The Modern Gaulish Language
The revival of the Gaulish language: Galáthach hAthevíu
6. Adjectives
Order
Adjectives are clearly and abundantly attested in ancient Gaulish. While the oldest material shows adjectives preceding their head nouns, the later material indicates a shift towards head nouns preceding adjectives. Attestations of both include:
Ueru-lamium – Lama-uerus: “wide-hand” > generous (Delamarre 2003, p. 317)
Attestations of adjectives following head nouns are:
agedo-uiros: face-man > face like a man
Amarco-litanos: view/sight-wide > view/sight that is wide/broad/vast
(Delamarre 2003, p. 317)
Perhaps the most incontestable attestation of an adjective following its head noun is found on the spindle whorl of Autun (Lambert 2003, p. 125; Delamarre 2003, p. 331), which reads:
nata uimpi curmi da = girl beautiful beer give
Continuing the trend observable in late ancient Gaulish, modern Gaulish proposes a situation where adjectives follow their head nouns:
e.g.: ép: horse
caráthach: friendly
> ép caráthach: a friendly horse
téi: house (< tegia, Dlamarre 2003, p. 294)
gwin: white
> téi gwin: white house
Adjectives qualifying plural nouns are not marked for plural. However, adjectives that follow feminine nouns, undergo a mutation to their first letter:
e.g.: aman: time
sír: long
> aman shír: (a) long time
bláth: flower
coch: red
> blath goch: (a) red flower
These mutations will be discussed in more detail later.
There are two broad categories of adjectives: natural ones and derived ones. These are discussed below.
Natural adjectives
Natural adjectives are words that are inherently adjectival. A representative selection is given below:
e.g.: már: big
méi: small
sír: long
bir: short
dái: good
druch: bad
math: fine, favourable
anwath: unfavourable
In addition to these, there are also adjectives derived from other sources.
Derived adjectives
1) adjectives constructed with suffixes
In the attested Gaulish material it is possible to identify four different suffixes that were used to produce adjectives. These are used in modern Gaulish and are listed below, with examples:
a) the suffix –ach, derived from attested –aco (Lambert 2003, p. 34, p. 39). Attested examples are:
Anualonacu = Anualo’s sanctuary (Lambert 2003, p. 39)
Parisiaci = [people] of the Parisi (a tribe) (id.)
Caratacos = beloved-like (< *carato- “loved” + -aco) (Delamarre 2003, p. 107)
This is the most productive and most readily used adjective marker in modern Gaulish. It is used to derive adjectives from any type of noun:
e.g.: nerth: strength
nerthach: strong
panthu: pain
panthúach: painful
caran: friend
caranach: friendly
achaun: stone
achaunach: stony
duvr: water
duvrach: watery
b) the suffix –ch, derived from attested –(i)co (Lambert 2003, p. 34). It is attested as follows:
uertamicos = excellent, superior quality (Delamarre 2003, p. 317)
The above is a compound *uer-tam-icos, derived from “uer” = over, on; “tam” = quality; “ico-“ = adjectival suffix.
Modern terms using this suffix are:
gwerthamich: superior quality, excellent
donich: human, adj. (attested, Delamarre 2003, p.
This suffix, which is similar to the –ach discussed above, is used as a general adjectivising suffix only for words ending on a diphthong in –i or on –u, where –ach would be impractical.
gráu: sand (Delamarre 2003, p. 183-84)
gráuch: sandy
téi: house (Delamarre 2003, p. 294)
téich: domestic, pertaining to the house or house related matters
c) the suffix –in
The suffix –in is attested in the word “bledinos” (Delamarre 2003, p. 78-79) and, among others, in the personal name “Melina” (Delamarre 2003, p. 224). It appears to lend to the word “bled-”, “wolf”, the meaning “wolfish”, and appears to infer a honey-like (mel-) quality to a female person. As such, it may be proposed that this suffix be used to describe the physical and metaphysical characteristics and attributes of animals and people only, in a direct parallel with the English –ine (derived from the Latin suffix –inus/a, only used with Latin derived words):
e.g.: blédh: wolf
blédhin: wolfish, wolf-like (“lupine”)
cun: dog (Delamarre 2003, p. 132)
cunin: dog-ish, dog-like (“canine”)
ép: horse
épin: horsey, horse-ish, horse-like (“equine”)
ernu: eagle (Delamarre 2003, p. 166)
ernúin: eagle-ish, eagle-like (“aquiline”)
mel: honey
melin: honey-like
tiern: boss, chief, lord (Delamarre 2003, p. 296)
tiernin: boss-like (Delamarre 2003, 2.296, “Tigorninus”, PN)
d) the suffix -ídhu
The suffix –ídhu is derived from the attested suffix –(i)do, attested in Chateaubleau, Larzac and La Graufesenque (Mees 2010). In the context of Chateaubleau it appears to pertain to cows:
coro bouido = cow contract
In this instance “bouido” appears to translate as “bovine”, or as “of the cows”. It is proposed here that this suffix, of which little is known, be used in modern Gaulish as a general adjectivising suffix –ídhu that is to be used with words ending on –ch, for which –ach would be phonetically impractical:
e.g.: bruch: heather (Delamarre 2003, p. 92)
bruchídhu: heathery, heather-like
coch: leg (Delamarre 2003, p. 128)
cochídhu: leggy, pertaining to legs
2) adjectives constructed with prefixes
Adjectives can be made from nouns and verbal nouns by means of the prefixes “su-“, “good”, and “du-“, “bad”.
