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LINGUISTICS I IRISH STUDIES

"A welcome and friendly guide for those who would like to know more about the language and literature of early medieval Ireland." - J0 s (· p II "'-\G ' , author of Conversing with Angels and Ancients: Literary Myths of Medieval Ireland

David Stifter 's Sengoidelc (SHAN-goy-thelg) provides a comprehensive introduction to Old Irish grammar and metrics. As an introductory text to the Irish language spoken around the eighth century

C. E . ,

this essential volume,

covering all aspects of the grammar in a clear and intuitive format, is ideally suited for use as a course book or as a guide for the independent Ieamer. This handbook also will be an essential reference work for students of Indo-European philology and historical linguistics. Stifter leads the novice through the idiosyncrasies of

Photo by Michaela Swobod a-Hottinger

DA VID S TI FTE R

is a lecturer at

the language, such as initial mutations and the

the lnstitut fi.ir Sprachwissen-

double inflection of verbs. Filled with translation

schaft at the University of

exercises based on selections from Old Irish texts, the book provides a practical introduction to the language and its rich history. Sengoidelc opens the door to the fascinating world of Old Irish literature, famous not only

Vienna and chair of Brennos, the Austrian Society for Celtic Studies. He has been teaching Old Irish courses for almost ten years.

for the Tdin 86 Cuailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cuailnge) and its lyrical nature poetry but also as a major source for the political and legal history of Ireland. Stifter's step-by-step approach and engaging style make his book an ideal tool for both the self-taught individual and the classroom environment. It will be of interest to beginning students of Old and Middle Irish, to scholars of Irish history, Celtic culture, and comparative linguistics, and to readers of Irish literature.

ISBN 0-8156-3072-7

Irish Studic

Syracuse Universitv Press J

- U

Snacusc

./

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1 and. Moreover there is one special sign for 'and.' The diacritic nt·o that the various possibilities make can be demonstrated with some examples: jbal/ mt>rr1hPr,' jbal'/ 'members,' /baA/ 'situation (nom.),' jbat..:j 'situation (ace.);' or /rod/ 'road,' '/ 'roads,' Early Old Irish jro8j 'fierce (sg.),' Early Old Irish jro8'/ 'fierce (pl.).' . Palatalization means the pronunciation of a sound with the back of the tongue raised tothe palate (roof of the mouth) . If you try to pronounce a /i/ immediately following a conyou produce its palatalized variant. Non-palatalization, on the other hand, is the 'normal' pronunciation. In phonological transcriptions palatalization is usually marked by an l'll

3.2.2.2. Lenition is a complex phenomenon in Old Irish (and in Insular Celtic as a basically it means the ·relaxed' pronunciation of a consonant. In Old Irish lenition means place of articulation of the consonant in question more or less stays the same, but in the unlenited pronunciation no perfect occlusion is reached during 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 p tj are pronounced, more or less like in English or Standard German, as stops with a slight aspiration. jb d g f m h/ are pronounced as in English and German,/~ rp/ English and . /s/ is pronounced as in English and German, but palatalized pronounced like English or German . jsj and /s'/ are always voiceless in Irish. It matter of dispute if a palatalized variant of /h/ existed, but I set it up in this book for reasons. /fJ/ is the product of nasalization of /g/, and in Old Irish it is always followed by is pronounced like in English , but unlike in English or German the /1)/-sound also appear at the beginning of a word, e.g., a ngothae fa f]go8e/ 'their voices.' 3.2.2.4. For the transcription of the lenited sounds I use Greek letters.

I'll/

is pronounced like /~/, but with a nasal quality. In other publications you may find sound transcribed as jv /.

jvj2 is more or less pronounced like German or English single . The unlenited Old Irish on the other hand, is pronounced somewhat stronger, probably taking a bit more time. In publications you may find the unlenited sound transcribed as /n:/ or as /N/, with /n/ used for the lenited variant.

/pf3

is pronounced with one flap of the tip of the tongue. The unlenited Old Irish jrj on other hand is pronounced with a sequence of trills of the tongue. This opposition is similar to one in Spanish between in 'but' and in 'dog.' In other publications may find the unlenited sound transcribed as /r:/ or as /R/, with /r/ being used for the variant.

/'A/ is more or less pronounced like a German or English single . The unlenited Old Irish on the other hand is pronounced somewhat stronger, probably taking a bit more time. In publications you may find the unlenited sound transcribed as /1:/ or as /L/, with /l/ being for the lenited variant. /~/ is a labial sound as in Latin Vergilius. In other publications you may find this sound scribed as jv j.

/8/ is pronounced somewhat like the English voiced publications you may find this sound transcribed as /of.

Trus sign is a Greek 'ny'; do not confuse it with Latin 've'' This sign is a Greek

'rho'; do not confuse it with Latin

'pe'! 4 Maybe, however, the tip of the tongue did not rest between the two rows of the teeth, but rather on the base of the upper teeth (alveols). 2

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l..

v

Lesson 3

is pronounced like in Dutch, Modern Greek or Ukrainian, like intervocally in or in Arabic, that is, it is the voiced counterpart to German . Palatalized fy'/ to /if. is actually the same sound as /f/. It is only used sometimes for systematic reasons to ph, that is, lenited p . is pronounced somewhat like the English voiceless in .

