Caesars Commentaries on the Gallic War to the
Proper Names in Gallic inscriptions on stone or (from the various potteries) on terra-cotta, to the 20 or so words in the Vienna Gaulish-Latin Glossary (including
avallo "apple"), to a few others recorded in ancient writers both Latin and Greek, and to such loan-words as we have just seen in Gallo-Latin, Gaulish deserves a place in our present study and will be called on
whenever it has something to contribute
B. ANALYSIS
Having divided the Celtic family of six into two equal parts according to their treatment of I-G. ^, we have now to see how these six members are related to each other in respect of their specifically Celtic phenomena, incidentally noticing any points of contact that these have with other members of the family.
1. The expression of the genitive of relation by juxtaposition and the ellipse of the first Definite Article:
Irish :
Gae lie:
Manx:
Welsh:
Cornish:
Breton:
doras an tighe dorus an tighe dorrys y thie drws y ty darras an chy dor an ti the door of the house
Observation (i) Goedelic, however, puts the second noun in the genitive case, because it has preserved its inflections (less so in Manx). Cf. p.262, n.45
(ii) Cf. the "Construct State" in Hebrew and Arabic.
2. The invariable Relative Pronoun, with the case shown (a) by the appropriate Possessive Adjective before the relevant Noun or (b) by the appropriate pronominal Preposition (§ 13):
(a) "This is the boy whose father is ill" (lit. "that his father is ill").
I. Seo an gasur a bhfuil a athair tinn
G. Seo an gille a bheil a athair tinn
W. Dyma'r bachgen y mae ei dad yn sal 10
C. Otta an map yu a das claf
B. Setu ar paotr a zo klanv e dad
Obs. Manx uses the prepositional pronoun from eo ("at") in its emphatic form: Shoh yn guilley ta yn ayr eohey ching.
(b) "The country from which he came" (lit. "that he came from it")
J. An tir a dtainig se asti Y wlad y daeth ef ohoni
B. Ar vro a zeueas anezi
Obs. (i) Gaelic prefers to put the Preposition before the Rel. Pron., as in English: An dilthcha as an tainig e,
(ii) Manx again uses the appropriate emphatic prepositional pronoun, putting it in the place of the Relative: Yn cheer voishyn ("from it") hairik eh.
(iii) Cornish uses may (mayth before vowels in all senses, or omits the Rel. Pron. and uses the pronominal Preposition: An pow may teth ef or An pow deth ef anodho.
(iv) Some parts of Brittany use ma instead of a, but still have the pronominal Preposition after it.
(v) In both (a) and (b) Irish and Gaelic use the dependent form of the Verb.
(vi) Irish "a" with the dependent form of the Verb can also mean "all that":
Ar dhiol tu a rabh de chapaill agat? Did you sell (all that you had of i.e.) all your horses?
Gach duine da rabh i lathair Everyone (of all who were) present.
The Gaelic equivalent is na: Roinn iad na fhuair iad de iasg "They divided what they had of fish" (i.e. "all their fish")
The Manx equivalent ny is also the ordinary Rel. Pron. (§ 10.) (But cf. the phrase for "Once upon a time": Keayrt dy raw "a time of those that were").
(vii) An invariable Rel. Pron. is used in the same way in Slovene and Arabic.
3. Plural Nouns take a singular Verb;
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