View source for Old Irish/Guide to Old Irish spelling

Old (and Middle) Irish spelling is fairly non-intuitive to [[:Category:Irish|Modern Irish]] speakers, below are some guidelines to help one understand it a bit better.

Note on the phonemic transcription below – if the stress is not explicitly marked, it falls on the first syllable. Also, two vowels standing next to each other mean a diphthong, if they make a hiatus (multiple syllables), then they’re explicitly separated with {{IPA|⟨.⟩}}. The characters {{IPA|/ɸ/}} and {{IPA|/f/}} are used interchangeably and mean bilabial fricative, the same is true for {{IPA|/β/}} and {{IPA|/v/}}. The prime symbol {{IPA|⟨´⟩}} is used to mark slenderization/palatalization (thus {{IPA|/p´/}} means {{IPA|/pʲ/}} and {{IPA|/s´/}} denotes a consonant realized as something like {{IPA|[sʲ ~ ʃ]}}).

=== Consonants and marking lenition or lack of lenition ===

Old Irish orthography was based on Latin – as it was learnt by the Gaels from the Brythonic people – and British Latin pronunciation of that time had undergone basically the same processes as [[:Category:Welsh|Welsh]]. The spelling is unintuitive to Modern Irish speakers, as it is based on Brythonic lenition patterns.

* The spelling of ''initial'' consonants is easy – since initial consonants weren’t generally lenited (except for grammatical initial mutations), they are read as generally expected in Latin-based writing systems, initial ''b, d, g, p, t, c'' and ''m'' denote {{IPA|/b, d, ɡ, p, t, k, m/}} respectively.
* Irish lenition of voiceless {{IPA|/p, t, k/}} is marked, as today, by ''h'' after them – ''ph, th, ch'' mean {{IPA|/ɸ ~ f, θ, x/}} respectively<ref name="bilabials">{{IPA|/ɸ/}} was a bilabial fricative but it’s sometimes written as {{IPA|/f/}} too, the same is true with regards to {{IPA|/β, β̃/}} and {{IPA|/v, ṽ/}}</ref>: ‘her cat’ is ''a catt'' {{IPA|/a ˈkat/}} but ‘his cat’ is ''a chatt'' {{IPA|/a ˈxat/}}.
* The consonants ''between vowels'' (and liquids like ''n, r, l'', and in coda after a vowel) are to be read ''as if'' they were lenited in Welsh, that means:
:* ''b, d, g, m'' in the middle of a word are fricatives {{IPA|/β ~ v, ð, ɣ, β̃ ~ ṽ/}}<ref name="bilabials"/>: the word ''rígain'' ‘queen’ is read {{IPA|/r´iːɣən´/}}, ''g'' between vowels denotes lenited {{IPA|/ɣ/}} – hence modern Irish {{color|green|''banríon''}}, classical and pre-reform ''(ban/bain)ríoghan'',
:* ''p, t, c'' are voiced {{IPA|/b, d, ɡ/}}: the word ''póc'' is read {{IPA|/poːɡ/}} and gives modern ''póg'',
:* medial {{IPA|/m/}} and voiceless {{IPA|/p, t, k/}} are often written doubled, so ''lomm'' {{IPA|/lom/}} ‘bare, naked, exact’, ''peccad'' {{IPA|/p´ekəð/}} ‘sin’, ''macc'' {{IPA|/mak/}} for ‘son’, ''catt'' {{IPA|/kat/}} for ‘cat’, etc. – but this is hardly consistent, often it’s ambiguous if some final or medial ''c'' means {{IPA|/ɡ/}} or {{IPA|/k/}} (and it’s more consistent in the middle of the word than word-finally), for example the word for ‘small’ is often written as ''becc'' with double ''cc'' even though it’s to be read {{IPA|/b´eɡ/}} (modern ''beag'').

'''Note:''' there is no way to mark lenition of ''initial'' voiced {{IPA|/b, d, ɡ, m/}} – ‘his mother’ ⁊ ‘her mother’ are generally both ''a máth(a)ir'' – it’s either {{IPA|/a ˈmaːθər´/}} or {{IPA|/a ˈβ̃aːθər´/}} depending on meaning. But lenition of voiceless stops is marked consistently. And we know the voiced ones were lenited in the same positions from metrical clues (alliteration, rhyming, etc.).

