99. The tenues likewise are infected with an aspiration in Irish in the middle and end of most words when not doubled or in concurrence with another consonant, except when has been dropped before them, or they have themselves arisen from the coalition of two consonants; sometimes, after a long vowel (97), the tenuis remains uninfected, and always t of the second person suffixed or infixed. The tenues, when thus infected, were pronounced x, 0, in ancient Irish, but in modern Irish and Gaelic x, h, p.1 Another infection is suffered by the tenues, but only in the later Irish and Gaelic, somewhat more in the latter than in the former. In the concurrences rp, sp, st, sk, in the middle or end of a word, and also when standing alone after a vowel in the middle or end of a word, the tenues become medial. Sometimes this is prevented by the tenuis being doubled or preceded by a long vowel.2 The weakness of 8 (97) affected the concurrent tenuis; and r too was weak so as to produce a similar effect, except when reinforced with a tenuis uttered with the tongue. After a vowel the sonancy was carried into the consonant, making it medial. 100. Consonants in the beginning of words also may suffer infection from the end of a word preceding, if this be brought into contact with them by close construction or composition. And in the ancient Celtic manuscripts, particularly the Irish, the substantive is written in one word with the article, with monosyllabic possessive pronouns, and with monosyllabic prepositions, and the verb with verbal particles.3 5 The general rule in Irish is, that an initial consonant is infected with an aspiration, if the preceding word, thus closely connected, end in a vowel, or if its more ancient form did so. Often also a preceding liquid has the same effect as a vowel, unless a vowel has been dropped after it; probably because a liquid is so weak an utterance at the end of a word, though not so weak if it be or was originally at the beginning of a final syllable. This infection takes place in the substantive and the adjective after the cases of the article, which are in or n before a consonant, ind or nd before a vowel; in a substantive which follows, in the genitive, a governing substantive which ends in a vowel or a liquid; after a numeral a pronoun or a preposition which ends in a vowel; after forms of the verb substantive, of whatever root, whether, as now found, they end in a vowel or a consonant; after active verbs, whether, as now found, they end in a vowel or a consonant, the word after the verb denoting the object; after the verbal particles ro-, no-, ni-, nad-, but ro- and ni- are followed by b of verb substantive, and ni- by t of second person uninfected; after copulative or disjunctive particles; and after the interjection a In composition the initial consonant of the second word is infected in Irish; if it be a substantive compounded with another substantive, whether the latter end in a vowel or in a consonant, for there was originally a connective o between them; if it be a substantive, adjective, or verb compounded with an adjective; if it be a substantive or adjective compounded with numerals; after prepositions ending 3 Ibid. p. 192. 1 Zeuss, p. 77-81. 4 Ibid. p. 196. 2 Ibid. pp. 87, 88. 6 Ibid. p. 195. in vowels; also after rem, kom, and tairm; and after so-, do-, mi-, neb-, aith-.1 When final n has been dropped before an initial s, ƒ, or tenuis (96), these remain uninfected in ancient Irish; 2 as does also initial s in the concurrences sk, st, sp.3 But in modern Irish the initial tenuis, before which final n has been dropped, is reduced to a medial, and ƒ to v.5 101. The British liquids are not infected in the most ancient manuscripts; but in the more recent language they are weakened when they follow immediately another consonant in the middle or end of a word, m becoming then u, v, or ƒ, and suffering this infection also after a; 1, however, is not infected in iarl, a companion, nor is m of the first person; 7n is dropped before s and ƒ, and becomes m before labials and i (ng) before post-palatals.8 The weakening of the liquids in their softer positions seems to have hardened them in their harder positions, as in Irish v was hardened to ƒ in the beginning of a word when it was vocalised in other places (60, 97). Hence the peculiar ll in Welsh. 102. The ancient Celtic had no h used as a radical, but only as a breathing (97). Its s has been in some words preserved in British both in the beginning and in the middle and end, and in other words since the time of the Romans changed to h, where Irish retains s.10 S, followed by a tenuis, liquid, or w, occurs in the ancient British in the beginning of words, but the later Welsh prefixed always e, i, or y, which lightened the utterance of s by making it the closure of the vowel. Often, however, initial s is dropped before a liquid in Welsh, and initial sw changed to hw or xw." Cornish and Armoric do not prefix a vowel to initial sl, sn, sp, st, sk.12 11 In many British words h, X, correspond to an original x.13 Y has been preserved in the beginning of British words.14 In the British dialects w or v is represented by gu, gw, except in the end of words, where it has become u.15 In later Welsh it is subject to the regular infections of g. Ancient Armoric preserved w, but the later language followed the same course as Welsh. 