How to Say 'Road' in Irish: Towards Determining a Semantic Derivation of Item #67 (68) from the Swadesh List (Continental and Insular Celtic)


Tatyana Mikhailova
Moscow State University

Abstract

The main goal of the paper is to study Celtic (especially Goidelic) words denoting ‘road’, to collect ranked synonyms, to give motivated etymologies, to exercise a diachronic and comparative study of the use of the names of the ‘road’ in Old, Middle and Modern Irish and in Scottish Gaelic (including comparative data from Continental Celtic and Insular Brittonic languages) and to reveal and describe supposed Goidelic innovations (slige, belach, bóthar). The final aim is to introduce Goidelic data into the described scheme of semantic shift.

Studia Celto-Slavica 12: 14–39 (2021)

https://doi.org/10.54586/LSQO8401

Download PDF

  • References

    Apresian, J. D., 1995, Selected works [Избранные труды], vol. I, Lexical semantics [Лексическая семантика], Moscow: Jazyki slavianskoj kul’tury.

    Bachellery, E., & Lambert, P.-Y., eds, 1974–1987, Lexique étymologique de l’irlandais ancien de J. Vendryes (B, C, R, S), Paris: CNRS.

    Bannister, G., 2018, A Path home—Conair siar. Zen koans in English and Irish, Dublin: New Island Books.

    Benveniste, E., 1954, ‘Problèmes sémantique de la reconstruction’, Word 10, 251–264. https://doi.org/10.1080/00437956.1954.11659526

    Benveniste, E., 1973, Problems in General Linguistics. Miami: University of Miami Press.

    Bergin, O., & Best, R. I., eds., 1938, ‘Tochmarc Étaíne’, Ériu 12, 137–196.

    Blažek, V., 2007, ‘From August Schleicher to Sergei Starostin: On the Development of the Tree-diagram Models of the Indo-European Languages’, Journal of Indo-European Studies 35 (1–2), 82–110.

    Blažek, V., 2010, Indo-European “Smith” and his Divine Colleagues, Washington, DC: Institute for the Study of Man.

    Blažek, V., & Novotná, P., 2006, ‘On Application of Glottochronology for Celtic Languages’, Linguistica Brunensia 54, 71–100.

    Bondarenko, G., 2014, ‘Roads and Knowledge in Togail Bruidne Da Derda’, in: G. Bondarenko, Studies in Irish Mythology, Berlin: Curach Bhán Publications, 155–174.

    Borsje, J., 2015, ‘Celtic Spells and Counterspells’, in: K. Ritari & A. Bergholm, eds., Understanding Celtic religion: Revisiting the pagan past. New approaches to Celtic religion and mythology, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 9–50. https://doi.org/10.16922/1783167920-02

    Buck, C., 1949, A Dictionary of Selected Synonyms in the Principal Indo-European Languages, Chicago: University of Chicago.

    Cameron, A., 1892–4, Reliquiae Celticae, 2 vols. Inverness: Northern Counties Newspaper and Printing and Publishing Company.

    Carney, J., ed., 1940, ‘M’aenarán dam isa sliab’, Éigse 2, 107–113.

    Carney, J., ed., 1971, ‘Three Old Irish Accentual Poems’, Ériu 22, 23–80.

    De Bernardo Stempel, P., 1999, Nominale Wortbildung des Älteren Irischen. Stammbildung und Derivation, Tübingen: Max Niemeyer. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110931556

    De Hoz, J., 2005, ‘Ptolemy and the Linguistic History of the Narbonensis’, in: J. De Hoz, E. R. Luján, & P. Sims-Williams P., eds., New Approaches to Celtic Place-Names in Ptolemy’s Geography, Madrid: Ediciones Clásicas, 173–188.

    Delamarre, X., 2003, Dictionnaire de la langue Gauloise. Un approche linguistique du vieux-Celtique continental, Paris: Éditions Errance.

    Delamarre, X., 2005, ‘Les noms du compagnon en Gaulois’, Studia Celtica Fennica 2, 47–52.

    Dinneen, P. S., 1927, Foclóir Gaedhilge agus Béarla—Irish-English Dictionary, Dublin: Irish Texts Society.

    Derksen, R., 2008, Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon, Leiden-Boston: Brill.

    De Vaan, M., 2008, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the Other Italic Languages, Leiden-Boston: Brill.

    De Vries, J., 1962, Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Leiden: Brill.

    Dočkalová, L., & Blažek, V., 2011, ‘On Indo-European Roads’, The Journal of Indo-European Studies 39 (3–4), 299–341.