e.g.: car-: verbal root pertaining to “love” (Delamarre 2003, p. 107)
suchar: popular, i.e. “well-loved”
duchar: unpopular, disliked
If the prefixes su- and du- precede a vowel and do not receive emphasis, they become sw- and dw-:
e.g.: áiedh: face, appearance (Delamarre 2003, p. 34)
swáiedh: beautiful, good looking, handsome = “good-face/appearance”
dwáiedh: ugly = “bad-face/appearance”
3) verbal adjectives
Verbal adjectives consist of the verbal form of the present perfect, applied as an adjective:
e.g.: rani: to divide (Delamarre 2003, p. 164-65)
brói: land (Demamarre 2003, p. 91)
brói raníthu: a divided land
cara: to love
don: a person (Delamarre 2003, p. 176)
don caráthu: a beloved person (cf. caratos, Delamarre 2003, p. 107)
4) verbal nouns as adjectives
Verbal nouns can be used as adjectives. They follow their head noun and undergo mutation of their first consonant if the head noun is feminine.
e.g.: cun: dog
bái: to fight/ fighting (Delamarre 2003, p. 63-64)
cun bái: fighting dog
gés: spear (Delamarre 2003, p,. 174)
aghri: to hunt/ hunting (Delamarre 2003, p. 35)
gés aghri: hunting spear
ben: woman
cára: to love
ben gára: loving woman
If verbal nouns end in a vowel this is dropped when used in conjunction with prefixes:
e.g.: gwidhi: to understand
> verbal root gwidh-
> suchwidh: intelligent (“good understanding”)
> duchwidh: stupid (“bad understanding”)
7. Adverbs
Natural adverbs
Natural adverbs are words that are by definition adverbial (although some also can be used in adjectival function), i.e. they complement adjectives, nouns, verbs or other adverbs. A considerable number are attested in the ancient Gaulish material. Examples are:
ach: and
athé: again
élu: a lot, many
éth: more
cóéth: also
duch: therefore
Adjectival adverbs
The way to construct adjectival adverbs is clearly attested in ancient Gaulish, in the running text of Lezoux:
inte nouiio = newly (Delamarre 2003, p. 191)
The construction of an adverb from an adjective by means of the particle “inte” has perfect parallels in all surviving Celtic languages. In modern Gaulish, “inte” becomes “in” and causes mutation of the first consonant of the following word:
e.g.: nerthach: strong
in nherthach: strongly
már: big, great
in wár: greatly
tech: beautiful
in dech: beautifully
8. Gender
Three genders are attested in ancient Gaulish: masculine, feminine and neuter (Delamarre 2003, 342-46). A position is adopted by modern Gaulish where the neuter has amalgamated with the masculine, leaving only two genders. This is analoguous with the situation in the surviving Celtic languages, and with neighbouring languages (e.g. Romance). As such, modern Gaulish has masculine and feminine gender. Words with a final vowel –e/é, -o/ó, -u/ú and –au are usually (but not always) masculine; words with a final vowel –a/á and -i/í are usually (but not always) feminine. The following table provides examples:
However, in cases where gender is semantically explicit the above rules don’t apply, and gender is as implied semantically:
e.g.: map: son
gwir: man,
rich: king
geneth: girl
swíor: sister
ben: woman
In addition to these two genders, modern Gaulish has retained a vestige of a neuter gender, which is only manifested in the neuter pronoun “í” (from attested id > í, Delamarre 2003, p. 93) and which is used solely to express indefinite concepts such as the time, the weather, or an unknown and unspecified subject.
e.g. esi í dái: it (i.e. the weather) is good
Masculine words that have a feminine counterpart can construct this by the addition of
the suffix –is. This suffix is attested in ancient Gaulish:
cunissa: “female dog” < cun- “dog” (Delamarre 2003, p. 132)
It is proposed that modern Gaulish uses this suffix to construct the feminine counter part of a masculine word, for animated subjects only (e.g. people, animals):
cun: dog
cunis: bitch
ép: horse
épis: mare
lóern: fox
lóernis: vixen
drúidh: scholar, teacher
drúidhis: female scholar, teacher
caran: friend
caranis: female friend
In addition, words that can be either gender can be qualified by the words “gwir” (man) or “ben” (woman) as the second component of a compound, where the second component receives the emphasis. The second component effectively acts as an attributive adjective, and constructs a meaning of “male/female”. In these cases, the gender is as indicated by the suffix. However, for compelling reasons of ease of pronunciation it is proposed here that these words take on the reduced forms of, respectively, “-wir”, postulating a maintenance of pre-fortition [w], and “-wen”, being an otherwise unparalleled evolution of [b] > [v] > [w].
