LINGUISTICSIIRISHSTUDIES "A welcome and friendly guide forthose who would like to know more about the language and literature of early medieval Ireland."- J 0s (p II"'-\G ', author of Conversing withAngels andAncients:LiteraryMyths ofMedievalIreland David Stifter ' s Sengoidelc (SHAN-goy-thelg) providesacomprehensiveintroductionto Old Irish grammar and metrics. As an intro-ductorytexttotheIrishlanguagespoken aroundtheeighthcenturyC. E. ,thisessentialvolume, covering allaspects of the grammar inaclear andintu-itive format, isideally suited foruse as a course book or asaguidefortheindependentIeamer.Thishandbook alsowillbeanessentialreferenceworkforstudentsof Indo-European philology and historical linguistics. Stifter leads the novice through the idiosyncrasies of thelanguage,suchasinitialmutationsandthe doubleinflectionofverbs.Filledwithtranslation exercisesbasedonselectionsfromOldIrishtexts,the bookprovidesapracticalintroductiontothelanguage anditsrichhistory.Sengoidelcopensthedoortothe fascinating world of Old Irish literature, famous not only fortheTdin86Cuailnge(TheCattleRaidof Cuailnge) anditslyricalnaturepoetrybut alsoasamajorsource forthe political and legal history of Ireland. Stifter'sstep-by-stepapproachandengagingstyle makehisbookanidealtoolforboththeself-taught individualandthe classroom environment.It willbe of interest to beginning students of Old and Middle Irish, to scholars of Irish history,Celtic culture, and comparative linguistics, and toreaders of Irishliterature. IrishStudic Syracuse UniversitvPress J ./ - USnacusc 1

1 and. Moreover thereisonespecialsignfor'and.' Thediacriticntothatthevariouspossibilitiesmakecanbedemonstratedwithsomeexamples:jbal/ mt>rr1hPr,'jbal'/' members,'/baA/'situation(nom.),'jbat..:j'situation(ace.);'or/rod/'road,' '/ 'roads,' Early Old Irishjro8j 'fierce(sg.),' Early Old Irishjro8'/ 'fierce (pl.).' . Palatalizationmeansthepronunciation of asound withthe back of thetongue raisedto-the palate (roof of themouth) . If you trytopronounce a/i/ immediately following acon-youproduce itspalatalized variant.Non-palatalization, on the other hand, isthe'normal' pronunciation.Inphonologicaltranscriptionspalatalizationisusuallymarkedbyan l'll number of consonantal phonemes in Russian is nearly as high as in Old Irish (see illus. 3.1). 3.2.2.2.LenitionisacomplexphenomenoninOldIrish(andinInsularCelticasa basically it meansthe relaxed' pronunciation of a consonant. In Old Irish lenition means place of articulation ofthe consonant in question more or lessstaysthesame,but in theunlenited pronunciation no perfect occlusion is reachedduring the articulation: the left open a little bit. In the end this can result in sounds that differ markedly from their u variants. 3.2.2.3.jk ptj arepronounced,moreorlesslikeinEnglishorStandardGerman,as stops with a slight aspiration.jb dg f mh/ are pronounced as in English and rp/ Englishand./s/ispronouncedasinEnglishandGerman,butpalatalized pronounced like English or German .jsj and /s'/ are always voiceless in Irish. It matter of dispute if apalatalized variant of /h/ existed, but I set it up in thisbook for reasons. /fJ/ isthe product of nasalization of /g/, and in Old Irish it isalways followed by ispronounced likeinEnglish,but unlikeinEnglish or German the/1)/-sound also appear at the beginning of a word, e.g.,a ngothae faf]go8e/ 'their voices.' 3.2.2.4. For thetranscription of the lenited sounds I use Greek letters. I'll/ispronouncedlike butwithanasalquality.Inotherpublicationsyoumayfind sound transcribed asjv /. jvj2 ismore or less pronounced like German or English single .The unlenited Old Irish on theother hand, ispronounced somewhat stronger,probablytaking abit moretime.In publicationsyoumayfindtheunlenitedsoundtranscribedas/n:/oras/N/,with/n/ used forthe lenited variant. /pf3ispronouncedwithoneflapofthetipofthetongue.TheunlenitedOldIrishjrj on other hand is pronounced with a sequence of trills of the tongue. This opposition issimilar to one in Spanish between in 'but' andin 'dog.' In other publications mayfindtheunlenitedsoundtranscribedas/r:/ oras/R/, with /r/ beingusedforthe variant. /'A/ ismore or lesspronounced likeaGerman or English single.The unlenited Old Irish onthe other handispronounced somewhat stronger, probablytakingabitmoretime.In publications youmay findthe unlenited sound transcribed as /1:/ or as /L/, with /l/ being forthe lenited variant. isalabialsoundasinLatinVergilius.In otherpublicationsyoumay findthissound scribed as jv j. /8/ispronouncedsomewhatliketheEnglishvoiced publications you may findthis sound transcribed as /of. 2Trus sign isa Greek 'ny';do not confuse it with Latin 've'' 1 This sign isa Greek 'rho'; do not confuse it with Latin 'pe'! 