Reconstruction:Proto-Brythonic/a

This Proto-Brythonic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Brythonic

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *au, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew.[1]

Preposition

*a (stressed *ọ)

  2. from

Usage notes

Originally, this preposition had two allomorphs:

  • Proclitic *a, which was used in normal prepositional use.
  • Stressed *ọ, which was used in the conjugated forms and as a prefix.

This order was already breaking down in the Proto-Insular-Celtic period. In Breton and Cornish, *a was generalized. But in Welsh, the allomorphs apparently both coexisted as prepositions in the medieval period. Modern o (“from”) descends from *ọ, but *a survives as a prefix in agor (“to open”).

Conjugated forms of this preposition are also all prefixed with an element *han- (from Proto-Celtic *sani), forming a stem *han-ọ-. In the third-person masculine singular, the conjugation was *han-ọ-ð (from the adverb *audom). Breton, Cornish, and late Welsh also re-prefixed the preposition itself in front of their conjugated stems.

Descendants

  • Breton: a
  • Cornish: a
  • Welsh: o

References

  1. ^ Schumacher, Stefan (2022) “The Development of Proto-Celtic *au in British Celtic”, in Simon Rodway, Jenny Rowland, and Erich Poppe, editors, Celts, Gaels, and Britons: Studies in Language and Literature from Antiquity to the Middle Ages in Honour of Patrick Sims-Williams (Medieval Texts and Cultures of Northern Europe), Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, →ISBN
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