E.g.: ép: horse (masculine, general term)
ép+ wir > ép’wir: stallion, male horse (m)
ép+wen > ép’wen: mare, female horse (f)
cun: dog (m)
cun’wir: male dog (m)
cun’wen: female dog, bitch (f)
caran – friend (m)
caran’wir: male friend, boyfriend (m)
caran’wen: female friend, girlfriend (f)
Support for these constructions is found in the attested word “banolucci” (Delamarre 2003, p. 72), which translates as “woman-wolf”, i.e. “she-wolf” or female wolf. While an alternative translation could be “woman for wolves”, the former interpretation is adopted here for practicality, in analogy with such usage in the Goidelic languages.
9. Article
Insular Celtic languages have a variety of articles (W y, yr/’r, I/S/M an/na, C an, Br an/ar/al – un, ur, ul) that are thought to have been derived from the demonstrative “*sindos” (Delamarre 2003, p. 274). *Sindos is attested in ancient Gaulish (sinde, Delamarre 2003, p. 274). While there is no real attestation of the evolution of any word into an article in the available ancient Gaulish material, there is nevertheless evidence of the gradual transformation and mutation of the word “sinde” in a grammatical position which appears to have been favourable for the development of “sinde” into an article.
In Larzac, there is evidence that “sinde” evolved into “indas”, as in “indas mnas” (Delamarre 2003, p. 274), the translation of which is generally accepted as being “these women” (Delamarre 2003, p. 274, David Stifter, 2009, pers. comm.). “indas” would be a form derived from “sinde” with loss of initial s- in unstressed proclitic, pretonic position, a process which is documented in Old Irish (David Stifter 2009, pers. comm.).
A semantic shift from “these/this” to “the” is not unusual in Indo-European languages, is well documented, and is for instance the process that has given the English language the demonstrative “this”, which evolved through doubling of the original demonstrative after it had semantically weakened to become the definite article “the” (Bernard Mees 2009, pers. comm.). The process of doubling of demonstratives appears to be attested in ancient Gaulish, namely in Larzac, which has “insinde se bnanom”, as well as elsewhere (e.g. sosin, sosio, Delamarre 2003, p. 279).
In light of the above, modern Gaulish postulates a hypothetical evolution of the word “inda(s)” into a definite article. As such, the following evolution is proposed:
inda(s) > *inda > *ind > in
The above is a straightforward phonetic evolution, through loss of final syllable, and through the standard modern Gaulish sound change of –nd > -n. Therefore, modern Gaulish uses the word “in” as the article; it is definite and unmutatable, and not affected by gender or number.
In analogy with most modern Celtic languages (except Breton), modern Gaulish does not use an indefinite article.
e.g.: pen: a head
in pen: the head
cun: a dog
in cun: the dog
When feminine nouns, singular or plural, are preceded by the article “in” they undergo a mutation of their initial consonant:
e.g.: geneth: a girl
in gheneth: the girl
brí: a mountain
in vrí: the mountain
10. Plural formation
Standard plural formation
In ancient Gaulish, most word stems ended on vowels, and word function and meaning, including the plural, was conveyed through a variety of case endings. These case endings varied according to the final vowel of stems and according to the case the word was in. There is clear indication in the attested material that word endings were eroding (see discussion under “apocope” section), which would inevitably result in the loss of meaning of case and therefore, eventually, in the loss of case. As a direct result of the loss of word endings, a majority of words would have come to end in consonants instead of vowels.
Under the old case system, word stems ending in consonants in the nominative case took the ending “–es”:
e.g.: eurises = dedicators, donators (Nautes Parisiaques Pillar, Delamarre 2003, p. 169))
sies = they 3rd p. pl. fem. (Larzac, 3x, Delamarre 2003, p. 338-39)
tidres = three pl. fem. (La Graufesenque, Delamarre 2003, p. 302)
(for discussion see Delamarre 2003, p. 345; Lambert 2003, p. 63).