16 103. The medials are not infected with aspiration in Welsh, either old or recent. But in the older books there are the beginnings of a weakening of the medials, b, and still more g, being liable to be dropped after long vowels, especially in the end, g sometimes after short vowels also.17 In old Armoric the medials were more infected than in old Welsh, being vocalised or dropped in the middle and end of words, especially in the end after long vowels.18 The medials in British were subject to alteration prior to any other class of consonants.19 In later British, as well in Cornish and Armoric as in Welsh, the medials are infected almost universally in the middle and end of words, the infection being a weakening of the closure of the organs, 1 Zeuss, pp. 198, 199. ♦ Ibid. p. 200. 7 Ibid. p. 133-136. 10 Ibid. pp. 140, 144. 13 Ibid. p. 146. 2 Ibid. p. 194. 14 Ibid. p. 148. Ibid. p. 195. 6 Ibid. p. 129. 9 Ibid. p. 130. 12 Ibid. p. 143. 15 Ibid. pp. 148, 150. 18 Ibid. p. 158. and an increase of the sonancy. This was variously carried out, and seems also to have been variously represented in writing, so that b became ƒ, u, v, w; d became in Welsh dd, in Cornish th, in Armoric z; g became sometimes i, y, in the middle of a word after another consonant, but was generally omitted, which obliteration b and d also suffer sometimes in the middle and end of words.1 The assimilation of a medial to a preceding nasal in the middle and end of words, whereby b was absorbed into m, and d into n, began in the old British; 2 g continued to be written after n;3 but did not ng then represent the post-palatal nasal ? 104. The tenues in British were infected with aspiration prior to any other class of consonants; always in Old British in the middle and end of words when doubled or after another tenuis; sometimes after s, generally after r, less generally after 7 (t after 7 either remains t or becomes 7), in only one or two instances after m or n. The double tenuis became a single aspirate; in the combinations of two tenues, the first became or e, the second was aspirated, t aspirated was sometimes written as dh. The only infection of the tenuis known to Old British was aspiration.5 In the later British the tenues were infected with aspiration under the same circumstances as in Old British; in lk, rt, rk, more frequently than in lp, rp. Instead of th is sometimes written d (properly dh), sometimes s or h in Welsh; sometimes d in Cornish, z in Armoric.8 In later British, and not previously, the tenues first in the middle, afterwards also in the end of a word, become medials after a vowel when not combined with another consonant; also p generally, and k always, after s in the modern language. 10 9 It is to be observed that this change of tenues into medials in the middle and end of words is to be found in Latin or Romance writings of the Continent prior to its appearance in British writings, and that the medials which have thus arisen undergo the same infections as other medials in the later language.11 Mp, nt, are changed to m, n, like mb, nd, particularly in Welsh.12 In modern Welsh no original tenuis remains in the middle of a word unless combined with another consonant.13 F, the only original British aspirate, occurs in the beginning, middle, and end of words. 14 105. Consonants in the beginning of a British word are infected with aspiration by the end of certain words when in close construction or composition with it, according to the same rules by which aspiration takes place in the middle and end of words.15 The words which have this effect in construction are the numerals tri, three, and xwe, six; certain possessive pronouns; the prepositions, a, which was originally ak, tra, originally trak or tras; the particles, no than, originally nok, na negative, originally nak, ny, originally nyt. Those which have this effect in composition are in Welsh the numerals tri, xwe; the prepositions a, tra; the augumentative particle gwer, gur, gor.1 The infection whereby tenues become medials and medials are weakened or vocalised, affects these consonants in the beginning of a word, where they suffer the aspirating infection in Irish, namely, after preceding words in close construction or composition, which end or ended originally in a vowel; liquids also have sometimes the same effect as a final vowel.2 This infection takes place in construction after the article feminine singular through all the cases, after a substantive in apposition, after predicate if the verb substantive follow it, after the numeral two, after certain pronouns, after the verb substantive in Welsh, after a verb active, neuter, or passive sometimes in Welsh, after prepositions ending in vowels, after the conjunction yn that, in Welsh, after verbal particles, after interjections, after neu or, ny na not, tra as long; in composition, with a preceding substantive, adjective, or numeral, with prepositions ending in a vowel, with the reciprocal particle of verbs, with inseparable prefixed particles.