Ancient Celtic
The ancient Celtic language , also known as the Protoceltic in scientific literature , is the reconstructed precursor language from which the Celtic languages are derived. The vocabulary of the early Celtic can be reliably reconstructed using the historical-comparative method (language comparison) of historical linguistics . The Protoceltic is a branch of the western group of Indo-European languages alongside Urgermanic , Uritalian and the Baltic-Slavic group. The exact relationship between these groups is the subject of discussion, in particular whether there was an Italo-Celtic intermediate stage. Italo-Celtic theory assumes a period of common development between the pre-Celtic and pre-Italian dialects. These considerations go back to Carl Friedrich Lottner (1861) and Alois Walde from 1917 "On the oldest linguistic relationships between Celts and Italians".
According to Haarmann (2016), the Italo-Celtic theory can not be proven; he sees Celtic as a spin-off of an independent Indo-European language group that was established in 2000 BC. Chr. From the (hypothetical) Indo-European proto-language was used. Nevertheless, there are also a number of contemporary linguists who continue to regard the hypothesis as proven, such as Watkins (1966) or Peter Schrijver .
The oldest archaeological culture that can be regarded as Protoceltic is the urnfield culture of the Central European Late Bronze Age (last quarter of the 2nd millennium BC). The Iron Age Hallstatt culture that emerged from it was possibly Celtic.
The linguistic reconstruction of the ancient Celtic is currently in progress, Matasović (2009).
The oldest Celtic is divided into Island Celtic and Mainland Celtic , the latter being extinct and all Celtic languages spoken to this day, including Breton , belong to the Island Celtic. When researching the mainland Celtic, there is a great deal of clarity about the phonology and some certainty about the system of forms ( morphology , inflection ), while there are many ambiguities in the syntax due to the lack of traditional texts. In the two mainland Celtic variants, Gaulish and Celtiberian , only a few complete sentences have survived, but due to their great age they are of great value for research into the ancient Celtic. In contrast, the oldest Celtic literature in the Old Irish language has been handed down from the 5th century AD, which is the earliest island Celtic language.
Phonological reconstruction
In the following the phonological differences between the Urindo European and the Ur Celtic are listed.
Consonants
| Urindo-European | Ancient Celtic | example | Old Irish | Welsh |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| * p | * φ | * ph₂tḗr> * φatīr 'father' | athir | awal. - atr |
| * t | * t | * tréi̯es> * trīs 'three' | trí | tri |
| * k, ḱ | * k | * kh₂n̥-e-> * kan-o- 'sing' * ḱm̥tom> * kantom 'hundred' |
canaid cét / kʲeːd / |
canu cant |
| * kʷ | * kʷ | * kʷetu̯r̥es> * kʷetwares 'four' | ceth (a) ir | pedwar |
| * b | * b | * dʰub-no-> * dubnos 'deep' | domun | dwfn |
| * d | * d | * derḱ-> * derk- 'look, see' | the 'eye' | dyrch 'see, sight' |
| * g, ǵ | *G | * gli-néh₁-> * gli-na- 'stick to it' * ǵen-u-> * genu- 'jaw, chin' |
glen (a) id gi (u) n 'mouth' |
glynu ' hang out ' gên 'cheek, chin' |
| *G | * b | * gʷenh₂> * bena 'woman' | ben | awal. ben |
| * bʰ | * b | * bʰér-e-> * ber-o- 'carry, bring' | berid 'carries' | ad fer 'restore', cy mer yd 'take' |
| * dʰ | * d | * dʰi-néh₁-> * di-na- 'suck' | denait 'they suck' | dynu , denu |
| * gʰ, ǵʰ | *G | * gʰh₁bʰ- (e) i-> * gab-i- 'grasp, take' * ǵʰelH-ro-> * galaro- 'disease' |
ga (i) bid 'takes, grasps, receives' galar |
gafael 'hold' galar 'grief, sorrow' |
| *G | *G | * gʷʰn̥-> * gʷan-o- 'kill, wound' | gonaid | gwanu ' dagger ' |
| * s | * s | * seno-> * senos 'old' | sen | hen |
| * m | * m | * méh₂tēr> * mātīr 'mother' | máthir | see. modryb 'mother sister , aunt' |
| * n | * n | * h₂nép-ōt-> * neφūts 'nephew' | niad | nai |
| * l | * l | * leiǵʰ-> * lig-e / o- 'lick' | ligid | llyo , llyfu |
| * r | * r | * h₃rēǵ-s> * rīgs 'king, ruler' | rí (Gen. ríg ) | rhi |
| * i̯ | * j | * h₂i̯uh₁n-ḱós> * juwankos 'young' | óac | ieuanc |
| * u̯ | * w | * h₂u̯l̥h₁tí-> * wlatis 'violence, domination' | flaith 'lordship, prince' | gwlad 'country' |
- ↑ Welsh adfer <* ate-ber- , cy mer yd <obsolete cymer <mwal. cymeraf <* kom-ber- (with - yd from the verbal noun cymryd <* kom-britu ).
