Metathesis in Language 2.0

Irish (Old)

Language Family
Indo-European
Subgroup
Celtic
Area
—

Summary

Cases of metathesis are rare and do not occur consistently in Old Irish. The cited cases seem to be both adjacent and non-adjacent (within a syllable), and both between consonants and between consonant-vowel sequences.

Type(s) of metathesis

Type Status Optionality Position Location
a. CC/CV Diachronic Obligatory Both Root-internal

Case types and qualities

Examples

*aksnam > asknam 'strive'
*lub-gort > lugbart 'garden'
*ess-inill > eslinn 'unsafe, danger'
*túasuleud > túaslueud
diamuin ~ dianim  'pure ~ unblemished'
bérle (normal form was bélre)

Conditions

No conditions could be found

Motivations

No motivations could be found

Symbols

Comments

Examples from Thurneysen (1966:113). Note that Thurneysen uses the original orthography <c>, which is a velar stop whose voicing condition depends on the phonological position it occurs.

Bibliography

  • Thurneysen, Rudolf. 1966. (rev. ed.) A Grammar of Old Irish. Dublin.