Goidelic substrate hypothesis
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The Goidelic substrate hypothesis refers to the hypothesized language or languages spoken in
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
before the arrival of the
Goidelic languages The Goidelic ( ) or Gaelic languages (; ; ) form one of the two groups of Insular Celtic languages, the other being the Brittonic languages. Goidelic languages historically formed a dialect continuum stretching from Ireland through the Isle o ...
.


Hypothesis of non-Indo-European languages

Ireland was settled, like the rest of
northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other ge ...
, after the retreat of the
ice sheet In glaciology, an ice sheet, also known as a continental glacier, is a mass of glacier, glacial ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than . The only current ice sheets are the Antarctic ice sheet and the Greenland ice sheet. Ice s ...
s c. 10,500 BC.
Indo-European language The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the northern Indian subcontinent, most of Europe, and the Iranian plateau with additional native branches found in regions such as Sri Lanka, the Maldives, parts of Central Asia ( ...
s are usually thought to have been a much later arrival. Some scholars hypothesize that the Goidelic languages may have been brought by the Bell Beaker culture circa 2500 BC. This dating is supported by DNA analysis indicating large-scale Indo-European migration to Britain about that time. In contrast, other scholars argue for a much later date of arrival of Goidelic languages to Ireland based on linguistic evidence. Peter Schrijver has suggested that Irish was perhaps preceded by an earlier wave of Celtic-speaking colonists (based on population names attested in
Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
's ''Geography'') who were displaced by a later wave of proto-Irish speakers only in the 1st century AD, following a migration in the wake of the
Roman conquest of Britain The Roman conquest of Britain was the Roman Empire's conquest of most of the island of Great Britain, Britain, which was inhabited by the Celtic Britons. It began in earnest in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, and was largely completed in the ...
, with Irish and British Celtic languages only branching off from a common Insular Celtic language around that time. Scholars have suggested: * that an older language or languages could have been replaced by the
Insular Celtic languages Insular Celtic languages are the group of Celtic languages spoken in Brittany, Great Britain, Ireland, and the Isle of Man. All surviving Celtic languages are in the Insular group, including Breton, which is spoken on continental Europe in Br ...
; and * that words and grammatical constructs from the original language, or languages, may nevertheless persist as a substrate in the Celtic languages, especially in placenames and personal names.