4 Maybe,however,thetipof thetonguedidnot restbetweenthetworowsoftheteeth,but rather onthebase ofthe upper teeth (alveols). 18 l.. v Lesson 3 ispronouncedlikeinDutch,ModernGreekorUkrainian,likeintervocallyin orinArabic,thatis,it isthevoicedcounterpart toGerman .Palatalized fy'/ to /if. isactuallythesamesoundas/f/.Itisonlyusedsometimesforsystematicreasonsto ph, that is, lenited p. is pronounced somewhat like the English voiceless in . /x/ispronouncedlikeGermanin;palatalized/x'/ispro-like German in . Sometimes fxf isusedtorepresent this sound. 3.3.Pronunciation rules nowwehavebeentalkingonlyabout the abstract phonological system of OldIrish.Now areturningour attentiontotheactualgraphematic realization,that istheorthographyand pronunciation of written Old Irish. pronunciation rules of Old Irish are very complex. The pronunciation of vowels depends on theystandinaccentedorunaccentedsyllables,orwhethertheyaresimplyusedas forthe palatalization or the non-palatalization of consonants, in which case they are not lrnnt"n,rPriat all.The pronunciation of consonants isdeterminedby their position at the begin-or insidetheword, whether they standinaconsonant cluster or not,andbythe qualityof precedingor followingvowel.Moreoverthesyntacticalpositionwithin thesentencehasan ontherealizationof anlauting5 consonants aswell.But step by step now(fromnow on I put Old Irish graphemes between < >brackets any more, but I willprint them in italics): 3.3.1.c pt c,p,tarepronouncedasvoicelessstops/k pt/ inanlaut,with some aspiration asin English standardGerman,which,however,Iwon'tmarkinthephonologicaltranscription:cor 'the putting,' poll /pol/ 'hole,'to]ftoAf 'wish.' Anlauting pappears only in loan words. Betweenvowelsandinauslaut aftervowelstheyarepronouncedasvoicedstops/g bdf: jbuge/ 'softness, 'boc /bog/ 'soft,'popul /pobuAf'people,'op fob/ 'refusal,'fotaejfodef fotjfodf'length.'Inmostconsonantclustersintheinteriorofwordstheyrepresent sounds aswell,but no absolute rule can begiven forthat:ernae jegvef 'wisdom,'eipret 'they say,' cetnae /k'edve/ 'the same.' After r,1,nintheinterior or in the auslaut of awordno rule can begiven:dercfd'erk/ 'hole,' derc orderg /d'erg/'red,'ole folk/'bad,'dele ordelg /d'elg/ 'thorn;'certa/k'ertaf 'rights,' fkapde/'theywholove,'daltaefdaltef'fosterling,'celtae fk'elde/'theywhohide,'anta 'staying(gen.sg.),'antaefandef'theywhostay.'Takespecialnoteofpairssuchasthe lnll'lwino-altae falte/ '(s)he was reared' andaltae faldef 'they who rear.' Whenwrittendoublec,p, t most oftenmeanvoiceless /k ptf inthe interior or intheauslaut words.Unfortunatelyc,p,tmaybewrittenwithsinglelettersinthesecasesaswell : mac(c) 'son,'boc(c)fbokf'he-goat,'at(t)fatj'the swelling,'at(t)achfataxf'refuge,thepraying,' /sop/ 'wisp,tuft.'Andevenmoreunfortunatelycc,pp,tt maymeanvoiced/g bdf as Note the followingterms: anlaut means absolute word-initial position, inlaut is word-interior position, andauslaut is i' I DSI>Jureword-finalposition. 19 Lesson 3 well:mace /mak/ 'son' andbratt jbratj 'coat' have /k t/, but becc jb'eg/ 'small' andbrott 'goad, whip' have /g d/. 3.3.2.b d g 1.b,d,gare pronounced as voiced stops /b dg/ in anlaut gel jg'eAj 'bright,' bun jbuvj base,' dul jduAj 'the going.' 2.Between vowelsandinauslaut aftervowelstheyare pronounced asvoicedtogujtoyuj 'choice,'mug jmuy /'slave,'dubae'sadness,'dub 'black,'mod 'manner,mode,'badud jbaouo/'thedrowning.'Inmostwordinteriorconsonant clusters arcpronouncedasvoicedfricativesaswell,although,ascanbeseenfromtheexamples 3.3.1.3, they can also stand for /b dg/, especially after r,1,n. 3.If written double bb,dd, gg mean voiced stops /b dg/, e.g., abb jab/ 'abbot.' 4.Aftercertainprocliticelementsandincertainsyntacticalconstructionsinitialb,d,g, p,t, don't havetheir anlaut values, but those of word interior position.More willbe explained this in the chapter about mutations in lesson 4. 3.3.3.ch ph th 1.ch,ph,tharethevoicelessfricatives/x cp8/; ph isidenticalin pronunciation with fech 'horse,'ofphjoicp/'beauty,'athjaej'ford,'achatt jaxatj 'hiscat,'inphfan /iv cpiav/'thepain; mo thech jmo S'ex/ 'my house.' 3.3.4. f 1.fisthevoicelessfricative/f/:feil/f'e'A'/'feast-day,'leicfid /l'eg'f'ao'/'hewilllet.'Incertain syntacticconstructionsit inanlauta feil/a We'A'/'their feast-day.'l(often,especially in oldtexts, also without the punctum delens)represents the 'non-sound'//: a leil,a feil fae/...'f 'his feast-day,' neimlirinnech, neimffrilmech /n'ef!'ip'an'ax/ 'untruthful.' 3.3.5.SX 1.sisthevoicelesssibilant/s/:sailjsa'A'/'willow,'leisjl'es'j'withhim.'Inword-internal position especiallyaftershort vowels,jsj can bewritten with doubless:leiss =leisjl'es'/ 'with him,'cossa=cosa/kosa/'feet.'5(often,especiallyinoldtexts,alsoswithoutthepunctum delens)represents /h/: a sil,a sil ja h'I'A/'his seed, his offspring,'drochsuil,drochsuil jdroxhu/...'f 'evil eye;'x and chs represent the consonant cluster /xs/: foxal,fochsal jfoxsaAj 'abduction.' 