The doubled non-lenited ''mm, ll, rr, nn'' are sometimes also written initially after unstressed words (like ''a'' ‘his, her’), so ''a mmáthair'' is unambiguously {{IPA|/a ˈmaːθər´/}} ‘her/their mother’ (but can be written ''a máthair'' too) – spelt as if it were a single word.

Lenited ''s'' and ''f'' are often written ''ṡ'' {{IPA|/h/}}, ''ḟ'' (no sound). The ''s'' from old *sw can also be lenited to {{IPA|/ɸ/}} written variously as ''f, ph, ṡ'' (so ''a fiur, a phiur, a ṡiur'' for {{IPA|/a ˈɸ´i.ur/}} ‘his sister’, from ''siur, siür'' {{IPA|/s´i.ur/}}).

These conventions are nicely presented by two forms of the name ''Patrick'' to be found in Old Irish – it was borrowed twice from Latin '''''Patricius''''':
* first is the older '''Cothriche, Cothrige''' {{IPA|/koθ´r´əɣ´e/}}, which continues something like {{IPA|[kʷaθrixijah]}} (phonemically {{IPA|/kʷatrikijas/}}, which would be written something like {{smallcaps|*qat(t)ric(c)ias}} in ogham) – the Gaels borrowed Latin {{IPA|/p/}} as {{IPA|/kʷ/}} as there was no native {{IPA|/p/}} phoneme in Primitive Irish, and the medial voiceless {{IPA|/t, k/}} were lenited to {{IPA|/θ, x/}}, the nominative ending {{IPA|/-ah/}} fell out due to apocope before Old Irish,
* later '''Pátraic''' {{IPA|/paːdrəɡ´/}} – notice ''t'' and ''c'' written like in Latin original but read voiced – that’s because it was borrowed in later times from British Latin with the Brythonic lenition, and this form is continued today in Irish ''Pádraig'' and Scottish Gaelic ''Pàdraig''.

=== Old Irish spelling and pronunciation of vowels (and marking of slender consonants) ===

Old and Middle Irish manuscripts aren’t ''very'' consistent in the way they write vowels, so below is a bit idealized overview picture – modern normalized editions generally follow these conventions.

OIr. had slender/broad consonant distinction similar to modern Irish or Sc. Gaelic, but it didn’t use the modern slender-with-slender, broad-with-broad orthographic rule to mark them.

There were 5 non-reduced phonemic vowel qualities in OIr.: {{IPA|/a, o, u, e, i/}} and they could be long or short – they were generally written down using their respective Latin alphabet characters. Long vowels either weren’t marked at all or had the acute accent (‘fada’) over them (á, ó, ú, é, í). OIr. also had quite a few diphthongs, more about them in a minute.

In stressed syllables<ref>most often the first syllable of the word, or in case of compound verbs commonly the second syllable – first after the first prefix (in modern normalized spelling often marked with a mid-high dot, eg. ''as·beir'' {{IPA|/asˈb´er´/}})
</ref> any vowel quality or a diphthong could occur. In unstressed syllable in the absolute end of a word any short vowel (but not long or diphthong) could occur. But in unstressed syllables between two consonants you may find either a long vowel, an {{IPA|/u/}}, or a short vowel that is ''completely determined'' by the quality of the surrounding consonants. Because of that Kim McCone and David Stifter postulate only two medial unstressed short vowel phonemes for Old Irish: {{IPA|/u/}} and {{IPA|/ə/}}<ref>because the medial unstressed vowel is so consistently written, phonemic transcription for OIr. on Wiktionary doesn’t use the {{IPA|/ə/}} character and instead transcribes their full quality, eg. ''sacart'' is [ˈsaɡ'''a'''r͈t], ''beirid'' is [ˈbʲerʲ'''i'''ðʲ], ''légaid'' is {{IPA|/ˈl͈ʲeɣ'''i'''ðʲ/}} – Wiktionary here often (but not consistently) uses square brackets [] to mark it’s a “surface-phonemic” transcription, ie. it shows the surface value of the vowels even if phonologically you can treat all those vowels as a single {{IPA|/ə/}}; note that to get Stifter’s transcription it’s sufficient to change all non-''u'' short unstressed vowels followed by a consonant to {{IPA|/ə/}}; and vice versa, to restore the ‘surface’ vowel, enough to change {{IPA|/ə/}} to the corresponding written one</ref>.