Suggested non-Indo-European words in Irish

Gearóid Mac Eoin proposes the following words, some of which are found only in
Early Irish literature Early Irish literature, is commonly dated from the 8th or 9th to the 15th century, a period during which modern literature in Irish began to emerge. It stands as one of the oldest vernacular literature in Western Europe, with its roots extendin ...
, as deriving from the substrate * ''bréife'' 'ring, loop' * ''cuifre''/''cuipre'' 'kindness', * ''fafall''/''fubhal'', One of the hazel trees at the well of Segais * ''lufe'' '
feminine Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and Gender roles, roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as Social construction of gender, socially constructed, and there is also s ...
', * ''slife'' 'broadening' * ''strophais'' 'straw'; He also puts forward the following place names, also from old Irish literature: * Bréifne * Crufait * Dún Gaifi * Faffand * Grafand, an old name for Knockgraffon * Grafrenn * Life/Mag Liphi * Máfat.
Gerry Smyth Gerry Smyth (born 14 September 1961) is an academic, musician, actor and playwright born in Dublin, Ireland. He works in the Department of English at Liverpool John Moores University, where he is Professor of Irish Cultural History. His early pub ...
, in ''Space and the Irish Cultural Imagination'', suggested that ''Dothar'', the
Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...
name for the
River Dodder The River Dodder () is one of the three main rivers in Dublin, Ireland, the others being the River Liffey, Liffey, of which the Dodder is the largest tributary, and the River Tolka, Tolka. Course and system The Dodder rises on the northern s ...
, could be a substrate word. Peter Schrijver submits the following words as deriving from the substrate: * ''partán'' 'crab' * '' Partraige'' (ethnonym), (note that ''partaing'' "crimson (Parthian) red" is a loanword from Lat. ''parthicus'') * ''pattu'' 'hare' * ''petta'' 'pet, lap-dog' * ''pell'' 'horse' * ''pít'' 'portion of food' * ''pluc'' '(round) mass' * ''prapp'' 'rapid' * ''gliomach'' 'lobster' * ''faochán'' 'periwinkle' * ''ciotóg'' 'left hand' * ''bradán'' 'salmon' * ''scadán'' 'herring' Schrijver noted the numerousness of words relating to fishing. He suggested that the presence of unlenited stops among these fishing words may indicate that these words entered Irish as late as 500AD. In a further study he gives counter-arguments against some criticisms by Graham Isaac. Ranko Matasović lists the following words * ''lacha'' 'duck' * ''sinnach'' 'fox' * ''luis'' 'rowan' * ''lon'' 'blackbird' * ''dega'' 'beetle' * ''ness'' 'stoat'. He also points out that there are words of possibly or probably non-Indo-European origin in other Celtic languages as well; therefore, the substrate may not have been in contact with
Primitive Irish Primitive Irish or Archaic Irish (), also called Proto-Goidelic, is the oldest known form of the Goidelic languages, and the ancestor of all languages within this family. This phase of the language is known only from fragments, mostly persona ...
but rather with
Proto-Celtic Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the hypothetical ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly Linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed throu ...
. Examples of words found in more than one branch of Celtic but with no obvious cognates outside Celtic include: *Middle Irish 'young woman', Middle Welsh 'heifer', perhaps Gaulish ''anderon'' (possibly connected with Basque 'lady, woman') *Old Irish 'short', Middle Welsh 'short', Gaulish ''Birrus'' (name); possibly related to the '' birrus'', a short cloak or hood *Old Irish 'raven', Middle Welsh 'raven', Gaulish ''Brano-'', sometimes translated as 'crow' (name element, such as Bran Ardchenn, Bran Becc mac Murchado, and Bran the Blessed) *Middle Irish 'badger', Middle Welsh 'badger', Gaulish ''Broco-'' (name element) (borrowed into English as ''brock'') *Old Irish '(war) chariot', Welsh , Gaulish ''carpento-'', ''Carbanto-'' *Old Irish 'salmon', Middle Welsh 'salmon', Gaulish *''esoks'' (borrowed into Latin as ); has been compared with Basque ''izokin'' *Old Irish 'piece', Middle Welsh 'thing', Gaulish *''pettia'' (borrowed into Latin as and French as ) *Old Irish ' wether', Middle Welsh 'ram, wether', Gaulish ''Moltus'' (name) and *''multon-'' (borrowed into French as , from which to English as ''mutton'') The
Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...
word for "horn", ''adarc'', is also listed as a potential Basque loanword; in
Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...
the word is ''adar''.


See also

* Atlantic Bronze Age *
Pre-Greek substrate The pre-Greek substrate (or substratum) consists of the unknown pre-Greek language or languages (either Pre-Indo-European languages, Pre-Indo-European or other Indo-European languages) spoken in prehistoric Greece prior to the emergence of the Pr ...
*
Pre-Indo-European languages The pre-Indo-European languages are any of several ancient languages, not necessarily related to one another, that existed in Prehistoric Europe, Asia Minor, Ancient Iran and United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern_Asia, Southern Asia before ...
*
Prehistoric Ireland The prehistory of Ireland has been pieced together from Archaeology, archaeological evidence, which has grown at an increasing rate over recent decades. It begins with the first evidence of permanent human residence in Ireland around 10,500 BC ...
*
Mythological Cycle The Mythological Cycle is a conventional grouping within Irish mythology. It consists of tales and poems about the god-like Tuatha Dé Danann, who are based on Ireland's pagan deities, and other mythical races such as the Fomorians and the Fir ...
*
Germanic substrate hypothesis The Germanic substrate hypothesis attempts to explain the purportedly distinctive nature of the Germanic languages within the context of the Indo-European languages. Based on the elements of Common Germanic vocabulary and syntax which do not seem ...
* Atlantic (Semitic) languages * Irish syntax


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goidelic Substrate Hypothesis Languages of Ireland Prehistoric Ireland Indo-European linguistics Celtic studies Pre-Indo-European languages Linguistic strata