Vowels
| Urindo-European | Ancient Celtic | example | Old Irish | Welsh |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| * a, h₂e | * a | * h₂ep-h₃ōn-> * abū (acc. abonen) 'river' | aub (Gen. abae ) | afon |
| * ā, * eh₂ | * ā | * bʰréh₂tēr> * brātīr 'brother' | bráthir | brawd |
| * e, h₁e | * e | * seno-> * senos 'old' | sen | hen |
| * H (between consonants) | * a | * ph₂tḗr> * φatīr 'father' | athir | awal. - atr |
| * ē, eh₁ | * ī | * u̯eh₁-ro-> * wīros 'true' | fír | gwir |
| * o, Ho, h₃e | *O | * Hroth₂o-> * rotos 'wheel' | red | rhod |
| * ō, eh₃ | in the final, * ū | * h₂nép-ōt-> * neφūts 'nephew' | niæ (Gen. niad ) | nai |
| elsewhere, * ā | * deh₃nus> * dānus 'donation' | Dan | dawn | |
| * i | * i | * gʷih₃-tu-> * bitus 'world' | bith | byd |
| * ī, iH | * ī | * rīmeh₂> * rīmā 'number' | rím | rhif |
| * ai, h₂ei, eh₂i | * ai | * keh₂i-ko-> * kaikos 'blind' * seh₂itlo-> * saitlo- 'age' |
cáech 'blind in one eye' - |
coeg 'empty, in vain; one-eyed ' hoedl |
| * (h₁) ei, ēi, eh₁i | * ē | * dei̯-u̯-os> * dēwos 'God' | slide | duw 'divinity' |
| * oi, ōi, h₃ei, eh₃i | * oi | * Hoi-Hn-o-> * oinos 'one' | óen , oín | U.N |
| * u | before wa, * o | * h₂i̯uh₁n-ḱós> early * juwankos> late * jowankos 'young' | óac | ieuanc |
| elsewhere, * u | * sru-tu-> * srutus 'electricity' | sruth 'river, stream' | ffrwd 'stream, torrent, flood' | |
| * ū, uH | * ū | * ruHneh₂> * rūnā 'secret (see runes !)' | run | rhin |
| * ow, h₂eu, eh₂u | * ouch | * tous-o / eh₂> * tau- m. ~ * tau f. ,Remain silent' | táue f. | taw m. |
| * (h₁) eu, ēu, eh₁u; * ou, ōu, h₃eu, eh₃u |
* ou | * teuteh₂> * toutā 'people, tribe' * gʷeh₃-us> * bows 'cow' |
túath bó |
tud mwal. bu , biw 'cows' |
| * l̥ | before plosives, * left | * pl̥th₂nós> * φlitanos 'wide' | lethane | llydan |
| before other consonants, * al | * kl̥h₁-> * kaljākos 'cock' | cailech | ceiliog | |
| * r̥ | before plosives, * ri | * bʰr̥ti-> * briti- ‚wearing; Ghost' | breth , brith | bryd 'mind, will, intention' |
| before other consonants, * ar | * mr̥u̯os> * marwos 'dead' | marb | marw | |
| * m̥ | *at the | * dm̥-nh₂-> * damna- | - damna 'binds tightly, tames' | - |
| * n̥ | *on | * h₃dn̥t-> * danton 'tooth' | dét / dʲeːd / | dant |
| * l̥H | before obstruents , * la | * h₂u̯lh₁tí-> * wlatis 'violence, domination' | flaith | gwlad 'country' |
| before sonorants , * lā | * pl̥Hmeh₂> * φlāmā 'hand' | lám | llaw | |
| * r̥H | before obstruents, * ra | * mr̥Htom> * mratom 'breach of loyalty' | mrath | brad |
| before sonorants, * rā | * ǵr̥Hnom> * grānom 'grain' | grán | grawn | |
| * m̥H | * am ~ mā | Essive * dm̥h₂-h₁i̯é-> * damje / o- 'is tame, is docile' | - daim 'tolerates, confesses', fodam- | Godef 'suffer' |
| * n̥H | * an ~ * nā | * ǵn̥h₃-tó-> * gnātos 'known' | gnáth | gnawd 'common, common' |
- ↑ According to Hackstein (2002) * CH.CC> Ø in the unstressed interior Thus, in the weak cases, the laryngeal disappears , which gives an abating paradigm, e.g. B. idg. N.Sg. * dʰug h₂ tḗr opposite G.Sg. * dʰugtr-os 'daughter'> early turkey. * dug a ter- ~ dugtr-. From this the paradigm split: Celtiberian G.Sg. tu a teros , N.Pl. tu a teres opposite gallish duχtir (<* dugtīr). (Zair 2012, pp. 161 and 163).