/x/ is pronounced like German in ; palatalized /x'/ is prolike German in . Sometimes fxf is used to represent this sound. 3.3. Pronunciation rules now we have been talking only about the abstract phonological system of Old Irish. Now are turning our attention to the actual graphematic realization, that is the orthography and pronunciation of written Old Irish. pronunciation rules of Old Irish are very complex. The pronunciation of vowels depends on they stand in accented or unaccented syllables, or whether they are simply used as for the palatalization or the non-palatalization of consonants, in which case they are not lrnnt"•n,rPri at all. The pronunciation of consonants is determined by their position at the beginor inside the word, whether they stand in a consonant cluster or not, and by the quality of preceding or following vowel. Moreover the syntactical position within the sentence has an on the realization of anlauting5 consonants as well. But step by step now (from now on I put Old Irish graphemes between < >brackets any more, but I will print them in italics): 3.3.1. c p t c, p, tare pronounced as voiceless stops /k p t/ in anlaut, with some aspiration as in English standard German, which, however, I won't mark in the phonological transcription: cor 'the putting,' poll /pol/ 'hole,' to] ftoAf 'wish.' Anlauting p appears only in loan words.

Between vowels and in auslaut after vowels they are pronounced as voiced stops /g b df: jbuge/ 'softness,' boc /bog/ 'soft,' popul /pobuAf 'people,' op fob/ 'refusal,' fotae jfodef fot jfodf 'length.' In most consonant clusters in the interior of words they represent sounds as well, but no absolute rule can be given for that: ernae jegvef 'wisdom,' ·eipret 'they say,' cetnae /k'edve/ 'the same.' After r, 1, n in the interior or in the auslaut of a word no rule can be given: derc fd'erk/ 'hole,' derc or derg /d'erg/ 'red,' ole folk/ 'bad,' dele or delg /d'elg/ 'thorn;' certa /k'ertaf 'rights,' fkapde/ 'they who love,' daltae fdaltef 'fosterling,' celtae fk'elde/ 'they who hide,' anta 'staying (gen. sg.),' antae fandef 'they who stay.' Take special note of pairs such as the lnll•'lwino-· altae falte/ '(s)he was reared' and altae faldef 'they who rear.' When written double c, p , t most often mean voiceless /k p tf in the interior or in the auslaut words. Unfortunately c, p, t may be written with single letters in these cases as well : mac(c) 'son,' boc(c) fbokf 'he-goat,' at(t) fatj 'the swelling,' at(t)ach fataxf 'refuge, the praying,' /sop/ 'wisp, tuft.' And even more unfortunately cc, pp, tt may mean voiced /g b df as Note the following terms: anlaut means absolute word-initial position, inlaut is word-interior position, and auslaut is word-final position.

i' I DSI>Jure

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Lesson 3 well: mace /mak/ 'son' and bratt jbratj 'coat' have /k t/, but becc jb'eg/ 'small' and brott 'goad, whip' have /g d/. 3.3.2. b d g 1. b, d, g are pronounced as voiced stops

/b d g/ in anlaut gel jg'eAj 'bright,' bun jbuvj

base,' dul jduAj 'the going.' 2. Between vowels and in auslaut after vowels they are pronounced as voiced fricatives/~~

togu jtoyuj 'choice,' mug jmuy / 'slave,' dubae jdu~e/ 'sadness,' dub jdu~/ 'black,' mod 'manner, mode,' badud jbaouo/ 'the drowning.' In most word interior consonant clusters arc pronounced as voiced fricatives as well, although, as can be seen from the examples 3.3.1.3, they can also stand for /b d g/, especially after r, 1, n. 3. If written double bb, dd, gg mean voiced stops /b d g/, e.g., abb jab/ 'abbot.'

4. After certain proclitic elements and in certain syntactical constructions initial b, d, g, p, t, don't have their anlaut values, but those of word interior position. More will be explained this in the chapter about mutations in lesson 4. 3.3.3. ch ph th

1. ch, ph, th are the voiceless fricatives /x cp 8/; ph is identical in pronunciation with f ech 'horse,' ofph joicp/ 'beauty,' ath jaej 'ford,' a chatt ja xatj 'his cat,' in phfan /iv cpiav/ 'the pain; mo thech jmo S'ex/ 'my house.' 3.3.4. f

1. f is the voiceless fricative /f/: feil /f'e'A'/ 'feast-day,' leicfid /l'eg'f'ao'/ 'he will let.' In certain syntactic constructions it means/~/ in anlaut a feil /a We'A'/ 'their feast-day.' l (often, especially in old texts, also £without the punctum delens) represents the 'non-sound'//: a leil, a feil fa e/...'f 'his feast-day,' neimlirinnech, neimffrilmech /n'ef!'ip'an'ax/ 'untruthful.' 3.3.5.

S X

1. s is the voiceless sibilant /s/: sail jsa'A'/ 'willow,' leis jl'es'j 'with him.' In word-internal position especially after short vowels, jsj can be written with double ss: leiss = leis jl'es'/ 'with him,' cossa = cosa /kosa/ 'feet.' 5 (often, especially in old texts, also s without the punctum 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. In anlaut r, 1, n are pronounced as strong /r 1 nj: r6.n jruvj 'secret,' lebor /l'e~ap/ 'book,' not /nod/ 'note.' The same is true for double rr, 11, nn: carr /kor/ 'crane,' call jkolj 'hazel,' cenn /k'en/ 'head,' a Jlibuir ja l'i~up'/ 'her/their books,' a rrfge ja r'Iy'e/ 'the/her/their kingdom,' cenna /k'ena/ 'heads.' The same pronunciation is true most of the time for the position before t, d, s, 1, r, n and after s, 1, r, n. 2. Between vowels and in auslaut after vowels single r, 1, n are pronounced as lenited jp 'A vj: torad /topa8/ 'fruit,' tala /to'Aa/ 'desires,' cona /kava/ 'dogs (ace. pl.),' cor fkopj 'contract,' col

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lor caJ /1