3.3.6. r 1 n 1.Inanlaut r,1,narepronouncedasstrong /r 1 nj:r6.njruvj 'secret,'lebor'book,' not /nod/ 'note.' The same istrue for double rr,11,nn:carr /kor/ 'crane,' call jkolj 'hazel,' cenn /k'en/ 'head,'aJlibuirja 'her/theirbooks,'arrfgejar'Iy'e/'the/her/theirkingdom,'cenna /k'ena/ 'heads.' The same pronunciation istrue most of the time forthe position before t,d,s,1,r, n and after s,1,r,n. 2.Betweenvowelsandinauslaut aftervowelssingler,1,narepronouncedaslenitedjp 'Avj: torad/topa8/'fruit,'tala/to'Aa/'desires,'cona/kava/'dogs(ace.pl.),'cor fkopj'contract,'col 20 lor caJ /1< Lesson 3 'sin,'sonjsovj 'sound.' Thesameistrueforanlauting r,1,nwhenprecededbyleniting mo Jebor jmo'my book,' dond noi jdond voif 'to the boat.' 3.3.7.m min anlaut represents fmf:marb'dead.' Intheinteriorofwordsandinauslaut mispronouncedasthebilabial,nasalfricativefflf: jda11a/ 'companies,' dam jdaflf 'ox, stag.' The same istrue foranlauting mwhen preceded a leniting word:a mathair faf1a9ap'/'his mother.' Doublemm alwaysrepresentsfmf:m6raimmjmopam'/'Ipraise,'Jomma/lorna/pluralof jlomj'naked,'ammathairfamaeap'/'her/theirmother.'Unfortunately,allthesecases bewrittenwith asinglemas well:m6raimjmopam'/ 'Ipraise,'lama/lorna/ pluralofJam flom/ 'naked,' a mathair famaeap'/ 'her/their mother.' 3.3.8. nd mb 1.InearlyOldIrishnd andmb stoodforjnd/ andjmbj (alsointhebeginning ofwords).But fromlateOldIrishonwardstheywerepronouncedas/n/ and/m/ andare freelyinterchange-able with 1mand mm in the manuscripts. 3.3.9.h 1.Intheearliestsourcesof OldIrishhseemstobean empty letter,whichmeansthat it stands fornothing(except in the digraphs ch,ph,th,where it marks lenition) . One theorysaysthat the letterh beforevowelsin theanlaut of short words wasusedtomake thewordlookbigger:e.g., hi /if'in,'hi /if adeicticparticle,huairjuap'j'hour,because.'Phonetic/h/ thatresultsfrom lenitionofsiswritten5ors:asuil,asui]fahnA.'j.Phonetic/h/ thatresultsfromaspiration ('h-mutation')isusuallynotwritten:aechfah'exf 'her horse,'innaEirenn/inah'ep'an/ 'of Ire-land.'6Inlatertextsandmanuscripts, however,written husuallydoes representthesound /h/, thoughinstances of cases like hi for /i/ also occur frequently. 3.3.10.Vowels 1.Theshort vowelsa, e,i,o,u are pronouncedwiththeir own qualityonlyinstressed syllables andinabsoluteauslaut, thatisinthe last syllable if no other consonant follows:damjdaflf 'ox, stag,'fer /f'ep/ 'man,'fir /f'ip'/ 'men,'talajtoA.aj 'desires,' subach 'happy,' tuatha ftuaeaj 'tribes, nations,'ct!!ile /k'eA.'e/ 'client,' ceili jk'eA.'ij 'clients,' innasulo /ina suA.o/ 'of the eye,'a iiru ja ipu/ 'oh men!' 2.In OldIrish all nouns and adjectives are stressed on the first syllable.?Only some adverbs, e.g., thosestartingwithin-,arestressedonthesecondsyllable.Wherenecessary,theaccentin 6For a differentopinion onthenatureof OldIrishhinthe earliest sources PeterSCHRIJVfR,'OntheNature and Origin of Word-InitialH- inthe Wtirzburg Glosses,' Eriu 48(1997),205-227. 7Thisdefinitiononlyholdstruefromamodem point of view of Old Irish partsof speech under theassumptionthat articles,prepositions and other particles are separate words of their own. It seems, however, that in earliest timesIrish men of lettershadadifferent concept of 'words.' Judging by the spellings found, for exampl e,in the OldIrishglosses, itwouldemergethat anythingthat fellunder onestresswasconceivedtobelongtoasingleword.Inthefollowing two examplesthestressedvowelshave anunderstroke:'he imitates mymanners'was spelledwithtwo orthographic wordsinWb.9a15ins!!_mlatharsidewhereaswewouldtodaywriteinsamlathar-sidemobcsu-sa;or tresinfyil stQridiadQparar each diE.forsindi!_ltoiJ ( Wb.20d13)' throughthespiritualbloodwhichisofferedeveryday 21 Lesson 3 phonologicaltranscriptionsisrepresentedbytheacute< ">:indiujin'd'i1,1/'today,' /inQpa8'/'lastyear,'a/aileja'AJ.J...:ej'theother,some.'Somewordclasseslike possessivepronounsandarticlesareunstressed.Incompoundverbs,whichmeansverbs consist of morethan onlytheverbal root plus ending, at the beginning of the sentence the fallsonthesecondelement; in factthesecondelement istreatedasthebeginning ofthe alsoin other respects. Inthisbookthe second element in the 'verbal complex' will bemarked aprecedingmid-highdot;B thestressfallsimmediatelyafterthedot:as-beirjas-b'gp'f says,' condid-nderofmed jkond'a8-n'd'_g,oill'a8'/ 'so that he should protect him.' 3. In non-finalunstressedsyllablesallshort vowels except forurepresent /a/ 'schwa,'that short, murmured sound without fullvocalic quality. How this schwa is spelled isdetermined the quality of the surrounding consonants:9 3.1./CaCj: Ifbothsurroundingconsonantsarenon-palatalized,schwaisspelledwitha:tabart 'the giving.' 