literature
- Peter Anreiter , Jerem Erzsébet: Studia Celtica et Indogermanica: Festschrift for Wolfgang Meid on his 70th birthday. Archaeolingua Alapítvány, Budapest 1999.
- Warren Cowgill: Inflection and word formation: files of the 5th symposium of the Indo-European Society, Regensburg, 9. – 14. September 1973 . Ed .: H. Rix. Reichert, Wiesbaden 1975, The origins of the Insular Celtic conjunct and absolute verbal endings, p. 40-70 .
- Peter Forster, Alfred Toth: Toward a phylogenetic chronology of ancient Gaulish, Celtic, and Indo-European . In: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA band 100 , no. 15 , July 2003, p. 9079–9084 , doi : 10.1073 / pnas.1331158100 , PMID 12837934 , PMC 166441 (free full text), bibcode : 2003PNAS..100.9079F .
- Russell D. Gray, Quintin D. Atkinson: Language-tree divergence times support the Anatolian theory of Indo-European origin . In: Nature . tape 426 , no. 6965 , November 2003, p. 435-439 , doi : 10.1038 / nature02029 , PMID 14647380 , bibcode : 2003Natur.426..435G .
- Olav Hackstein: Uridg. * CH.CC> * C.CC. In: Historical linguistic research. 115, 2002, pp. 1-22.
- George S. Lane: The Germano-Celtic Vocabulary . In: Language . 1933, p. 244-264 .
- Ranko Matasović: Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (= Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series, 9 ). Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden 2009, ISBN 978-90-04-17336-1 ( brill.nl ).
- Kim McCone: Towards a Relative Chronology of Ancient and Medieval Celtic Sound Change . Department of Old and Middle Irish, St. Patrick's College, Maynooth 1996, ISBN 0-901519-40-5 .
- Wolfgang Meid , Peter Anreiter (ed.): The larger ancient Celtic linguistic monuments: files of the Innsbruck Colloquium. April 29 - May 3, 1993. Innsbruck 1996.
- Holger Pedersen: Comparative grammar of the Celtic languages . tape 2 : Theory of meaning (theory of words) . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1913 (1976, ISBN 3-525-26119-5 ).
- Peter Schrijver : Studies in British Celtic Historical Phonology . Rodopi, Amsterdam 1995, ISBN 90-5183-820-4 .
- Stefan Schumacher: The Celtic primary verbs. A comparative, etymological and morphological dictionary . Institute for Languages and Literatures of the University, Innsbruck 2003.
- Rudolf Thurneysen : A Grammar of Old Irish . Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin 1946.
- Alois Walde : About the oldest linguistic relationships between Celts and Italians. Innsbruck 1917
- Nicholas Zair: The Reflexes of the Proto-Indo-European Laryngeals in Celtic . Brill, Leiden 2012.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Carl Friedrich Lottner: Celtisch-Italic. In: Contributions to comparative linguistic research in the field of the Aryan, Celtic and Slavic languages. 2, 1861, pp. 309-321.
- ↑ Harald Haarmann: In the footsteps of the Indo-Europeans: From the Neolithic steppe nomads to the early advanced civilizations. CH Beck, Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-406-68825-6 .
- ↑ Harald Haarmann: Lexicon of the fallen languages. CH Beck, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-406-47596-5 , p. 71.
- ↑ Tim de Goede: Derivational Morphology: New Perspectives on the Italo-Celtic Hypothesis. Dissertation . Leiden University, 2014.
- ^ Wolfram Euler: Language groups with close relations. Method reflection and criticism. In: Res Balticae. 11, 2007, pp. 7-28.
- ^ Leszek Bednarczuk: The Italo-Celtic Hypothesis from the Indo-European Point of View. In: Proceedings of the First North American Congress of Celtic Studies. Ottawa 1988, pp. 179-189.
- ↑ Calvert Watkins: Italo-Celtic Revisited. In: Henrik Birnbaum , Jaan Puhvel (eds.): Ancient Indo-European dialects. University of California Press, Berkeley 1966, pp. 29-50. OCLC 716409 .
- ↑ Ranko Matasovic, EDPC , in 2009.