    Doherty, C., 2015. ‘A Road Well Travelled: The Terminology of Roads in Early Ireland’, in: E. Purcell, P. MacCotter, J. Nythan & J. Sheehan, eds., Clerics, Kings and Vikings. Essays on Medieval Ireland in Honour of Donnchad Ó Corráin, Dublin: Four Courts, 21–30.

    Dolgopolsky, A., 2000, ‘Sources of Linguistic Chronology’, in: C. Renfrew, A. McMahon & L. Trask, eds., Time Depth in Historical Linguistics, Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, 401–409.

    Elsie, R. W., 1979, The Position of Brittonic. A Synchronic and Diachronic Analysis of Genetic Relationships in the Basic Vocabulary of Brittonic Celtic, Bonn: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität.

    Ernout, A., & Meillet, A., 1939, Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine: histoire des mots, Paris: Klincksieck.

    Falileyev, A., 2010, Dictionary of Continental Celtic Place-Names, Aberystwyth: CMCS.

    Fowkes, R. A., 1971, ‘Glottochronology and Brythonic?’, Studia Celtica 6, 175–88.

    GPC, 2021, Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru: A Dictionary of the Welsh Language, Cardiff: Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru, 1951– (available at http://geiriadur.ac.uk/gpc/gpc.html)

    Greimas, A. J., 1968, Dictionnaire de l’ancien Français jusqu’au milieu du XIVe siècle, Paris: Librairie Larousse.

    Hamp, E. P., 1982, ‘*-og- in British Celtic and Notes on bro-’, Études Celtiques 19, 143–9. https://doi.org/10.3406/ecelt.1982.1708

    Hatzfeld, A., & Darmesteter, A., 1964, Dictionnaire general de la langue Française, vols. 1–2, Paris: Delgrave.

    Henderson, I., 1967, The Picts, London: Thagmes & Hudson.

    Jackson, K. H., ed., 1990, Aislinge Meic Con Glinne, Dublin: DIAS.

    Kassian, A., Starostin, G., Dybo, A., & Chernov, V., 2010, ‘The Swadesh wordlist: An attempt at semantic specification’, Journal of Language Relationship: International Scientific Periodical 4, 46–89.

    Kelly, F., 1997, Early Irish Farming, Dublin: DIAS.

    Kluge, F., 1957, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache, Berlin: de Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111543741

    Kroonen, G., 2013, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden-Boston: Brill.

    Laing, L. & J., 1993, The Picts and the Scots, Stroud: Sutton Publishing.

    MacLennan, M., 1979, A Pronouncing and Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language. Gaelic-English, English-Gaelic, Aberdeen: ACAIR and Aberdeen University Press.

    Mallory, J. P., 2013, The Origins of the Irish, London: Thames & Hudson.

    Mallory, J. P., 2016, In Search of the Irish Dreamtime. Archaeology & Early Irish Literature, London: Thames & Hudson.

    Mallory, J. P., & Adams, D. Q., 1997, Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, London: Fitzroy Dearborn.

    Mallory, J. P., & Adams, D. Q., 2006, The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Manco, J., 2015, Blood of the Celts. The New Ancestral Story, London: Thames & Hudson.

    Matasović, R., 2009, Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic, Leiden: Brill.

    McCone, K., 1994, ‘An tSean-Ghaeilge agus a réamhstair’, in: McCone, K., et al., eds., Stair na Gaeilge in ómós do Pádraig Ó Fiannachta, Maigh Nuad: An Sagart, 61–220.

    McCone, K., 1995, ‘OIr. Senchae, Senchaid and Preliminaries on Agent Noun Formation in Celtic’, Ériu 46, 1–10.

    Meyer, K., 1899, ‘Irish Quatrains’, Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie 2, 225. https://doi.org/10.1515/zcph.1899.2.1.225

    Meyer, K., 1912, ‘Four Religious Poems’, Ériu 6, 112–116.

    Meyer, K., ed., 1913, ‘Sanas Cormaic: An Old-Irish Glossary Compiled by Cormac úa Cuilennáin, King-bishop of Cashel in the Tenth Century’, in: Bergin, O., Best, R. I., Meyer, K., & J. G. O’Keeffe, eds., Anecdota from Irish Manuscripts, vol. 4, Halle: Max Niemeyer; Dublin: Hodges, Figgis & Co., 1–128.

    Murphy, G., ed., 1998, Early Irish Lyrics, Dublin: Four Courts Press (repr. 1956).