3.2./CaCj: or If theprecedingconsonant isnon-palatalizedandthefollowingispalatalized,schwais spelled with ai or i:formait or formit jformad'/ 'envy.' 3.3. /C'aCj: If theprecedingconsonantispalatalizedandthefollowingisnon-palatalized,schwais spelled with e:epert jeb'art/ 'the saying.' 3.4. /C'aC'j: If both consonants are palatalized, schwa isspelled with i:baitsid jbat's'a8'/ 'he baptizes.' Note the possibility of confusion with case 3.2. Etymologicalspellings canoverruletheserules.Inthevicinityof labialsounds(m,b, p)schwa can be represented by o oru,e.g.,the personal nameConchobor Whereu is found in anunstressed,non-finalsyllableitmeansthat/u/ andnotfa/schwaisthesoundtobepro-nouncedinthissyllable;iu inunstressed syllablesstands forjuj afterapalatalized consonant, e.g.,fothugud /fo8uyu8/ 'the establishing,' Ieiciud /l'eg'u8/ 'the letting.' 4. The long vowels a, e,i,6,u are pronounced longer than their short counterparts. They always retaintheirownquality,irrespectiveoftheirposition.Forjejsometimesa?orkiswritten. Sometimes, especiallyinearlytexts,thelength ofavowelcan be indicatedbythe double spell-ing of the vowel, e.g.,rii or rfi jr'ij 'king.' It seems asifat no stage of medieval Irish history the markingofvowellengthbythesfneadh!adaiswritten,the preceding isnot palatalized. 23 Lesson 3 palatalized consonant:gaib /gaW/ 'take!,'beir fb'ep'/ 'carry!,'6ir jcp'/ 'ofthegold,'duin 'of the fort'etc.Realdiphthongs are written af,ae,of,6e,uf (see 3.3.10.5.above). The af andof areusuallyusedbeforepalatalized consonants;aeand6e are consistently used non-palatalized consonants. 5.If followedbyoneofthebackvowelsa,o,u,a,6,u,anyconsonantisnon-palatalized. consonant in auslaut is non-palatalized if no i precedes it. 6.Tocomplicate matters, inunstressedword interior syllables i may followdirectly a talizedconsonant or ana can beinsertedbefore it:berid andberaid can both stand for 'he may carry'12(see 3.3.10.3 above) . 7.In words of one syllable with ior f astheir vowel no distinction between palatalization or palatalization of theauslauting consonant canbemade:inind /m'ind/ nom.sg. of 'diadem,' mind/m'in'd'/gen.sg.of'diadem.'InlatertimesandinModernIrishorthographyano written in such cases toindicate non-palatalization: mi01m /m'inj. 8.Inabsoluteauslaut thefollowingconventionsareused:-i and-e may followdirectlya palatalizedconsonant,orapurelyorthographicala canbeinsertedbeforethem:dalte, /dalte/'fosterling,'dalti,daltai/dalti/'fosterlings'(spellingslikedalteordaltiareof ambiguous, astheycouldtheoreticallyalsoindicateapalatalized consonant beforetheej1). standsfora/u/ afterapalatalizedconsonant:Laigniu,Lagniu/lay'v'u/ 'inhabitantsofLe (ace.pl.);'-eaand-eostandforfa/andjojafterpalatalizedconsonants:doirsea, jdop's'a/ 'doors,'toimseo j t o ~ ' s ' o j'measure (gen. sg.).' 3.3.12. One final word You'll findtablesdisplaying the spellings of Old Irish phonemes in Appendix F.1and F.2.In the previous pages many subtleties of Old Irishorthography hadtobe silentlypassed over inorder nottoextendthelength of the lesson.Certain aspects of the orthography changed over the cen-turies,andthescribesoftenconfusedoldandmodernspellingconventions,sothatinthe manuscripts youwill hardly ever encounter textsthat conform 100%tothe rules laid out above. Inreality OldIrishorthographyismuch more complicated, andtheonly waytocometoterms with it istoread and read and read ... \( Illustration 3.3:A sheep after having triedtomaster Old Irish orthography 12Note:berid can stand forbeirid /b'ep'ao'/ ' he carries' andberaid /b'epao'/ ' hemay carry'! 24 T p tl Lesson 3 3.4. Sample texts with phonological analysis 3.4.1Scellemm duib Thefollowingisan Old Irishpoem aboutthe coming of winter in OldIrishorthographyanda phonologicaltranscription.I followedGerardMURPHY(EarlyIrishLyrics,Oxford1956:160)in thewording, but I adapted the orthography of the poem a little bit. The translation israther free. Scellemm duibphonological transcriptionNews of Winter Scellemm duib:s'k'eA. !'em dul)'News for you, dordaid dam, dordao' da1-1 hear stags bell, snigid gaim, s'n'iy'ao' gal!' winter snows, ro-faith sam; ro-fa8'sal! summer's gone; gaeth ard uar, gai8 ard uapwind, strong, cold, fselgrian,Is'aA.g'r'iavsun is low, gair a rith,gap' ar'i8short his course, ruirthech rfan; rup'8'ax r'ia v heavy sea; roruad rath, ropuao rae fern rust-red, ro-cleth cruth, rok'l'e8krue lost its shape, rogab gnath r o - g a ~gnae wild-goose cries giugrann guth; g'ilJ.ypangue usual cry; rogab uacht r o g a ~uaxt cold takes hold etti en, et'i h'ev of birds' wings, aigre re:ay'p'e r'etime