Slender consonants in stressed syllables are followed by front vowels ''e'' or ''i'' (or diphthongs beginning in them), eg. ''ben'' {{IPA|/b´en/}} ‘woman, wife’.

If in an unstressed syllable {{IPA|/u/}} followed a slender consonant, it was written ''iu'', eg. ''lé(i)'''ciu'''d'' {{IPA|/L´eːɡ´uð/}} ‘letting’. If the word ends in a broad vowel {{IPA|/a/}} or {{IPA|/o/}} following a slender consonant, ''e'' is inserted between them: ''ní·lé(i)'''cea''''' {{IPA|/niːˈL´eːɡ´a/}} ‘may (s)he not leave’ (pres. subj.).

Before a slender consonant often (especially in the end of a word) an additional ''i'' was written, hence ''benn'' {{IPA|/b´eN/}} ‘peak, mountain’ (nom.sg.) vs ''beinn'' {{IPA|/b´eN´/}} (acc.sg.) – but this was not consistent, especially medially (if the vowel following the consonant showed its quality), hence ''léiciud'' or ''léciud''.

If {{IPA|/e/}} or {{IPA|/i/}} is the last vowel of a word, orthographical ''a'' might be added to mark the last consonant as broad, eg. ''daltae'' or ''dalte'' {{IPA|/daLte/}} ‘fosterling’, ''daltai'' or ''dalti'' {{IPA|/daLti/}} ‘fosterlings’.

If the final syllable is stressed (ie. generally in monosyllable words) and it ends in ''i'' or ''í'' followed by a consonant, it’s generally impossible to determine whether the consonant is broad or slender from orthography, eg. ''ríg'' can be either {{IPA|/R´iɣ´/}} (eg. acc.sg. of ''rí'' ‘king’) or {{IPA|/R´iɣ/}} (gen.sg. of ''rí'') depending on its grammatical function. (In classical and modern Irish ''o'' is inserted in such case before broad consonants, eg. ''mionn'' from OIr. ''mind'' {{IPA|/m´iNd/}} ‘diadem, insignia’.)

The ‘reduced vowel {{IPA|/ə/}}’ was written as:
* ''a'' between two broad consonants, eg. ''sac'''a'''rt'' {{IPA|/saɡəRd/}} ‘priest’,
* ''i'' between two slender consonants, eg. ''beir'''i'''d'' or ''ber'''i'''d'' {{IPA|/b´er´əð´/}} ‘(s)he carries’,
* ''e'' between a slender and a broad consonant, ''Goíd'''e'''lc'' {{IPA|/ɡoːi̯ð´əlɡ/}} ‘Gaelic, Old Irish’,
* ''ai'' or ''i'' between a broad and a slender consonant, eg. ''lég'''ai'''d'' or ''lég'''i'''d'' {{IPA|/L´eːɣəð´/}} ‘(s)he reads’, ''máth'''ai'''r, máth'''i'''r'' {{IPA|/maːθər´/}} ‘mother’,
* ''o'' or ''u'' when standing next to bilabial consonant (perhaps pronounced {{IPA|/u/}} then?): ''leb'''o'''r, leb'''u'''r, lebar'' {{IPA|/L´evər ~ L´evur/}} ‘book’, ''Conch'''o'''bar, Conchobor, Conchob'''u'''r'' {{IPA|/konxəvər ~ konxuvur/}} ‘Conchúr’.

Note that the spellings ''berid'' and ''légid'' are ambiguous (it’s not obvious if the ''r'' and ''g'' in them are slender or broad), thus in modern normalized spelling it’s common to use the unambiguous ''beirid'' and ''légaid''.