    Ó Cuinn, C., ed., 1970, Tiomna Nua á dTiarna agus ár Slánaitheora Íosa Crtíost. An Canónach Oirmh, a d’aistrigh όn Revised Standard Version agus όn Gréigis, Dublin: Hibernian Bible Society.

    Ó Dónaill, N., ed., 1977, Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla. Baile Átha Cliath: Oifig an tSolatháir.

    O’Lochlainn, C., 1940, ‘Roadways in Ancient Ireland’, in: J. Ryan, ed., Féil-sgríbhinn Eóin Mhic Néill: Essay and Studies Presented to Professor Eoin MacNeill, Dublin: Three Candles, 465–474.

    Orel, V., 2003, A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden: Brill.

    Parina, E.A., 2009, ‘The 100-word Core Vocabulary List for Modern Welsh’ [Стословный список базовой лексики для современного валлийского языка], Studia Celto-Slavica 2, 139–146. https://doi.org/10.54586/RDBD1650

    Pedersen, H., 1909–13, Vergleichende Grammatik der keltishen Sprachen, Bd. I–II, Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht.

    Pokorny, J., 1959, Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern/Munich: Franke.

    Rix, H, et al. (eds), 2000 (1998), Lexicon der indogermanischen Verben, Wiesbaden: Reichert.

    Schrijver, P., 1991, The Reflexes of the PIE Laryngeals in Latin, Amsterdam/Atlanta: Rodopi.

    Schrijver, P., 1995, Studies in British Celtic Historical Phonology, Leiden: Brill.

    Sims-Williams, P., 2006, Ancient Celtic Place-Names in Europe and Asia Minor, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

    Skeat, W., 1887, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Smirnitskaja, O. A., 2008, ‘Síð Béowulfes: Frames of Cultural Lexica in Old English Epic’ [Síð Béowulfes: границы культурной лексики в древнеанглийском эпосе], in: O. A. Smitnitskaja, Selected works on Germanic Philology [Избранные статьи по германской филологии], Moscow: Max-Press, 161–170.

    Starostin, S. A., 1999, ‘Comparative-historical Linguistics and Lexicostatistics’, in: Shevoroshkin, V., & P. Sidwell, eds., Historical Linguistics & Lexicostatistics, vol. 3, Melbourne: Association for the History of Language, 3–50.

    Starostin, S. A., 2007, Труды по языкознанию [Works in Linguistics], Moscow: Jazyki Slavianskoj Kul’tury.

    Starostin, G., 2010, ‘Preliminary Lexicostatistics as a Basis for Language Classification: A New Approach’, Journal of Language Relationship 3, 79–116.

    Stokes, W., ed., 1862, Three Irish Glossaries, London-Edinburgh: Williams & Norgate.

    Stokes, W., & Strachan, J., 1975, Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus. A Collection of Old Irish Glosses, Scholia, Prose and Verse, vols. I–II, Dublin: DIAS (repr. 1903).

    Swadesh, M., 1952, ‘Lexico-statistic Dating of Prehistoric Ethnic Contacts’, Proceedings of American Philosophical Society 96, 452–463.

    Swadesh, M., 1955, ‘Towards Greater Accuracy in Lexicostatistic Dating’, International Journal of American Linguistics 21, 121–137. https://doi.org/10.1086/464321

    Toporova, T. V., 2018, The Epic Word: ‘Road’ and ‘Way’ in Elder Edda [Эпическое слово: обозначения дороги, пути в «Старшей Эдде»], Moscow: World Languages.

    Traugott, E. C., & Dasher, R. B., 2002, Regularity in Semantic Change, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511486500

    Watkins, C., 2011, The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots, 3rd ed., Boston/New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

    Wodtko, D., Irslinger, B., & Schneider, C., 2008, Nomina im indogermanischen Lexicon, Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter.

    Y Beibl Cyserg-Lan, 1588, Y Beibl Cysegr-Lân. Sef yr Hen Destament a’r Newydd, London: Christopher Barker (Repr. 1968).

    Zalizniak, A. A., Bulakh, M., Ganenkov, D., Gruntov, I., Maisak, T., & Russo, M., 2012, ‘The Catalogue of Semantic Shifts as a Database for Lexical Semantic Typology’, Linguistics 50 (3), 633–669. https://doi.org/10.1515/ling-2012-0020

    ЭССЯ, 1976–1978, Etymological Dictionary of Slavonic Languages [Этимологический словарь славянских языков] (vols 3, 5), Мoscow: Nauka