of ice: e mo scel.e mo s'k'eA.that's my news. 3.4.2 The opening sentences of ScelaMuicce Meic Dath6 Thefollowingpassageistaken(againwithsomeslightadaptationsinspelling)fromRudolf THuRNEYSEN'seditionof ScelaMucce MeicDath6 'The Taleof MacDaTh6'sPig'(DublinInsti-tuteforAdvancedStudies.Medieval and Modern Irish Series 6,Dublin 1935).The phonological transcription and the translation again are mine. 25 Lesson 3 Text:Phonological Transcription: Boi ri amrae forLaignib, Mac Dath6 aainm. BoicU.occo.ImdfchedincU.Laigniuuili. Ailbe ainm in chon, ocus ba lan Eriudia air-dircusin chon.Doeth 6Ailillocus 6Meidb dochungidin chon.Immalledanatancatar ocustechtaUlad ocus Chonchobair do chun-gidinchonchetnai.Roferadfailtefriuuili, ocus ructha cuci-sium isin mbrudin.Issf-sin in ch6icedbruden ro boi i nErinn isind aim-sir-sin,ocusbrudenDa-DergierichCua-lannocusbrudenForgaillManaichocus brudenMaicDa-Reoi mBrefniocusbruden Da-Choca i n-iarthur Midi. boir'i foplay'v'aW,makdaeoaan'm'. boikaago.im'd'rx'a8inkalay'v'uhuA.'i. aA.'Wean'm' in xov,ogusbalavep'ud'ia ap'-8'ar'k'usin xov.doe8oaA.'al'ogusodoxuiJ'g'a8'inxov.imal'edav6tavgadap ogus t'extauA.a8ogus do XU1J'g'a8' inxovxedvi.rof'epa8fal't'ef'r'ihuhuA.'i, oguspugeais'avmbru8'av'.iss'I-s'iv'inxog'a8 iv'ep'an'is'and am's'ap'-s'iv',ogus 13pu8'an da-()'erg ig'r'rx'kua-A.anogusorgal' ogus oa-p'el,lim'b'r'ef'v'iogusda-xoga i v'iap8up Translation: Therewas afamousking over theLaigin(Leinster-men), MacDa-Th6 his name.He had adog.The dog usedtoguard allLaigin.Ailbethe name ofthedog, and Ireland was fullof the dog'srenown. There came (men) from Ailill and from Medb toask for thedog.At thesametimethentheycame andthemessengersoftheUlaid(Ulster-men)andof Conchobar cametoaskforthesamedog.Welcome wasgiventoallof them, and they were brought tohim in the hostel.This isthe fifthhostelthat existed inIrelandatthattime,andthehostelofDa-DerginthedistrictofCualuandthe hostelofForgallManachandthehostelofMacDa-ReoinBreifneandthehostelof Da-Choca in the West of Mide. Illustration 3.4:Pangur Ban 3.5.Exercise NowtryyourownluckintranscribinganOldIrish poem.It isthe famouspoem about themonk and his cat, foundinamanuscriptinthemonasteryofSt.Paulim LavanttalinAustria(Thes.ii293.14-294.4).Don'tbe afraid of making mistakes. Do it like the monk and his cat Pangur: catch whatever comes into your net.And should nothing come into your net, just enjoy the poem. 26 Messe ocus Pangur ban Meisse ocus Pangur Ban, cechtar nathar frfasaindan; bfth amenma-sam friseilgg, mu menma cein im saincheirdd. Caraimm-se fos,ferr each chi, ocmu lebran leir ingnu. Ni foirmtechfrimm Pangur Ban, caraid cesin a maccdan. 6rubiam (scel cen scfs) innar tegdais ar n-6endfs, taithiurm (dfchrichide clius) ni fris tarddam ar n-athius. Gnath huaraib ar gressaib gal glenaid luch irmalin-sam; OSme, dufuit im lin chein dliged ndoraid cu ndroncheill. Fuachaid-sem frifregafal a rose anglese comlan. Fuachaimm chein frifegifis mu rose reil, cesu imdis. Failid-sem cu ndeine dul, hinglen luch irma gerchrub; hitucu cheist ndoraid ndil, os me cheine am failid. Cia beimmi ammin nach re, ni derban each a cheile. maith lacechtar nar a dan, subaigthius a 6enuran. He feisin as choimsid dau in muid dungni each 6enlau. Du thabairt doraid du gle for mu mud cein am meisse. Lesson 3 27 The Scholar and his Cat Myself and Pangur Ban, each of us at his own art. His mind isalwaystumed tohunting, my own mind tomy special trade. I love it quiet, better than fame, while eagerly studying mybook. Pangur isnot envious of me, he loves his own childish art. When we two are (no fatigue) alone in our house, we have something (unlimited sport) to point our attention to. Regularly, after a violent rush, amouse clings to his net. And I, into myown net falls, a dark, but important statement. Towards the wall he points his bright and penetrating glare. Towards the keenness of knowledge I point my own clear, but weak glare. He rejoices in dashing around, when a mouse clings to his sharp claw; when I grasp adark but dear problem, it isI myself who rejoices. Though we are like this alltime, no-one disturbes the other. Each of us loves his art, and is glad in it alone. He himself ishis master of the job he does each single day. But to bring dark to light, in myown way, that's what I do. Lesson 3 3.6.Exercise And nowgoaheadwith alonger pieceof prose.Ittellsaboutthearrivalof thegreatest the Ulaid(inhabitants of the northern Irish province of Ulster)Cu Chulairm as a small boy of yearsatthecourt of theprovince'skingConchobar mac Nessa.The passage istaken from STRACHAN'sStoriesfromtheTain(Dublin1904),abeginners'readerinOldIrishsaga youwanttoreadthewholestoryoftheCattleRaidofCuailnge,thetranslationof KINSELLA(TheTain,OxfordUniversityPress1970)canberecommended.Trytoanalyze word on its own. 