Page:Alexander Macbain - An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language.djvu/48

xxiv. thus by Brugmann: “bn, dn, gn became bb, dd, gg before the principal accent in primitive Teutonic, thence pp, tt, kk (by Grimm’s law), which were further treated just the same as pp, tt, kk, which had arisen from pn, tn, qn, and from I. E. bhn, dhn, ghn, ꬶhn.… O. H. G. sluccho, slukko, glutton [*sluk-no‑], M. H. G. sluchen, gulp, have hiccup, allied to Gr. , I have hiccup.” These last words are allied to G. slug, which Dr Stokes refers to a pre-Celtic *slug-nó‑, the accent being on the suffix ‑no‑. The weakness of this hypoth&shy;esis lies in the fact that uniform results are not found from it. Thus breac, from mṛg-nó‑, should be breag, not breac, on the analogy of slug.

Initial and intervocalic I. E. p disappears in Gaelic, as in athair, Lat. pater, eun for *pet-no‑, eadh for pedo‑, iasg against Lat. piscis, ibh against bibo (for pibo), làn against Lat. plenus, làr and Eng. floor, etc. For inter&shy;vocalic p, see fo (*upo), for, teth, caora, (*kaperax), saor, (*sapiros), etc.

Lat. and G. agree in the initial of the numeral five—quinque and cóig, though the I. E. was penqe. In feasgar the G. guttural&shy;ises an original vesperos without Latin counte&shy;nancing it. Initial sp appears as s; see sealg, spleen, sonn, sliseag, sine, sir.

When p appears before the liquids and t, c, or s, it is not lost in G.; it leaves its influence either in a new combi&shy;nation or in compen&shy;satory lengthen&shy;ing. Thus suain is for supno‑s, and see cluain, cuan. G. dias seems from *steip-s‑â, W. twys, and uasal may have had an original form like, Eng. up. (Cf. teanga and dingua). In seachd, Lat. septem, the p is guttural&shy;ised; we may add here *neachd, O Ir. necht, Lat. neptis, Eng. niece; creuchd, drèachd. Possibly leac may be for lep-kâ.

G. intervocalic p is, of course, due to some combination. In leapa, genitive of leabaidh, it arises from *leb-tha; and we must explain similarly tap (*tabaidh arising from *tab-tha); so raip, streap.

For t taking the place of p through an initial h compare the deriva&shy;tions offered for torc, turlach, tuil, tlàm, tlùs for lùths.

These two become b in Gaelic and the other Celtic languages, I. E. b is rare in any language; in G. it appears in ibhim (*pibô). treabh, domhain and drùchd (*dhreub-tu‑).

(1) Initial I. E. bh, G. b. See beir, balg, ball, bàn, blàth, bloom, bragh, biuthainn, buaidh.