Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/beyatlis

This Proto-Celtic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Celtic

Etymology

Usually related to *bināti (“to strike”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyh₂- (“to strike”).[1] The derivation is unclear; Russell speculates that it may have originally been *beyalis, but reshaped after instrumental nouns.[2]

Noun

*beyatlis gender unattested[2]

  1. axe
    Synonym: *tougā

Inflection

Masculine/feminine i-stem
singular dual plural
nominative *beyatlis *beyatlī *beyatlīs
vocative *beyatli *beyatlī *beyatlīs
accusative *beyatlim *beyatlī *beyatlins
genitive *beyatleis *beyatlyow *beyatlyom
dative *beyatlei *beyatlibom *beyatlibos
locative *beyatlei *? *?
instrumental *beyatlī *beyatlibim *beyatlibis

Reconstruction notes

The reconstruction of this term is difficult; see Zair (2012) for some considerations.

  • The -z- in Middle Breton and the vowel length in Old Irish point to a -tl- suffix, but the -ll (which imply *-sl- or *-ly-) in Cornish and Welsh contradict this.
  • Brittonic and Goidelic also disagree on its gender; in Brittonic it is feminine while in Goidelic it is masculine.
  • The -h- in Old Welsh and Breton is a mystery; it may be hiatus filler.

Alternative reconstructions

Descendants

  • Proto-Brythonic:
    • Middle Breton: bouchazl, bouhazl
      • Breton: boucʼhal
    • Middle Cornish: boell
    • Old Welsh: bahell
      • Middle Welsh: bwell, buyall
  • Old Irish: biáil
    • Middle Irish: bíail

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Matasović, Ranko (December 2011) “Addenda et corrigenda to Ranko Matasović’s Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Brill, Leiden 2009)”, in Homepage of Ranko Matasović‎[1], Zagreb, page 5
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Zair, Nicholas (2012) The reflexes of the Proto-Indo-European laryngeals in Celtic, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 236
  3. ^ Koch, John (2004) “axe”, in English–Proto-Celtic Word-list with attested comparanda‎[2], University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies, page 20
  4. ^ Schrijver, Peter C. H. (1995) Studies in British Celtic historical phonology (Leiden studies in Indo-European; 5), Amsterdam, Atlanta: Rodopi, page 323
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