==== Diphthongs and hiatus ====

Old Irish had ''‘long’ diphthongs'' combining most vowels with either {{IPA|/i/}} or {{IPA|/u/}} – some of them merged early already in OIr. times, most merged eventually, and only ''ía'' and ''úa'' survived to modern day. The diphthongs are:

The three ''i''-diphthongs:
* {{IPA|/o(ː)i̯/}} written ''óe'' (before broad consonant) or ''oí'' (before either broad or slender), eg. ''óen, oín'' {{IPA|/oːi̯n/}} ‘one’, ''Goídelc'' {{IPA|/ɡoːi̯ð´əlɡ/}} ‘Gaelic, Old Irish’,
* {{IPA|/a(ː)i̯/}} written ''áe'' (before broad consonant) or ''aí'' (before broad or slender), eg. ''láech, laích'' {{IPA|/Laːi̯x/}} ‘hero’, genitive ''laích'' {{IPA|/Laːi̯x´/}} ‘hero’s, of hero’, ''máel, maíl'' {{IPA|/maːi̯l/}} ‘shorn, bald’, ''cáera, caíra'' {{IPA|/kaːi̯ra/}} ‘sheep’,
* {{IPA|/u(ː)i̯/}} written ''uí'', eg. ''druí'' {{IPA|/dRuːi̯/}} ‘druid, draoi’,
/oːi̯/ and {{IPA|/aːi̯/}} fell together fairly early, {{IPA|/uːi̯/}} merged with them too, so you get spellings like ''lóech, móel, draí'' too. In Classical Gaelic they all evolved into {{IPA|/ɯː/}} written as ''ao'' ~ ''áo'' and evolved differently in later languages<ref>something weird happened with this diphthong/vowel in the word ''Goídelc'', it was regularly ''G'''áoi'''dhealg, G'''aoi'''dhealg'' {{IPA|/ɡɯːð´əlɡ ~ ɡɯːɣ´əlɡ/}} in Classical Gaelic, but later evolved (irregularly?) into ''{{color|green|Gaeilg(e)}}, {{color|#00A0DA|Gàidhlig}}, {{color|red|Gaelg/Gailck}}''</ref>, hence in modern languages ''aon, laoch, laoich, maol, caora, draoi(dh)''.

''u''-diphthongs:
* {{IPA|/eːu̯/}} written ''éu'' or ''éo'', eg. ''béu, béo'' {{IPA|/b´eːu̯/}} ‘alive’, ''á éunu'' {{IPA|/aː ˈeːu̯nu/}} ‘o birds’ (vocative pl.), ''céol, céul'' {{IPA|/k´eːu̯l/}} ‘music’,
* {{IPA|/iːu̯/}} written ''íu'', eg. ''indíu'' {{IPA|/iN´ˈd´iːu̯/}} ‘today’, ''cíuil'' {{IPA|/k´i:u̯l´/}} ‘of music’ (gen.sg.),
* {{IPA|/oːu̯, aːu̯/}} written respectively ''óu'' and ''áo, áu'', eg. ''bóu'' {{IPA|/boːu̯/}} ‘of a cow’ (gen.sg. of ''bó'') and ''báo, báu'' {{IPA|baːu̯}} ‘of cows’ (gen.pl.) – these merged early with ''ó'', so the gen.sg. and gen.pl. both occur as just ''bó'' {{IPA|/boː/}} too,
The first two of them later moved towards long {{IPA|/(ʲ)oː/}} and {{IPA|/(ʲ)u/}} respectively, hence modern ''{{color|green|beo}}, {{color|#00A0DA|beò}}'' {{IPA|/b´oː, bjɔː/}}, ''{{color|green|ceol}}, {{color|#00A0DA|ceòl}}'' {{IPA|/k´oːl, k´ɔːl/}}, ''{{color|green|inniu}}, {{color|#00A0DA|an-diugh}}'' {{IPA|/əˈN´u(v), əN´ˈd´u/}}.

and the two ''a''-diphthongs which appeared from breaking of older ''*ē, *ō'' before broad consonants, they survived to this day:
* {{IPA|/iːa̯/}} written ''ía'', eg. ''grían'' {{IPA|/g´R´iːa̯n/}} ‘sun’ (from earlier *grēna, cf. gen.sg. ''gréine'' {{IPA|/g´R´eːn´e/}}),
* {{IPA|/uːa̯/}} written ''úa'', eg. ''trúag'' {{IPA|/tRuːa̯ɣ/}} ‘sad’.