'Altae-somem,'olFergus,'lamathair7laathairocondAirgdigimMaigMu Ad-fessad6airscelaenamaccraideinEmain.Arbfittrfc6ecait maceand,'olFergus,'oca chiu.Issamlaid do-meilConchobar aflaith:trian ind laf ocdeicsin na maccraide, atrian n-aill imbirtfidchille,atriann-ailloc6ulchormae,conidgaibcotludde.Ciabeimmi-nifor riam, nf-fili nEire 6claig bas amru,' olFergus. 'GuididCuChulainndiamathairdidiualeiciuddochummnamaccraide.''Nf-regae," ol mathair,"condit-roib cofmthecht dianrothaib Ulad.""Rochfanlemm-saanadfrisodain," ol Chulainn."Inchoisc-siudam-sacedlethat-taEmain.""Fathuaidammne,"olamathair,"7 doraid a n-uide," olsf,"at-ta Slfab Fuait etruib." "Do-ber indass fair,"olCu Chulainn, "ammin." Teitassfarum,7ascfathslissenlaiss7abunsach7alorganae7alfathr6it.Fo-ceirded bunsaig riam conda-gaibed ar loss resfu do-rotsad abun for lar. Teit cosna maccu farum cen naidmm a f6esma forru.Ar nf-teiged nech cuccu inna cluic co-n-arnastaeaf6esam.Nf-fitir-soman-f-sin."Non-saraigedarinmace,"olFollomon Conchobuir, "sech ra-fetammar isdi Ultaib d6." Arguntais d6. Maidid f6o. Fo-cerdat atrf c6ecta bunsach fair,7 ar-sissetar isin scfath slissen uilileis-seom.Fo-cerdat alfathr6itiuili fair-seom.Ocus nos-gaib-seom each n-ofn lfathr6it inna ucht.Fo-cerdat dano a c6ecta lorg n-anae fair.Araclich-som connach-rancatar, 7 gabais airbir diib friaaiss. Rfastarthaeimbi-seomisuidiu.Indalatbatindorcunasn-orteachfoiltneinnachenn coimeirge con-erracht. Inda lat ba ofbell teined bof for each 6enfinnu. Iadais indala suil letha indaas cr6 snathaite.As-oilgg alailicombo m6ir beolu fidchoich.Do-rig dia glainfni co-rrici a au.As-oilg a beolu coa inairdriuch combo ecnae ainchr6es. At-recht in Juan laith assa mulluch. Benaidfonamaccufarum.Do-scarac6ecaitmacediibresiurfstaisdorusnEmna.Fo-rrumai n6nbar diibtoram-sa7 Chonchobar; bammar ocimbirt fidchille.Lingid-som dano tarsin fidchill i ndegaid ind n6nbuir. Gaibid Conchobar arigid."Nf maith ar-railter in maccrad," olConchobar. "Deithbir dam-sa, a phopa Conchobuir," olse."Dosroacht do chluichiu 6m thaig 6m mathair 7 6m athair, 7 nfmaith ro-mbatar friumm.""Ciath'ainm-siu?" olConchobor."Setantae mace Sualtaim atom-chomnaicc-se,7 maceDechtiredo fethar-su.Nibud6igmochoinferesund.""Cednaro-nassdo f6esam-so danoforsnamaccu?"olConchobar."Nf-fetar-saan-f-sin,"olCuChulainn."Gaibitlaimmo f6esam airriu didiu." "Atmu," olConchobar. Lasodaindo-ella-somforsinmaccraidsechn6nintige."Cidno-tafdanodoibindossa?"ol Conchobar."Co-ronastar af6esam-somform-sadano,"olCuChulainn."Gaibit!aimdidiu," ol Conchobar. "Atmu," olCu Chulainn. Lotaruiliisacluichemagfarum,7ata-rechtatarinmaicc-hfro-slassaand.Fos-rathatara muimmi 7 a n-aitti.' 28 Or sr ce th E1 la u Lesson 4 4.1. The initial mutations ofthemost striking featuresof allInsular Celticlanguages arethe so-calledmutations,the changesintheanlautofwords,governedbythesyntacticalpropertiesofthepre-word.Mutationsseemtobe an exclusivelyInsularCelticmorphonematicphenomenon: isnocertainevidencethatContinentalCeltichadanything ofthatkind.Inthecontextof languagesinitialmutationstakeup an'exotic'position:noother European standard hasthem,but,forexample,inanumberofdialectsofRomancelanguages(Andal-Sardian, etc.)comparable phenomena occur. giveyouanimpression of howmutations operate and what they can look like(observe only changesintheanlaut of the followingwords,don'tbeworried aboutthe changesinthein-andin theend) : echmeans'horse,'becc means'small. 'Withthearticle in, the nominative 'thesmallhorse' isrealized as int ech becc /int ex b'egj. In the genitive the whole phrase ind eichbicc find ex' Wig'/ -nothing has changed inthe anlaut of eich, but the anlaut of fb'eg/ was lenited tobicc /Wig'/, due tothe influence of the formeich.In the accusative the becomesin n-ech mbecc /in n'exm'b'egj:annwasaddedtotheanlaut ofech, andina waybecc was nasalizedtombecc /m'b'eg/, allthese changestriggeredbythepreceding formsare those formsthat are actually encountered in the texts. If you want tolook up inthe dictionary you always have to look forthe unmutated form. 4.2.The mutations of Old Irish Irish hasthree different types of mutations (British languages can have even more) : 1.lenition (Mod. Ir. seimhiu) 2.nasalization ('eclipsis')(Mod.Ir.ur6.) 3.aspiration ('h-mutation') nmhnr'"usuallyaffectwordswithinaphrase(nounphrase,verbalphrase).Phrasesarethe parts of the sentence, that is subject, object, prepositional phrase,verb, etc.Totake an example:inthesentenceMybigbrothercanseethesmali,spottedpuppyhappily intheblooming gardenwitha group of children, thesubject phrase is'mybigbrother,' small,spottedpuppy'istheobjectphrase,'inthebloominggarden'and'withagroupof are prepositional phrases and 'can see' isthe verbalphrase. usually,althoughnotabsolutely,havenoeffectacrossthephraseboundary.That that,e.g.,thelastwordinasubjectphrasewouldnotaffectthefirstwordofanobject eventhoughthelatter would immediately followthe first.In Early Old Irish mutational even across phrase boundaries may be encountered. 