	—	—	—
	2ndpl.	*berasetesi	*berasedwe	—	—	—	—	—	—
	3rdpl.	*berasonti	*berasontor	—	—	—	—	—	—
Imperative	2ndsg.	*bere	*bereso	—	—	—	—	—	—
	3rdsg.	*beretou	?	—	—	—	—	—	—
	1stpl.	*beromos	?	—	—	—	—	—	—
	2ndpl.	*berete	?	—	—	—	—	—	—
	3rdpl.	*berontou	?	—	—	—	—	—	—
Participle		*beronts	*beromnos	—	—	—	—	*bertyos	*britos

Copula

The copula*estiwas 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*estiin 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 goodIndo-Europeanetymologies, unlike what is found in, for example, theGreek language—at least 90% according to Matasovic.These include most of the items on theSwadesh listof basic vocabulary. But a few words that do not have Indo-European cognates, so may be borrowings from substrate or adstratePre-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

• Pre-Celtic
• Italo-Celtic
• Beaker culture
• Urnfield
• Hallstatt culture
• La Tène culture
• Goidelic substrate hypothesis
• Ligures
• Azilian

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Cowgill, Warren(1975). "The origins of the Insular Celtic conjunct and absolute verbal endings". In H. Rix (ed.).Flexion und Wortbildung: Akten der V. Fachtagung der Indogermanischen Gesellschaft, Regensburg, 9.–14. September 1973.Wiesbaden:Reichert. pp. 40–70.
• Evans, D. Simon (1964).A Grammar of Middle Welsh.Dublin:Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
• Hackstein, Olav (2002). "Uridg. *CH.CC > *C.CC".Historische Sprachforschung.115:1–22.
• Lane, George S. (1933). "The Germano-Celtic Vocabulary".Language.9(3): 244–264.doi:10.2307/409353.JSTOR409353.
• Matasović, Ranko (2009).Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic.Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series, 9.Brill Academic Publishers.ISBN978-90-04-17336-1.
• Matasović, Ranko (2011).Addenda et corrigenda to Ranko Matasović's Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic(PDF).Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series, 9.Brill Academic Publishers.
• McCone, Kim (1996).Towards a Relative Chronology of Ancient and Medieval Celtic Sound Change.Maynooth:Department of Old and Middle Irish,St. Patrick's College.ISBN978-0-901519-40-5.
• Pedersen, Holger (1913).Vergleichende Grammatik der keltischen Sprachen.2. Band, Bedeutungslehre (Wortlehre).Göttingen:Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.ISBN978-3-525-26119-4.
• Schrijver, Peter(1994). "The Celtic adverbs for 'against' and 'with' and the early apocope of *-i".Ériu.45:151–89.
• Schrijver, Peter(1995).Studies in British Celtic Historical Phonology.Amsterdam:Rodopi.ISBN978-90-5183-820-6.
• Schrijver, Peter (2015). "Pruners and trainers of the Celtic family tree: The rise and development of Celtic in light of language contact".Proceedings of the XIV International Congress of Celtic Studies, Maynooth 2011.Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. pp. 191–219.
• Thurneysen, Rudolf(1946).A Grammar of Old Irish.Tr.D. A. BinchyandOsborn Bergin.Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
• Zair, Nicholas (2012).The Reflexes of the Proto-Indo-European Laryngeals in Celtic.Leiden: Brill.

External links

• Leiden Universityhas compiledetymological dictionaries of various IE languages,a project supervised byAlexander Lubotsky.