'''Note''' the placement of the ‘fada’ – in manuscripts the length mark could be written on either vowel, or not written at all (so ''maíl, mael, maél'', or ''láech, laich, láich, laích, loech, lóech'', etc. all are forms you can find written) – but modern editors generally place the length mark on the first vowel, except for diphthongs with ''i'' when the ''í'' always gets the ‘fada’. That’s to avoid ambiguity with ''i'' used to mark slenderization, compare eg. ''p'''ói'''ce'' {{IPA|/poːɡ´e/}} ‘of a kiss’ (gen.sg. of ''póc'') without a diphthong with ''G'''oí'''delc'' {{IPA|/ɡoːi̯ð´əlɡ/}}.

Also stressed short vowels {{IPA|/i, a, e/}} could merge with {{IPA|/u/}} to form short diphthongs:
* {{IPA|/iu̯/}} written ''iu'', eg. ''(oc) fiur'' {{IPA|/f´iu̯r/}} ‘(at) a man’ (dat.sg.),
* {{IPA|/au̯/}} written ''au'', eg. ''baullu'' {{IPA|/bau̯Lu/}} ‘members’ (acc.pl. of ''ball'' {{IPA|/baL/}}) – this early merged with {{IPA|/u/}}, hence also ''bullu'' {{IPA|/buLu/}},
* {{IPA|/eu̯/}} written ''eu, eo'', eg. ''(dond) euch, eoch'' {{IPA|/eu̯x/}} ‘(to the) horse’ (dat.sg. of ''ech'' {{IPA|/ex/}}).

But OIr. also allowed '''hiatus''', ie. two syllabic vowels standing next to each other, and most commonly two consecutive vowel signs next to each other mean that.
In modern editions often diaeresis (◌̈) is placed over the second one in this case, eg. ''fiach, fiäch'' {{IPA|/f´i.əx/}} ‘raven’, ''siur, siür'' {{IPA|/s´i.ur/}} ‘sister’, early ''óac, óäc'' {{IPA|/o(ː).əɡ/}} ‘young’ (later ''óc'' {{IPA|/oːɡ/}}), ''at·taat, at·taät'' {{IPA|/aˈta.əd/}} ‘they are’. Hiatus generally merged with long diphthongs in Ireland before MIr. but it stayed sometimes in Sc. Gaelic, hence eg. modern Sc. G. {{color|#00A0DA|''fitheach''}} {{IPA|/fi.əx/}}, {{color|#00A0DA|''piuthar''}} {{IPA|/pju.ər/}}<ref name="piuthar"></ref> vs Irish {{color|green|''fiach''}} {{IPA|/f´iːəx/}}, {{color|green|''siúr''}} {{IPA|/ʃuːr/}}.

Note that when no diaeresis is written, the spelling can be ambiguous, esp. if the second element is ''u'', eg. ''fiur'' can mean either monosyllabic {{IPA|/f´iu̯r/}} (‘man’, dat.sg.) or disyllabic {{IPA|/f´i.ur/}} (‘sister’, lenited ''siür''<ref name="fiur">this lenition of {{IPA|/s´/}} to {{IPA|/f´/}} happens because in earlier language this word had {{IPA|/sw-/}} (cf. eg. German '''''Schw'''ester'') which lenited first to {{IPA|/hw/}} and later yielded {{IPA|/f/}}</ref>). In unstressed syllable ''Ciu'' means {{IPA|/C´u/}}, as mentioned above (''léiciud'' {{IPA|/L´eːɡ´uð/}}).

{{#tag:ref|with {{IPA|/pj-/}} instead of {{IPA|/ʃ-/}} by analogical delenition of {{IPA|/f´-/}} in the OIr. lenited form ''fiür'' {{IPA|/f´i.ur/}}<ref name="fiur"/> as if from ''*piür, *phiür''|follow=piuthar}}

=== Footnotes ===
<references/>

[[Category:Old Irish]]