29 Lesson 4 4.3.Lenition Lenition basically means that consonants are pronounced in amore relaxed way than usual. placeofarticulationstaysthesame,butunlikewithstops,thetongueorthelipsdonot pletelysealoffthestreamofairflowingthroughthemouth.Lenitiononlyaffectsrnr"''""""' cmlautingvowelsdonotchange.Thelenitedpronunciationofconsonantsper5eis exoticat all; in fact this happens allthe time in many languages (think of the way tt in words matter ispronouncedinAmericanEnglish,orhowbispronouncedinawordlikelieber AustrianGerman),thoughinmostlanguagesthisremainsavariantpronunciation, createsno differencein meaning.Thisishowlenition started off in Irishand Insular Celtic as whole,too.ButtheInsularCelticlanguagesunderwentaseriesofdecisivechangesin prehistory, whichinthe end resultedin grammatical systems where the lenited articulation of sound made an important difference in meaning. The exact way in which this 'relaxation' isrealized for each consonant in Old Irish can be seen illustration4.2.Theentryundertheheading'lenited'showsyouhowthelenitedsounds Illustration 4.1:Relaxation realized in pronunciation. Unfortunately in most cases there is distinctioninorthographybetweentheunlenitedsounds theirlenited counterparts(b,d,g,m, n,r,I,5,f).Onlywith p, c, and 52isthe lenited form always graphically distinct . In the casesonesimplyhastoknowfromthecontextwhenlenition is present.Youwilllearnthisinthecourseoftime.Unlikein Old Irish,inModernIrishorthographylenitionisconsistentlymarked:lenitedconsonantsalways have an h after them. Note:Inillustrations4.2and4.3theconsonantsstandforpalatalizedandnon-palatalized con-sonants alike. unrnutatedlenitedwrittenunmutatedlenitedwritten m /11/ mp / ~ / ph n/v/nc /xi ch r /p/ rt/9/th /AI Ib I ~ / b s1(fobviouslystruckthespeakersofIrish themselves asvery peculiar, asit was soon given up in favor of 5> hllike in the vast majority of cases.5isnot affected by lenition when followed by p,t,c, m. 1Scottish Gaelic, however, behaved differently fromIrish. 30 2. 3. b 0 \J 4 l Lesson 4 actually lenitedto I jzero, which may be spelled 1,for not at all. theoldest time both with s1and with !lenition was not indicated in spelling, e.g.,could standfor/f/ and for/ j:afinefaf'iv'e/'her family'andafineja iv'e/'hisfamily.'It was during the Old Irish period that the punctum delens ,the dot put overs and f,came into to indicate the lenited variants:a line ja iv'e/ 'his family.' ispreventedwhenthefinalconsonant oftheleniting wordandtheconsonant tobe are'homorganic,'that is,when theyare articulatedatthe same placeinthemouth.This tothedental sounds(/d tl ns/),thelabial sounds (/b pm/)andtheguttural sounds (/g 4.4.Leniting forms takes place after the following words and forms: 1.certain prepositions (e.g.,arL 'in front of,'immL 'around,'doL' to, for,' etc.) 2.certain conjw1ctions(e.g., maL 'if,' ocusL 'and,' etc.) 3.certain possessive pronouns and infixed pronouns (e.g., moL 'my,'doL'thy,' aL'his,' -mL 'me,' -tL 'thee,' etc.) 4. certaincaseendings withinnoun phrases(e.g.,gen.sg.,prep.sg.and nom.pl.of the o-stems, nom. sg.and prep. sg of the a-stems, etc.) 5.incertain syntactical constructions (certain relative clauses, etc.) beworriednow;youwilllearn alltheleniting wordsand formsattheappropriatetime. l A W ' " ~ ' " ~ "forlenited forms: peccad /p'ekaoj 'sin' tech jt'ex/ 'house' ciall /k'ialj 'sense' ben /b'ev j'woman' duan /duav/ 'poem' gair /gap'/ 'a shout' mathair jmaeap'/ 'mother' nel /n'eA/ 'cloud' leth /l'e9/ 'side' riar /r'iap/ 'will, wish' soilse jsol's'ej 'brightness' siur /s'itip/ 'sister' frecrae /f'r'egpe/ 'answer' ainm /an'm'/ 'name' mo pheccad jmo *tel}teh2s prep.{R)C'LmaithL*toe! *tol}taj ''*tel}teh2ei, -eh2i ace. C NtuaithN*toeev*to!} tam*tel}teh2m voc.{L)CLaLthuathL*toea*tol}ta*tel} te(h2) (L}CaHtuathaH*toeah*tol}tas*tel}teh2es gen.{L)CNmathN*toeav*tol}tom ()*tel}teh2om prep.{L}CaWtuathaib *tol}tabis ()*tel} teh2bhis,-eh2bhos ace.{L}CaHmathaH*toeah*tol}tas*tel} teh2ns voc.{L}CaHaLthuathaH*to8ah*tol}tas*tel}teh2es .,a.,v.du.(R)C' LdfLthuaithL*toei*tol}tai*tel}teh2ih1 gen.{L)CLdaLthuathL*toeo*tO\} tO\}( )*tel} teh2h1oh1s,-(H)oh1 u prep.{L)CaWNdibNtuathaib"* *tol}tabim *tel}teh2bhih1,-moh1? Illustration 10.1: The standard a-stem declension 10.2. Variants of the a-stem declension usuallythestem finalconsonant becomespalatalized inthegen.sg.