* The nasal infection of medials and tenues in British, as it occurs in the middle and end of words in the older writings, prevails also in the beginning of words in construction or composition, in the later manuscripts, more in Welsh than in the other dialects. This infection takes place in construction after vy (myn) my, and after yn in; in composition after an- negative, after the preposition ky kyn, and with medials after seith seven, and wyth eight. The medials become m, n, ng, the tenues mh, nh, ngh 5 106. Now of these progressive changes of the consonants, those in which Irish and British agree are the change of tenues to medials (99, 104), and the absorption of medials into a concurrent nasal (98, 103); both which have been developed only in the later language. These are probably due to that predominance of the vowels and consequent weakening of the consonants which belongs as a common characteristic to both branches of Celtic. 107. The other changes must arise from causes which are quite different in the one branch from what they are in the other; for the conditions which favour them in the one hinder them in the other. Nor do the changes themselves seem to be quite of the same nature in the two when they are narrowly examined. The tendency in Irish, old as well as recent, is to utter all the consonants with an imperfect closure of the organs when they stand single after a vowel, slurring over the check to the breath by the consonant, when there is only one; but to give the full consonant utterance when there is a concurrence of two, the closure of the organs being then more marked and less liable to be neglected. The tendency in British is to reduce the tension of consonant utterance; and it comes into play where that tension is greatest, namely, in the concurrence of consonants. The tension consists of the muscular closure of the organs and the pressure of breath on them, and both are weakened in British; the relaxation 2 Ibid. p. 212. 3 Ibid. p. 213-220. 5 Ibid. pp. 223, 224. 1 Zeuss, p. 209-212. Ibid. p. 220-223. This of the former giving softness to the utterance, and the reduction of the latter giving sonancy, because the vocal chords are constricted to limit the current of breath, and they sound it as it passes. increased sonancy and encroachment of the voice on the consonants distinguishes their infection in British from the aspiration which they suffer in Irish. Thus the double tenuis in British tends to become a medial aspirate; the first of two concurrent tenues tends to be replaced by a vowel; s before a tenuis is uttered with the help of a prefixed vowel; the tenues tend to be absorbed into a preceding nasal; and medials and liquids tend to be dissolved in the vocalisation. So that the nature of the change itself in the various elements, as well as the circumstances in which it takes place, shows that in British it is due rather to relaxed or soft utterance, in Irish rather to careless or indolent utterance. The indisposition to strong utterance appears also in British in the frequent substitution of h for s where s stands in Irish (102). And it is probably owing to this softness of consonant utterance that the semi-vowels y and w, when not vocalised, are less changed than in Irish or Greek (60), y being preserved in the beginning of words, and w in the beginning and middle being only partially closed into gw (102). The same difference exists between Irish and British which has been noted in 80 between Latin and Greek. An original qw having changed the w for a vowel, retained the guttural in Irish, but changed it to a labial in British.1 This is probably due, as in Latin and Greek, to a stronger pressure of breath from the chest in Irish than in British, for the utterance of a guttural requires this, unless it be followed by w (V. 75). 108. There is another phonetic difference to be noted between Irish and British. The Irish vowels are more open than the British (94), and the semi-vowels changed to a greater extent into full vowels (97, 102). This shows a somewhat greater tendency to vowel utterance in Irish than in British. 109. In the Irish language the root of the article is n, which is found by itself in each number before a substantive or adjective beginning with a vowel. But the following fuller forms are found in the old manuscripts. 2 |