It is posited here that with the loss of case endings, the nominative consonantal plural ending “–es” was retained and spread out across the word paradigm to form a single all-purpose pluralising ending. This plural ending “-es” would then be further phonetically eroded to –e, which, it is posited here, was then lengthened to “-é”. As such, modern Gaulish adopts the single, all-purpose pluralising suffix “-é”:
ép: horse
épé: horses
cun: dog
cuné: dogs
This suffix –é is also applied to nouns ending on vowels:
bó: cow
bóé: cows
táru: bull
tarúé: bulls
tonchna: vow
tonchnáé: vows
The only exception to the standard plural formation is the plural of “ben”, “woman” (< ancient Gaulish “bena”), which is attested under the forms “bnanom, mnanom (2x), mnas (2x)” at Larzac (Delamarre 2003, p. 338). With regular loss of case endings –nom and –s that gives a form “mna-“, which with regular lengthening of emphasised vowel in modern Gaulish becomes “mná”. This form will be the regular standard plural of the word “ben”, “woman”.
ben: woman
mná: women
Plural after numbers
There are a number of instances attested in the ancient Gaulish material where a noun is preceded by a number: trimarcisia, trinoxtion, petruroton, petrumantalon, pempedula, decamnoctiacis. These can be analysed as follows:
trimarcisia = tri+marcos+ia
three+horse+substantivising ending, instr. singular
trinoxtion = tri+noxt+ion
three+night+subst. end., nom. neut. singular
petruroton = petru+roto+n
four+wheel+subst. end., nom. neut. singular
petrumantalon = petru+mantalo+n
four+road+subst. end., nom. neut. singular
pempedula = pempe+dula
five+leaf, nom. singular
decamnoctiaca = decam+noct++io+iac+a
ten+night+rel. pron.+adj.mark.+subst. end., dat-abl. neut. plural LATIN
(from Demamarre 2003, p. 302, 302-3, 250, 250/216, 248, 137)
In five of the six examples listed above, the compound consists of a number, followed by a noun in the singular, followed by a substantivising ending. Translations are, respectively:
trimarcisia: three horse (three horse riders)
trinoxtion: three night (three nights of celebration
petruroton: four wheel (wagon with four wheels)
petrumantalon: four road (crossroads of four roads)
pempedula: five leaf (flower with five leaves)
decamnoctiaca: ten night-like-s (ten nights of celebration)
For five out of these six cases, the cardinal number is followed by a noun in the singular. The ending of the sixth is thought to be adapted to the Latin case system (Delamarre 2003, p. 137). While it is possible that the singular was employed because the compound word in question was considered a word in the singular, the fact remains nevertheless that these numbers are followed by nouns in the singular. Also, there are no attestations of numbers being followed by nouns in the plural in the ancient Gaulish material. Therefore, it is posited here that modern Gaulish does not use the plural of nouns after cardinal numbers. This is furthermore in parallel with the situation in the Brittonic languages, where numbers are followed by nouns in the singular.
e.g.: tri march: three (riding) horses
pethr roth: four wheels
pethr manthal: four roads
pimp dul: five leaves
dech nóith: ten nights
Dual plural
It is unclear at this stage whether ancient Gaulish had a dual number, due to the incomplete nature of the attestation of the language (Lambert 2003, p. 51). Nevertheless, it is known that Old Irish has a dual number, pertaining to things that appear in the world in natural pairs (Lambert 2003, p. 51). Furthermore, the very close relationship between ancient Gaulish and Old Irish is becoming increasingly evident (Mees & Stifter 2012, pers. com.). Therefore, an analogy is made with the situation in Old Irish, and a dual-plural is proposed for modern Gaulish here. As such, things that occur naturally in the world in pairs form their plural with the prefix “dá-“, meaning “two”.
e.g.: lam: hand
dálam: hands
coch: leg
dáchoch: legs
óp: eye
dáóp: eyes
However, these plural formations only pertain to situations where these subjects naturally occur in pairs. Therefore, “dáchoch” applies to the legs of a human, because they come in a pair of two, but not to the legs of a horse, because there are four of them:
dáchoch: legs (of a human or other bipedal animal, e.g. a bird)
coché: legs of a horse, or other animal with more than two legs
dálam: hands of a human (a pair of two)
lamé: hands of a clock (three hands: hours, minutes and seconds)
Collective plural
In the ancient Gaulish material a word “slougo-“ is attested. This word, meaning “group, troop, gathering, crowd, assembly” (Delamarre 2003, p. 276) is used in the Brittonic languages to form a collective noun. Although it is not attested as such in ancient Gaulish, it is proposed here that this same word fulfills the same function in modern Gaulish. Regular modern Gaulish sound changes render “slougo-“ as “slói”. Furthermore, in suffix position the initial s- of slougo- is absorbed into the –l-, giving a hypothetical ancient Gaulish –ll-, reduced to –l- in modern Gaulish.
slougo > -lói
This can now be applied as a suffix to such entities as display collectivity:
e.g.: sir: star (< stir-, Delamarre 2003, p. 282)
sirlói: constellation (group of stars)
brí: mountain (< briga, Delamarre 2003, p. 87)
brílói: mountain range