(cp.maithe), anum-ofwordsareexemptfromthisrule.Thesearewordswherethestemendsin aconsonant e.g.,delb'form'ordeacht/d'eaxt/'divinity,'thegen.sg.ofwhicharedelbae anddeachtae /d'eaxte/ respectively. Words in -cht /xt/ never palatalize their auslauting inthewholeparadigm.Someofthealternations(changes)thatweencounteredin have to be taken into consideration with a-stems as well. Thediphthongfaofthenom. sg.changesintoe incaseswherethefollowingconsonantbe-palatalized:e.g., dall /k'ialj 'sense,' gen.sg.ceille /k'el 'e/, br[athar /b'r'ia8dp/ 'word,' prep. breithir jb'r'e8'dp' I. Inwordsofmorethanonesyllabletheusualsyncoperules(see6.8.5)havetobeobserved. meansthat in formswhere an extrasyllable isadded asan ending (inthegen.sg. andthe 59 Lesson 10 nom.,ace.andprep.pl.)thevowelofeverysecond, non-finalsyllablehastobedeleted. onehastopay attention towhether thedeletedvowelwashistoricallyafrontor back thevowelwashistoricallyafrontvowel(e,i,e,1),theresultingconsonantcluster palatalized,irrespectiveofwhetheroneoftheconsonantswouldhavebeen withoutsyncope,e.g. ,buidenjbuo'av/'troop,'ace.pl.buidneajbuo'v'a/.The historicallyan*jhere.If itwasabackvowel(a,o,u,a, o, u),theresultingconsonant becomesnon-palatalized,irrespectiveof whether oneoftheconsonantswouldhavebeen talizedwithoutsyncope,e.g.,digal /d'IyaAf'revenge,'gen. sg.dfglae /d'Iy'Ae/.Thevowel historically an *a here. Manywords,however,areexemptfromtheeffectsofsyncope.Inwordslikeingen 'daughter,girl,'syncopehasalreadytakenplacehistorically(position immediatelybeforethe stress. 78 Lesson 15 leadstothefollowingsysteminOldIrishasregardsdependentandindependentverbal (forms with conjunct endings are underlined): simple verbs (e.g., scaraid) compound verbs (e.g.,doscara) independent absolute ending scaraid deuterotonic form doscara Illustration 15.2: Dependenc(' andindependence dependent conjunct ending (nf) scara prototonic form (nf) tascra mttwtrntelythisisnot allthat hastobe saidabout deutero- and prototonicverbalforms.The of the accent one position tothe left has heavy consequences. The accent shift means that in prototonicformthe verb usually has one syllable morethan it hadin thedeuterotonic form. uentlyacompletelydifferentsyncope-patternapplies,andtheresultingformcandiffer fromthe form we started from. lookat W1adella/a8ela/ 'tovisit' first.Inthedeuterotonic formtheaccentliesonthee. partoftheverbwhichliesunderthestress(-ella)hastwosyllables,thereforeno syncope . But when we put it into its prototonic form the stress now fallson ad-,upon which -ella atelyfollows. Wewouldget *adella.Thisform,however,hasmorethantwo syllables, ltlorot"''"syncopehastoapply.Thesyncoperuleisthatthevowelofeverysecond,non-final isdeleted. Inthiscasetheeof *adellaisaffectedbydeletion.Sinceeisafrontvowel syncopationof afrontvowel entailspalatalization ofallsurrounding consonants,thed/8/ the 11 /If become palatalized, so that we end up with /a8'l'a/, which iswritten aidlea. often even more changes take place.Let's look at the other examples we have had so far. adrfmi 'tocount'becomes *adrfmi firstofall.d/8/ islostbeforer,but beforeit itlengthensthevowelinfrontofit(=compensat01y lengthening),sothatweget Nowsyncopeapplies:1 inthesecondsyllableisafrontvowelsothatallsurrounding are palatalized by its syncopation. The result is writteneN,CNmaitheN, maithNalltae1\allaidN O')awmaithiballtaibO')aWmaithiballtaib O')iHmaithiHalltaiH C(')jH maithiHalltaiH 0 ')iHaLmaithiHaLalltaiHO'liLaLmaithiHaLa11taiH 20.4: i-stemadjectives 20.4.Exercise some ofthe following worqs.Declinethemtogether with the article.Combine them with adjectivesallaid/alao'/'wild,'maith/maS'/'good,'sainemail/sav'alla'A'/'excellent'(fern. sg.sainemlae),sochraid jsoxpao'/ 'beautiful, handsome' (fern.gen. sg.sochraide). a cuirm /kur'm'/ (i,n)'beer, ale' in buachaill jbuaxal'/ (i,m) 'lad, cowherd, cowboy' (gen.buachalla) ind haith /flaB'/ (i,f)'sovereignty, rule, ruler, prince' a ndruimm /drum'/ (i,n)'back' in tailm jtal'm'/ (i,f)'sling' (gen.telmo) Illustration 20.5: Notlaic ' Christmas' 99 Lesson 21 21.1. The conjugated prepositions 2 Here followthe inflectedforms of those four Old Irish prepositions that cantake boththe prep-ositionaland theaccusative(theprepositionalusuallyexpressing the position or theplacement somewhere, andtheaccusativeexpressing thedirection or themovement somewhere). There is nodifferenceinforminthel5tand2ndpersonsbetweenthetwocases,but inthe3rdpersons there are alwaystwo distinct forms , one forthe prepositional and one for the accusatival usage. personarL'for, on account of, in front of'foL'under' endingtranscriptionendingtranscription 1st sg.airium, erumfap'um epum/fawnjfoym foi.im?/ 2ndsg. airiut, erutjap'ud epud/fout/foyt foi.it?/ 3dsg.m., n.prep.airiu/ap'u/f6u,f 6jfoy foj ace.airi/ap'if foi /foil 3rdsg. f .prep.n/an/a ace.airrefar'e/fo